Dave Weiss' proof cards

Prominent flat earth grifter Dave Weiss has created 214 so-called proof cards, which are hosted on his website. Most are just reiterations of claims and lies he has espoused over the years, this time riddled with even more errors and ambiguity.

The first five cards are free, with the rest requiring a paid subscription (because Dave needs to grift). However, the paywall can be easily be bypassed by using the number of the card in the URL, e.g.,

https://flatearthdave.com/proof-cards/7.webp.

Each of the "proof" cards can be easily debunked, as shown on this page. Refer to the table of contents on the left to quickly jump to a particular set of cards.

1 info

2, 153 and 202 Rocket propulsion

Rockets easily work in a vacuum. "How Stuff Works" explains it well. It's an application of Newton's laws of motion, not a violation.

Fuel requirements grow with mass, not distance. Almost all the fuel is used to get the rocket into orbit. After that only very little fuel is needed as there is no air resistance in space.

3 Three body problem

There is no closed form solution for the three-body problem, that doesn't mean we can't calculate it. Also, the mere existence of the Three-Body Problem, means that Earth is a planet, the solar system exists, and gravity is real.

4 and 98 Flat ground

Just like all long distance earth's measurements, the abyssal plains are curved.

5, 34, 126, 128 and 190 Earth rotation

Accelerometers can measure earth's rotation, which results in lower accelerations at the equator than at the poles. Critical Think did an experiment to demonstrate that weights change depending on your location on earth.

Newton’s bucket is not an inertial reference frame. Two inertial observers with different speeds will agree on the bucket’s angular velocity. Also, this argument shows how it is possible to detect the rotation of Earth, because Earth is not an inertial frame of reference.

Citing linear speeds like 1000mph shows Dave doesn’t understand very basic physics, because our bodies have inertia and travel with the Earth. To be able to “feel” these linear speeds would mean something is actively trying to slow you down, but inertial bodies only resist a change in motion, not constant motion. The only way we could feel Earth’s rotation would be through the very small apparent centrifugal force, but this force is counteracted by gravity, and our bodies can’t detect the very small changes in weight between different latitudes (but precise instruments can). This explanation extends to Earth’s “orbit” around the sun. Our bodies are accelerating towards the sun at exactly the same rate as Earth.

6, 92, 104, 109, 113, 118, 149 and 160 Ether experiments

Airy's failure like the Michelson-Moorley experiments did not contradict earth's motion, they disproved the existence of ether.

Sagnac Interferometers can't detect the movement of the sky.

7 and 18 Level flight

On the globe the downward vector changes. So planes automatically adjust by staying perpendicular to down. The gyroscopes are designed to adjust to gravity.

8, 22, 35, 72, 89, 97, 111, 140, 142, 147 154, 155, 162, 163, 164, 178 and 194 Multiple Forces

Just like before, the existence of the Allais effect is evidence for gravity existing. As usual, flatearthers have troubles with multiple forces.

Of course there could be some hidden variables. Considering that flatearther can't even handle two known variables at the same time, Bell's theorem doesn't help them in the slightest.

It's only flatearthers who think that gravity is the only force.

9 Alfvén waves

The Alfvén waves require earth to be a globe with a magnetosphere. So once again evidence for the globe and against flat earth.

10, 62, 63, 64, 69, 102, 114, 119, 139, 174 and 211 Light, sound and Radio propagation

His own explanation contradicts him. He is literally saying that light and radio waves can bend, therefore they shouldn't be able to bend around earth's curvature. On a flat earth on the other hand there is no obstruction preventing any location on the path from receiving the signal.

Sound is affect in a similar way.

11, 23, 41, 48, 52, 127, 131 and 169 Star positions

Ancient cultures being smarter than modern flatearthers is not evidence against the globe or for the flat earth. Also, stars do change. See Star motion

Funny that flatearthers constantly claim that the sky can't be used to determine the ground, while using the sky multiple times to claim that earth is flat.

This one is such an obvious lie it’s spectacular anyone falls for it. We see exactly what Dave says we don’t see: the sky is rotated 180 degrees 6 months apart, and we can see different constellations. Only circumpolar stars can be seen all year round, given the observer isn’t in the arctic or antarctic circle (because 24hr daylight happens in those regions), exactly as the globe predicts. It makes one wonder whether Dave has actually ever looked at the night sky in his life.

Which star is at the celestial pole doesn't matter. The existence of a Southern celestial pole contradicts flat earth.

See also Different Stars in the South

12, 117 and 209 Venus and Mercury

Venus and Mercury can be seen as a bright dot near the sun, exactly as the globe predicts, unlike the flat earth. We are able to see light even when the object is too small to resolve.

It's great that he is admitting that we can predict the orbit of mercury with the globe. Of course no prediction on a flat earth will ever be provided.

