Slam dunk: Flat-Earther logic obliterated by Reddit basketball stunt (PHOTO)

A Reddit user has poked major holes in flat-Earther ‘logic’ with a clever – and easy-to-replicate – experiment deploying a digital camera with a macro lens, plenty of light... and a basketball.

Posted on Reddit by user Useless Pickles as ‘Proof that a basketball is flat’, the detailed experiment depicts the object as flat-surfaced and not the round ball we all believe it to be.

He played around with perspective and close-ups to make his point. “Upon taking a closer look with a macro lens, I can only conclude that the surface of a basketball, while bumpy, does not appear to have any curvature. Therefore, basketballs are flat. Their roundness must be some kind of illusion caused by perspective and mirages,” Useless Pickles wrote sarcastically.

The man behind the debunk told Bored Panda that he wasn’t expecting the exercise to convince hard-core flat Earth theorists to accept that their planet is round – after all an  abundance of scientific evidence has failed on this count – but he was hopeful it might help someone still on the fence.

Unsurprisingly the experiment attracted a flurry of comments, made up of a mixture of sardonic and earnest responses.

“Basketballs, you can feel with your hands so they're a tangible object, unlike the Earth which you can't feel with your hands,” one commenter responded, dismissing the argument. “Fake, that camera is CGI,” another user wrote to which Useless Pickles responded “but it's the Nikon P900. The official camera of Flat Earthers!”

A longer post criticises the satirical tone of the post suggesting that if the Earth was round we would all fall off. “Basketballs are not flat, it is only a mere illusion that makes it seem this way, similar to why globies think the earth is round.”

READ MORE: Flat Earthers unite in UK’s first convention to discuss science, proof, and… Pac Man?

Useless Pickles replied: “This makes no attempt to prove that the Earth can't be flat. Quite the opposite. I have proven that there is no such thing as round/spherical objects of any kind! If you look closely enough at any sphere, you won't find any curvature in its surface. SHOW ME THE CURVE!”

 Other users, though, said they could see the curve in the photo. “My flat-Earthers father retorted that he sees curve in this photograph and he requested a bowling ball be used instead,” one commenter stated. “Ok, seriously? The ball is clearly round you can see it on the top part of the picture.???” another added.

RT has reached out to Useless Pickles for more information on the experiment.

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