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 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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