How Would You Prove the Earth Travels Around the Sun?
There are a few fundamentalist religious sects today who still
believe the Earth is
flat and that the Sun travels around the Earth. These people
rarely travel far from home, so have no experience with airplanes
flying around the world. Nor do they know much about satellites,
space shuttles, or space stations. But they can go outside
and observe with their own eyes that the Sun travels around
the Earth every day.
How would you go about convincing them otherwise?
If both their eyes and their religion told them
the Earth was flat and the center of the universe, do you think
they would believe your arguments?
Ask your parents or a teacher to pretend they belong to one
of these religious sects, and then try out your arguments.
Were they convincing?
These sects truly believe their religion says that
the Earth is flat and the Sun goes around the Earth.
Should you, or should you not, try to convince them otherwise?
What was European science like during Galileo's time (the
early 1600s)?