Читать книгу Star Death - Leo Emmanuel Lochard - Страница 10

The disruption of solar gravitational and radiant activity had dislocated the orbiting artificial satellites upon which television broadcasting so much depended; and it seemed that people in large urban areas who utilized “rabbit ears” or other types of antennae systems were able to obtain television programming. Television networks diligently endeavored to recover service with a few satellites after multiple attempts to re-calibrate their orbital path and re-orient their beaming signals were successfully performed.

Universities, “think tanks,” schools, even families, and our government at all levels of emergency preparedness, readiness, response and delivery, were engaged in “solar dynamics thinking.” What happened on that day, could it have been predicted as in “space weather forecasting?” Was it a “fluke” or “glitch” in solar plasma mechanics or did that event forebode a more ominous cataclysm? And how do we prepare for it when it affects the planet as a whole? Questions like those inspired great debates across the world as many people took opportunity to “brush up” on their knowledge of astrophysics.

Every one heard that a big tsunami had hit the coasts of Japan, Australia and New Zealand, due to plate tectonics displacement activity that reverberated into the hydrosphere—thus, oceans absorbing the larger portion of the shockwaves by re-translating them into the greatest tidal sea waves ever recorded in recent times. The devastation was so immense in terms of houses, buildings, roads, farms and equipment destroyed as well as lives lost, that it will take at least a decade before the affected areas fully recover.

Globally, and for good reasons, the greatest concerns have remained food and energy—the foundation for civilized human industrial and productive activities. At this juncture, national governments began to re-think their approach to problem solving in solar dynamics by redirecting their research activities towards more detailed solar activity observation and Earth-systems effects analysis.

At the United Nations, a conference addressing associated worldwide problems committed financial, material and personnel resources to delegating various research functions in accordance with available geographical facilities to which were assigned specific areas affected by the last solar conflagration.

Nations differed in economic development and resource utilization for comparative advantage, or rather for “opportunistic involvement” or “world engagement.” Some nations excelled in advanced technology while others, having less technological development, however, possessed great manpower availability. They thought that geography should play a role in situating experimental apparati, materiel transportation and personnel deployment since this worldwide concern touched the lives of all human beings who shared the planet.

They reached the conclusion that explosive materials, chemical plants and nuclear facilities, and the like, should receive the greatest amount of security and surety in the prevention of accidents, loss, or catastrophic damage. However, it was unanimously agreed that local autonomy in sensitive response to self-government and conventional comparative advantage in allocating roles and analytical resources, should be kept in mind as they implemented the motto that “a global threat demands a global response.” For, Nature and the sun could not be identified as the proverbial “enemy” though the threats were real as human lives and property hung in the balance.

That time however, the threat was really “extra-terrestrial,” that is, it was “outside of Earth,” from the sun itself—the very star that gives life-support systems to planet Earth as the only life-planet in the whole Universe.

Cultures all over the Earth and their forms of government began a redirection of their planning activities in whole new ways never encountered since before the very foundation of the world. For, changes brought about by disruptions in solar activity were systemic in nature; and a whole-energy system like the Earth, which presented especially complex sub-systems still under study at that particular point in time, was not even totally understood or known in all its multi-factorial contributing parameters. The sun had to be attended to; but more, the Earth had to be cared for simultaneously as the sun was being studied and researched and perhaps, even, “anticipated.”

The majority of research facilities, including solar observatories, weather reporting organizations, space analytical agencies and university research centers, all, were contributing to the understanding of solar events and Earth effects in a way that conformed to the needs of agriculture, construction, travel, communications, medical care, maritime activities and commerce, and continuum industrial productivity in general, with public reporting conveyed with utmost care in prevention of panic, fear and rash action. The crucial questions they were asking were, “What will the sun do next?” “How can we prepare for it”?

On Wednesday evening, a consortium of concerned scientists, led by the astrophysicist Peter Barlotuk, gathered at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, in order to ponder the ultimate question of physics for our times—was it the sun’s final death or “Terminal Entropy,” so prominently configured in mass media and astronomy programs to which the public was accustomed? Or, was the sun dealing with some energy variances due to re-calibrations as necessitated by “Functional Operational Entropy”?

In other words, how was the sun’s last “radio-magnetic activity” to be classified—was it like a “solar flare,” or “solar wind,” and thus, we had no need to worry about cataclysmic disasters? Or, was it something so totally out of the sun’s ordinary operational re-adjustment repertoire as to confirm its path towards “Terminal Entropy,” ‘star-death’ or ‘sun-death’?

