• Faresh@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    21
    ·
    edit-2
    6 months ago

    I once lived with a sort of science skepticistdenier (didn’t believe in the moonlanding nor did he believe that the earth wasn’t flat). He was of the belief that scientists are deceiving the public and one of the examples he gave was that they claim that the earth rotates at 1 670 km/h but if we look outside that’s very clearly not the case and if jump we aren’t flung at that speed to the side. I spent half an hour in a back and forth trying to explain the concept of relative velocity and inertia. It didn’t go anywhere.

    Edit: changed to denier based on the comment by logos.

    • Makeitstop@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      6 months ago

      My aunt once mentioned that if the earth wasn’t rotating that we’d all be crushed by gravity, and it’s only the spinning cancelling out that force. I responded by pointing out that gravity is also present at the poles, where you can casually walk faster than the rotation of the earth, and yet no one has been crushed to death there. She responded that it must be something to do with the magnetic fields, and wouldn’t listen to anything I said when I tried to explain the basic concept of angular velocity.

    • SkyezOpen@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      edit-2
      6 months ago

      Have him drop a tennis ball in a moving vehicle. It won’t make him understand but you can at least say you tried.