Looks Can Be Deceiving<br > SCIENTISTS tell us that the earth is round.<br >It is a big ball， they say， about eight thousand miles<br >wide. It is spinning around like a merry-go-round， and<br >is sailing through space at a speed of 18~ miles per<br >second， or 66，600 miles an hour. It revolves around the<br >sun， making a complete round trip every year. The<br >first time we hear these facts they are hard to believe，<br >because they do not seem to match the way things<br >look. If we stand outdoors and took around us， what<br >we see of the earth doesn t look like a ball at all. It<br >looks more like a flat cake of soil and rock， with a<br >smooth surface where we see plains， and with bumps<br >and wrinkles where we see hills and mountains. We<br >don t feel the earth moving or spinning. In fact， it<br >seems to be standing perfectly still. And when we<br >watch the sun， as it rises in the east， climbs across the<br >sky， and then sets in the west， it looks as though the<br >sun is going around the earth， rather than the other<br >way around.<br > But things aren t always the way they seem. The<br > earth/s round， does spin， and does revolve around the<br > sun. For thousands of years this truth was hidden from<br > 7<br >