Daneel has taken the trouble to document the amazing antics of our favourite fundy scientist, in two parts.
Boatwright Strawman Collection
T H E B O A T W R I G H T S C I E N C E S U M M A R Y including versions before revisions; v 2.1 released by Boaxford University Press 1.) It all started with SIGNS IN THE SKY. Star-forming regions suddenly became Mary and Jesus, a ring of gas in a planetary nebula the Eye of God... 2.) Then, there were the temperatures of the planets. Boatwright discovered that if we ignore thermodynamics; leave out Mercury for reasons we could leave out Mars, Venus, and Pluto too; and don't leave out Venus with its runaway greenhouse effect, and forget about the expected 1/sqrt(r) curve; we can draw a logarythmic curve- and EARTH IS COOLER. 3.) Later, John retracted and said that PLANTS removed CO2 from Earth's atmosphere (algae can be considered plants); so they COOLED EARTH. (In our Universe, the Sun's temperature grows steadily, thus there was never a runaway greenhouse effect on Earth.) 4.) Then; there came Jupiter. John said the S-L-9 impacts show IMPACTS ON JUPITER'S SOLID SURFACE. Later, after he was told that Jupiter is a gas planet and the atmosphere was imacted, 5.) he revised to say IMACTS ON THE SOLID CORE (on our Jupiter, the cometary fragments exploded some thousand km deep; wich can be calculated from the speeds of the impact and the expansion of thefireball, and the time between the sightings); and 6.) redefined SURFACE to mean 50% DENSITY FROM THE CENTER... 7.) (BTW; he also forgot his claim that the S-L-9 IMPACTS COULD have VAPORIZEd EARTH...) 8.) Events accelerated; and John invented 2 Byr fixed-length God [creation] Days (and supposed 7th day just begun); said that HIPPARCOS AGE OF UNIVERSE AND 4.6 BYR SUN AGE RATIO MATCH. This would be right in our Universe. Not in the Boatwrightian: see (9), (10), (21) and (29). In our Universe; different Christians argued either for six 24-hour-days; or that Jesus's second coming starts the 8th day (wich is hardly 1,994,000 years from now). 9.) It was a long time we could force him to accept that the Hipparcos team said 12+/-1 instead of 11 Byr. 10.) John thinks the UNIVERSE IS AN EXPANDING GAS CLOUD. This flies in the face of using General Relativity to calculate the age of a Universe: space expands and is filled out homogenously with matter (galaxies). Thus, John dumps even the 12+/-1 Byr date in (8). Also, we see matter 12+/-1 Byr away (quasars; galaxies in the Hubble Deep Field; Cosmic Background radiation). 11.) THE CENTER OF EXPANSION IS THE CENTER OF THE MILKY WAY GALAXY. Apparently, galaxies expand themselves in the Boatwright Universe. In our one, galaxies are gravitationally bound and rotate around their center; just like ours the Milky Way Galaxy. 12.) The EXPANSION SPEED is 0.5 C. Because John needs for some reason that both edges see each other; and because he can ignore special relativity in this case (see (41) ). 13.) Moreover, this GAS CLOUD IS FUSIONING. There are several spin-offs of this theory. 14.) EARTH IS 11 BYR OLD. No proof; but wait until (22)... 15.) THE FUSIONING GAS CLOUD GAVE LIGHT FOR THE EARTH BEFORE THE SUN. Plants fed on X-rays... (Fusion gives X-ray spectral lines; not even continuum.) In our Universe, we don't see any fusion clouds 4.6+ GLY away; only stars and quasars. 16.) THIS LIGHT WAS CONSTANT. Despite exapnsion, despite cooling due to expansion, despite changing levels of fusioning elements. 17.) THE FUSIONING GAS CLOUD PRODUCED ALL HELIUM. According to cosmologists in this world, most of the helium was produced by the Big Bang, in the first three minutes. 