63 results found.
... 1995. Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf. Aboard the m.v . British Reliance, enroute Fujairah to Kharg Island. Observers: the Master and Second Officer. "At 1525 UTC whilst in the westbound lane of the Traffic Separation Scheme and shortly after settling on a course of 270 , a small amount of blue phosphorescence was noticed in the sea waves ahead (the swell being very low). Suddenly, the wind appeared to blow quite strongly, swirling around the vessel and then for as far as the eye could see and all around the vessel, phosphorescent cartwheels of bright-blue light began forming. The bands of light were roughly 30 cm thick while the maximum diameter of the wheels was 15-18 m. "Their direction of movement seemed random and they were spinning at high speed, some chasing each other, others spinning in opposite directions next to each other, see sketch. "Whole groups dumbbelled around each other, all spinning in apparently random directions. The display lasted for about 18 minutes before petering out." A comment by P.J . Herring of the Southampton Oceanography Centre followed. "A quite extraordinary account of phosphorescent wheels occurring in one of the places where they are most often seen. In the 200, or so, cases of this phenomenon reported in the last 100 years, never have so many wheels been described so close together, nor has there been any association with wind change. I am very intrigued but at a complete loss to explain how the wheels were produced." (Greig, N.J . ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 136: JUL-AUG 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Mirror Matter May Matter Mirror Matter, if it exists, would be difficult to detect because it does not emit radiation to betray its presence. It interacts with Normal Matter (us and our instruments) only through its gravitational pull. The Mirror-Matter concept has been around since the 1950s because physicists needed (and still need) "something" that balances the universe -- which if you haven't noticed is asymmetrical. To illustrate this cosmic "deformity," note that Normal-Matter neutrinos always spin in the same direction, when half should spin one way and half the other way if the universe is symmetrical. However, the existence of Mirror-Matter neutrinos spinning the other way would redress things, making the universe "perfect" -- at least as far as human aesthetics are concerned. (Other entities might yearn for asymmetry, who knows?) Anyway, Mirror Matter is defined as being palpable and could also be that "missing mass" or "dark matter" that astronomers need to explain why spinning galaxies do not fly apart. Mirror Matter could also account for some mysterious terrestrial phenomena such as that unaccountable lack of a significant crater in Siberia, where the 1908 Tunguska blast leveled a huge forest but hardly disturbed the ground. Recently, Mirror Matter has been invoked to explain the ups and downs of terrestrial biodiversity. R. Foot and Z. Silagadze propose that the 26-millionyear periodicity ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 136: JUL-AUG 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects An Ice Ring In A Canadian Pond Ice rings (really ice "discs") are large circular discs of ice that occasionally form in rivers. One well-observed ice ring appeared in the Pite River in northern Sweden in 1987, About 100 feet in diameter, it was rotating slowly within a slightly larger hole in the ice covering the rest of the river. (SF#112) This ring was fashioned out of ice floes that had been captured by a whirlpool and set spinning. Its rough periphery had been "machined" to circular perfection over a period of weeks as it rotated ponderously within the confining river ice. A curious phenomenon is this, but one that seems to yield to simple explanation rather easily. Somewhat more puzzling is a 16-foot ice ring that formed overnight in the more placid waters of a farm pond near Delta, Ontario, in December 2000. The ice was too thin to walk upon, so it had to be a natural phenomenon. However, there was no whirlpool to provide the lathe-like action needed to create the neat disc. Nor was the disc said to be rotating when discovered. The whole event happened very quickly, too. (Bronskill, Jim; "Strange Ice Rings Baffle Researchers," Toronto National Post, March 8, 2001. Cr. G. Duplantier via L. Farish.) Comment. Even small farm ponds have some circulation of water ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 133: JAN-FEB 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Western Oregon Not Firmly Anchored To North America Global Positioning System (GPS) units reveal that western Oregon is rotating clockwise relative to the rest of North America. Part of the state is grinding against Washington. But Oregonians will not get dizzy. The periphery moves only a few millimeters each year. (Anonymous; "In a Spin," New Scientist, p. 25, October 7, 2000. Source cited: Geophysical Research Letters, 27:3117, 2000.) Comment. Western Oregon is probably a "terrane" -- an exotic chunk of real estate that drifted in from somewhere in the Pacific and lodged up against the North American coastline. Nlany such terranes have piled up against western North America in the geological past. But what causes the differential rotation? From Science Frontiers #133, JAN-FEB 2001 . 2001 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy, ancient history, mythology and astronomy. Lobster . The journal of intelligence and political conspiracy (CIA, FBI, JFK, MI5, NSA, etc) Homeworking.com . Free resource for people thinking about working at home. ABC dating and personals . For people looking for relationships. Place your ad free. ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 81: May-Jun 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Four Luminous Spinning Vortices July 21, 1991. The following observations were made by D. and E. Haines, about 11 PM, after they had just passed through the village of Hill Deverill, Wiltshire, England: "We saw what looked like the reflection of the moon from the driver's window (i .e . we were looking in a westerly to south-westerly direction), and, as we travelled on, it then looked like four beams of a high-powered torch, but, as we went still further and were more or less alongside, we could see it was in fact four swirling shapes, shining white (not very bright, but bright against the night sky). We turned off the car engine and could hear a whooshing noise (like a car a distance away, going fast on a motorway -- but the sound did not come any closer). The national grid reference was ST 866392 approximately. "These four spinning shapes (like the top of a cotton bud -- not dense and solid) went round and round in a clockwise direction. They came together in the middle, out and round and round. They did this several times (once, one went off to the right but came back into 'formation'), and then they came back together and just disappeared." (Haines, David, and Haines, Elaine; "An ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 81: May-Jun 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Galaxy Spins Wrong Way We have all seen impressive photographs of spiral galaxies with their whirlpool patterns. One can easily imagine them spinning ponderously, with streams of stars spiraling out behind the rotating core. This picture is intuitively satisfying from a mechanical point of view. But: "A galaxy with a spiral arm going the wrong way has been found by astroomers in the U.S . Spiral arms usually trail behind as a galaxy turns, but in NGC 4622 an inner arm is wrapped round the galaxy in the direction it is rotating." (Mitton, Simon; "Puzzle of Galaxy That Points Two ways," New Scientist, p. 22, February 29, 1992.) From Science Frontiers #81, MAY-JUN 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 85: Jan-Feb 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A Parade Of Spinning Phosphorescent Wheels October 7, 1991. Gulf of Aden. Aboard the m.v . Wiltshire enroute from Aqaba to Fujayrah. "At 1745 UTC the glow of bioluminescence was first noted around the hull of the vessel, illuminating the hull above the waterline. The passage of an area of phosphorescent wheels was recorded as follows: 1750: First large wheel of diameter approximately 15 m passed by vessel. Smell of fish in the air. 1806: Continuous wheels passing ves sel 6-8 at a time down either side. The larger wheels were of 15 m diameter and the smaller ones were about 6 m in diameter. 1811: Wheels stopped but bioluminescence still visible around vessel. 1950: Bioluminescence diminished. "The Aldis lamp was shone upon the water but gave no change, then the echo sounder was switched on and off but made no difference either. Several samples of sea water were taken which when shaken contained glowing, luminous, yellow-green specks 1 mm in size. "The wheels were turning in slow clockwise motion and the closest that any came to the ship was about 12 m. There was intense milky-white colouring in the centres which faded to pale white towards the outer limits." None of the radial spokes so common in phosphorescent-wheel reports were remarked in the Wiltshire report. Wheel rotation was also much slower than normal. One scientist supposed that the wheels were ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 87: May-Jun 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The earth: a doubly charmed planet In SF#85, we learned that the evolution of advanced life forms on earth may have depended upon the protective influences of Jupiter and Saturn. These two giant planets can gravitationally deflect potentially devastating asteroids and comets away from the earth. It seems now that we are doubly lucky! Computer runs demonstrate that the presence of our large moon has stabilized the earth's spin axis down the eons. Presently, the earth's spin axis makes an angle of 23.5 with the plane of the earth's orbit (its "obliquity"). The well-known result is our yearly procession of seasons. Without the steadying effect of the moon, however, the earth's obliquity would probably have swung chaotically over much larger values. Such extreme changes would have been inimical to the development of life, particularly advanced life. As a case in point, the polar axis of Mars, with only two tiny moons to dampen its spin excursions, seems to have gone through many wild swings, as indicated in the figure. What deadly climatic changes must have wracked our sister planet! (Touma, Jihad, and Wisdom, Jack; "The Chaotic Obliquity of Mars," Science, 259: 1294, 1993. Also: Laskar, J., and Robutel, P.; "The Chaotic Obliquity of the Planets," Nature, 361:608, ...
