The Final Experiment (Updated)
By Sam Atkins
In less than two days, an experiment is set to be conducted. One that purports to settle an ancient debate. I’m more inclined to call it a simple gathering of interested people from around the world at the invitation of one man. A pastor from Denver, Colorado named Will Duffy. So, what’s the experiment?
As you may know, we here in the northern hemisphere are fast approaching the winter solstice when the Earth’s north pole is tilted directly away from the Sun, marking the official beginning of the winter season. However, this same day also marks the summer solstice at the south pole as the southern hemisphere will be tilted directly towards the Sun and thus will experience the beginning of summer. If you were to travel to the region immediately surrounding the south pole during a southern summer, you would find that the Sun doesn’t set. You are close enough to the pole that even on the “night side” of the Earth, you are still in sunlight. This is all based on the understanding that the Earth is a sphere that rotates on a tilted axis.
Summer in the southern hemisphere sees the south pole tilted directly towards the Sun, bathing Antarctica in constant daylight. Video credit: NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System
The path of the Sun across a full summer day at Union Glacier Station in Antarctica. Video credit: Fifth Star Labs - Sky Guide
Despite centuries of scientific consensus, there are some who reject this spherical model in favor of the flat Earth. They assert that the Earth is a disk in which all humans live on one side with the north pole at the center and with Antarctica making up a giant ice wall wrapping around the Earth’s perimeter. Under this conception of the Earth, the Sun and Moon mysteriously float around over the disk, illuminating various parts of it at various times. How does that work? I assure you I have no idea, but one thing is clear: a 24-hour Sun in Antarctica is absurd on a flat Earth. The Sun cannot simultaneously be present at every side of the disk. There are flat earthers who concede that this wouldn’t make sense and in fact predict that if you go down to Antarctica, you will not see a 24-hour Sun happen. Thus, that is what people are going down to find out for themselves.
A typical view of the purported flat earth is essentially taken from an altazimuth map that places the north pole at the center and stretches the southern hemisphere out to the world’s periphery. Conspiracy theories suggest that Antarctica is a carefully guarded wall of ice that borders the disc’s edge. It is in the southern hemisphere where many problems arise in this conception of the Earth. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
Pastor Duffy calls it the Final Experiment and on December 14th, globe earthers and flat earthers who accept his invitation will gather at the Union Glacier Station to watch (or not watch) the 24-hour Sun. If they experience a 24-hour Sun, that would be the final-final-final-final-final nail in the coffin for the flat Earth. No CGI. No pseudoscience. No excuses.
The location of Union Glacier in Antarctica where the participants in the Final Experiment will gather to observe the 24-hour Sun. The curved peninsula to the left points toward South America. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
Do I expect a wholesale concession from flat earthers? No. Will it be amusing? Probably. Either way, it is another good opportunity to learn and verify as we have no reason to take the shape of the Earth on faith when there is so much evidence available to us.
UPDATE: After a few days have passed since the participants’ arrivals to Union Glacier in Antarctica, a few midnight suns have passed and thus have confirmed the spherical Earth. There have been varying reactions amongst the flat Earth community but at least one of the participants has more or less recanted, admitting that the observation of a 24-hour Sun contradicts the flat Earth and must reassess his beliefs. You can watch the conversations and experiments being conducted as participants close out their visit over the next few days at the The Final Experiment YouTube channel.