Their reasoning, prepared by Peter Barlotuk, took this form of logic: “And that was no eclipse—the sun’s light was not blocked by the Moon, the Earth or any other space body! It did ‘go out’—and that was a global event! Now, if the sun is indeed ‘dying,’ right before our eyes, in the now, in the present and not in some future so-called 5 billion years, then can we determine from its subsequent activities how long it will take,—given its mass, core-fuel dynamics, electro-plasma mechanics, convection processes, fuel quantity, strength of magnetic field etc . . . —before its imminent death overtakes us? And, if it is ‘dying,’ what can be done to avert the extinction of the Family of Man, the human species? We, the human family, we need a direct theory of entropy, a specific time-span and an appropriate constructive, saving resolution.”

In Barlotuk’s summary, it was decided that “in the short-run granaries should be filled, food storage facilities upgraded, fuel supply structures reconditioned to accommodate surplus accumulation; and emergency preparedness protocols and procedures revisited for effects-sensitive responses addressing each respective locale that presents its own kind of potential endangerment. For example, a locale with an electrical generation nuclear power plant should expect the benefit of a nuclear disaster response team fully geared up through competent training, and completely equipped scientifically and medically, logistically and materially.”

They thought that it would be wise to have a set of reporting or communication protocols that began at the lowest local level, with pertinent information going through the county and state levels for appropriate response teams, up to the federal level, depending on the complexities, severity and intensity of predicted, and actual damage and loss.

“The Input-Process-Output principle ought to be operating at each level, thus providing ample observation, confirmation, data analysis and response options for each, as the complexities of the situation would govern final disposition. But time is of the essence in damage control procedures. For, preparedness and time make for operational readiness.”

Peter Barlotuk, being first entreated with a permission request, was approached by a young man with a piece of paper in his hands. He summarily read it and addressed the assembly in these words. “Friends, we have a new development. It is 8:30pm here in Illinois, that is U.S. Central Time, and the sun has already set; however, it has been observed, confirmed and reported that Aurora Borealis is now occurring, not just at the Poles, but as far down as the Equator. This is not a new event in the sense that it has happened in the past before, but given the current situation, it appears that there is such excessive solar coronal mass emission activity as to go beyond the bounds of expected Earth-effects. No dangers from a simple ‘light show’ except that it might trigger changes in atmospheric layer processing of ionized gas penetration for cloud formations, the condensates of which are necessary for rain, replenishment of the water table, the planting season and soil fertility.”

“Because of what occurred a few weeks ago, all processes, events or occurrences have to be driven to their logical conclusions; and the Earth can no longer be regarded as a so-called ‘closed system.’ The earthly Input-Process-Output mechanism has an intrinsic and inevitable connection to the solar Input-Process-Output mega mechanism. Every thing is important, and yet, not every thing can be factored in, with the same priority.”

“And, in anticipation, a crucial determination has to be made regarding how long the reciprocal ‘reaction chain’ will hold on Earth, for purposive quantification and qualification of sub-system affectations, for example, in terms of predictions in ecological and atmospheric developments, hydrosphere tidal activity, tectonic renditions, and bio-sphere forecasts etc . . . within the periods of accentuated solar impacts and outputs that might disrupt Earth systems as a whole.”

Paul Mirdewvell, a geo-chemist and bio-physicist, motioned for permission to speak and began thus, “We have unearthed some terrifying questions, ladies and gentlemen, the answers to which will determine the destiny of our lives in this world. We, however, are hoping these episodes of solar upheaval will not progress into its final demise. For, the last two instances of star turmoil countered each other as if torn by internal nuclear chain processing conflicts. First, there was no sun; but then, there was too much of it, in a manner of speaking. In the second instance, is not this in a way the exact opposite activity to what happened before, when the sun ‘went out?’ What I mean is that, it has been theorized that the previous event could have been caused by a giant solar storm system, like a giant sun spot, engulfing the whole solar complex and then collapsing its gravitational field so as to direct all radiant activity inwardly—and thus, no external emissions and the sun “going out;” whereas excessive coronal mass emissions like the great solar winds that caused Aurora Borealis tended to activate processes that are outwardly or externally directed rather than inwardly imploded, perhaps heralding the augmentation of the sun’s regular magnetic field strength. First, the sun emitted no light—as if it totally disappeared; but now, it’s ejecting so much ‘plasma rain’ as to cause Aurora Borealis at both Poles.”

“This ‘oscillation’ shows perhaps that the sun is returning to its regular core thermal dynamics and nuclear plasma convection activities, which will then restore stability, and hopefully, equilibrium to total-Earth systems.”

Philip Karbidek, a physicist, who appeared to not have shared such optimistic assessments totally then added, “Such coronal mass ejections, however, have more or less been pegged to the eleven-year polarity change cycle which is sometimes accompanied by extreme sun spot activity. One would assume these activities have counter-effects because they are opposite in operation—such as contraction and expansion, collapse and expulsion, of which convection is made, and thus, the absence of explosive spectral emissions in the first instance, and the presence of solar winds in the second.”