13, 130 and 187 24h Sun

Dave rejected a free trip to Antarctica to see the 24 hour sun for himself, so Dave knows he is lying. The 24h sun has been filmed multiple times, most famously during TFE.

The 24h sun matches the globe prediction, both in the Arctic and Antarctic.

14 Antarctic Treaty

The Antarctic Treaty explicitly allows exploration, and forbids military operations

15 and 46 Crepuscular rays

The crepuscular and anti-crepuscular rays demonstrate that the sun rays are parallel.

16 and 148 Astronomical Mechanisms

The ancient people noticed patterns and were able to make predictions. Modern predictions using the globe are significantly more precise.

17 Bubbles in space

There are no bubbles in space. Sometimes you can see some debris and such moving in every direction, not towards the surface of a pool.

19, 59 and 213 AE map

The AE map is used as logos and such, but its usefulness in navigation is limited. Navigation, especially over a long distance uses the globe.

20, 25, 26, 37, 61, 67, 73, 91, 103, 146, 171 and 179 Horizon Observations

Dave is just ignoring the elevation of the observer and the atmospheric conditions. He also ignores that large parts are hidden bottom first. See also Chicago Skyline

21 Bedford Level

When Alfred Russel Wallace, a qualified surveyor, repeated the experiment he measured earth's curvature.

It's weird that no flatearther complains about this observation being called an experiment.

24 Ancient Cosmology

Ancient cultures believing in a flat earth, where the sun goes beneath the earth is not evidence for a flat earth.

27, 28, 31 and 180 Constructions

Buildings do "lean" away from each other by 1° per 111 km. The Humber bridge for example.

The bridge towers on each bank of the Humber are 36mm (1.4in) further apart at the top than at the bottom. This has been done to take account of the curvature of the earth.

29 Buoyancy and density

Buoyancy literally has gravity in it's formula.

See the main article on this topic.

30, 49, 95, 144 and 145 Surveying

Canada like every other country uses the globe for geodetic surveying.

Over short distances where the error caused by Earth's curvature is not significant, plane surveying can be used.

Even ancient measuring tools measure earth's curvature.

32, 44, 71, 108 and 156 Coriolis and Curvature corrections

Canons not only take curvature into account they also adjust for Coriolis.

Coriolis only has a notable effect over longer distances and time.

A Foucault's pendulum moves exactly as the globe predicts and can be used to determine your latitude.

33 Cavendish

Cavendish has been replicated multiple times. Of course Dave has to deny all of them.

36 Photos of Earth

There are many photos of Earth that Dave has to deny as all of them show that Earth is a globe.

38 Circumnavigation

Circumnavigations over the poles have been done , but there is generally no reason to fly over the South Pole.

39, 99 and 124 Cold Moon light

There is no such thing as cold moon light.

Of course the light from the moon is colder than the light from the sun. Is like the difference between pointing a heat light directly at you and its reflection on a wall. It's actually even worse. That 5000 Kelvin heat is on the sun's surface, so of course it will have lost some energy by the time it reaches the moon.

40 Compasses

Magnetic dip exists and compasses are often weighted to compensate for it.

42 Coulomb's law

Coulomb's law only applies to electrically charged particles, gravity affects everything with mass.

43 and 51 Curie Point

The Curie Point applies to permanent magnets. Earth acts like a dynamo, not a permanent magnet.

45 CORONA Satellites

The CORONA satellites were indeed satellites, not planes.

47, 68, 110, 122, 123 and 168 Eclipses

As usual Dave ignores the atmosphere. Furthermore every eclipse is predicted by the globe.

Eclipses are predicted using the globe. There is a pattern called the Saros Cycle which can give an approximate day, but not the exact time, or the location the eclipse is visible from.

It's clearly the moon blocking the sun during a solar eclipse.

50, 82 and 181 Sun phenomenon

It's an effect caused by the atmosphere, not the sun. the distance to the sun is irrelevant, you only need its light.

53 Electrodynamic Tethers

Electrodynamic tethers are wires.

54 and 105 Sun and stars

The sun is much closer than other stars.

55 and 94 Flight Routes

When plotted on a globe the distance, something flatearthers always ignore, makes sense on the globe. See also Flight Route

56, 165, 183 and 185 Day light patterns

Dave clearly drank too much Koolaid. On the globe always half of the globe is illuminated at any given time. On flat earth you get weird patterns with extrem bending of light.

57, 188 and 189 Equatorial mounts and star trails

Equatorial mounts contradict flat earth. On the globe the motion with by far the largest influence is Earth's rotation. Over a short a period of time, like a day, the other movements can be safely ignored.

58, 88 and 159 Horizon at eye level

The horizon does not rise to eye level. When using tools to determine eye level, the horizon goes lower the higher you go.

