The Galactic Alignment is the alignment of the December solstice sun with the Galactic equator. This alignment occurs as a result of the precession of the equinoxes.
Precession is caused by the earth wobbling very slowly on its axis and shifts the position of the equinoxes and solstices one degree every 71.5 years. Because the sun is one-half of a degree wide, it will take the December solstice sun 36 years to precess through the Galactic equator (see diagram below).
The precise alignment of the solstice point (the precise center-point of the body of the sun as viewed from earth) with the Galactic equator was calculated to occur in 1998 (Jean Meeus, Mathematical Astronomy Morsels, 1997).
Thus, the Galactic Alignment "zone" is 1998 +/- 18 years = 1980 - 2016. This is "era-2012."
This Galactic Alignment occurs only once every 26,000 years, and was what the ancient Maya were pointing to with the 2012 end-date of their Long Count calendar.
These are the astronomical facts of the matter. From a larger perspective, we can visualize the 2012 Galactic Alignment in the following way:
Position A is where the December solstice sun was in relation to the Milky Way some 3,000 years ago. Position B is 1,500 years ago. And position C is "era-2012", when the December solstice sun has converged, as a result of the precession of the equinoxes, with the exact center-line of the Milky Way (the Galactic equator). Notice that the place of alignment is where the 'nuclear bulge' of the Galactic Center is located.
A long awaiting digital portrayal of precession and galactic alignments is now available on Nick Fiorenza's web site.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
2012 Astronomical Alignment
As a brief review of the some of the most basic of these natural cycles, we will begin with the rotation of the Earth on its axis. Because the Earth rotates one complete revolution every 24 hours we observe the reoccurring periods of day and night.
Unfortunately there are surprisingly large numbers of people today that still do not understand that this daily cycle is caused by the motion of the Earth and not by anything the Sun is doing. This could somewhat be explained by the fact that our linguistic customs lag centuries behind our scientific understanding, and we continue to speak in terms of sunrise and sunsets.
Be that as it may, the next cycle we will look at is based not on the motion of the Earth but of the Moon. The Moon revolves around the Earth every 29.5 days, giving us the concept of the month as it appears in its different phases from New Moon to Full and once again back to New.
Then there is the observable cycle of the year, as the Earth dances around the Sun in an elliptical orbit taking 365.25 days to complete one revolution.
As people continued to observe the heavenly bodies they also began to notice that some of the bright lights in the sky moved while others stayed relatively stationary. These wandering bodies we have come to know as the planets, and various people all over the world took a special interest in their particular movement and cycles, spawning a huge number of stories, myths and legends.
To those early astronomers who kept records of the movement of the Sun, Moon and Planets one of the greatest mysteries that they observed was the fact that every year they would wait for the Sun to appear on the Spring Equinox or Winter Solstice at a specific place on the horizon signaling the New Year.
Over time they were dismayed to find that the Sun no longer appeared in the same place it did just 70 years before, but had moved one full degree (the equivalent to the diameter of the Sun - times two). This slow movement, called the Precession of the Equinox, causes the Equinox Sun to appear to slip backward against the backdrop of the stars.
Astronomers have now managed to figure out that the Earth is not a perfect sphere by any means. It’s actually a bit flattened at the poles and has a bulge at the equator. As a result, the gravitational pull of the Moon and the Sun exert an uneven influence on the Earth. Their gravitational forces try to pull the equatorial bulge toward them. Because the Earth is spinning these forces make the axis of the Earth wobble, shifting ever so slowly. Gradually the polar axis that was at one time aligned with a particular star begins to shift until it is aligned with another star.
Right now the Earth’s axis at the North Pole points to the star Polaris – which appropriately we call the Pole Star. But 5,000 years ago the north celestial pole aligned to the star called Alpha Draconis. Eight thousand years in the future the pole star will be Vega.
This Precessional movement then is the same motion responsible for the shift of the location of the Equinoxes and the Solstices. The ancient astronomers detected the long term Precessional motion of the Sun through the back drop of the constellations and calculated the length of this Cycle to around 25,600 to 26,000 years.
