Took a laser level to the beach to test the curve and got a straight line instead

Honestly, I went down to Santa Monica Pier last Saturday with a 50-foot laser level and a friend to help spot. We set it up along the shoreline at sunset, aiming it across the water for about 3 miles toward the Palos Verdes cliffs. According to globe model, the beam should have dropped off by like 6 feet due to curvature, but it stayed dead level the whole time. We took photos and measurements with a ruler, and there was zero bend or dip anywhere. Has anyone else tried this kind of test on the ocean and seen the same thing?

3 comments

3 Comments

barbara_grant424d ago

That "3 miles of straight line" thing is interesting. It reminds me of how I once tried to use a level on my kitchen counter to check if water in a glass was truly flat, and of course it was. But people swear the ocean has to curve, so either my countertop is secretly part of a giant sphere or the math doesn't work out in real life like they say. It's weird how often the simple stuff you can actually see and measure disagrees with the fancy numbers they feed you.

amy_craig2824d ago

@dylan_brown30 overcomplicating it, water is flat, lol.

dylan_brown3024d ago

Realized something nobody's bringing up here. Water never finds its own level on a curve over distance like that. If the earth was a ball, the laser beam would actually bend with the atmosphere anyway because of refraction. So even if the globe model was right, you'd still get a straight line at sea level under certain conditions. The air above cold water acts like a lens. That's why you see things "loom" on the horizon sometimes. Your test proves the beam stayed parallel to the surface, but that doesn't automatically flatten the planet. It just means the conditions lined up perfectly to hide the curve. Common mistake people make when they think they're doing a simple check.