60 Fauna

The distribution of Flora and Fauna has nothing to do with Earth's shape.

65 Undersea cables

Undersea cables match the globe distances. There is no specific adjustment needed other than the cable being long enough to follow earth's curvature.

66 Level water

Level doesn't mean flat.

70 For-shortening

For-shortening doesn't explain why objects go below the horizon as Dave himself demonstrates.

74 Gaussian coefficent

I could not find anything about this.

75 Galvanic cell

Magnetic fields aren't flat.

76 Geographic Range tables

Geographic range table use a globe. The fact that the distance increases with elevation, demonstrates that.

77 Gyroscopes

Precise enough gyroscopes alter their orientation depending on Earth's rotation.

78 Glass production

Over the small length those glass planes are made, Earth's curvature really doesn't matter.

79 Google earth

The distances on Google earth for North and South match. So he is just lying.

80 Government documents

All those documents use a flat earth to simplify their models. Of course all the documents that actually measure earth to be a globe are ignored.

81 and 158 Gravity anomalies

Gravity depends on your location. That is expected and measured. Understanding that is used to detect minerals and oil and such.

83 Hall Effect

Who told Dave that Hall Effect sensors detect gravity?

84 Hovering

Helicopters and balloons conserve the momentum of earth, so the ground won't just move underneath them, while hovering. That's exactly what is expected on the globe.

85 Hotspots

Those hotspots are often reflections on water.

86 Cosmology

That's completely irrelevant to Earth's shape.

87 and 90 Hubble constant

Hubble constant is as measured. There is no problem other than Dave not even trying to understand anything.

93 Inverse square law of light

Stars are as bright as expected. Only a few photons reach earth, which is enough to see them.

96 Jet Streams

Jet Streams are as the globe predicts and don't match a flat earth.

100 Kola Superdeep Borehole

We don't need to dig to figure out the make up of earth. We use seismic wave propagation for that. It works similar to an ultrasound. Furthermore what earth is made out of is irrelevant to its shape.

101, 170, 175, 176 and 184 Water reflections

Dave thinks specular reflection is only possible on a flat surface. Water surfaces have waves, so they are virtually never flat. Furthermore, if this were true, telescope mirrors could not work.

Gemini South telescope primary mirror, with a concave hyperboloid surface

106 Local Illumination

I have no idea what he is talking about.

107 Antarctica Halos

Those Halos are cause by ice crystals in the air and appear both in the North and the South.

112 Magnetic declination

Magnetic declination would happen on either model.

115 Thermosphere

Reuters: The key to understanding why satellites do not melt or burn up is the difference between temperature and heat. Temperature measures the thermal energy of particles, but as the air in the thermosphere is thin – as if it were a vacuum – there are not enough particles to transfer energy, causing low heat. As NASA explains it, if a human were to be in the thermosphere, they would be very cold because there aren’t enough gas molecules to transfer the heat into the body.

116 and 166 Meteors

Meteors can be observed going up.

Furthermore the existence of meteors contradicts the flat earth dome model.

120 Moon craters

That's simply not true. There are many oblong craters like the Messier crater.

Metroids crash so fast into a surface that they essentially explode. That causes the round craters. Only at very shallow angles do they form oblong craters.

121 Sun- and Moonset

The sun and moon do not shrink into a dot when setting. It can look like it on hazy days, but on clear days especially when using a solar filter, they set bottom first.

125 NASA fakery

NASA’s microgravity footage does not show harnesses or green screens, Dave is lying. Some flerfs think the grid background behind Tim Peake was a green screen, but green screens require a solid colour; grid lines would ruin the chroma key. Perhaps Dave can explain where the harness is that’s holding up this water bubble:

129 Stars from space

There are plenty, here is one example from the ISS Instagram account. There’s no point in Dave demanding this footage, though. He will call it fake no matter what.

132 Occam's Razor

The flat earth requires a lot of weird physics like extreme bending of light to make all observations match a globe, instead of a flat earth. The globe on the other hand just matches the observation by being a globe.

133 Olber's Paradox

That is a problem with a static universe, but since the universe is expanding, it's dynamic, not static.

134, 135, 136 and 137 Military operations

Conducted as part of Operation Dominic was a series of high altitude tests known as Operation Fishbowl. These tests were Thor missile launched warheads detonated at very high altitudes (30-248 miles) to evaluate the destructive mechanisms and effects of high yield explosions against ballistic missile RVs. Several test failures occurred with missiles being destroyed in flight by range safety officers when electronics failed (Bluegill), when rocket motors malfunctioned (Starfish and Bluegill Prime), or when the missile veered out of control (Bluegill Double Prime). The Bluegill Prime test was particularly disastrous since the missile was blown up while still on the launch pad, requiring complete reconstruction of the demolished and plutonium contaminated Thor launch facility.

