Experts Doubt the Sun Is Burning Coal (1863)
scientificamerican.com
Experts Doubt the Sun Is Burning Coal (1863)
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Re: Experts Doubt the Sun Is Burning Coal (1863)
#2(1863)
Re: Experts Doubt the Sun Is Burning Coal (1863)
#3[deleted]
Re: Experts Doubt the Sun Is Burning Coal (1863)
#4So did some argue that 5000 years was consistent with the Bible?
[I did search, but DDG found nada.]
Re: Experts Doubt the Sun Is Burning Coal (1863)
#5That passage really brings into perspective how old Scientific American is, or maybe how little ago it must've been that the composition of the sun was discovered. This was during the American Civil War.
Re: Experts Doubt the Sun Is Burning Coal (1863)
#6Well, I'm glad that's settled.
Re: Experts Doubt the Sun Is Burning Coal (1863)
#7My personal favorite "old science" theory: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminiferous_aether
> Luminiferous aether or ether[1] ("luminiferous", meaning "light-bearing") was the postulated medium for the propagation of light.[2] It was invoked to explain the ability of the apparently wave-based light to propagate through empty space, something that waves should not be able to do. The assumption of a spatial plenum of luminiferous aether, rather than a spatial vacuum, provided the theoretical medium that was required by wave theories of light.
> The aether hypothesis was the topic of considerable debate throughout its history, as it required the existence of an invisible and infinite material with no interaction with physical objects.
I found out about it by way of a novel taking place in the 1800s (written in modern times): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22929563-the-watchmaker-...
Re: Experts Doubt the Sun Is Burning Coal (1863)
#8This is really interesting, because we had a lot of the machinery in place to make accurate observations, but not a lot of the theory to link them together. We've known about sunspots since the Han dynasty and had accurate measurements of its size, distance, and temperature since the mid-1800s when spectroscopy became available.
But it took Einstein himself and the legendary E=MC^2 equation to demonstrate a theoretical source of energy that powers the sun, well into the 20th century.
Re: Experts Doubt the Sun Is Burning Coal (1863)
#9My personal favorite "old science" theory: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminiferous_aether > Luminiferous aether or ether[1] ("luminiferous", meaning "light-bearing") was the postulated medium for the propagation of light.[2] It was invoked to explain the ability of the apparently wave-based light to propagate through empty space, something that waves should not be able to do. The assumption of a spatial plenum o…
It’s not all that far off from the electromagnetic field.
Re: Experts Doubt the Sun Is Burning Coal (1863)
#10I believe everything I read. This is still true. This is not a lie.