This means that the Sun that marks the Spring Equinox which now appears in front of the background of stars in the constellation of Pisces, in about 500 years will rise in the constellation of Aquarius. It will continue to shift backwards through the various constellations Capricorn, Sagittarius, etc., until in about 26,000 years it will arrive back to the exact same point in Pisces.
The understanding of this Precession of the Equinox then gave rise to the many myths and legends of the different World Ages. As the Processional movement continued to shift the Equinox into a new constellation, various cultures perceived this as a New Age or New World. As the Spring Equinox Sun appeared to rise in the constellation of Taurus, people perceived this as the Age of the Bull; the Age of the Ram as it rose in the constellation of Aries; the Age of the Fish as it rose in Pisces and so on.
At one time many civilizations on Earth were aware of this natural cycle of the Earth and incorporated it into their cosmologies and concepts of Time in various ways. Each one reflecting a slightly different interpretation and meaning, but in their different ways they all held the Precessional Cycle as involving nothing less than the Cosmic process of Life’s evolution, subtly influencing all of Earth’s Life Forms to move to higher levels of organization and complexity. It came to symbolize the Spiritual Process of Unfolding Consciousness on our planet.
What is important here is that this belief was actually based on an observable astronomical cycle: every 72 years the Solstice and Equinox Sun appeared to move backward through the constellations one degree - as a hand on a clock indicating the hours of the day. In this Cosmic Clock however, the hand or marker in motion is the specific location of the Equinox or Solstice Sunrise, while the face of the clock is represented by the relatively stationary constellations of the stars.
With this in mind then, we will now turn our attention to how this Precessional Cycle became incorporated into the Mayan Cosmology and how it relates to their long count calendar and specifically to the year 2012.
Perhaps more than any ancient culture that we are aware of at this point, the Mayan people were obsessed with Astronomy. Not only were they able to project their astronomical calculations thousands of years forward and backward in Time, but developed a recyclable Venus calendar that was accurate to one day in 500 years and a table of eclipses that still functions today. They also accurately calculated the solar year out to four decimal places. To accomplish these impressive computations they created a sophisticated system of mathematics utilizing place value and the concept of the zero. And all this while Europe was still wandering around in the Dark Ages.
In a complex culture such as we find with the Maya and considering it spanned a period of almost a thousand years, it is important to remember that there arose different belief systems at different times, some of which were coexisting at the same place. Just as if we were to look at the demographics of say modern New York city, we would find Jews perhaps living besides Moslems, Protestants and Catholics - all entertaining different belief systems.
And so it’s appropriate here to limit our considerations of the Mayan culture to only those beliefs that lend meaning and significance to the auspicious date indicated in their long count calendar - Dec.21, 2012.
As we more sharply focus in on this date, we find that one of the indicators to its probable significance is that it specifically designates the Winter Solstice. As this is our starting point in our analysis then, let’s take a closer look as to what this might mean.
First of all it is good to be aware that around the world in various past cultures, each one designated a specific time to mark the beginning of their New Year. In ancient Sumeria and Babylon the New Year began with the Spring Equinox. In Israel the New Year was gradually shifted to the Equinox in the Fall, while in Northern Europe, New Year was celebrated at the time of Winter Solstice. We still observe this particular New Year tradition, but add a few extra days so that now our New Year begins on January 1st.
In the context of this tradition then, the Winter Solstice on December 21 was celebrated as the Sun’s birthday. It is the longest night of the year and therefore the shortest day of the year. It represented the ultimate power of the dark forces of Nature: the long winter night when things appeared to be dead and still. And out of the depths of this longest night the new Sun was born. From this point on, the power of the light grows in strength and the days slowly begin to grow longer.
Unfortunately there are surprisingly large numbers of people today that still do not understand that this daily cycle is caused by the motion of the Earth and not by anything the Sun is doing. This could somewhat be explained by the fact that our linguistic customs lag centuries behind our scientific understanding, and we continue to speak in terms of sunrise and sunsets.
