127. Straight reflections of sunlight and moonlight are impossible on a spherical Earth
"The fact that the Sun and Moon’s reflections on water always form a straight line path from the horizon to the observer proves the Earth is not a ball. If Earth’s surface was curved it would be impossible for the reflected light to curve over the ball from horizon to observer."
This is a flawed argument because Dubay does not understand how reflections operate
Although he doesn't describe it very well, I presume that Dubay is referring to the angle of reflection from a curved surface. I.e. the curve of the Earth would mean that the angle of reflection off the surface would result in nearly all the light not reaching the observer's eyes.
The fact that, if this was how reflections worked, that the same would be true on a flat Earth seems to have escaped Dubay's notice.
This type of reflection is called specular reflection, and takes place with mirror like surfaces. Generally the surface of the water is not perfectly flat so the reflection of the light will be diffuse and be bouncing off at all sorts of angles.
This means that only some of the light gets reflected back at the same angle of incident. The majority is reflected at other angles, i.e. scattered. This results in light reaching our eyes that has been reflected from all over the surface of the Earth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffuse_reflection
On perfectly calm flat water specular reflection can dominate. If this happens you will not see the line of light that Dubay describes but instead a more focused image of the Sun or Moon.
So in conclusion,
< Prev 121-130 Next >
This is a flawed argument because Dubay does not understand how reflections operate
Although he doesn't describe it very well, I presume that Dubay is referring to the angle of reflection from a curved surface. I.e. the curve of the Earth would mean that the angle of reflection off the surface would result in nearly all the light not reaching the observer's eyes.
The fact that, if this was how reflections worked, that the same would be true on a flat Earth seems to have escaped Dubay's notice.
This type of reflection is called specular reflection, and takes place with mirror like surfaces. Generally the surface of the water is not perfectly flat so the reflection of the light will be diffuse and be bouncing off at all sorts of angles.
This means that only some of the light gets reflected back at the same angle of incident. The majority is reflected at other angles, i.e. scattered. This results in light reaching our eyes that has been reflected from all over the surface of the Earth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffuse_reflection
On perfectly calm flat water specular reflection can dominate. If this happens you will not see the line of light that Dubay describes but instead a more focused image of the Sun or Moon.
 |
| Source: https://wallpaper-house.com/group/sun-beach-wallpaper/index.php |
So in conclusion,
- The reason why you see a line of light reflected from the Sun or the Moon is because the water is uneven and the light is reflecting off the water at all sorts of angles
- This is just as true on a flat Earth as on a spherical Earth
- The only thing that this "proof" shows is that Dubay can't think straight.
< Prev 121-130 Next >
Comments
Post a Comment