We’ve Been Wrong Before: The Expanding Earth Theory
Did the continents spread apart because the planet itself is expanding? No, but a lot of good scientists used to think so.
By Meg Neal
Aug 3, 2018
“We’ve Been Wrong Before†is Popular Mechanics' encyclopedia of scientific ideas that sounded good at the time but didn't quite pan out. Today: The Expanding Earth Theory, which argues that the reason the continents have spread apart is that the Earth itself has been getting bigger over the years.
Five centuries ago, when Europeans saw their first world maps that included the Americas, they noticed something odd: The coastlines of Africa and South America would fit together like a Jigsaw puzzle if they weren’t separated by the expanse of the Atlantic Ocean.
Thinkers of the era couldn’t get over this resemblance. In 1620, the English natural philosopher Francis Bacon wrote that the matching coasts were “more than a curiosity," but couldn’t figure any explanation. The interest in this curiosity would lead to one of geology’s most dubious ideas: the Expanding Earth theory.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a22594681/weve-been-wrong-before-expanding-earth-theory/