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... All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Crop circles: a middle ground On one hand, mainstream scientists, when they deign to notice them at all, pronounce that all crop circles are the work of hoaxers, as in the article by J.W . Deardorff referenced below. On the other hand, several books and a flood of reports in fringe publications claim that the crop circles, particularly the complex ones, are evidence that extraterrestrial intelligences are attempting to communicate with us. There is also a middle ground upon which stands G.T . Meaden, a physicist, and a few other scientists. Meaden has summarized this third position in the following paragraph: ". .. we believe that the formation of real crop circles is a rare phenomenon resulting from the motion of a spinning mass of air which Professor Tokio Kikuchi has modelled by computer simulation and calls a nanoburst. This disturbance could involve the breakdown of an up-spinning vortex of the eddy or whirlwind type. On this theoretical model such a process leads to plain circles and ringed circles -- types which are known from pre-hoax times in Britain and other countries, and are the only species which credible eye-witnesses have seen forming. All other so-called crop circles reported in the media news in recent years are likely to be the result of intelligent hoaxing, while the so-called paranormal events to which Deardorff alludes are nothing but the consequence of poor observation and/or exaggeration by susceptible mystics and vulnerable pseudoscientists. In the absence of hoaxing the subject would still be unknown to the ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 105: May-Jun 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Wrong-way stars in spiral galaxies Spiral galaxies are believed to form when gigantic clouds of gas collapse under the pull of gravity to create spinning discs. Further condensations give rise to the billions of stars that make up these immense rotating stellar wheels. Intuitively, one would expect all of the stars in a given galaxy to rotate around the hub in the same direction, like all of the water molecules in a whirlpool. But galaxy NGC4138, 50-million light years away, defies this common-sense expectation. M. Haynes and colleagues at Cornell have discovered that fully one-fifth of this galaxy's stars are rotating in a direction opposite from the rest. Otherwise, NGC4138 is a well-behaved spiral galaxy, almost a boring one, exhibiting no signs of internal turmoil or past collisions with another galaxy. However, all of the wrong-way stars appear to be youngish. This little clue may lead to some sort of explanation. (Muir, Hazel; "Counter-Revolutionaries Lurk in Spiral Galaxies," New Scientist, p. 18, March 16, 1996.) Comment. If all of NGC4138's counterrotating stars did condense from the original spinning gas disc, their large wrong-sign angular momentum would have had to be compensated for by a speed up of all the "right-way" stars. From Science Frontiers #105, MAY-JUN 1996 . 1996-2000 ...
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... admit that something is awry with our laws of gravitation and motion when they are applied on a cosmological scale Now, let us examine those four darkmatter items from the recent literature: D. Lin, a University of California astronomer, has shown that the Large Magellanic Cloud that orbits around our own galaxy (the Milky Way) is being torn apart (" cannibalized") by the powerful gravitational pull of a dense cloud of dark matter surrounding the Milky Way. This dismemberment of the Large Magellanic Cloud cannot be explained by the gravitational forces exerted by the stars in our galaxy that we can see. Lin calculates that our halo of dark matter is equivalent to 600-800 billion solar masses, compared to the only 100 billion solar masses of visible matter. (Flam, Faye; "Spinning in the Dark," Science, 260:1593, 1993. Also: Anonymous; "' Dark Matter' Is Observed 'Cannibalizing' a Galaxy," Baltimore Sun, p. 8A, June 8, 1993.) The dark matter surrounding a galaxy will, according to the Theory of Relativity, act as a gravitational lens that will deflect light rays passing near it. This dark matter, acting like a telescope, should increase the number of quasars counted in the sky near galactic clusters. Such larger quasar counts are indeed observed, but these increases are much larger than expected. The implication is that there is much more dark matter in the universe than previously thought. (Cowen, Ron; "Quasar Count Poses Dark-Matter Puzzle," Science News, 143 ...
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... their report. "The light phenomenon, which was strongly luminous, consisted of scintillating, rotating rings arranged as a system of plates (small rings in the centre and increasingly large ones towards the edges). The rings seemed to consist of sparks running around in a circular or slightly elliptical path with an impressive speed. Spontaneously I associated them with electrical discharges. The plate shape was felt as being in some way static as to location, and the sparks moved in a pattern without spreading out at the edges. It seemed that strong force was controlling the event. The sparks looked like having a core and a 'tail' behind. They looked like being able to crackle but no sound was heard, perhaps because of the distance. It was interesting to note that the rings were spinning in opposite directions. The effect clearly illuminated the surrounding air space. The whole light phenomenon took place with knifesharp edges in clear weather (temperature between -1 and -3 deg. C." (Witalis. Erik; "An Air Plasma Whirl, Seen in the Atmosphere, Sweden, January 1991," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 16:273, 1991.) Comment. Of course, the author is actually assuming that a plasma was observed. From Science Frontiers #80, MAR-APR 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 84: Nov-Dec 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Hunt For The Magnetoreceptor When magnetite particles were found in organisms from bacteria to bats, it was assumed that here was the long sought magnetoreceptor which animals used for magnetic navigation. But so far, biologists do not have the slightest notion how such magnetite particles can be turned into a "magnetic sense," which sends the brain information on the direction of the geomagnetic field or, perhaps, draws a magnetic map of sorts. A completely different sort of magnetreceptor is now under investigation, one that humans may also unknowingly possess. It utilizes special photoreceptors that employ an electron-spin resonance process which is modulated by the geomagnetic field. Some of our very sensitive magnetometers use similar phenomena. The biological version of such a receptor would be connected to the brain, as the eye is, and send signals as to the direction of the earth's magnetic field. Sounds interesting, but is there any basis for thinking such a sophisticated gadget could have evolved? It seems that some experiments with newts by J.B . Phillips and S.C . Borland support the idea. The newts were first trained to orient themselves in a certain direction with respect to the geomagnetic field. "When tested under one of four artificial field alignments (magnetic north at geographic north, east, south or west), the newts kept their training directions constant relative to the magnetic rather than the geographic system of reference, but they selected ...
