spherical Earth: Quick Facts

Written and fact-checked by

The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts

Also Known As	spherical Earth model

Photos and Videos

Diagram illustrating Eratosthenes' method for calculating Earth's circumference, showing the angle of sunlight at Syene and Alexandria, camels traveling between the two cities, and rays from the Sun striking Earth's surface at different angles.

Earth's curvature

Image shows a sketch of the Earth on graph paper with a photo of the Earth in the background. Blue arrows point to the sketch and the word FAKE? appears above in red letters.

See All Videos and Images →

Topics

globe world map flat Earth geodesy geoid hypsometric curve