Our Precarious Existence
There are several factors that make the Earth the pleasant habitable abode that it is and not a barren rock like many of the other planets in our solar system. The prime protection for Earth comes from its magnetosphere, the magnetic shield that protects us from the ravages of the solar wind, those high velocity charged particles that stream continually from the sun.
Our near neighbours Venus and Mars do not have strong magnetic fields and so the solar wind has stripped them of all light gases, leaving only heavy gases such as carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide. The European Space Agency's Venus Express spacecraft discovered that the solar wind dries out Venus. When the solar wind hits Venus it strips away some of Venus' upper atmosphere. Hydrogen and oxygen atoms fly into space, removing from Venus the chemical building blocks of water. This process makes an already hellish planet even worse. Venus rotates on its axis in a retrograde manner only once every 243 days and Mars although it rotates only slightly slower than Earth (24.5 hours) is much smaller than Earth and is assumed to have a solid core rather than an active molten one. These features mean that neither Mars nor Venus is able to generate a “dynamo effect” and produce a substantial magnetosphere. Earth has a molten iron core and so is able to generate a protective magnetic field by spinning like a dynamo. Earth has managed to maintain its molten core due to several factors. It was the energy of the colliding material that formed the proto-earth that initially generated most of the heat and the decay of radioactive elements and the friction of a large moon has maintained its molten interior for billions of years. The moon also creates drag on the Earth’s crust creating variation between the angular momentum of the core and the lighter predominately silicate crust thus enhancing the dynamo effect to keep us safe from the ravages of the solar wind.
This dangerous solar wind is necessary and without it no life could exist on Earth. In the outer reaches of the solar system, beyond the orbit of Pluto, the particles of the solar wind become dispersed over a large area and the force of the solar wind diminishes at an area scientists know as “heliopause”. In this region of space inter-stellar cosmic radiation becomes powerful enough to wipe out life, but within the heliosphere of our neighbourhood star, the sun, the solar wind protects the planets from deadly cosmic radiation. We effectively live in a bubble within a bubble, the bubble of the magnetosphere protects us from the solar wind but the bubble of solar wind in turn protects us from dangerous cosmic radiation.
There is evidence that there is an element of solar influence in global warming, in particular warming trends identical to those on Earth have been observed on both Mars and Jupiter. That is not to say that we should throw our hands in the air and assume we can do nothing about it or that we should not try to do something about it because it is not our fault. There are steps we can take and I will discuss these in a future blog.
Our sun will eventually become a red giant and consume the Earth along with the other inner planets, we do not expect this to happen for about another five billion years; but then we have understood the nature of the sun for so little time that we cannot really be sure. The things we can be sure of are sound principles of physics. The sun will not just go pop and one day become a red giant. Every second the sun hurls millions of tons of matter off into space in the form of radiation (including heat and light) and charged particles. Each gram of matter means the sun reduces its own mass by just that little bit and as its mass decreases so to does its gravitational field. It is the suns gravity that keeps it compressed so that the nuclear reactions that provide our heat and light do not tear it apart into a nova or supernova, but every decrease in its gravitational field allows the sun’s surface to expand just a little more. We can calculate the sun’s mass and the average rate at which it ejects material so our projections of solar patterns are accurate within certain variables and any increase in activity will become obvious as a trend over a period of time. The sun is a very active body of matter and it fluctuates over long periods and currently the planets Earth, Mars and Jupiter all display a warming trend over recent decades.
Could the Sun become too hot and endanger life on Earth? The authors of the Bible seemed to think it possible, the Bible says;
• Revelation:
• 16:8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
• 16:9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which has power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
(King James Version)
Our near neighbours Venus and Mars do not have strong magnetic fields and so the solar wind has stripped them of all light gases, leaving only heavy gases such as carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide. The European Space Agency's Venus Express spacecraft discovered that the solar wind dries out Venus. When the solar wind hits Venus it strips away some of Venus' upper atmosphere. Hydrogen and oxygen atoms fly into space, removing from Venus the chemical building blocks of water. This process makes an already hellish planet even worse. Venus rotates on its axis in a retrograde manner only once every 243 days and Mars although it rotates only slightly slower than Earth (24.5 hours) is much smaller than Earth and is assumed to have a solid core rather than an active molten one. These features mean that neither Mars nor Venus is able to generate a “dynamo effect” and produce a substantial magnetosphere. Earth has a molten iron core and so is able to generate a protective magnetic field by spinning like a dynamo. Earth has managed to maintain its molten core due to several factors. It was the energy of the colliding material that formed the proto-earth that initially generated most of the heat and the decay of radioactive elements and the friction of a large moon has maintained its molten interior for billions of years. The moon also creates drag on the Earth’s crust creating variation between the angular momentum of the core and the lighter predominately silicate crust thus enhancing the dynamo effect to keep us safe from the ravages of the solar wind.
