The earth

[Bazile]

I know that this is probably elementary science to most people , but can someone please explain ( if you could for example ) drive from britain to say , australia , you wouldn't get the sense of going in a curve .
Yet the earth is the shape of a sphere

I mean if you look at the earth from space you see the shape of a sphere - but ( of course ) you dont see mountains etc hanging upside down or water from the oceans flowing off the surface .

[heathfield]

Because wherever you are, the Earth in your locality appears to be flat, and as you travel over it, it still appears to be flat. It's because, wherever you are, gravity is to all intents and purposes, acting vertically.
In history, the idea that the Earth was round was laughed at - it wasn't what people knew from personal observation. It took a very long time before the fact became universally accepted - well, by the majority of the world's population, that is.

[Clanad]

You're example doesn't take into account the size of the sphere called Earth. A small insect on the surface of a beach ball would not perceive the curvature. Actuall, a rather simple example of the preceived curvature is possible, however. Several observers over the centuries, noted that sailing ships disappeared gradually over the horizon. The astute mathmaticians constructed this equation to understand the observed phenomena: lambda = (180/pi) * [ (elev2-elev1) / (5280*d) - d / (2*3956) ] and voila the spherical nature of the earth was understood and predictable as to size... (Elevation in feet, distance in miles)...

[Loosehead]

Hang on, every one know the earth is flat, what's this spherical nonsense? Next you'll be telling me that the Earth is not the centre of the universe!

[heathfield]

Poor Eratosthenes of Alexandria - not a mention. Yet he figured out the size of the Earth's sphere pretty accurately back in 240 BC. And devised latitude and longitude while he was at it. Of course, Plato had figured out the Earth was a sphere back in the 4th century BC, from the shadow of the Earth on the Moon being the same at different times. And he probably wasn't the first.

[mibn2cweus]

So they built a bridge now? I hadn't heard!