>>123465396Why certainly.
Let's assume the Earth is ACTUALLY flat. The laser beam originates from a point 0, is angled at 0.001 degrees up from the flat plane and travels exactly one kilometre, or 1000 metres. The height above the ground the photons would be is calculated by
>sin(angle) * distanceSo
>sin(0.001) * 1000 = 1.745cmNow, let's assume Earth is a perfect sphere (it actually bulges very slightly at the Equator but whatever) of radius 6371km, as calculated by NASA and shit. We know that the circumference of the Earth is calculated by simply doing 2pi(r), which gives a circumference of 40030km. Then, by simply dividing 360 degrees over 40030km, we find that moving one kilometre on Earth is the same as moving 0.008993 degrees around the Earth. Calculating the curvature of a sphere is done by the following formula
>height = r * (1 - cos(0.0089 * distance))So
>6371 * (1 - cos(0.0089 * 1)) = 7.686cmThis means that, if an Earth sized ball were on a flat plane, there would be a 7.686cm gap between the Earth and the plane if you were one kilometre away from the point of contact.
Conclusion
>If the Earth is flat, a laser angled 0.001 degrees upwards should have photons 1.745cm above the ground a kilometre away>If the Earth is round, a laser angled 0.001 degrees upwards should have photons 9.431cm (7.686cm, plus the angled 1.745cm) above the ground a kilometre awayThere, flat earth fucking shits. Debate me.
