Five experiments. No degree required.
Tools you have. Conditions you can find. Results you can document. The point is not to convince anyone else — it's to verify for yourself.
For each experiment below, write down your prediction before you run it. The point isn't to confirm anything — it's to see whether reality matches what the textbook said it would.
Experiment 01 — The Telephoto Test
Tools: Camera with telephoto lens (300mm+ recommended), or any modern smartphone with high zoom (most current iPhones/Androids work)
Location: A beach or large lake
Time: 15 minutes
Procedure: Find a boat or distant landmark just barely visible above the horizon. With your eyes alone, observe what's visible — particularly whether the bottom (hull or base) is hidden. Then apply maximum zoom. Take a photo before and after.
Globe prediction: Zoom cannot recover hidden hull, because the hull is physically below curvature.
Observed result: Document and compare to prediction.
Experiment 02 — The Long-Distance Visibility Check
Tools: A view of a known distant landmark, the visibility calculator
Time: 5 minutes
Procedure: Find a distant landmark of known height — a building, mountain, lighthouse — at a known distance from your observation point. Plug those numbers into the visibility calculator. Note how much of the landmark should be hidden by curvature according to the globe model.
Then look at it.
The Chicago skyline from Michigan, the Toronto skyline from Olcott NY, the Isle of Wight from southern England — pick anything in your reach and check.
Experiment 03 — The Water Level Test
Tools: A hose, two clear glasses or jars, food coloring, a level surface
Time: 30 minutes
Procedure: Connect the two glasses with a hose at the bottom of each (or use any water-level apparatus). Fill with colored water. Place them at points separated by as much horizontal distance as your hose allows. The water in both glasses will settle at the same height, regardless of distance.
Globe prediction: Over very long distances, the water in the more distant glass should be measurably below — because the surface curves.
Observed result: Within measurement tolerance over short distances, both surfaces are at the same height. For genuinely long distances (where curvature would be visible), the experiment requires a longer hose than most home experimenters have, but the principle scales.
Experiment 04 — The Polaris Time-Lapse
Tools: Smartphone camera with time-lapse mode, tripod, clear night sky
Time: 1 hour of camera time
Procedure: On a clear night, point your camera at Polaris (the North Star) and start a time-lapse. Run for at least 30 minutes — preferably an hour. Review the footage.
Observed result: Polaris remains stationary at the center while every other star traces a circular arc around it. This is consistent with both models, but the flat-plane model explains it without requiring Earth to wobble on a 23.5° axis while orbiting at 67,000 mph and not appearing to deviate.
Experiment 05 — The Aircraft Window Horizon
Tools: A commercial flight, a level (most smartphones have a built-in level app), eyes
Time: Whatever flight you're already taking
Procedure: On your next flight, get a window seat. At cruise altitude (~35,000 ft), use the level on your smartphone (or a string with a weight) to establish exactly horizontal. Compare the horizon out the window to the level.
Globe prediction: The horizon should be ~3.1° below your eye level at 35,000 ft — a noticeable depression.
Observed result: The horizon sits at eye level. This has been documented by pilots, passengers, and high-altitude balloon footage for over a century.
Documenting Your Results
For each experiment, record:
- Date, time, location, weather/atmospheric conditions
- Your prediction (before running the experiment)
- Equipment used
- What you observed
- Photographs or video where applicable
If your results contradict the globe model in a way that surprises you, you're now where many of us started. The next step is reading the historical record — what the older experimenters documented before institutional pressure to suppress dissent became overwhelming.