Featured Image Credit: Netflix
Topics: Science, World News, Conspiracy Theories, Netflix, Social Media, YouTube
Poppy Bilderbeck
Topics: Science, World News, Conspiracy Theories, Netflix, Social Media, YouTube
A Flat Earther's experiment accidentally revealed the earth is not, in fact, flat, but round - who would've guessed, eh?
For those of you lucky (or unlucky, depends how you see it) enough to not have stumbled upon Flat Earthers before, they're a group of conspiracy theorists who are adamant the earth is not round, but flat - the name really does what it says on the tin, doesn't it?
And in a bid to prove the Earth is not a circular shape, one Flat Earther decided to conduct their own experiment - but alas, it didn't quite go to plan.
Speaking at the 2017 Flat Earth International Conference - yes, that is a thing - held in Raleigh, North Carolina, Jeran Campanella devised an experiment involving two sheets of styrofoam and a light source.
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The experiment was also featured as part of 2018 Netflix documentary Behind the Curve.
It entailed the two boards of the same height being set up a short distance from each other, each with a hole carved in, both measuring 17ft above water level.
Campanella then positioned a camera in front of the first board's hole and got someone to go and stand at the back behind the second board, facing the camera and shining a light source at 17ft above water level too.
He explained: "If you're seeing through this hole, through the next hole and seeing the light at the backboard or at 17 feet off the water the earth is flat.
"If he's holding it up at 23 feet high and we're seeing the light well that's because the earth's curved. So I should only be able to see it when it's at 17ft."
Looking through the camera's screen with someone standing holding the light at 17ft, the screen was filled with darkness.
However, when instructed to lift the light above his head, the light then became visible on the screen, awkwardly proving the earth is not - shockingly - flat, but round.
He simply comments: "Interesting."
And it's not taken long for social media users to weigh in.
One YouTube user said: "'Interesting' here translates to 'oh f**k I’ve wasted half my life on this'."
"You can actually see the moment he realizes he’s a failure," another added.
A third commented: "Seeing the light leave his eyes is beautiful."
However, a fourth argued: "Honestly, I admire this dude. He got sucked into flat earth conspiracy and instead of just taking it as gospel like a lot of dweebs, he set out to test it himself."