happy axial tilt day

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MasterJedi
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21 Dec 2010, 5:18 pm

for those of us who have no use for superstition.

Happy solstice!

ruveyn
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21 Dec 2010, 5:23 pm

MasterJedi wrote:

for those of us who have no use for superstition.

Happy solstice!

If you are in the Northern Hemisphere rejoice! The days will now be getting longer for the next six months. If you in the Southern Hemisphere, you have had your fun for the last six months, now it is time to pay the piper.

ruveyn

Philologos
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21 Dec 2010, 7:50 pm

There is absolutely NO empirical evidence that the earth has an axis. NO one has ever reported seeing it.

They show us pictures of snow and ice with a few tents and vehicles scattered around and tell us "these are the poles" - could be anywhere in Siberia.

What is it made of, this axis? And how is it supposed to change the length of the day?

They had to fake the astronaut voyages because anyone in space would see NO AXIS!

ruveyn
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21 Dec 2010, 7:54 pm

Philologos wrote:

Any rotating three dimensional body has an instanteneous axis or rotation. The earth rotates therefore it has an axis. The axis is an abstract construction, an axial vector defined as a cross product of vectors.

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MasterJedi
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21 Dec 2010, 7:55 pm

just a theory, like gravity.

And yeah, it's been seen.

Y'see, when people are able to prove something by means of empirical evidence, it can be put into a science book. If something, say, reincarnation cannot be proved through the scientific method, it shoudn't.

ruveyn
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21 Dec 2010, 7:58 pm

MasterJedi wrote:

just a theory, like gravity.

And yeah, it's been seen.

Y'see, when people are able to prove something by means of empirical evidence, it can be put into a science book. If something, say, reincarnation cannot be proved through the scientific method, it shoudn't.

Neither the axis of rotation nor the plane of the ecliptic are physical objects. They are mathematical constructs.. The following is a mathematical result: in any central force field a body following a closed orbit (theoretically an ellipse) has a plane of revolution. This follows from central force and conservation of angular momentum.

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MasterJedi
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21 Dec 2010, 8:13 pm

don't know what that means. all I do know is that axial tilt favoring one direction or another is the reason for the season. And no, it's not a literal, physical object like what cartoons depict as the north pole.

Philologos
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21 Dec 2010, 9:56 pm

"The axis is an abstract construction"

Right - it is imahinary. Anybody can draw a picture. And why is the earth portrayed as spherical in in that diagram? Where are the corners?

Supposed to be four corners of the earth, right?

MasterJedi
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21 Dec 2010, 10:11 pm

the bible refers to the earth as having four corners. Yet another in a long list of things that particular book got wrong since a sphere can't have any corners.

Another is that the earth is 6,000 years old. Shame that the ancient Egyptians never existed nor did all those dinosaurs.

ruveyn
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21 Dec 2010, 11:06 pm

MasterJedi wrote:

The biblical Earth is flat.

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MasterJedi
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21 Dec 2010, 11:47 pm

perhaps they thought that the earth was flat like a plane square and thus, four corners.

Philologos
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22 Dec 2010, 2:19 am

Flat, but lumpy and with some thickness like a cheap mattress - so they are hospital corners. All the dinosaurs live on the other side, so we only see them when we dig.

Anyway, getting down off it and climbing out of it for a moment, the solstice [that is when the sun stands still, guys, look it up] is a very respectable waypoint in the solar cycle to note and celebrate, though it does separate us from the denizens of the Antipodes.

ruveyn
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22 Dec 2010, 4:27 am

MasterJedi wrote:

The axis of rotation is not a physical object, but it is tilted to the plane of the ecliptic which is not a physical object either.

The fact is that less sunlight falls directly on the northern hemisphere in the winter than in the summer. That is a physical fact.

ruveyn

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