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... . Mrs. P. Stafford was looking through her front window: ". .. when she saw what she first thought was a 'ball of white fire', larger than a football, about 20 to 30 feet from her, travelling horizontally at a constant height up her drive. There was very heavy rainfall, perhaps with some hail, but no lightning or thunder. The ball was seen against the background of other houses and her view of it was not interrupted. It was round, opaque and predominantly white with some yellow, and surrounded by a blue, irridescent halo. She said it was reminiscent of a meteor or comet and the light from it was like that from a fluorescent tube. It was bright enough to be clearly visible in daylight and appeared to be spinning or rotating. It hit the oak tree, perhaps 12 or 13 feet away, in Mrs. Wignall's front garden, with a terrific crack and explosion. "The ball was in sight for about 10 to 15 seconds, and its appearance did not change until it struck the tree, whereupon it became smaller. It hit the trunk about half way up and split the bark and trunk, showering splinters of wood over a distance of about 50 yards. As it did so, it rolled down the tree and dispersed in flashes -- she said that there seemed to be 'waves of lightning' passing from it into the ground and radial sparks streaming out of it in all directions. Her husband, however, thought he saw the ball, now smaller in size ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 80: Mar-Apr 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Spider Swordplay Ventral view of D. raptor . The claws are on the tips of the bottom two pairs of legs. Greatly enlarged photos reveal them to be wicked-looking fang-like structures. D. raptor, a Hawaiian spider, has lost its ability to spin webs and therewith capture prey. This unusual spider, however, has evolved: ". .. one of the most remarkable morphological features ever found in spiders (immense elongations of the tarsal claws)." These claws, just visible on the two lowermost pairs of legs in the sketch, are employed to skewer passing insects in flight: "The spider is strictly nocturnal, spending most of the activity-period hanging upside down from silk threads. Small insects are snagged directly from the air using a single long claw. For larger insects the spider uses both long claws on legs I, or sometimes all the long claws." (Gillespie, Rosemary G.; "Impaled Prey," Nature, 355:212, 1992.) Comment. Nature has produced many remarkable creatures. They become anomalous only if they cannot be explained as the products of small, random, cumulative mutations. From Science Frontiers #80, MAR-APR 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 66: Nov-Dec 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Neptune Spins Too Fast And Its Magnetic Field Is Awry Some pre-Voyager theories about Neptune have been severely tried by the data trickling back to earth across the great gulf separating us from what is now the most distant planet. Before Voyager, Neptune's spin period was believed to be about 17 hours. This was just the spin rate needed by theorists to explain why Neptune radiates much more heat than Uranus. It seems that spin rate is related to the mixing of a planet's molten innards, which in turn affects the rate at which heat reaches the surface where it is radiated away. With Neptune's period now pegged at 16 hours by Voyager's measurements, the mixing-cooling theory is in trouble. The magnetic-field situation is in even worse shape. When planetary scientists found that Uranus' magnetic field was tilted 60 from the axis of rotation, they worried a bit but didn't think that this one exception would overthrow the favored dynamo theory of field generation. After all, the magnetic fields of Jupiter, Saturn, and earth are reasonably well-behaved. But Neptune's field is now found to be misaligned by 50 ! The confidence of the planetologists has now been shaken. What, if anything, is different about Neptune and Uranus? It may just be that we don't really know how the magnetic field of any planet is generated. (Kerr, ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 70: Jul-Aug 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Spinning Ball Of Light Inscribes Crop Circles In the January 1990 issue of the Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., two reports appeared describing eyewitness observations of crop circles-in-the-making. Both involved a self-luminous spinning ball of light. We reproduce here the second of these accounts. June 28, 1989, north-central Wiltshire, near Silbury Hill. "Soon after midnight the occupier of the roadside cottage by the path which leads to West Kennett Long Barrow noticed a large ball of light 400 metres distant in a wheatfield to the west. At the time of the observation he was walking from house to garage, and had a clear view to the illuminated part of the field through a gap in a hedge which borders his garden. He described the ball as orange in colour, adding that it was brighter around the periphery, and he guessed the diameter as 30-40 feet (say, 10-13 metres). When first seen, the ball was already low over the field and still descending. The witness watched the base of the ball 'go flat' as it made contact with the crop and/or the ground. The ball then gave 'a little bounce' and after a further 'seven or eight seconds' disappeared in. "Next morning on leaving the house the witness could see via the gap in the hedge a large circle at the place which corresponded ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 69: May-Jun 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Gravity-defying gyros come down to earth It didn't take long for physicsts to rush into their labs to repeat the Japanese gyroscope experiments. The thought that a spinning mass might lose weight was just too horible to contemplate. Two replications of the Japanese experiment have been reported so far. "James E. Faller and his colleagues at the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics in Boulder, Colo., repeated the Japanese experiment by looking for signs of weight loss in a spinning gyroscope consisting of a brass top about 2 inches in diameter sealed in a small plastic chamber. 'We conclude that within our experimental sensitivity, which is approximately 35 times larger than needed to see the effect reported...there is no weight change of the type...described.'" (Anonymous; "An Absence of Antigravity," Science News, 137:127, 1990. Cr. F. Hanisch) "Now T.J . Quinn and A. Picard of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Sevres Cedex, France, have repeated the experiment. They find changes in the apparent mass of their gyroscope that depend on the speed and sense of rotation, but they amount to only about 5 per cent of the effect reported by Hayasaka and Takeuchi." (Anonymous; "Experiments Weaken Japanese Gyro Claim," New Scientist, p. 32, March 3, 1990.) The French scientists think ...
