From: Michael Lorrey (retroman@turbont.net)
Date: Mon Mar 29 1999 - 00:55:55 MST
Julian Leviston wrote:
> If the universe is constantly expanding, how is it that we think that the
> earth is cooling down adn that the moon was once an earth but is now dead?
> Wouldn't it follow that if the universe is expanding, then things would be
> getting hotter, then the earth would be becoming more towards like the sun
> and the moon like the earth...?
Not at all. In the simplistic logic you are using, expansion leads to cooling
(check the simple gas laws in any high school physics or chemistry book), however
the cooling and slowing of local astronomical objects has little to do with the
expansion of the greater universe.
The formation of the earth and moon is mostly from one larger planet that was hit
by a planetesimal in an oblique manner. The outer crustal components were ejected
into earth orbit where they eventually accreted into what we call the moon, which
is why the moon has no nickle/iron core like the earth., and why the earth has
such a thin crust compared to other similar planets like Venus and Mars. The
earth would be as geologically quiet and cyclic as Venus if it were not for the
tidal influence of the moon creating a drag on the rotation of the Earth's
mantle, causing it to slip over the core. The core retains its rotational
momentum and rotates about one more rotation per year than the mantle does. This
differential in rotation acts as a dynamo which generates our strong
electromagnetic field. Venus, Mercury, and Mars all have very weak magnetic
fields compared to earth. The only small object in the solar system which has a
similar field is Jupiter's moon Io, which is also thought to be generated by the
tidal stresses of Jupiter on the moon.
Eventually, the moon will drag the earth's rotation to a dead stop, in some 800
million or more years, at which point the only thing providing any warmth will be
the internal radioactive decay of natural isotopes and thermal convection.
If one beleived in an infinite universe, then things should definitely be getting
hotter in the skies in infinities added to infinities every day. Even allowing
for red shift dragging light down in the spectrum, the heat levels in the ELF
ranges should be so high that the very interstella gas should glow visibly.
Contrary to the claims of the steady staters, the cosmic background radiation
agree very well with the age measurements of the universe by the big bang theory,
and are coming more into agreement over time as we learn more and more.
People who are big proponents of the steady state theories either do from
ignorance, or because they have a political agenda. They hate the air of
'legitimacy' that they see the Big Bang giving to traditional religion (because
most religions talk of similar stories of creation of the universe). They put
politics ahead of science, which is never a good thing to do.
--
TANSTAAFL!!!
Michael Lorrey, President
Lorrey Systems
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mailto:mike@lorrey.com
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