18.) THE FUSIONING GAS CLOUD PRODUCED FE< ELEMENTS. Funny how thermonuclear fusion does that in Boatwrightian physics; despite instant photodissotiation of these nuclei. In our Universe, neutron capture in supernovae did it. 19.) What about supernovae in Boatwrightian Physics? SUPERNOVAE HAPPEN WHEN FUSION STOPS AND EVERYTHING FISSIONS. In our Universe, all the energy is produced by the collapse of the iron core: just potential energy. It is used up first for fissioning the iron atoms back to protons in one second; and then carried away by neutrinos when neutrons form. Of the total energy, 99% is in neutrinos; of the rest, 99% is the kinetic energy of the blown-away rest of the star (propelled by a shock wave born when matter rebounded from the solid - yes; cristallic! - neutrino star); and the rest (just 1/10,000th of the whole) is radiation equaling the light of a 100-billion-star galaxy. 20.) THE FUSIONING GAS CLOUD PRODUCED HE< ELEMENTS. In our universe; fusion in stars later going supernova. 21.) PRE-FUSION GAVE 4.6+ APPARENT AGES OF STARS. But this doesn't explain younger stars; nor interstellar matter having the same H/He ratio throughout; nor that the seemingly older stars have much less He< elements. Also; the less precise, but at least direct age for the Sun - 5 Byr - is apparently apparent... 22.) MATTER FROM THE FUSION CONTAMINATED EARTH; CHANGING AGE FOR RADIOMETRICS. But John discovered a fallancy in this theory: if the composition only changes, then the apparent age is not identical with the age of the rained-down matter. Thus: 23.) MATTER FROM THE FUSION COVERED EARTH; CHANGING AGE FOR RADIOMETRICS. In our Universe, Earth's surface (the solidified *rock*, not the atoms) is 0-4.1 Byr old. 24.) The LAYER FROM THE FUSION is called TOPSOIL, and EXTENDS 10 KM DEEP. Here on Earth, what geologists call "topsoil" is the very young , non-rocky layer that is rich in organic material (mainly from plants). What is roughly 10 km deep is Earth's *crust*. 25.) COVERED PLANTS FORMED OIL POCKETS. In our universe, plants form coal; oil forms from organic material that is deceased plankton in oxygen-poor shallow waters; covered by sediment. And; they're all younger than 0.5 Byr. 26.) CONTINENTS MOVED ONLY SLIGHTLY SINCE CREATION (see (27) ). It is curious that John accepts the measured speeds of continental motion. With an average of 4 cm/year; we get 40 m per milennium, 40 km/million yrs, 40,000 km/Byr. Thus with average speeds, Alaska could travel from the Equator to its present latidude in 250 million years. 27.) ALASKAN OIL FIELDS SHOW ANCIENT VEGETATION => ISOTROPIC LIGHTING. Geologists tracked the motion of our Earth's Alaska with geomagnetism, and found that it was in the tropical zone at the time its oil formed. (Is this possible? Yes, see calculation in (26).) 28.) MEANWHILE, SOLAR SYSTEM FORMS FROM FUSION CLOUD. And plants survive the massive asteroid bombardement... 29.) In his Universe, H CAN'T CLUMP TOGETHER; HEAVY ELEMENTS DO IT FIRST. So obviously, God formed the oldest metal-poor stars. But; this theory flies in the face of radiometry's first assumption, that the early solar system had a uniform elemental distribution. Bye-bye, 4.6 Byr date, too. 30.) Earth revolves around the Sun. In the Boatwrightian Universe, TURBULENCE IN THE FUSIONING CLOUD SPED UP EARTH AT 30 KM/SEC. Gas thrust is really big in the Boatwright Universe. 31.) Because, of course, a COLLAPSING CLOUD WOULD ALL FALL INTO THE CENTER (NO PLANETS). In our universe; *turbulence* in the pre-solar cloud produced the remaining net angular momentum of the individual stellar systems; and of course only a 0 K cloud would collapse centrally. [Atoms have speeds; thus they don't free-fall but have orbits; collisions make sure that only the minority of atoms carries the net spin and the rest becomes the Sun.) 32.) But what about the feasibility of the fusioning gas cloud? THE SOLAR ATMOSPHERE IS A FUSIONING GAS CLOUD!!! John sensed there's something wrong, so later, this claim was changed: 33.) THE SOLAR CORONA AT 5-10 MILLION K IS FUSIONING. Our Sun's corona is 1-3 million K; not fusioning; and this temperature is *kinetic* temperature; that is, it refers to the speed of ions wich were thrown out in mini-flares (and eventually leave the Sun in the solar wind); and not the thermal temperature of a Maxwellian relaxed gas. 34.) Oh yes, and THE SI UNIT OF TEMPERATURE IS THE "DEGREE KELVIN". In our Universe, it's the "Kelvin"; the "degK" was officially banished in 1967 as an alternative usage. 