Be that as it may, the next cycle we will look at is based not on the motion of the Earth but of the Moon. The Moon revolves around the Earth every 29.5 days, giving us the concept of the month as it appears in its different phases from New Moon to Full and once again back to New.
Then there is the observable cycle of the year, as the Earth dances around the Sun in an elliptical orbit taking 365.25 days to complete one revolution.
As people continued to observe the heavenly bodies they also began to notice that some of the bright lights in the sky moved while others stayed relatively stationary. These wandering bodies we have come to know as the planets, and various people all over the world took a special interest in their particular movement and cycles, spawning a huge number of stories, myths and legends.
To those early astronomers who kept records of the movement of the Sun, Moon and Planets one of the greatest mysteries that they observed was the fact that every year they would wait for the Sun to appear on the Spring Equinox or Winter Solstice at a specific place on the horizon signaling the New Year.
Over time they were dismayed to find that the Sun no longer appeared in the same place it did just 70 years before, but had moved one full degree (the equivalent to the diameter of the Sun - times two). This slow movement, called the Precession of the Equinox, causes the Equinox Sun to appear to slip backward against the backdrop of the stars.
Astronomers have now managed to figure out that the Earth is not a perfect sphere by any means. It’s actually a bit flattened at the poles and has a bulge at the equator. As a result, the gravitational pull of the Moon and the Sun exert an uneven influence on the Earth. Their gravitational forces try to pull the equatorial bulge toward them. Because the Earth is spinning these forces make the axis of the Earth wobble, shifting ever so slowly. Gradually the polar axis that was at one time aligned with a particular star begins to shift until it is aligned with another star.
Right now the Earth’s axis at the North Pole points to the star Polaris – which appropriately we call the Pole Star. But 5,000 years ago the north celestial pole aligned to the star called Alpha Draconis. Eight thousand years in the future the pole star will be Vega.
This Precessional movement then is the same motion responsible for the shift of the location of the Equinoxes and the Solstices. The ancient astronomers detected the long term Precessional motion of the Sun through the back drop of the constellations and calculated the length of this Cycle to around 25,600 to 26,000 years.
This means that the Sun that marks the Spring Equinox which now appears in front of the background of stars in the constellation of Pisces, in about 500 years will rise in the constellation of Aquarius. It will continue to shift backwards through the various constellations Capricorn, Sagittarius, etc., until in about 26,000 years it will arrive back to the exact same point in Pisces.
The understanding of this Precession of the Equinox then gave rise to the many myths and legends of the different World Ages. As the Processional movement continued to shift the Equinox into a new constellation, various cultures perceived this as a New Age or New World. As the Spring Equinox Sun appeared to rise in the constellation of Taurus, people perceived this as the Age of the Bull; the Age of the Ram as it rose in the constellation of Aries; the Age of the Fish as it rose in Pisces and so on.
At one time many civilizations on Earth were aware of this natural cycle of the Earth and incorporated it into their cosmologies and concepts of Time in various ways. Each one reflecting a slightly different interpretation and meaning, but in their different ways they all held the Precessional Cycle as involving nothing less than the Cosmic process of Life’s evolution, subtly influencing all of Earth’s Life Forms to move to higher levels of organization and complexity. It came to symbolize the Spiritual Process of Unfolding Consciousness on our planet.
What is important here is that this belief was actually based on an observable astronomical cycle: every 72 years the Solstice and Equinox Sun appeared to move backward through the constellations one degree - as a hand on a clock indicating the hours of the day. In this Cosmic Clock however, the hand or marker in motion is the specific location of the Equinox or Solstice Sunrise, while the face of the clock is represented by the relatively stationary constellations of the stars.
With this in mind then, we will now turn our attention to how this Precessional Cycle became incorporated into the Mayan Cosmology and how it relates to their long count calendar and specifically to the year 2012.
Perhaps more than any ancient culture that we are aware of at this point, the Mayan people were obsessed with Astronomy. Not only were they able to project their astronomical calculations thousands of years forward and backward in Time, but developed a recyclable Venus calendar that was accurate to one day in 500 years and a table of eclipses that still functions today. They also accurately calculated the solar year out to four decimal places. To accomplish these impressive computations they created a sophisticated system of mathematics utilizing place value and the concept of the zero. And all this while Europe was still wandering around in the Dark Ages.