HIGHJUMP's stated objectives were:

1. Training personnel and evaluating ships, aircraft, vehicles, clothing, fuels, and maintenance procedures in Antarctic conditions
2. Determining the feasibility, costs, and risks of establishing, supplying, and operating permanent or seasonal bases in Antarctica, and identifying candidate sites
3. Developing and standardizing techniques for constructing, maintaining, and utilizing air bases on snow and shelf ice—including runway preparation, ski-equipped aircraft operations, and cold-weather servicing—with particular attention to later applicability in interior Greenland
4. Conducting wide-area photographic reconnaissance and mapping of coasts and inland ice, and expanding records in electromagnetic, geological, geographic, hydrographic, and meteorological fields
5. Consolidating and extending potential United States sovereignty over the largest practicable area of the Antarctic continent (publicly denied as a goal before the expedition ended)
6. Supplementary tasks associated with Operation Nanook (a smaller equivalent conducted off eastern Greenland)

Earth was known to be a globe long before space explorations. Both allies and Nazis already used the globe to fight each other.

138 Orrery Models

Dave can't be serious. Orrery models use a globe.

141 Orbits

Rockets need to arc to reach orbits.

143 Ping

Dave never checked the distance, so he can't conclude how long a ping would take. Also cables are not straight or flat, they curve, follow the ground, spread out to different nodes on the network. Does he not even know what a network is?

150 Project Mockingbird

There is literally no point in lying about Earth's shape. It's way too easy to figure out Earth being a globe and knowing Earth's shape is important for logistics and navigation.

151, 152 and 204 Balloons

Balloons aren't satellites. The existence of balloons doesn't mean that therefore satellites are fake.

157 Railroads

The distance is determined before laying the rails.

161 and 200 Gas and containers

Everyone can use their phone and test for themselves that the pressure is higher near the ground. The pressure gradient matches the globe predictions.

167 Earthquakes

Earthquake propagation match globe predictions not the flat earth.

172 Snell's law

Yes, light doesn't refract in the vacuum of space. The curvature of space time and refraction are completely different concepts.

177 Spectroscopy

The effects of the atmosphere are accounted for when doing spectroscopy. Also, spectroscopy doesn't need a container.

182 Analemma

What is an analemma?

If you looked at the Sun at the same time each day, from the same place, would it appear at the same location in the sky? If the Earth were not tilted, and if its orbit around the Sun were perfectly circular, then, yes, it would. However, a combination of the Earth's 23.5 degree tilt and its slightly elliptical orbit combine to generate this figure "8" pattern of where the Sun would appear at the same time throughout the year. The pattern is called an analemma.

The Sun will appear at its highest point in the sky, and highest point in the analemma, during summer. In the winter, the Sun is at its lowest point. The in-between times generate the rest of the analemma pattern. Analemmas viewed from different Earth latitudes have slightly different shapes, as do analemmas created at different times of the day. Analemmas on the other planets have different shapes entirely!

186 Sunspots

The sunspots are larger than planets.

191 and 192 Apollo

Telemetry data is not important to keep. Flatearthers are only requesting it, because they don't have it. If they had it, they couldn't do anything with it and wouldn't accept it anyway.

The Saturn V production facilities were repurposed to built the Space Shuttle. Now they built Artemis_II and already had a manned fly by of the moon.

193 and 196 Earth Core

Earth is huge, so it takes a long time for it to cool down. Furthermore, Earth's age is irrelevant to Earth's shape.

195 Relativity

Relativity is irrelevant to Earth's shape. The flat earth already fails at sunsets.

197 Tsunamis

Tsunamis move exactly as the globe predicts and don't match a flat earth.

198 Earth Magnetic field

Earth's magnetic field matches the globe prediction, while the flat earth can't even explain how the magnetic field is generated.

199 Timezones

See #Time_Zones

201 Tokamak

What does a Tokamak reactor have to do with Earth?

203 Typhoon

Typhoon can form near the equator. They can't cross the equator. Furthermore, the flat earth doesn't even have an explanation for the rotation of Typhoons.

205 UV

How much UV light is hitting a spot on earth depends on the angle the sun ray hit the surface. They also depend on the strength of Earth's magnetic field at a given location.

206 Van Allen belts

The Van Allen belts do not prevent space travel.

207 Sun bonfire

The sun is not a bonfire.

208 Vectors in Space logos

How is that relevant to anything?

210 Waterfalls

Waterfalls act exactly as the globe predicts. The fall direction is mostly influenced by gravity, the surface it's falling off, and wind.

212 Wind forecast

Wind forecast relies on earth being a globe. Additionally, NOAA uses satellites for their forecasts.

214 Second Law of Thermodynamics

The Second Law of Thermodynamics applies to a system as a whole. Planets, stars etc, don't violate it.