why is the world not flat?
455077
The actual shape of the Earth today is an OBLATE SPHEROID. It's a kind of sphere but flatter on two opposite sides. These sides are found at the poles.\n\nThe reason why the world is shaped like so is because of the the Earth's rotation. This spinning occured from the time of the Earth's formation up to this day. Centrifugal force tends to throw more matter in its equator than its poles.
69949
The earth is round because matter attracts other matter, and when they get close they compact together to form spherical objects.\n\nPeople created computers because they kept asking why.\n\nEinstein created an atom bomb because he kept asking why.\n\npeople believe in god because they couldn't figure out why any other way.\n\nThere is music becuase people created it.\n\nPeople have brain because our genetic makeup conducts brain building and reconstruction for our entire lives.\n\nHope that answered your questions
821321
All the mass on the earth is being pulled in by gravity, you and me included. the more mass you have the more an object pulls towards itself and others (basically heavy things have a sort of pull, so when you are by a huge mountain you are actually being pulled towards it) \n\nThe easiest way of all the mass to be pulled together is in a sphere, there are no corners and its cannot be compressed without other areas moving further away from the centre, so theoreticlaly the earth SHOULD be a sphere\n\nBUT it isn't; due to its rotation it is fatter than it is tall, because of mass being moved out by centrifugal force. \n\nhope this helps
884879
Because the earth is round, and if you made your flat map a oval(circle), the oceans would connect and become one!
78121
Is it round?  This is due to gravity.  Gravity pulls with equal strength in all directions; therefore any variations from a spherical shape will lead to gravitational forces that bring the shape back into that of a sphere.\n \nThis is without considering the rotation of the earth, however.  The rotation of the earth adds centrifugal effects, which cause the earth to bulge slightly at its equator and flatten slightly at its poles.  (This is like twirling a rock on the end of a string and then letting go--the rock flies away from the twirler.)  Because of these centrifugal effects, the distance from the center of the earth to the surface of the earth is about 0.33% shorter at the poles compared to the equator.
842765
I'm going out on a limb here, but I would say round.  The reason I say round is this.  Way back when, everybody thought the earth was flat, until someone sailed around the world.  What I don't get is the fact we can look up at the sun & moon, and it's plain to see they are round.  Why in the world would those people ever thought the earth was flat, I'll never know.  We are like fish in a bowl, we can see out but can't live out there.  As of now it is impossible for us to ever go that far out of the bowl without it killing us.  I don't think we will ever know the answer to that question, at least not in our lifetime.  Think about it, we can see into the past, and see things that has taken place millions of years ago.  Can we somehow see the other direction, and look into the future?  Maybe!  I too am fasinated by the universe, and wish I had answers to these questions, but since we are so tiny when compared to the universe, I wonder if we are not just a molicule of some giant living thing thats waiting to crawl off.  \nHave Fun.  Good Luck!!!
424938
The 3d space of the universe has been theorized as the 3 dimensional surface of a 4 dimensional sphere.  An analogy is our planet, where we live on the 2-dimensional surface of a 3-dimensional sphere.  When you travel on the surface of the earth, there is no border or edge to fall off or cross into another dimension.  In the same way, the 3-d space of the universe has no border or edge.  If you travel far enough in a "straight" line you will end up right where you started.\n\nThis means if the universe is expanding then there still is no receding border.
533251
The Church insisted that the World is FLAT too, and that the Sun plus other planets revolve around it : And publicly humiliated and excommunicated Galileo for questioning their false premise !\n...Any and every organised religious order is basically a bunch of self-opinionated opportunists and politicians - masquerading as pious folk, to con all those who believe in their empty words !
384998
Because gravity acts pretty much in a straight line.  As the swirling dust clouds collected into the earth, the particles acted on each other to form clumps, and the clumbs attracted to each other, then you end up with a nucleus of matter imparting a gravity field radially out from the centre.  Things will be colliding with the nucleus from all directions with an equal probability and thus a sphere.
145598
The Earth was formed spinning (like a top) and it just hasn't stopped spinning since then.  There is very little friction that would slow it down (space is pretty empty).\n\nThere are different theories as to why it was created spinning.  But most likely it formed from gas and dust that was swirling, and that angular momentum is still with us today.
329257
Because the Earth is so large, our only reference frames are on Earth, and to us our reference frame is flat.  If we were large enough so that our size could be comparable to Earth, then we would see planets and stars sideways or upside down, if they even had an orientation.\n\nOur sense of "down" is due to gravity, and on every place on Earth "down" is really toward the center of the Earth.  Since our natural position is to be standing on our feet, our weight pulls "down" toward our feet and we perceive to be standing "up."
341923
And that's only the pick of the Iceberg...There are many more issues that goes in other directions than with the Theory of Evolution.  In Scientific-historical terms, we still think that the Earth is flat and that it is the center of the Universe.  Your question has a great value for the Genius curious minds that doesn't stop in the established Scientific Dogmas. You're getting somewhere...
518923
Cause it is not flat.
868944
Bodies beyond a certain mass are spherical due to the nature of gravity which pulls them together. But there are many asteroids and comets that are small and irregularly shaped because gravity can not overcom the strength of the material.
114224
Only bodies with a large gravitational mass are round. There is enough gravity to pack it more tightly and this combined with roation of the object forms a round shape. Smaller objects like asteroids, comets and small moons often have irregular shape because there was not enough gravitational mass to compress the object into a round shape
64853
First of all the world is not round it is an oblique sphereoid (basically a double ended pear shape.)\n\nThe force of gravity generated by the molten core of the planet acts in all directions equally at any one point in the planet.  This attracted the material from space that formed earth following the Big Bang.  This would form a spherical object.\n\nThe rotation of the planet complicates thia as the equator is rotating faster than parts of the Earth that are further away from the equator, the poles rotate the slowest.  This disparity causes greater centripidal forces to be experienced at the equator than at the poles so the earth bulges out at the centre.
811234
Because the Earth is round, the widest point could be from top to bottom.... it all depends on which way you are looking at it.