In a complex culture such as we find with the Maya and considering it spanned a period of almost a thousand years, it is important to remember that there arose different belief systems at different times, some of which were coexisting at the same place. Just as if we were to look at the demographics of say modern New York city, we would find Jews perhaps living besides Moslems, Protestants and Catholics - all entertaining different belief systems.
And so it’s appropriate here to limit our considerations of the Mayan culture to only those beliefs that lend meaning and significance to the auspicious date indicated in their long count calendar - Dec.21, 2012.
As we more sharply focus in on this date, we find that one of the indicators to its probable significance is that it specifically designates the Winter Solstice. As this is our starting point in our analysis then, let’s take a closer look as to what this might mean.
First of all it is good to be aware that around the world in various past cultures, each one designated a specific time to mark the beginning of their New Year. In ancient Sumeria and Babylon the New Year began with the Spring Equinox. In Israel the New Year was gradually shifted to the Equinox in the Fall, while in Northern Europe, New Year was celebrated at the time of Winter Solstice. We still observe this particular New Year tradition, but add a few extra days so that now our New Year begins on January 1st.
In the context of this tradition then, the Winter Solstice on December 21 was celebrated as the Sun’s birthday. It is the longest night of the year and therefore the shortest day of the year. It represented the ultimate power of the dark forces of Nature: the long winter night when things appeared to be dead and still. And out of the depths of this longest night the new Sun was born. From this point on, the power of the light grows in strength and the days slowly begin to grow longer.
Monday, September 13, 2010
A White Dwarf
A white dwarf, also called a degenerate dwarf, is a small star composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. They are very dense; a white dwarf's mass is comparable to that of the Sun and its volume is comparable to that of the Earth. Its faint luminosity comes from the emission of stored thermal energy.[1] In January 2009, Research Consortium on Nearby Stars project counted eight white dwarfs among the hundred nearest star systems of the sun.[2] The unusual faintness of white dwarfs was first recognized in 1910 by Henry Norris Russell, Edward Charles Pickering, and Williamina Fleming;[3], p. 1 the name white dwarf was coined by Willem Luyten in 1922.[4]
White dwarfs are thought to be the final evolutionary state of all stars whose mass is not high enough to supernova—over 97% of the stars in our galaxy.[5], §1. After the hydrogen-fusing lifetime of a main-sequence star of low or medium mass ends, it will expand to a red giant which fuses helium to carbon and oxygen in its core by the triple-alpha process. If a red giant has insufficient mass to generate the core temperatures required to fuse carbon, an inert mass of carbon and oxygen will build up at its center. After shedding its outer layers to form a planetary nebula, it will leave behind this core, which forms the remnant white dwarf.[6] Usually, therefore, white dwarfs are composed of carbon and oxygen. It is also possible that core temperatures suffice to fuse carbon but not neon, in which case an oxygen-neon–magnesium white dwarf may be formed.[7] Also, some helium white dwarfs[8][9] appear to have been formed by mass loss in binary systems.
The material in a white dwarf no longer undergoes fusion reactions, so the star has no source of energy, nor is it supported by the heat generated by fusion against gravitational collapse. It is supported only by electron degeneracy pressure, causing it to be extremely dense. The physics of degeneracy yields a maximum mass for a nonrotating white dwarf, the Chandrasekhar limit—approximately 1.4 solar masses—beyond which it cannot be supported by degeneracy pressure. A carbon-oxygen white dwarf that approaches this mass limit, typically by mass transfer from a companion star, may explode as a Type Ia supernova via a process known as carbon detonation.[1][6] (SN 1006 is thought to be a famous example.)
