Ray Ingles
Organization: University of Michigan Engineering, Ann Arbor
From: ingles@engin.umich.edu (Ray Ingles)
Message-ID: 08x-m4#@engin.umich.edu
Newsgroups: talk.origins

In article <22@fedfil.UUCP> news@fedfil.UUCP (news) writes:

 [deletions]

>
>Primative peoples (in our day and age) tend to worship whatever strikes them
>as most awesome, amazing, exciting etc. in life.  I can and will cite
>several examples:

 [deletions]

>Two of the least large, least impressive, least assuming, inconspicuous,
>non-candidates for deity in the entire universe today are the
>far-off planets Jupiter and Saturn.  An overwhelming majority of people
>in the world couldn't even find them or point them out.
>And yet, just 4000 years ago, these two planets were the two chieftain
>gods in every nation on earth, every religion on earth...  the two most
>feared entities in existence.  Given present realities, this not only
>makes no sense, it is impossible.

 Just out of curiosity, why then were the *other* planets (e.g. Mars)
worshipped as gods when they were nowhere nearby?

[deletions]

>I have claimed that this planet once orbitted a small electromagnetic
>star, one pole forever pointed straight at that star, animals on the
>earth feeling gravitational pull not only of the earth, but of the star
>as well.  Only this allowed the giant antediluvian animals.

 Um... I don't know a whole lot about astrophysics, but I'm a
grad student in electrical engineering, and I know a bit about
electromagnetism.
 Let's stay simple. As hopefully everyone knows, the north pole
of one magnet will point at the south pole of another magnet, and
vice versa.
 Now, for the situation Ted describes here to hold, we have to assume
that Earth's north pole (well, actually, Earth's *magnetic* north
pole, but let's assume they are the same for simplicity) was pointed
at the south pole of this 'electromagnetic star.' But, also, the Earth
was revolving in orbit around that star.
 The only way for this to be true is if the magnetic south pole of the
star was *moving* relative to the surface of the star, and in fact,
'tracking' the Earth in its orbit.
 (Take two magnets. Clamp one into a vise. Take the other magnet and
move it in "orbit" around the fixed magnet. You will *feel* the forces
trying to rotate the magnet you're holding. Better yet, suspend the
'orbiting' magnet on a string, so that it's free to rotate, then see
whether it does what Ted says it does.)
 Now, it's true that the magnetic fields of planets and stars change
over time... but over *centuries* or more, not over one orbit of a
planet. (Well, now, the Sun's varies quite dramatically over short
periods of time... and gives rise to things liek sunspots and solar
prominences and solar flares. All of which would be kind of nasty
to a planet nearby... and none of these follow much of a stable
pattern.*) And not as regularly as an orbit.
 When we add in the *huge* fields necessary for this to work at all, it
becomes even more... um... unlikely. What in the Earth could possibly
have generated a field many, many, many, many orders of magnitude
stronger than present?
 Also, Ted has, so far as I can tell, never defined what he means by
'electromagnetic star,' explained what properties it would have (aside
from a magical mobile pole or two), or given any kind of mechanism for
one to exist.
  I could go on, but this is a decent start.

>Ted Holden

*There is a 'sunspot cycle' (which is really several superimposed cycles
of varying lengths) but it doesn't mean sunspots form in the same places
all the time... there's just times when there are more or less susnspots.

Sincerely,

Ray Ingles                  || The above opinions are probably
									 || not those of the University of
ingles@caen.engin.umich.edu || Michigan. Yet.