Eratosthenes Today and the Belief in the Flat Earth

Authors

  • Igor Passos dos Santos Escola Santa Marina, São Paulo (SP)
  • João Damázio Vale Carvalho Filho Campus de Pedreiras da Universidade Estadual do Maranhão (UEMA)
  • Ricardo Roberto Plaza Teixeira Instituto Federal de São Paulo - IFSP - Caraguatatuba

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5752/P.2316-9451.2021v9n2p95-112

Keywords:

History of Science. Physics teaching. Science denial. Experimental observation. Astronomy.

Abstract

We analyze the implementation of Eratosthenes’ experiment between two Brazilian cities. Considering questions brought by the students, we incorporated the idea of using technological communication tools to measure simultaneously the size of the shadows of vertical rods of one meter high, generated by the sun’s rays, in the cities of Pedreiras - MA and São Paulo - SP, similarly to the idea of the experiment proposed by Eratosthenes, in antiquity, to determine the size of our planet. In addition, this work seeks to reflect on the relations of the flat Earth belief, as a movement of denial of science, with the concept of post-truth and on the nature and methods used in experimental observations with scientific characteristics.

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Author Biographies

Igor Passos dos Santos, Escola Santa Marina, São Paulo (SP)

Licenciado em Física pelo campus de São Paulo do Instituto Federal de São Paulo (IFSP) e docente na Escola
Santa Marina, São Paulo (SP), Brasil

João Damázio Vale Carvalho Filho, Campus de Pedreiras da Universidade Estadual do Maranhão (UEMA)

Licenciado em Matemática pelo campus de Pedreiras da Universidade Estadual do Maranhão (UEMA)

Ricardo Roberto Plaza Teixeira, Instituto Federal de São Paulo - IFSP - Caraguatatuba

Doutor em Física pela USP e docente do campus de Caraguatatuba do Instituto Federal de São Paulo (IFSP),
Brasil

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Published

2021-11-25

How to Cite

SANTOS, Igor Passos dos; FILHO, João Damázio Vale Carvalho; TEIXEIRA, Ricardo Roberto Plaza. Eratosthenes Today and the Belief in the Flat Earth. Abakós, Belo Horizonte, v. 9, n. 2, p. 95–112, 2021. DOI: 10.5752/P.2316-9451.2021v9n2p95-112. Disponível em: https://periodicos.pucminas.br/abakos/article/view/24571. Acesso em: 10 sep. 2025.

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 2 (2021)

Section

Artigos completos / Full papers

License

I  (we) submit the present work, an original and unpublished manuscript, from my (our) authorship, to Abakós - Magazine of Interdisciplinary Studies on Science and Informatics, and  I (we) agree that the copyright related to this work will become property of  PUC Minas Publisher. No partial or full reproduction is allowed, by any means (printed or electronic), dissociated from Abakós. Any reproduction requires prior written authorization granted by the Editor.

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