A white dwarf is very hot when it is formed but since it has no source of energy, it will gradually radiate away its energy and cool down. This means that its radiation, which initially has a high color temperature, will lessen and redden with time. Over a very long time, a white dwarf will cool to temperatures at which it will no longer be visible, and become a cold black dwarf.[6] However, since no white dwarf can be older than the age of the Universe (approximately 13.7 billion years),[10] even the oldest white dwarfs still radiate at temperatures of a few thousand kelvins, and no black dwarfs are thought to exist yet.[1][5]
White dwarfs are thought to be the final evolutionary state of all stars whose mass is not high enough to supernova—over 97% of the stars in our galaxy.[5], §1. After the hydrogen-fusing lifetime of a main-sequence star of low or medium mass ends, it will expand to a red giant which fuses helium to carbon and oxygen in its core by the triple-alpha process. If a red giant has insufficient mass to generate the core temperatures required to fuse carbon, an inert mass of carbon and oxygen will build up at its center. After shedding its outer layers to form a planetary nebula, it will leave behind this core, which forms the remnant white dwarf.[6] Usually, therefore, white dwarfs are composed of carbon and oxygen. It is also possible that core temperatures suffice to fuse carbon but not neon, in which case an oxygen-neon–magnesium white dwarf may be formed.[7] Also, some helium white dwarfs[8][9] appear to have been formed by mass loss in binary systems.
The material in a white dwarf no longer undergoes fusion reactions, so the star has no source of energy, nor is it supported by the heat generated by fusion against gravitational collapse. It is supported only by electron degeneracy pressure, causing it to be extremely dense. The physics of degeneracy yields a maximum mass for a nonrotating white dwarf, the Chandrasekhar limit—approximately 1.4 solar masses—beyond which it cannot be supported by degeneracy pressure. A carbon-oxygen white dwarf that approaches this mass limit, typically by mass transfer from a companion star, may explode as a Type Ia supernova via a process known as carbon detonation.[1][6] (SN 1006 is thought to be a famous example.)
A white dwarf is very hot when it is formed but since it has no source of energy, it will gradually radiate away its energy and cool down. This means that its radiation, which initially has a high color temperature, will lessen and redden with time. Over a very long time, a white dwarf will cool to temperatures at which it will no longer be visible, and become a cold black dwarf.[6] However, since no white dwarf can be older than the age of the Universe (approximately 13.7 billion years),[10] even the oldest white dwarfs still radiate at temperatures of a few thousand kelvins, and no black dwarfs are thought to exist yet.[1][5]
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Physics of the Impossible 5
Class II impossibilities
Class II Impossibilities are “technologies that sit at the very edge of our understanding of the physical world," possibly taking thousands or millions of years to become available.[8]
Such a technology is time travel. Einstein’s equations do show that time travel is possible. However, this would not be developed for a time scale of centuries or even millennia from now. This would make it a Class II impossibility. The two major physical hurdles are energy and stability. Traveling through time would require the entire energy of a star or black hole. Questions of stability are: will the radiation from such a journey kill you and will the “aperture” remain open so you can get back?[7] According to Dr. Kaku in an interview, “the serious study of the impossible has frequently opened up rich and unexpected domains of science”.[9]
[edit]Class III impossibilities
Class III Impossibilities are “technologies that violate the known laws of physics." Kaku writes about only two of these, perpetual motion machines and precognition. Development of these technologies would represent a fundamental shift in human understanding of physics.[3][8]
Class II Impossibilities are “technologies that sit at the very edge of our understanding of the physical world," possibly taking thousands or millions of years to become available.[8]
Such a technology is time travel. Einstein’s equations do show that time travel is possible. However, this would not be developed for a time scale of centuries or even millennia from now. This would make it a Class II impossibility. The two major physical hurdles are energy and stability. Traveling through time would require the entire energy of a star or black hole. Questions of stability are: will the radiation from such a journey kill you and will the “aperture” remain open so you can get back?[7] According to Dr. Kaku in an interview, “the serious study of the impossible has frequently opened up rich and unexpected domains of science”.[9]
[edit]Class III impossibilities
Class III Impossibilities are “technologies that violate the known laws of physics." Kaku writes about only two of these, perpetual motion machines and precognition. Development of these technologies would represent a fundamental shift in human understanding of physics.[3][8]