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... several past issues of SF. First, the crop circles, spanning 5 to 20 meters, are incredibly precise and sharp. Flattened stems on the periphery of a circle almost touch erect, undamaged stems. The so-called satellite circles that sometimes array themselves around the main circles may be connected by a narrow ring, thus: Even more curious, a short radial spur extends outward from some circles, so that from the air the circle resembles a fat tadpole. In his book, G.T . Meaden, the Editor of the Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., presents his theory of how the circles are incised in field crops: "He describes the clues that have enabled him to point to the circles being formed by the impact of a body of fast-spinning air that has been partially ionized. He explains how a columnar atmospheric vortex, with a vertical or inclined axis, provides the channel for the formation of a plasma (ionized gas) vortex and for its conduction towards the ground. The ionisation of the air ought to be sufficient to make the vortex luminous at night and the fast spin may make the vortex appear ball-shaped. Such a description suggests that Meaden may well have explained some sightings previously reported as UFOs in areas where circles have been found." (Elsom, Derek; "A Crop of Circles," New Scientist, p. 58, July 29, 1989.) The books are: Circular Evidence , Pat Delgado and Colin Andrews, Bloomsbury, 14.95 pounds; and The Circles Effect and Its ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 68: Mar-Apr 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Science waits for - almost begs for - refutation Two Japanese scientists, H. Hayasaka and S. Takeuchi, have spun up some gyroscopes, weighed them and - Horrors! - found that they weighed less when spinning in one direction than the other. They admit the heresy of their results: "The experimental result cannot be explained by the usual theories." The gyroscopes employed are small, weighing about 175 grams when not spinning. When spun clockwise, as viewed from above, no weight changes were observed. But rotating at 13,000 rpm counterclockwise, the 175-gram gyroscope lost about 10 milligrams. The balance's sensitivity was 0.3 milligram. This is a very large effect; and the weight loss increased linearly with increased speed of rotation. Obviously, the physicists are most perplexed by this "antigravity" effect. Perplexity has been accompanied by outright disbelief. R.L . Park, a physics professor at Maryland, remarked: "It would be revolutionary if true. But it is almost certainly wrong. Almost all extraordinary claims are wrong." R.L . Forward, an Air Force consultant, con-curs: "It's a careful experiment. But I doubt it's real, primarily because I've seen so many of these things fall apart." (Anonymous; "Anti-Gravity Effect Claim by Japanese," San Francisco Chronicle, December 28 ...
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... Project Sourcebook Subjects Two Hot Spots On Mercury Radio telescopes can give planetary astronomers a rough idea of the temperature existing several feet below the surface of a distant planet. Scrutinizing Mercury with their big electronic "ears," they have found two spots on the plamet where the temperatures are several hundred degrees higher than in the surrounding areas. Actually, these hot spots are easy to understand; because, to a Mercurian, the sun comes to a stop in the sky over one of these points and then moves backwards to the other point 180 away. As the sun tarries over these two spots, it heats them preferentially. The strange apparent motion of the sun is due to the 3:2 ratio between Mercury's period of revolution around the sun (88 days) and its axial spin period (59.6 days). What is surprising is that the energy detected radiating from the two hot spots is all reradiated solar energy; that is, there seems to be no contribution at all from Mercury's core! If no heat is leaking out of Mercury's core, the core itself is very likely solid. If it is solid, it cannot establish convection cells and thus generate a magnetic field through dynamo action. But back in 1975, the Mariner 10 spacecraft radioed back that Mercury actually does possess a magnetic field, and a surprisingly large one at that. (Wilford, John Noble; "Theory of Mercury's Hot Poles Is Shown to Be a Fact," New York Times, June 13, 1990. Cr. J. Covey ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 67: Jan-Feb 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Direct observations of hyperion's chaotic motion Hyperion is a 150-kilometer-diameter satellite of Saturn. Hyperion's irregular shape and the gravitational pull of Titan, a larger satellite of Saturn, make it a prime candidate for chaotic motion. After accumulating 53 Hyperion-days of observation, J. Klavetter has confirmed this theoretical suspicion. Hyperion's brightness varies wildly from day to day, as it spins unpredictably. The laws of motion and the largest computers are helpless here; although computer simulation can identify situations where chaos might develop. More alarmingly, some "subtle" chaos also appears in computer simulations of Pluto's motion and "perhaps other planets." (Kerr, Richard A.; "First Direct View of Solar System Chaos," Science, 246: 998, 1989.) Comment. Contemplate what might happen -- or might have happened already -- if any of the other planets moved chaotically. From Science Frontiers #67, JAN-FEB 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 66: Nov-Dec 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Globular Clusters Upset Theory Of Galaxy Formation A spherical cloud of globular clusters surrounds the Milky Way galaxy. Each cluster is itself a spherical groups of stars. Through the telescope, globular clusters are beautiful spherical aggregations of bright stars that seem to get ever denser toward the cluster's center. Globular clusters harbor many anomalies (AOB4 and AOB17 in Stars, Galaxies, Cosmos); here, we mention two involving spatial distribution and age. Many spiral galaxies, like our own Milky Way, spin ponderously in the center of a spherical cloud of scores, even hundreds, of globular clusters (see sketch). Not only do the globular clusters surrounding us display a different spatial distribution (spherical rather than flat-spiral), but their individual ages undercut galaxy theory. All of the Milky Way's globular clusters were supposed to have been formed when our galaxy was created. Yet, the ages of these clusters vary by as much as 5 billion years. (Dayton, Leigh; "Globular Clusters Upset Theory of Galaxy," New Scientist, p. 34, May 13, 1989.) Comment. We cannot resist mentioning still another cluster anomaly: The globular clusters do not participate in the galaxy's general rotation. Where did these oddballs come from? Reference. The catalog volume: Stars, Galaxies, Cosmos, mentioned above, is described here . From Science Frontiers #66, NOV-DEC 1989 ...
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... . In this scenario, we would expect Mercury to be rich in iron and rocks. This seems to be the case, but it has too iron to fit the theory. Astronomers have tried to save the theory by supposing that a large asteroid sideswiped Mercury tearing off part of its outer layer of lighter rocks, leaving the heavier iron core untouched. The theory doesn't say what happened to the debris from this colossal collision. As for Mercury's magnetic field, it is small, only 1% that of the earth. But where does it originate? All of the other planets with magnetic fields (earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus) rotate rapidly and are believed to have molten interiors, allowing fluid dynamos to form. Mercury, in contrast, spins very slowly and seems solid throughout. Therefore, the magnetic dynamos that supposedly create the fields of other planets cannot exist inside Mercury. (Crosswell, Ken; "Mercury -- the Impossible Planet," New Scientist, p. 26, June 1, 1991.) Comment. Could Mercury be a permanent magnet? M. Stock suggests this in a letter in the July 13 issue of New Scientist.) Reference. Facts about Mercury's anomalous magnetic field may be found in AHZ1 and AHZ2 in our catalog: The Moon and the Planets . Details here . From Science Frontiers #77, SEP-OCT 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... the resulting crop-circles display many amazing features which denote an extraordinary phenomenon at work -- one which will be shown to have very considerable consequences for physics, meteorology, and other research disciplines in the coming years." (Meaden, G.T .; "The Major Developments in Crop-Circles Research in 1990, Part 1," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 16:51, 1991.) Crop-circle formation observed in 1934. July 1934. Eversden, England. The observer was a Miss K. Skin of Cambridg. "I witnessed a corn circle being formed in 1934. I was gazing over a field of corn waiting to be harvested when I heard a crackling like fire and saw a whirlwind in the centre of the field, spinning stalks, seeds and dust up into the air for about 100 or more feet. I found a perfect circle of flattened corn, the stalks interlaced and their ears lying on top of each other (some even plaited) on the periphery. The circle was hot to the touch." An interview with Skin confirmed that the plaiting of the stems was the same as observed today, 56 years later. In addition, the same whirlwind created a second circle about 4 meters in diameter in the corner of the same field. (Meaden, G.T .; "Crop-Circle Formation Witnessed in Cambridgeshire, July 1934." Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 15:389, 1990.) From Science Frontiers #75, MAY-JUN 1991 . 1991 ...