35.) Later; John revised his claims again. FLARES ARE THERMONUCLEAR BLASTS. In our Universe; flares appear when magnetic fields of opposite polarity meet and collapse; releasing tremendous energies and accelerating ions at speeds equaling 100,000,000 K kinetic temperature. 36.) After David Batchelor from NASA corrected John; he just claimed for a while that THERE IS FUSION IN FLARES. No one debated that; traces of fusion happen even in Earth's atnmosphere. In our Universe; fusion in flares is insignificant in amount. 37.) ACCELERATORS IN PRINCIPLE COULD START A NEW BIG BANG. That's really astonishing: creating a Universe inside another Universe... This boggles even my General Relativity-accustomed mind. 38.) THERE WAS BOTH SPACE AND TIME BEFORE THE BIG BANG. By definition; or, better formulated, in the range where GR is meaningful; the Big Bang is the beginning of time and space. 39.) This is why John has the problem of needing EVERYTHING COMING FROM VACUUM - oh yes; 40.) VACUUM IS 0 DEG K. In our Universe; matter/energy has a temperature; vacuum doesn't (not even 0 K). 41.) EINSTEIN IS A DORK. But E=mc^2 is true; and nothing is faster than light. A strange genius this Boatstein. 42.) EXPANDING GAS CLOUD CAN'T CLUMP TOGETHER. We haven't seen the expanation at this bold theory; but in our Universe, expanding clouds can fragment wery well due to instabilities. Like gravity for the early Universe. 43.) ORION IS GRAVITIONALLY BOUND. While we don't know whether John's Universe's Orion is the constellation (as the Bible verse he uses) or the Orion Nebula, I must note that in our Universe, the constellation is a human phantasy of independent stars, while the Nebula is a fragmenting gas cloud slowly expanding meanwhile. Apparently the only cloud in the Boatwright Universe violating Law #42.) 44.) PLEIADES IS EXPANDING. Pleiades is an open cluster with traces of the original star-forming cloud in it. It is gravitationally bound just like the Orion Nebula; and it is "vaporizing" (fast-moving stars leave it). 45.) coming soon; and a lot of more. Feel free to make additions (BoatTheories or problems with them). Bye Daneel [a#323] (ustokos@cs.elte.hu) ****************************************************************** "Radio has no future." _Lord Kelvin "X-rays will prove to be a hoax." _Lord Kelvin
T H E B O A T W R I G H T S T R A W M A N C O L L E C T I O N collected until 19.08.1997 1.) UNIVERSE=EXPANDING GAS CLOUD. This seems to be similar to B.S.S. 10.); but appears here because Boatwright often starts his Big Bang "rebuttals" as if the BB theory is meant to work with this presumption. 2.) ENERGY IS ZEROED OUT TOWARD THE SINGULARITY. It isn't; energy approaches infinity [E and B fields too] towars the singularity. It is a real problem of science [but not touched by Boatwright] that we can't handle matter physics in a General Relativity singularity. But we can infinitely approach it (now let's forget quantum gravity). 3.) BB (evolution, etc.) INITIAL STATE MISSING! This comes from a misinterpretation of "initial state". An initial state is not the *oldest* state of a physical system. It is a state at a time we have chosen to calculate the state at other times from. Later or earlier. Initial in the sense of calculation. In the case of the BB, the initial state is the present. Just like when calculating the previous appearances of a comet. 