“Plasma energy which powers stars like our sun consists of ionized gases produced at very high temperatures that contain about equal numbers of positive and negative charges; and plasma energy is an excellent conductor of electricity, hence, the sun’s electrical dynamo. This dynamo is very powerful because it engages not only electricity but also radiation and electromagnetism. The atomic-ionized plasma fuel is a radio-active complex in which electron interchange is contrived by gravitational pressures and magnetic fields and thermo-nuclear temperatures.”

“Solar energy as radiated ionized plasma, is first processed via thermonuclear fusion, and then ‘cooled’ into atomic energy—thus, the sun recycles its own atom-proton nuclei fuel. The sun is powered by variants of pressure and temperature just as our atmosphere (the whole Earth, rather) is powered by variants of pressure and temperature driven by electro-dynamics, which contribute to the formation of tornadoes—these processes thus creating atmospheric convections from which emerge hydro-electric catalysts for storms and wind systems.”

“The sun engenders its own ‘internal tornadoes’—ionized plasma and atomic energy are joined by nuclear convection, the upward and downward transfer of thermonuclear electromagnetic radiation,—as ionized plasma is fused and then ‘cooled’ into its component atomic energy structure. Solar thermonuclear convection is caused by electro-magnetic ‘internal tornadoes’ created by chain reactions fueled by the inter-transmutations between hot ionized plasma and ‘cooled’ atomic energy.”

“Thus, the sun is a continuous ‘raging tornado’ devoured by such tremendous temperature and pressure, radiation and electro-magnetic momentum-force, and gravity differentials as to dwarf any conception we might develop regarding its internal operations.”

“So how do we know if it is a re-normalization of regular activities, as opposed to a stop-gap process that will lead to another ‘black out’? For if these are activities that impinge upon the sun’s gravitational field binding-energies, then the processes from which these effects are emerging could be ‘in toto systemic,’ and therefore symptomatic of a ‘kind of death’ for which we will have little preparedness or response.”

“The sun’s gravitational field is not only essential to its own survival but also for the ‘in-toto’ binding energy that holds the whole solar system together. A collapsed gravitational field—caused by an all-encompassing sunspot—could have directed all radiant activity inwardly, thus ‘over-cooling’ the photosphere or solar surface, which then blocked all emitted radiation; but why temporarily, so that equilibrium is restored thereafter, at least from what we can observe and feel? And how often will that occur in the near future—or was it a one-time re-adjustment in solar core plasma and nuclear convection dynamics?”

“I mean, the laws of thermodynamics also apply to the sun’s nuclear inferno, do they not? Is the sun running out of fuel? Is it suffering from periodic cooling so extraordinary that it affects its ability to retain nuclear chain reaction continuum for sustained radioactivity, heat energy, and gravitational projections for radio-magnetism? Or is it being inwardly ‘overheated’ so disproportionately as to need ‘venting off’ in order to remain as a star?”

“Of even greater concern, my friends, is that, if the sun’s magnetic field is being maximally affected so as to impact Earth magnetic field electro-conductivity and gravity determinants, could not the Earth ‘fall away from its orbit’ and collide with another planet?”

“Or, what if next time the Earth collides with another planet that itself ‘ran out of orbit’?”

Paul Mirdewvell, pausing for a few seconds, as if to let these horrifying questions “sink in,” offered his own trepidations, “What if the Earth lost its ability to retain atmospheric temperature due loss of synchronized synergism between hydrosphere thermal absorption, core electro-conductivity and dipolar magnetic field radiation interception? After all, Aurora Borealis had reached the equatorial line separating the two hemispheres, ‘merging’ at the equator—as if the magnetosphere was ‘weakening’ its barrier against the onslaught of extremely intense solar radiation. Could that allow ‘cold space’ to overcome this barrier to engulf the Earth so as to engineer a ‘cryo-state’? And therefore, could Nitrogen, ‘a cryogenic liquid,’ which constitutes more than 80 percent of Earth atmosphere, undergo ‘cooling’ so to speak, thereby neutralizing the thermal effects of less voluminous gases such as Oxygen, Carbon, and Hydrogen, that sustain livable temperatures? God be with us, with you, ladies and gentlemen!”

It was already 10:30pm and the meeting’s questions hovered over every one’s head, as if in anticipation of answers too frightful to entertain. The conference adjourned with promises of reconvening at various sites in many other States of the Union in order to spread dissemination of information in an angle as wide as possible given the opportunities of current telecommunications technology. But these local meetings were patterned after a model that was intended to survive even in the absence of satellite technologies, in case solar activities disrupted the grid of telecommunications on which the majority of organizations, businesses and government units had come to rely for transmitting, relaying, receiving and responding to information.

* * *