This dangerous solar wind is necessary and without it no life could exist on Earth. In the outer reaches of the solar system, beyond the orbit of Pluto, the particles of the solar wind become dispersed over a large area and the force of the solar wind diminishes at an area scientists know as “heliopause”. In this region of space inter-stellar cosmic radiation becomes powerful enough to wipe out life, but within the heliosphere of our neighbourhood star, the sun, the solar wind protects the planets from deadly cosmic radiation. We effectively live in a bubble within a bubble, the bubble of the magnetosphere protects us from the solar wind but the bubble of solar wind in turn protects us from dangerous cosmic radiation.
There is evidence that there is an element of solar influence in global warming, in particular warming trends identical to those on Earth have been observed on both Mars and Jupiter. That is not to say that we should throw our hands in the air and assume we can do nothing about it or that we should not try to do something about it because it is not our fault. There are steps we can take and I will discuss these in a future blog.
Our sun will eventually become a red giant and consume the Earth along with the other inner planets, we do not expect this to happen for about another five billion years; but then we have understood the nature of the sun for so little time that we cannot really be sure. The things we can be sure of are sound principles of physics. The sun will not just go pop and one day become a red giant. Every second the sun hurls millions of tons of matter off into space in the form of radiation (including heat and light) and charged particles. Each gram of matter means the sun reduces its own mass by just that little bit and as its mass decreases so to does its gravitational field. It is the suns gravity that keeps it compressed so that the nuclear reactions that provide our heat and light do not tear it apart into a nova or supernova, but every decrease in its gravitational field allows the sun’s surface to expand just a little more. We can calculate the sun’s mass and the average rate at which it ejects material so our projections of solar patterns are accurate within certain variables and any increase in activity will become obvious as a trend over a period of time. The sun is a very active body of matter and it fluctuates over long periods and currently the planets Earth, Mars and Jupiter all display a warming trend over recent decades.
Could the Sun become too hot and endanger life on Earth? The authors of the Bible seemed to think it possible, the Bible says;
• Revelation:
• 16:8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
• 16:9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which has power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
(King James Version)
If the Bible indicates that global warming will get worse, what could happen next?
One of the most definitive predictions that cannot be mistaken; is that the period of rotation of the Earth will change; a day will no longer be twenty-four hours the Earth will revolve on its axis every sixteen hours. A day will consist of eight hours daylight and eight hours darkness, the reason that this will occur is to increase the strength of the Earth’s magnetosphere to protect us from the sun. This appears in the Bible as;
• Revelation:
8:12 And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
(King James Version)
The only way that the day and night can be reduced by one third is for the Earth to rotate more rapidly on its axis, if the days were reduced by one third that would mean that instead of a twenty-four hour day we would have one of only sixteen hours. The dynamo effect would be enhanced and Earth would be protected from increased solar radiation. I find this a very interesting scenario because it indicates that those who wrote the Bible had either knowledge of things that we are only now learning or really did have the ability to see the future. This would prove that there is a Supreme Being looking out for us, because who else would have the ability to change the period of revolution of a planet? If Biblical authors could see the future this is an event that we are yet to experience, if not how did they imagine the need to increase the strength of Earth’s magnetosphere?
One of the most definitive predictions that cannot be mistaken; is that the period of rotation of the Earth will change; a day will no longer be twenty-four hours the Earth will revolve on its axis every sixteen hours. A day will consist of eight hours daylight and eight hours darkness, the reason that this will occur is to increase the strength of the Earth’s magnetosphere to protect us from the sun. This appears in the Bible as;
• Revelation:
8:12 And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
(King James Version)
The only way that the day and night can be reduced by one third is for the Earth to rotate more rapidly on its axis, if the days were reduced by one third that would mean that instead of a twenty-four hour day we would have one of only sixteen hours. The dynamo effect would be enhanced and Earth would be protected from increased solar radiation. I find this a very interesting scenario because it indicates that those who wrote the Bible had either knowledge of things that we are only now learning or really did have the ability to see the future. This would prove that there is a Supreme Being looking out for us, because who else would have the ability to change the period of revolution of a planet? If Biblical authors could see the future this is an event that we are yet to experience, if not how did they imagine the need to increase the strength of Earth’s magnetosphere?
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