Physics of the Impossible 4
Class I impossibilities
Class I Impossibilities are "technologies that are impossible today, but that do not violate the known laws of physics." Kaku speculates that these technologies may become available in some limited form in a century or two.[5]
A future technology that may be seen in within a lifetime is a new advanced stealth technology. This is a Class I Impossibility. In 2006, Duke University and Imperial College were able to bend microwaves around an object so that it would appear invisible in the microwave range.[1] The object is like a boulder in a stream. Downstream the water has converged in such a way that there is no evidence of a boulder up stream. Likewise, the microwaves converge in such a way, that to an observer from any direction, there is no evidence of an object. In 2008 two groups, one at Caltech and the other in Germany, were able to bend red light and blue-green of the visible spectrum. This made the object appear invisible in the red and blue green light range. However, this was only at the microscopic level.[1]
Teleportation, is a class I impossibility, in that it doesn’t violate the laws of physics, and could possibly exist on the time scale of a century. Today scientists are able to teleport only information at the atomic level. Information can be teleported from Atom A to Atom B, for example. But this is nothing like beaming Captain Kirk down to a planet and back. In order to do that a person would have to be dissolved atom by atom then rematerialized at the other end. On the scale of a decade it will probably be possible to teleport the first molecule, and maybe even a virus.[7]
Class I Impossibilities are "technologies that are impossible today, but that do not violate the known laws of physics." Kaku speculates that these technologies may become available in some limited form in a century or two.[5]
A future technology that may be seen in within a lifetime is a new advanced stealth technology. This is a Class I Impossibility. In 2006, Duke University and Imperial College were able to bend microwaves around an object so that it would appear invisible in the microwave range.[1] The object is like a boulder in a stream. Downstream the water has converged in such a way that there is no evidence of a boulder up stream. Likewise, the microwaves converge in such a way, that to an observer from any direction, there is no evidence of an object. In 2008 two groups, one at Caltech and the other in Germany, were able to bend red light and blue-green of the visible spectrum. This made the object appear invisible in the red and blue green light range. However, this was only at the microscopic level.[1]
Teleportation, is a class I impossibility, in that it doesn’t violate the laws of physics, and could possibly exist on the time scale of a century. Today scientists are able to teleport only information at the atomic level. Information can be teleported from Atom A to Atom B, for example. But this is nothing like beaming Captain Kirk down to a planet and back. In order to do that a person would have to be dissolved atom by atom then rematerialized at the other end. On the scale of a decade it will probably be possible to teleport the first molecule, and maybe even a virus.[7]
Physics of the Impossible 3
Types of impossibilities
Each chapter is named by a possible, or improbable, technology of the future. After a look at the development of today's technology, there is discussion as to how this advanced technology might become a reality. Chapters become somewhat more general towards the end of the book. Some of our present day technologies are explained, and then extrapolated into futuristic applications. In the future, current technologies are still recognizable, but in a slightly altered form. For example, when discussing force fields of the future, Dr. Kaku writes about cutting edge laser technology, and newly developed plasma windows. These are two of several technologies, which he sees as required for creating a force field. To create a force field these would be combined in a slightly altered form, such as more precise or more powerful. Furthermore, this discussion on force fields, as well as on the pantheon of highly advanced technologies, remains as true to the original concepts (as in how the public generally imagines advanced technologies) as possible, while remaining practical.[5][6] Kaku concludes his book with a short epilogue detailing the newest frontiers in physics and how there is still much more to be learned about physics and our universe.
Kaku writes that since scientists understand the basic laws of physics today they are able to perceive or imagine a basic outline of future technologies that might work. Kaku writes: "Physicists today understand the basic laws [of physics] extending over a staggering forty three orders of magnitude, from the interior of the proton out to the expanding universe."[5] He goes on to say that physicists can discern between future technologies that are merely improbable and those technologies that are truly impossible. He uses a system of Class I, Class II, and Class III to classify these science-fictional future technologies that are believed to be impossible today.
