On a science website, it is common to focus on topics related to vanishing stars and cosmological crises. However, many people online are grappling with simpler concepts, such as why flying against the planet’s rotation doesn’t decrease flight times or why we can’t power trucks with magnets. This week, a new topic that has emerged is about straight lines.
A Twitter account, Latest in Space, shared a post last week explaining that you can travel from India to the USA in a straight line. Although the line is visibly straight, some people were unconvinced. Representing a 3D world on a 2D map can lead to distortions and compromises. The map most people are familiar with is based on the Mercator projection from 1569.
The Mercator projection is a cylindrical map projection that helps with navigation by representing courses of constant bearing as straight segments. However, this projection also leads to distortions of size and shape. In cylindrical maps like the Mercator projection, areas near the equator remain accurate, but distortions increase as you move away from the equator.
In reality, straight lines that do not align with latitude or longitude lines on a globe do not appear straight on a flat map. Therefore, traveling from the USA to India in a straight line on a map may not be the most accurate representation of the actual journey.