Straight line on the earth.

India
January 26, 2011 6:46am CST
Is it possible to draw a straight line on the intact surface of the earth? If not, why? Can you explain?
6 responses
@Mufasu (176)
• Indonesia
26 Jan 11
That could happen. But it cant be done alone, needs to cooperate to make it happen. And i think most people dont want to do it, because some of them are still concerned with personal interests. So what can we do. the answer could be done, but it will be very very difficult.
• India
26 Jan 11
The answer is it can not be done as being round the intact surface of the earth is always curved and no straight line can be drawn on a curved surface.
@owlwings (43897)
• Cambridge, England
26 Jan 11
If you knew the answer already, DoctorDidi, the question is a 'poll/quiz type' one and so is in violation of the Guidelines.
@jak2010 (1550)
• Papua New Guinea
29 Jan 11
I do not know and I think it is impossible because the earth is round it will be hard to do such.
@owlwings (43897)
• Cambridge, England
26 Jan 11
Since the earth is a spheroid, there is theoretically no way of connecting two points on its surface with a straight line drawn on the surface. As the surface is, in fact, irregular, it would be quite possible to find some area of it on which it would be possible to draw a straight line.
@Hatley (163772)
• Garden Grove, California
26 Jan 11
hi how in the world can anyone in his right mind thing you could draw a straight line on a curved surface, as it c annot be done. the world is curved so you will have to draw a curved line and that is self explanatory as it cannot be done. You can draw a straight line on a flat surface or a piece of paper but the world is curved.We can draw straight lines on the land but not on the curve on thed earth. that esplains itsself.
@tkonlinevn (6427)
• Vietnam
27 Jan 11
Why not? On theory, we can do that such as we draw a equatorial.
• United States
26 Jan 11
Even if the earth were an exact sphere, which it is not, a circle still has a series of very tiny straight lines that make up the circle. So, if you mean any length of a line, yes, it's possible, even if the earth were spherical. Now, if you mean a line around the world, it would only be straight in that it didn't curve a certain way, and only curved around the world. So, it would still be planar, but not "straight" like a pencil. Now, because the world isn't round, it does have flat surfaces, so it would be possible to draw a straight line on that flat surface.