|
It's time to renew as all memberships and subscriptions come to an
end with this issue, at least, if your mailing label contains a “94” and not
a “95” or “XC” on the upper right-hand side. Subscriptions will remain at
$15 ($20 outside the U.S.A. and Canada) with memberships at $25 for
everyone. Members will also receive a free audio tape with their
renewal. The tape is an interview with Professor Emeritus James Hanson
of the Cleveland State University and it was conducted on April 28, 1994.
Non-members may obtain the tape for $6.00 postpaid ($8 outside North
America). Be sure to renew now. Last year I was not able to find the
time to send additional notices of renewal so this may be the only notice
you'll get.
In this issue we focus a bit on the giant planet, Jupiter. J. Timothy
Unruh has placed the recent comet collision into perspective; a refreshing
change from the media hype. Philip Stott of South Africa examines the
field of physics and questions whether or not it is on the right track.
Finally, I look at the radiation emitted by Jupiter to see if there is any
ammunition there for creationism.
Jupiter and the comet
When comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 plowed into the planet Jupiter last
July, newspapers were rife with disastrous analogies if a comet that size
should hit the earth. If the media can be believed (and it can't) the
dinosaurs surely died out after a comet or asteroid hit the Gulf of Mexico
and changed the earth's climate 65 million years ago. There was even a
report in a mid-Western newspaper that a fragment of comet Shoemaker-
Levy would hit the mid-West United States on Sunday, September 18,
1994. Everyone in the mid-West would be killed instantly, but I'm still
here and there was no impact.
There are some puzzling aspects to the collision. The results lasted
longer than expected (they are still visible). The splash of the largest
piece spread out to the size of the earth in about 90 minutes indicating a
shock wave emanating at a supersonic speed of over 3,000 miles per
hour. Although theorists expected that the plumes thrown up by the impacts
to be white, (the color of ammonia or water vapor condensing to
form ice,) the color was actually dark, as if the material were made of
silicates or tarlike hydrocarbons. The chemical composition was not
identified but a couple of unexpected molecules were spotted, namely,
methylene and the hydroxyl ion. The problem there is that both
molecules require high heat to be formed. Estimates for the temperature
at Jupiter's core hover about 7,000 degrees Kelvin. It's my personal conclusion
that there is much more convection in the Jovian atmosphere than
is heretofore believed.
Jupiter and the Bible
Two unrelated pieces of trivia regarding Jupiter and the Bible: In Acts
19:35 there is an intriguing reference to Jupiter and an object that fell
from Jupiter:
The second piece of trivia is a bit more subtle. If one studies the
names of the deities of the world's religions, one finds that the names are
occasionally quite close to the Bible names. For example, Krishna, an
Indian deity from about the fourth or fifth centuries, is remarkably close
in pronunciation to Christ[ian]. In the case of Jupiter, the associated god
is named Jove, a contraction of Jehovah. A lot of Christians now believe
that the correct pronunciation of God's name is Yahweh, but here there is
evidence that the medieval scholars were closest to the original languages
with Jehovah. Jove is a corruption of Jehovah. As if to buttress this conclusion,
it seems that Orthodox Jews will pronounce the name Yahweh,
but they'll never pronounce Jehovah. Since they hesitate even to spell
God (they use G-d instead,) it follows that Yahweh is not the name of
God.
|