Why does our atmosphere appear spherical while Earth itself is clearly not (e.g., elevations from ocean trenches to mountains)?
In: Physics
I hope this qualifies as ELI5, but I’m assuming you mean that the earth appears to be quite rough, what with all the mountains and trenches and what not. Well, it has been proven that a billiard ball, when examined microscopically, to a scale that would be equal to the earth, the billiard ball is way more rough than the earth. Or look at it this way, if you were to grow a billiard ball to be the same size as the earth, it would have taller mountains and deeper valleys than the earth. Now, think how smooth a billiard ball is, the earth is actually smoother. That is way the atmosphere is spherical, cuz the earth is actually a pretty smooth ball.
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