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... meteorologists attribute these circles to unseen vortices in the atmos phere; more radical speculators invoke UFOs and mysterious Russian weapons. Pertinent to the explanation of this phenomenon are recent sightings of vapor vortices in regions where crop circles are common. While no one has yet seen these vortices gouging out circles, these visual manifestations betoken strong circular winds in the proper locations. Here follows a recent account: "Looking across the field of winter wheat to the east..., he suddenly noticed at a distance of 80 metres... what he took to be a large puff of white 'bonfire smoke' rising to 15 feet (5m) maximum height. The outer part of this 'smoke' column was scarcely rotating but the middle part, which was too thick to see through, was spinning rapidly. In a couple of seconds the effect had ended; the spinning central column had gone and the residual 'smoke' or cloud of fog drifted gently in the prevailing light north-east wind towards the southwest and dissolved after going several yards. He used the word smoke out of convenience but said that the effect was more likely caused by water vapour, cloud droplets or fog. He further emphasized the swiftness of the appearance and disappearance of the phenomenon. It had arrived suddenly like 'smoke from a distant cannon' or just as if 'a smoke-filled or fog-filled balloon had suddenly burst.' That is to say, it emerged as if from nowhere. He made the further point that the spinning column might have been very much longer than he could ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 58: Jul-Aug 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Chaotic Dynamics In The Solar System The following abstract appeared in a 1988 issue of Eos, a weekly publication of the American Geophysical Union. "Newton's equations have chaotic solutions as well as regular solutions. The solar system is generally perceived as evolving with clockwork regularity, yet there are several physical situations in the solar system where chaotic solutions of Newton's equations play an important role. There are physical examples of both chaotic rotation and chaotic orbital evolution. "Saturn's satellite Hyperion is currently tumbling chaotically, its rotation and spin axis orientation undergo significant irregular variations on a time scale of only a couple of orbit periods. Many other satellites in the solar system have had chaotic rotations in the past. It is not possible to tidally evolve into a synchronous rotation without passing through a chaotic zone. For irregularly shaped satellites this chaotic zone is attitude-unstable and chaotic tumbling ensues. This episode of chaotic tumbling probably lasts on the order of the tidal despinning timescale. For example, the Martian satellites Phobos and Deimos tumbled before they were captured into synchronous rotation for a time interval on the order of 10 million years and 100 million years, respectively. This episode of chaotic tumbling could have had a significant effect on the orbital histories of these satellites." Theis abstract continues, naming as other candidates for chaotic histories: some of the asteroids, Miranda (a satellite of Uranus), and the planet Pluto. ...
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... off something like a 'nuclear winter.' The cold persists long after the dust settles because of the increased reflectivity of the snow-covered continents. In the course of a few centuries, enough equatorial ocean water is transported to the polar ice caps to drop the sea level about 10 meters and thus reduce the moment of inertia of the solid outer reaches of the Earth (crust and mantle) by a part in a million. 'That doesn't sound like much, Morris told us. 'But when we realized that this translates into a full radian of slippage between mantle and core in just 500 years, we began to look seriously at the consequences.' With the moment of inertia of the crust and mantle 'suddenly' decreased, the argument goes, they begin spinning faster than the solid-iron inner core at the center of the Earth. The 2300-km thick shell of liquid outer core that separates the mantle from the inner core thus acquires a velocity shear, which in the course of about a thousand years destroys the pattern of convective flows that served as the dynamo maintaining the Earth's dipole field." The field reversal is not immediate according to both calculations and analyses of sediments. After the impact event, the dipole field decreases for a few thousand years, followed by a longer hiatus. Then, there is a sudden reversal. (Schwartzschild, Bertram; "Do Asteroid Impacts Trigger Geomagnetic Reversals?" Physics Today, 40:17, February 1987.) Comment. In trying to relate all this to our present situation ...
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... not the U.S archeological literature!) that seem to be swimming against the current. The Meadowcroft Rockshelter . J.M . Adovasio and R.C . Carlisle, in a letter to Science, argue that better dating techniques have consistently pushed the date at which humans arrived in the New World. Using their own work at the Meadowcroft Rockshelter, in Pennsylvania, they cite many radiometric dates earlier than 12,000 years. At this Pennsylvania site, the six deepest dates definitely associated with cultural material indicate that humans were here 13,955 to 14,555 years ago. (Adovasio, J.M ., and Carlisle, Ronald C.; "The Meadowcroft Rockshelter," Science, 239:713, 1988.) Kansas River skeletal remains . Using electron-spin resonance to date a piece of a human skull, W. Dort and L.D . Martin affirm a date of 15,400 years before the present. (Bower, B.; "Skeletal Aging of New World Settlers," Science News, 133: 215, 1988.) A Review of the Paleoindian Debate . W. Bray recounts in Nature what happened at a meeting at the Smithsonian last September. Various controversial sites were discussed, such as Calico Hills (200,000 years claimed) and Toca de Esperanca, Brazil (3 ,000,000 years claimed). But, oddly enough, the Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Kansas River data were not mentioned. Chiefly, though, Bray was concerned with what did and what did not constitute generally acceptable proof in archeological ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 39: May-Jun 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Forbidden Matter When a hot mixture of aluminum and manganese, iron or chromium is squirted onto a spinning water-cooled copper wheel, the molten metal freezes into a thin, metallic ribbon. If it is cooled too fast, a metallic glass results; cooled too slowly, it forms normal metal crystals. But when conditions are just right, icosahedral crystals cluster together in nodules a few microns in size. These icosahedral crystals are not normal in the sense that they have five-fold symmetry. In fact, to a crystallographer, these crystals are the equivalent to ESP in psychology. All the rules of crystallography insist that icosahedral crystals should not exist. One scientist reacted in this way: "All my training has been with the assumption that crystals are periodic. Now, almost everything has to be reexamined." Actually, the icosahedral crystals are "quasi-periodic"; that is, they are completely regular only over small distances. Nevertheless, there are hints that these materials that should not exist have remarkable structural and electronic properties. (Peterson, Ivars; "The Fivefold Way for Crystals," Science News, 127:188, 1985.) Two-dimensionsal quasiperiodic geometry (Penrose tiling) with five-fold symmetry formerly thought to be impossible in nature. The tricontahedron with 30 faces is the basis of three-dimensional quasiperiodic structures with five-fold symmetry. From Science Frontiers #39, MAY- ...
