FE Meme
Maui to Kona: No Curvature?
#3: A ~111 km line of sight from Maui to Kona shows no curvature, therefore a ball Earth is impossible.
The Meme
FLATCAM composite: coastal photo with distance callouts (top) and Hawaiian Islands map marked "111.61 km" (bottom). Red macro text: "IMPOSSIBLE ON A BALL EARTH".
Why It Spreads
The FLATCAM composite pairs a wide coastal photo with a precise "111.61 km" map label and red caps screaming "IMPOSSIBLE ON A BALL EARTH." A straight-looking ocean horizon feels like field work, so viewers share the gotcha without calculating how much drop 111 km actually implies or how Hawaiian volcano elevation changes the sightline.
What It Gets Wrong
The FLATCAM composite pairs a coastal photo with a map callout at 111.61 km but never surveys observer height or target elevation on either island. On a sphere with R ≈ 6371 km, midpoint drop h ≈ d²/(2R) predicts roughly 0.98 km of geometric burying before Mauna Kea's 4,000+ m summits are counted, so elevated terrain can remain visible while lower shoreline hides. A single uncorrected snapshot is inconsistent with a hidden-height calculation that includes Hawaiian topography. TestTheGlobe's No Curvature Is Visible and TestTheGlobe's Curvature Calculator walk through the observations and predictions this image skips.
The Debunk
Elevated Hawaiian terrain plus spherical drop h ≈ d²/(2R) predicts visibility across ~111.61 km; that fits observation when target height is included. A FLATCAM composite labelled "no curvature" is inconsistent with a hidden-height calculation that counts Mauna Kea's elevation. Use TestTheGlobe's Curvature Calculator to compare the meme's claim with a measurable prediction.
- TestTheGlobe's No Curvature Is Visible: over ~111.61 km with R ≈ 6371 km, h ≈ d²/(2R) predicts roughly 0.98 km of midpoint drop before target elevation is counted; Mauna Kea rises above 4000 m on both islands.
- TestTheGlobe's Curvature Calculator lets you enter distance and observer height to compare predicted hidden height with the meme's "no curvature" claim.
- The image is a FLATCAM composite pairing a coastal photo with a map callout, not a surveyed line-of-sight profile; elevated land on both islands can remain visible even when lower shoreline is hidden.
- TestTheGlobe's Rainy Lake Curvature documents repeatable long-baseline tests where surveyed heights match globe predictions, unlike a single uncorrected coastal snapshot.