is da earth really round?
91665
Its more of an elispse, not perfectly round due to the gravitational pull of the oceans by the moon and due to mountains.
241084
There are still people who believe the Earth is flat. So, probably, yes.
603151
The Flat Earth Society believes it's flat and the Square Earth Society believes it's square.\nhttp://www.indiana.edu/~ensiweb/lessons/flaterth.html\nhttp://home.netcom.com/~rogermw/square_earth.html
285187
The are round, in short, because it takes the least enegry to do it.\n\nGravity pulls the matter that will make up the planets/sun/... together.  All the forces are pointed towards to the objects center of mass, everything is being pulled inward toward the center.  With everything trying to get as close as possible to the same center of mass, the object develops a round/sphereical shape.  This shape minimizes the amount of potential energy the matter has above the center of mass.\n\nThe reason why some objects (like the Earth for example) as not totally sphereical is because they are roating around an axis.  Since the Earth is rotating on its axis (causing our days and nights), there is a bulge around the equator as the matter located there is rotating faster [tangential speed] than the matter located at the poles.  This faster tangential speed requires more centripetal force [not to be confused with the fictional "centrifugal" force] or order to keep it rotating.  In order to lessen the required force, the matter bulges out a little bid, increasing its radius away from the axis.\nCentripetal force = m(v^2/r),\nyou can see that a larger radius (r) away from the center means a smaller centripetal force is needed.
318268
Yes, it's a fact.\n\nAlso the earth is not flat, it's round. (Bible wrong)\nThe sun does not set in a puddle of mud. (Koran wrong)\nThe sun does not revolve around the earth (Bible wrong) \nThe Earth does not have 4 corners. (Bible wrong)\n\nEvolution is a fact. All life on earth evolved from other life on earth. If you can't accept this, SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP but don't try to pass your fairytales off as science (intelligent design). They are not science.\n\nStop trying to sneak Jesus into the science classroom dressed in a white lab coat.\n\nIf someone don't understand evolution, they should try studying it, rather than asking stupid questions like, "If we evolved from monkeys, then why are there still monkeys?" - wow, some people are just so pathetically stupid, it makes me want to cry.
370
The Earth is round because it is a large body, and gravity tends to make large bodies round because that is the gravitational efficient configuration for the matter to be in.\n\nThere are a few reasons you can encounter non-round bodies in space:\n\n1) the object is small (for example asteroids), so it's gravity has less say proportionally on the shape\n\n2) It has experienced a catastrophic collision with a large body\n\n3) It is under very strong rotational or tidal forces\n\n4) It is expelling matter/energy in the form of cosmic jets, nova ejecta, etc.
51384
a torus or toroid. some postulate that the universe is in fact this shape
1183303
Not quite. It's shaped like a pear. We call it a Geoid.
1141360
hunnnnnn and i  bet you think ..earth  is flat
280298
you are stupid. would a computer say that. yes, the earth is round.
457528
It is not just round or oval. It is elliptical. One side is close to the sun and one side is closer to the Oort Cloud, or Kuiper Belt, or maybe the heliosphere, the end of the sun's influence to the galaxy.
991212
If you follow astronomy like I do they are discovering everyday that the Solar System is not what we thought it was!  Our Universe actually may look round/spiral but if you tip it on its side it is pretty flat.  The answers relating to gravity are sort of right as well, but scientists have found just recently (few weeks) that some of our planets aren't perfectly round like everybody thought.  As we send more cameras into space the more we realize that what we thought was fact...is wrong!  Scientists are saying "oops" quite a lot this past year or two!  But yes, gravity plays a role, but when you look closely, they are not perfectly round and flat.  They have gigantic craters, mountains pointing up so high we can't even imagine it.  Our telescopes are getting more powerful as the computer age expands our capability.to see so much better.  Its a great field of study, especially today and tomorrow.  Things are changing our perspective on what we thought and what we are learning is the truth.  The sun may appear round, but it is gaseous so bellows, in and out, with flares and cool spots, same with the storms on Jupiter, they just recently realized that the Big Red Spot MOVES! Yep, science was shocked to learn that the Red Spot moves all over the planet!  So study and explore, the Digital Science Channel, and Discovery Channel is what every one should be watching, not The Simpsons, although Bart is a lot more funny.  But science is always changing, nothing ever remains the same!  Become an exployer of the Universe, and get paid for having fun in discovering new stuff all the time!
302598
An interesting question. The question that may comes to \neveryone's mind is "IS the earth round?"  \nAnd the answer is no, at least \nnot perfectly round.  But it is round compared to your average cube, that is \nfor sure!  Now, my understanding of how solar systems form is pretty \ninadequate; all I can tell you is what I see on "Nova."  But basically, I \nguess it has to do with gravity, which is a CENTRAL FORCE.  What that means is \nthat gravity pulls things together along a straight line, and the more massive \none of the things is, the stronger it pulls.  When the earth was forming, it \nwas basically a big ball of dust left over from an exploded sun (a supernova).  \nGravity caused a lot of the matter to condense into a big fiery ball (our \nsun), but some of the dust was far enough away from the Sun so that the \nstronger forces were between planetary dust particles and not the sun.  SO, \nthey swirled together into a ball.  You can see something similar when you \nmake a painting with one of those "spin-art" machines; you put a card on the \nspinner, which whirls around real fast, and then you squirt paint on the card.  \nThe whirling causes the paint to go out away from the center (this is like the \nexplosion of the supernova) and droplets go out along an interesting path \nuntil they stop, which happens when the spinning force is equal and opposite \nto the force which attaches paint to the card (this is like gravity).  Now, if \nthe force attaching paint to the card were not so strong,eventually the drops \nwould get bigger - "planets."
233363
Its actually not round, its more of an oval shape.
314905
Imagine a molten ball of liquid rock in space. It will take the shape of a sphere due to the gravitational pull - any other shape would be turned into a sphere by gravity over time. \n\nNow, set this sphere rotating. Due to centrifugal forces, the sphere will bulge slighty round its equator. There you have it, the shape of the Earth.
551432
It's just an assumption...\n\ncoz it looks like a sphere... like how the moon looks round...\n\nBut can u be sure!!!
943945
Round seems to be our perception of the future, and of higher technology.  Look ar all our movies, the cars are always rounder than those of today.  WE think aliens are futuristic, so I guess that means they should be round.