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... all preceding efforts. The surprises included sudden outbursts in the presumably steady vaporization of its icy nucleus and a periodic, complex pulsation of the comet's brightness. Whether this pulsation reflects the rotation of the nucleus, or some still unimagined phenomenon became a controversial focus of the recent meeting on the Exploration of Halley's Comet in Heidelberg." Some of the data presented and some of the attendees at this conference supported a rotational period of 2.2 days; others favored 7.4 days; a few liked a 2.2 -day period with a 7.4 -day wobble superimposed. (Kerr, Richard A.; "Halley's Confounding Fireworks," Science, 234:1196, 1986. Also: Campbell, Philip; "How Fast Does Halley Spin?" Nature, 324:213, 1986.) Halley's fireworks (visible outbursts) have also stimulated comet model-making. The latest is an icy-glue construction of sorts. See the accompanying figure and the accurate but not-particularlyenlightening caption. (Gombosi, Tamas I., and Houpis, Harry L.F .; "An Icy-Glue Model of Cometary Nuclei," Nature, 324:43, 1986.) Reference. Cometary outbursts are cataloged in ACO20 on The Sun and Solar System Debris. For information on this book, visit: here . A section through the icy-glue model of cometary nucleus, showing active and inactive micropores, small boulders, and the outer dust covering. From Science Frontiers #49, JAN-FEB ...
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... other crops. One eyewitness account of the formation of a single spial pattern has been found. However, the multiple spiral patterns excite the most interest because of their geometric regularity. Between 1980 and 1984, eight quintuplet patterns have been found consisting of a large central circle and four smaller satellite circles. Triplets were also discovered. Although the origins of the multiplet patterns are still unexplained, some interesting generalizations have emerged: 1. The whirlwinds responsible for the flattened circles of crops have lifetimes of only a few seconds, whereas dust devils may persist for many minutes; 2. These whirlwinds seem to occur around evening time instead of during the heat of the day; and 3. They are all anticyclonic, while tornados are almost all cyclonic and true heat whirlwinds are split about evenly in their spin direction. (Meaden, G.T .; "Advances in Understanding of Whirlwind Spiral Patterns in Cereal Fields," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 10:73, 1985.) Quintuplet circles found in a grain field near Cley Hill, England. From Science Frontiers #40, JUL-AUG 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 24: Nov-Dec 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The spin we're in From planets to stars to entire galaxies, the rate of spin is related to mass. If one defines Q (see graph) as angular momentum divided by the object's mass and a density factor, it is roughly equal to the object's (mass)0 .7 . Such empirical equations are generally accurate only over a limited region, but this newly discovered relationship holds for almost 50 orders of magnitude. For some unfathomed reason, all astronomical entities spin at rates determined by their masses. Even clusters of galaxies fall into step, slowly pirouetting in intergalactic space to some unknown tune. (Anonymous; "How Things Spin," Sky and Telescope, 64:228, 1982.) Comment. In the foregoing item, a team of investigators reported that the entire cosmos may spin. Does the cosmos, too, obey this new momentum-mass formula? From Science Frontiers #24, NOV-DEC 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 33: May-Jun 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Bad Spin Split Astronomers have long realized that the angular momentum of the sun is only 1/180th that of the solar system as a whole. The overwhelming majority of the angular momentum is tied up in planetary motion. To make matters even more puzzling, the angular-momentum vectors of the sun and the planetary system are 7 apart. The implication is that the sun and planets could not have been formed by the rapid condensation of a molecular cloud -- the present theory. Rapid condensation requires that the sun get a much bigger share of the angular momentum. These anomalies have led T. Gold to propose a slow-condensation model, in which several hundred million years are required rather than the tens of thousands of years in the current scenario. Another unexpected feature of Gold's model makes the sun a degenerate object, perhaps a neutron star. As the author of this article states: "Gold has stood the conventional view of the origin of the solar system on its head." (Maddox, John; "Origin of Solar System Redefined," Nature, 308:223, 1984.) Reference. The above "spin-split" enigma is discussed more thoroughly in ABB3 in our Catalog: The Sun and Solar System Debris. See description of this book at here . From Science Frontiers #33, MAY-JUN 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... and other appendages turn only so far before bones and muscles begin to snap. Well, it seems that inside ter-mite guts there resides a single-celled animal with a head that rotates constant-ly 30 times a minute. Since none of its membranes shear during rotation, we must infer that membranes are basically fluid structures rather than solids as supposed. The animal, called Rubberneckia, has a shaft running the full length of its body plus a motor of undetermined character. To make Rubberneckia even more bizarre, thousands of tiny, rod-like bacteria occupy long grooves on the cell's surface. Like galley slaves, the bacteria row with their flagella to keep Rubberneckia moving -- a curious symbiotic relationship. (Cooke, Robert; "A Tale to Make Your Head Spin,: Boston Globe, March 20, 1984, p. 1. Cr. P. Gunkel) From Science Frontiers #33, MAY-JUN 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... steadily on the patches, nothing happened. When the lamp was flashed, the whole array of flashing patches disappeared, only to reappear in about 2 minutes. Each patch seemed to consist of worm-like segments 2 cm long, 2 cm apart. The worms were all aligned perpendicular to a vector from the ship. In contrast to the bands and wheels, the worms were located about 5 cm below the surface of the water. Water samples revealed no luminous organisms -- only a few animals a few millimeters long. The sea was calm, visibility excellent, although atmospheric electrical activity could be seen all around. (Kuzmanov, Zoran; "Phosphorescence in the China Sea," Marine Observer, 53:85, 1983.) Comment. The luminous "worms" resemble the spinning crescents sometimes associated with radar. For more, see Chapter GLW in Lightning, Auroras. To order this Catalog, visit: here . Flashing patches of worm-like shapes. A later phase of thed display. From Science Frontiers #32, MAR-APR 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 19: Jan-Feb 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Rims Of Galaxies Spin Too Fast According to the physical laws governing orbital motion in a central force field, like that of our sun, distant objects should rotate more slowly than those closer to the central mass. Thus, the outer planets of the solar system swing around the sun more slowly than the earth and the other inner planets. Astronomers always expected that the stars rotating around the massive hubs of the galaxies would obey these laws in a like manner. No such luck! Doppler measurements of galaxy rotations made by Vera C. Rubin and her colleagues, at the Carnegie Institution, indicate that most stars out near the galactic rims rotate just as fast or faster than those closer to the hub. Astronomers suppose that this anomalous rotation may be due to halos of undetected burntout stars and/or gas fringing the galaxies. Such halos would dis-tort the inverse-square-law field, permitting the observed anomalous rotation. (Anonymous; "Fast-Spinning Galaxies," Science Digest, 89:18, November 1981.) Comment. No one has yet discovered these hypothetical halos of mass. The universe seems to be full of "missing mass." An unpopular alternative would be the admission that Newton's Law of Gravitation does not hold on the galactic scale. From Science Frontiers #19, JAN-FEB 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Arabian Sea. Aboard the m.v . Strathelgin. "At 1200 GMT large patches of milkygrey bioluminescence were observed; the patches appeared to form circular patterns resembling cartwheels, some of the configurations, however, did not have the central hub, see sketch. The patches pulsated at regular intervals (3 or 4 times per second). They moved in an anticlockwise direction until about 3 points abaft the beam where the direction of movement was reversed. On the beam they appeared to be at eye level, at all other times they were just above the surface of the water. The average size of the 'wheels' was 35 metres." (Penman, B.; "Bioluminescence," Marine Observer, 50:114, 1980.) Comment. A similar case of spinning boomerangs was reported in Lightning, Auroras, Nocturnal Lights, where the display was stimulated by switching the ship's radar on and off. Here, one must also ask how a bioluminescent phenomenon can exist at "eye level" many feet above the sea surface. To order the above-mentioned book, go to: here . From Science Frontiers #14, Winter 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 119: Sep-Oct 1998 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Curious Effects Department The spinning-egg water-sprinkler. It is generally known that you can separate fresh eggs from hard-boiled eggs by spinning them like a top. If they are hard-boiled they will spin on one of the ends. The fluid contents of fresh eggs, however, will slosh around and prevent top action. O.K .! this is not very curious, so we'll place a hard-boiled egg in a flat pan containing a thin layer of water and give it a spin. Not only does the egg spin on end but a layer of water creeps up the side of the egg. When the water is about half way up the side of the egg it breaks up into droplets and sprays out horizontally like a rotating lawn sprinkler. No mysterious forces are involved, nor are there spooky quantum mechanics effects. The major forces operating are gravity, centrifugal force, and adhesion between the egg surface and the water. As the film of water creeps up the egg, the centrifugal force increases and overcomes the force of adhesion. Then, water droplets spray outward. (Gutierrez, Gustavo, et al; "Fluid Flow up the Wall of a Spinning Egg," American Journal of Physics, 66:442, 1998.) Creating fluid corners in kitchen sinks. When a smooth column of water from your kitchen faucet hits the sink, it flows out radially. ...
