'A New Science of Heaven'
by Robert Temple
Chapter 4: The 99 Per Cent
Excerpts have not been perfectly edited, and the greater context will be found by reading the book 📖.
One accepts those incompatible things which, only because they coexist, are called the world. – Jorge Luis Borges
In this chapter, I want to discuss a very surprising assertion that is not at all well known to the general public and perhaps not well known even by scientists who work in other fields, but is universally accepted by scientists who do work in the field of plasma research. Alongside our atomic, visible world is the subtler universe of plasma.”
“All but an infinitesimal part of the universe appears to be made up of plasma, probably all of it magneto-plasma. Thus in most problems in cosmic electrodynamics we are dealing with a non-rigid and electrically conducting medium extending to infinity … the remainder of the universe is made up of various plasmas … The plasmas with the lowest degrees of ionization are the lower parts of the ionospheres of the Earth and other planets. These regions are really boundary regions between the universal plasma and the small insulating, atmospheric shells. (John Hobart Piddington, Cosmic Electrodynamic…)
“Under ordinary terrestrial conditions the plasma state of matter is quite rare and unusual. But in the universe, cold solid bodies such as our Earth appear to be a rare exception. Most of the matter in the universe is ionized, i.e., it exists in the plasma state … In our own solar system the Sun consists entirely of plasma, its mass being three hundred and thirty thousand times larger than the mass of the Earth. The upper layers of the Earth’s atmosphere are ionized by the Sun, i.e., they consist of plasma …
“ Many plasma phenomena are evident on a colossal scale in deep space … In our opinion mankind is entering into the space age which, to a considerable degree, is also a plasma age. This new stage in the growth of science and technology imposes increasing requirements on the youngest branch of physics, plasma physics.”
(David Albertovich Frank-Kamenetskii, Plasma: The Fourth State of Matter, 1972, pp. 2–8.)
… space is not empty. A percentage of atoms in space are positively charged due to the loss of one or more electrons. The resulting exceedingly thin medium, containing positive ‘ions’ and negative electrons, is plasma, sometimes called ‘the fundamental state of matter’ since it constitutes more than 99 per cent of the visible universe. The electromagnetic behaviour of plasma clearly distinguishes it from solids, liquids, and gases.
“We cannot therefore draw conclusions about universal truths based upon a highly divergent, atypical, and almost infinitesimally small percentage of what exists. We cannot be certain that any of our physics is universally applicable and hence ‘true’ in the sense that we have complacently assumed.”
by Robert Temple
Chapter 4: The 99 Per Cent
Excerpts have not been perfectly edited, and the greater context will be found by reading the book 📖.
One accepts those incompatible things which, only because they coexist, are called the world. – Jorge Luis Borges
In this chapter, I want to discuss a very surprising assertion that is not at all well known to the general public and perhaps not well known even by scientists who work in other fields, but is universally accepted by scientists who do work in the field of plasma research. Alongside our atomic, visible world is the subtler universe of plasma.”
“All but an infinitesimal part of the universe appears to be made up of plasma, probably all of it magneto-plasma. Thus in most problems in cosmic electrodynamics we are dealing with a non-rigid and electrically conducting medium extending to infinity … the remainder of the universe is made up of various plasmas … The plasmas with the lowest degrees of ionization are the lower parts of the ionospheres of the Earth and other planets. These regions are really boundary regions between the universal plasma and the small insulating, atmospheric shells. (John Hobart Piddington, Cosmic Electrodynamic…)
“Under ordinary terrestrial conditions the plasma state of matter is quite rare and unusual. But in the universe, cold solid bodies such as our Earth appear to be a rare exception. Most of the matter in the universe is ionized, i.e., it exists in the plasma state … In our own solar system the Sun consists entirely of plasma, its mass being three hundred and thirty thousand times larger than the mass of the Earth. The upper layers of the Earth’s atmosphere are ionized by the Sun, i.e., they consist of plasma …
“ Many plasma phenomena are evident on a colossal scale in deep space … In our opinion mankind is entering into the space age which, to a considerable degree, is also a plasma age. This new stage in the growth of science and technology imposes increasing requirements on the youngest branch of physics, plasma physics.”
(David Albertovich Frank-Kamenetskii, Plasma: The Fourth State of Matter, 1972, pp. 2–8.)
… space is not empty. A percentage of atoms in space are positively charged due to the loss of one or more electrons. The resulting exceedingly thin medium, containing positive ‘ions’ and negative electrons, is plasma, sometimes called ‘the fundamental state of matter’ since it constitutes more than 99 per cent of the visible universe. The electromagnetic behaviour of plasma clearly distinguishes it from solids, liquids, and gases.
“We cannot therefore draw conclusions about universal truths based upon a highly divergent, atypical, and almost infinitesimally small percentage of what exists. We cannot be certain that any of our physics is universally applicable and hence ‘true’ in the sense that we have complacently assumed.”