4.) AIDS GOING AFTER PEOPLE WITH MANY SEXUAL PARTNERS IS NOT PREDICTED BY EVOLUTION. Evolution predicts the spread of traits that enhances the spread of our genes. (This can happen by enhancing the chance of survival; or the number of our own offspring.) Now let's forget about contraceptives (evolution had no time to adapt to them...). Virus's story: simple probability calculation shows that hosts with many sexual partners [followers of the second evolutionary strategy I mentioned] are more likely to get them. Host's story: tough the many-partners tactic has now negative survival value, the reproduction rate has lowered only slightly: Until contacting AIDS, the host has still more offspring than monogamists. The moral of the story: evolution and moral are different stories. 5.) OIL FLOATS ON WATER! THUS CAN'T BE FORMED IN SEAS. Of course oil floats on water; but at the time oil forms from the organic material *after* it was covered by sediment (that is: after it was closed into its future "pocket"); no water to float on. 6.) THERE ARE TRACE IDICATORS OF FUSION IN FLARES. There are [quite clear and definitive] indicators of trace amounts of fusion [X-ray spectra]; as David Batchelor clearly stated. 7.) STIX SAID EARTH IS A CHUNK OF AN EXPLODED STAR. He didn't. Earth formed from material thrown out by supernovae (that is, thrown out in a gas shell). After I told John; he twisted it: 8.) he calculated with an EXPANDING HOMOGENUOUS GAS; while the material thrown out is mainly concentrated into a shell; 9.) he calculated the number of SUPERNOVAE needed to FORM EARTH JUST BY ACCUMULATING FLUX OF MATTER IN ITS PRESENT VOLUME!... Earth formed in the primordial cloud of the solar system; and of course that H+He cloud received the material from supernovae. 10.) After he was told that we do see objects as far away as old the Universe is, he said I think THE UNIVERSE EXPANDS AT 0.5 C. Here, he supposes Earth is at one edge and the things seen at the other [implying uneven distribution). But the main problem is the equation of expansion with relative velocity. In our Universe, there is matter 6 Byr away, 12 Byr away, 18 Byr away and even further. Since expansion is even, distance between us and these points grows with 0.4c, 0.8c and 1.2c. This does NOT violate light speed as upper speed limit; since this is not the speed of some motion. This is the rate of expansion between two points on the texture of space! (BTW, all this texture was in one point because the expansion rate accelerates toward infinity in the past.) 11.) PHOTON-MATTER COUPLING IMPOSSIBLE, BECAUSE MATTER IS SLOWER. Using strawman 1.) again; John makes "coupling" mean a physical bondage. Instead, it refers to the state when two components are coupled by some interaction [here: electromagnetic], thus their temperatures even out to be equal. Photons and ordinary matter were coupled until 300,000 years after the Big Bang; and the 'uncoupled' primordial radiation is seen as the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation. 12.) PHOTONS DON'T CLUMP! SO NO FRAGMENTATION. Jeff Candy wrote about coupling and clumping in the same post, so John answered as if fragmentation (see B.S.S. 42.)) refers to photons. (Photons of course don't clump.) 13.) ENERGY (PHOTONS) NEED WORK TO EXIST. John twists the definition of energy in simple classical physics; where energy is the amount of work a system is able to do on its environment; or "stored work". But this doesn't mean that the source of all that energy was work. Rather; we could say that work is the amount of energy interchanged by two interacting systems; and the sum of energy is conserved. 14.) I think there was more, please help me out! 1000.) Surely we don't need to wait all too long. Bye Daneel [a#323] (ustokos@cs.elte.hu) ****************************************************************** "Radio has no future." _Lord Kelvin "X-rays will prove to be a hoax." _Lord Kelvin