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... installed all over the globe. From this wealth of seismic signals, geophysicists have found that the inner core, lubricated by the fluid outer core, rotates about 1.1 per year faster than the mantle and crust. The inner core interacts with the geomagnetic field and is, in effect, like the rotor of a slow, ponderous induction motor. Expanding upon this vision of the earth as a colossal electrical machine, E. Stokstad writes: "Electric currents of about a billion amps flow across the boundary between the solid inner core and the fluid outer core that lies around it. In the presence of the Earth's magnetic field, these currents generate massive forces that tug on the inner core. And because the outer core has a relatively low viscosity, the inner core can spin freely." (Stokstad, Erik; "Earth's Heart Is in a Spin," New Scientist, p. 18, July 20, 1996. The basic paper is: Song, Xiadong, and Richards, Paul G.; "Seismological Evidence for Differential Rotation of the Earth"s Inner Core," Nature, 382:221, 1996) Comments. Awesome as this gigantic natural electric motor may be, it doesn't challenge any paradigms; in fact, it reinforces current notions concerning the origin of the geomagnetic field. The anomalist, however, inevitably asks questions and makes iconoclastic connections. Why couldn't this planet-size piece of rotating machinery actually be a generator rather than a motor? The kinetic energy of the faster-spinning inner core ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 120: Nov-Dec 1998 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects More Quantum Weirdness You have probably already heard how a change in one subatomic particle can cause an instantaneous change in another, even if the second particle is cruising along in another galaxy. That's quantum weirdness all right, but this weirdness can also produce effects we can see and hear. All you have to do is cool helium down to almost absolute zero. It will liquify but, unlike most other gases, it will not freeze. You are surprised at this, of course. Now, if you spin a bowl of this liquid helium around, you will be astounded. The liquid remains absolutely stationary in its spinning container -- no centrifugal effects, no friction with the contained wall, nada!. However, the strangest part comes when you: "Draw a cupful out of the bowl, suspend it a few centimeters above the remaining liquid, then stand back and rub your eyes -- the fluid in the cup will cheat common sense by pouring itself, drop by drop, back into the bowl. A drop climbs up the inside of the cup, then runs down the outside. When it falls, another begins climbing, and the magic continues until the cup is dry." (Brooks, Michael; "Liquid Genius," New Scientist, p. 24, September 5, 1998.) From Science Frontiers #120, NOV-DEC 1998 . 1998-2000 William R. ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 112: Jul-Aug 1997 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Large rotating ice discs on ice-covered rivers The fringe literature has made much of the huge, slowly spinning discs of ice seen on some rivers in northern climes. UFOs are connected somehow. Or, more recently, they must be associated with the infamous crop circles! These ponderously rotating ice discs have also caught the attentions of scientists, who have been able to dispel some of these wild speculations. One well-observed ice disc formed on the Pite River in northern Sweden in 1987. It was rotating in a circular hole in the ice covering the rest of the river. "The rotating ice disc had a diameter of 49m [just over 160 feet] while the hole in the ice was 54m in diameter. The time of one full rotation was measured at 545s and 575s on 20 and 24 January respectively. Unverified measurements suggest that the time of rotation had been about 8 min a few weeks earlier. The rotation of the ice disc was anticlockwise and for most of the time the disc was in contact with the border ice. This contact point moved clockwise, i.e . the ice disc was not 'rolling' on the walls of the hole. This erosion by contact, which caused a low-frequency sound, explains why the hole in the ice was kept open for months." The ice thickness was 0.43m. Estimated weight of the ice disc = 864 metric tons -- ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 114: Nov-Dec 1997 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A RECIPE FOR WEIGHTLESSNESS?Take fifty rings of a superconducting ceramic, 27.5 centimeters in diameter, and stack them one above the other. Chill rings to -334 F. Spin rings at 3,000 rpm. You now have an antigravity machine; any object positioned above or below the rings will be weightless! This recipe is based on a claim by Finnish scientist E.E . Podkletnov at the Tampere University of Technology. Podkletnov discovered this amazing effect when researching superconducting materials, However, he used only a single ring, which resulted in a 2% weight reduction. Since antigravity effects are probably additive, it seems reasonable that fifty rings will create a 100% weight reduction. Obviously, more than fifty rings will be required to launch spacecraft from earth! Sure, it's a wild claim, but NASA is checking it out at the University of Alabama in a project headed by N. Li. (Holden, Constance; "NASA's Fling with Antigravity," Science, 274:183, 1996. Also: Port, Otis; "Take That, Isaac Newton," Business Week , p. 42, September 30, 1996. Cr. E. Murphy.) Comment. Facetiousness aside, it is pertinent to add here that physicist P.M .S . Blackett once seriously hypothesized that a magnetic field is generated by a rotating mass, such as the sun. ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 122: Mar-Apr 1999 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology The mosier mounds El nino -- bueno? The black pyramids Astronomy Our lucky star Ghost galaxies Is a singularity worse than a spinning cosmos? Biology Are we running on martian time? Another skin shedder A GENETIC DISCONNECT Another sucker Geology The earth hums more loudly in the afternoons Geophysics Bizarre phsiological effects of lightning Unusual wave Psychology Exceptional human experiences A FEW POTENTIAL EHEs Unclassified A REALLY MEANINGFUL COINCIDENCE Ach du lieber himmel Now we know why! ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 111: May-Jun 1997 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Levitation And Levity!New Scientist's "Feedback" page, our favorite source for remarkable insights into cosmic phenomena, noted recently that the magazine Omni had announced the winner of its "Theories" contest. The winning entry was revolutionary, to say the least. In the words of the inventor: "When a cat is dropped, it always lands on its feet, and when toast is dropped, it always lands with the buttered side facing down. I propose to strap buttered toast to the back of a cat; the two will hover, spinning inches above the ground." There is a deep profundity in this arrangement. S. Voss recognized immediately that a perpetual motion machine had been proposed. He set out to find a flaw. Somehow, energy was being supplied to keep the cat-toast armature turning. Voss observed that any practical cat-toast motor would have to be suspended over a very expensive carpet, for the simple reason that the probability of the toast landing buttered-side down is well known to be proportional to the cost of the carpet. (Linoleum is very poor in this application.) Furthermore. to maintain the machine's efficiency, the rug would have to be frequently cleaned of falling cat hairs. Carpet cleaning is energy-intensive, and it is here that energy must be supplied, thereby nullifying the perpetual-motion claim! (Anonymous; New Scientist " ...
