Empirical Earth · The Boomerangs — Flat-Earth Proofs That Backfire

Atmospheric lensing, quantified — what bending light can and cannot do

The claim

“The atmosphere is a giant lens that bends light around the planet, so ‘seeing too far’ and the setting Sun are just lensing, not curvature.”

What is true

The atmosphere does bend light, and refraction does let you see slightly past the geometric horizon.

What is measured

Refraction bends light by about a seventh of the Earth’s curvature, a known correction applied as an effective radius of 7/6 R for light or 4/3 R for radio. It softens the curve by a seventh and no more. Every strong bending event is temporary, made by weather, and gives itself away by distorting the image.

What would show this is wrong

a refraction coefficient measured near 1, light bending as hard as the Earth curves, sustained across ordinary conditions, or distant objects seen whole and undistorted at ranges the 7/6-radius horizon forbids. Instead measured k sits near 0.13, strong bending is transient and distorted, and the setting Sun is lifted the standard 34 arcminutes and flattened by a sixth.

Sources

  1. Atmospheric refraction and the effective Earth radius. In a standard atmosphere the terrestrial refraction coefficient is about 0.13 to 0.14, so light bends with roughly a seventh of the Ear link
  2. Radio refraction, the 4/3-Earth model, and ducting. Radio and microwave rays bend more than light; standard tropospheric conditions give a coefficient near 0.25 and an effective Earth radius link
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