The photo has been viewed over 6 million times on X.
A photo of a map showing the sea route from India to the United States caught the attention of billionaire Elon Musk. The map, which has been viewed more than 6 million times on X (formerly Twitter), shows the possibility of sailing from India to the United States in a straight line without hitting land. A blue curve is drawn between the two countries, from Mumbai via Madagascar to Alaska.
“It is possible to sail from India to the US in a perfect straight line without touching a single landmass,” the caption of the post read. And Elon Musk responded to the image, writing, “Wow.”
See below.
Wow
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 27, 2023
Meanwhile, other social media users pointed out that the map looked a little less straightforward. Some X users wondered if the map creators really knew what they were talking about. “This line is far from straight,” one user wrote. “But it’s not straight,” another confused user commented.
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However, even if it doesn’t look like a straight line on a two-dimensional map, it will look like a straight line when drawn on a globe. That is, the line does not curve to the right or left, but is a continuous line in one direction.
The user shared a short video showing the route on a 3D globe. “The Earth is a sphere and this is his 2D projection, so this is what the path actually looks like,” the user wrote.
Watch the video below.
Since the Earth is a sphere and this is a 2D projection, the actual path would be: pic.twitter.com/1MnxhXAfMG
— c🌖 (@sekira22) September 27, 2023
People on social media thanked User X for putting the trip in perspective, while others criticized those who found the original photo confusing. One user wrote: “Thank you. I was flat earthing for about 30 minutes and couldn’t wrap my head around it.” “I’m glad I read the comments before writing ‘that’s not a straight line,'” another said.
However, some users argued that the line follows the curvature of the Earth, so it is still not a straight line.
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