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... 10,000 years or so. Nevertheless, it would have been nice to see Hapgood's earlier work acknowledged. Four features of this "new" proposal make it more palatable than Hapgood's to today's geologists and geophysicists: Two of the "new" authors, J. Kirschvink and D.A . Evans, are at the prestigious California Institute of Technology, while Hapgood was a PhD-less history professor at Keene State College. Status is important when theorizing. Kirschvink et al propose a scientifically acceptable mechanism for the onset of rapid crustal slippage. They visualize a huge chunk of the seafloor suddenly foundering and thereby changing the planet's mass distribution. This imbalance caused the continents to shift rapidly in order to restore the smooth rotation of the earth around its spin axis. Within a period of 15 million years, they envisage, the continents had slipped about 90 . Part of what is now North America moved from the South Pole to near the Equator. Evidence for this huge shift is seen in measurements of the earth's magnetic field frozen in the rocks. In other words, Kirschvink et al used the methods of paleomagnetism. The "new" crustal slippage is really only accelerated continental drift (a dominant and well-established paradigm) and not the more radical notion of the entire outer layer of crust slipping over the earth's mantle like a greased onion skin. Nor is the proposed process anything like poleflipping, where the entire planet flips 180 like a Tippy-Top -- a dynamically impossible event. (SF#6 ...
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... California coast. To ward off the attack, nine sperm whales had formed a rosette, heads together, with their powerful tails splayed outwards towards the enemy. The killer whales circled the sperm whales ominously. Every so often, one would dash in and tear off a huge chunk of blubber. Eventually, all nine sperm whales floated dead or dying in an ocean of blood. The "gentle-giant" portrait of the killer whale is tarnished further in the Antarctic where they habitually dine on the lips and tongues of minke whales, then leave them to die. (Pitman, Robert L., and Chivers, Susan J.; "Terror in Black and White," Natural History, 107:26, December 1998/January 1999.) Comment. How will the media spin-doctor stories like these? Killer whales didn't get their name because they ate fish alone. From Science Frontiers #121, JAN-FEB 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 106: Jul-Aug 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Looking Up Into A Tornado Funnel January 21, 1992. Near Cripple Creek, Colorado. Shortly after 2 PM, while fishing at Skagway Reservoir, D. Mc Gown spotted an ominous cloud formation developing in the west. A horizontal, black cloud rolled toward him. Suddenly, it lifted to reveal a huge, twisting funnel advancing directly at him. He threw himself to the ground, but got a good look up into the interior of the funnel. "The outside of the tornado was spinning so fast my eye couldn't follow it, but the inside was rotating almost lazily. I could see a thousand feet up inside it. Tiny fingers of lightning lined the hollow tube." Passing over him, the funnel bounced across the lake, ripped up some trees, and was gone. (McGown, Dennis; "Letters," Time, 147: 8, June 10, 1996) Comment. The "tiny fingers of lightning" are of great interest to anomalists, because most meteorologists deny that electricity plays any part in tornado activity. Of course, there is often plenty of ordinary lightning in the accompanying storms. An observation very similar to McGown's occurred in Kansas, in 1928. (GLD10-X2 in Lightning, Auroras. For information on this book, visit here .) Today, American meteorological journals are mostly filled with articles on the computermodelling of weather systems, satellite-imaging ...
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... Mar-Apr 1994 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Chaos At The Amusement Park Readers of Science Frontiers are well aware that some denizens of our solar system exhibit chaotic motion, as do some pendulums and even dripping faucets. Chaosists seem to be able to find chaos everywhere they look. If you have ever ridden on that amusement park staple called the Tilt-A -Whirl, you will recall that the ride is fun because you never know exactly what the car you are riding in will do as the platforms move along the hilly circular track. Each car is free to rotate about its center and will also tilt in all possible directions as the cars go up and down the hills. Can one mathematically predict whether the car will spin clockwise, counterclockwise, or not at all? What a neat problem for a physicist! And two physicists, R.L . Kautz and B.M . Huggard, have developed a mathematical model of the Tilt-A -Whirl. By integrating the equation of motion, they find that the Tilt-A -Whirl is, indeed, a chaotic system. You really cannot tell what the car is going to do -- even if you take your laptop along with you! (Kautz, R.L ., and Huggard, Bret M.; "Chaos at the Amusement Park: Dynamics of the Tilt-A -Whirl," American Journal of Physics, 62:59, 1994.) From Science Frontiers #92, MAR-APR 1994 . 1994 ...
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... speak. According to W.G . Tifft, we may have to replace our concept of one-dimensional time with three-dimensional time if we are to explain some pressing cosmological anomalies. Redshift differences of double galaxies. The horizontal axis is the redshift difference in kilometers/second. The vertical axis is the number of pairs having a given redshift difference. It all began about 1970 OTL (Our Time Line!), when Tifft showed that the redshifts of galaxies are quantized. To illustrate, the diagram indicates that the redshifts of binary galaxies tend strongly to cluster at 72 and 72/3 kilometers/ second. One would certainly not expect ponderous galaxies to orbit one another in a quantized fashion. It is almost as if binary galaxies emulate those dumbbell-shaped molecules that can spin around only at specific frequencies! Can the mechanics of the very large (galaxies) be quantized like the very small (atoms and molecules)? Tifft obviously thinks so: "Quantization, it seems, is a basic cosmological phenomenon. It must reflect some master plan." The Finnish physicist, A. Lehto, has proposed such a plan. "The new cosmology pictures the uni-verse as a set of timelines splaying outwards from a common origin in three-dimensional time. The "time" that we measure is related to our own line. Time along distinct lines is quantized and can even run at different rates." If you feel as if you are walking on a conceptual quicksand, you are not alone. (Beware, the quicksand may be quantized, ...
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