Hello there,
I was thinking yesterday about earth, space, and general relativity. A particular idea popped into my head, but I could find no existing literature about it; whilst that probably indicates how stupid it is, it's also a little frustrating to not have a go-to debunking (as is usually the case for such flights of fancy!). I figured I would post it here for those cleverer than I to say "well, I think you should stop thinking that right now".
The presence of matter results in gravity via the warping of spacetime. As such, orbiting bodies, travelling in a straight line through curved space, are taken in a path around their 'host' - a path which our geometry can sensibly describe as being circular/elliptical.
So far you're hopefully still with me. Nothing strange there.
Now, bear with me...
If this curvature applies all the way around the earth, then what if the earth is actually 'flat'? That is not to suggest that it is not spherical; in our geometry, it clearly is. However, perhaps this sphericity only arises from the fact that space is curved all the way around it; we are right to perceive it as spherical, given the geometry we apply to it, and the manner in which observable features of the universe can be detected by ourselves and our instruments. But, if we were to consider space 'unwarped', would the geometry of the earth's surface not then be effectively two dimensional? It would be a strange kind of surface that loops back on itself in all directions (like a pacman world), and its unique area would be proportional to the size of the body... but flat nonetheless. Could it be that our restricted three-dimensional observational capabilities prevent us from conceiving of such a structure to the underlying geometry of existence?
So, anyway, that's what I was pondering. If anyone has ever encountered any such thoughts, postulations, discussions, debunkery etc.. I'd be happy to hear them. It's not like I'm trying to prove anything; right now it's just an annoying thought in my head - a limited head without the experience or skillset to further probe any implications or possibilities (or otherwise) of the notion.
Puzzled,
haydxn