Each chapter is named by a possible, or improbable, technology of the future. After a look at the development of today's technology, there is discussion as to how this advanced technology might become a reality. Chapters become somewhat more general towards the end of the book. Some of our present day technologies are explained, and then extrapolated into futuristic applications. In the future, current technologies are still recognizable, but in a slightly altered form. For example, when discussing force fields of the future, Dr. Kaku writes about cutting edge laser technology, and newly developed plasma windows. These are two of several technologies, which he sees as required for creating a force field. To create a force field these would be combined in a slightly altered form, such as more precise or more powerful. Furthermore, this discussion on force fields, as well as on the pantheon of highly advanced technologies, remains as true to the original concepts (as in how the public generally imagines advanced technologies) as possible, while remaining practical.[5][6] Kaku concludes his book with a short epilogue detailing the newest frontiers in physics and how there is still much more to be learned about physics and our universe.
Kaku writes that since scientists understand the basic laws of physics today they are able to perceive or imagine a basic outline of future technologies that might work. Kaku writes: "Physicists today understand the basic laws [of physics] extending over a staggering forty three orders of magnitude, from the interior of the proton out to the expanding universe."[5] He goes on to say that physicists can discern between future technologies that are merely improbable and those technologies that are truly impossible. He uses a system of Class I, Class II, and Class III to classify these science-fictional future technologies that are believed to be impossible today.
Physics of the Impossible 2
The concept of impossibility
According to Kaku, technological advances that we take for granted today were declared impossible 150 years ago. William Thomson Kelvin (1824–1907), a mathematical physicist and creator of the Kelvin scale said publicly that “heavier than air” flying machines were impossible. “He thought X-rays were a hoax, and that radio had no future.”[4] Likewise, Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937), a physicist who experimentally described the atom, thought the atom bomb was impossible and he compared it to moonshine (a crazy or foolish idea). Televisions, computers, and the internet would seem incredibly fantastic to the people of the turn of the 20th century. Black holes were considered science fiction and even Einstein showed that black holes could not exist. 19th century science had determined that it was impossible for the earth to be billions of years old. Even in the 1920s and 1930s, Robert Goddard was scoffed at because it was believed that rockets would never be able to go into space.[4]
Such advances were considered impossible because the basic laws of physics and science were not understood as well as they are understood today. Kaku states that “as a physicist [he] learned that the impossible is often a relative term.” By this definition of "impossible", he poses the question "Is it not plausible to think that we might someday build space ships that can travel distances of light years, or think that we might teleport ourselves from one place to the other?"
According to Kaku, technological advances that we take for granted today were declared impossible 150 years ago. William Thomson Kelvin (1824–1907), a mathematical physicist and creator of the Kelvin scale said publicly that “heavier than air” flying machines were impossible. “He thought X-rays were a hoax, and that radio had no future.”[4] Likewise, Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937), a physicist who experimentally described the atom, thought the atom bomb was impossible and he compared it to moonshine (a crazy or foolish idea). Televisions, computers, and the internet would seem incredibly fantastic to the people of the turn of the 20th century. Black holes were considered science fiction and even Einstein showed that black holes could not exist. 19th century science had determined that it was impossible for the earth to be billions of years old. Even in the 1920s and 1930s, Robert Goddard was scoffed at because it was believed that rockets would never be able to go into space.[4]
Such advances were considered impossible because the basic laws of physics and science were not understood as well as they are understood today. Kaku states that “as a physicist [he] learned that the impossible is often a relative term.” By this definition of "impossible", he poses the question "Is it not plausible to think that we might someday build space ships that can travel distances of light years, or think that we might teleport ourselves from one place to the other?"
Physics of the Impossible 1
hysics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration Into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel is a 2008 book by theoretical physicist Michio Kaku. Kaku uses discussion of speculative technologies to introduce topics of fundamental physics to the reader. The topic of invisibility becomes a discussion on why the speed of light is slower in water than a vacuum, that electromagnetism is similar to ripples in a pond, and Kaku discusses newly-developed composite materials. The topic of Star Trek "phasers" becomes a lesson on how lasers work and how laser-based research is conducted. With each discussion of science fiction technology topics he also "explains the hurdles to realizing these science fiction concepts as reality".
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