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Another interesting one is when we "knew" how the sun worked. Of course we didn't know about nuclear reactions until the early 20th century, so it makes sense w
by seiferteric 4y ago
Another interesting one is when we "knew" how the sun worked. Of course we didn't know about nuclear reactions until the early 20th century, so it makes sense we didn't figure it out for a while after that. But before that it was a complete mystery! Scientists had calculated how much energy would be required to produce the amount of light we see and it seemed impossible given the estimated mass of the sun, for any know physical method to produce it (chemical, gravity compression). Some thought it was made of coal (sign of the times I guess) but that would of course require oxygen to react with... And would have only lasted a few million years I think...
- sebzim4500 4y agoBy my inexpert calculations, if we ignore the requirment for oxygen (because I don't know what ratio you need) the sun would only last 4000 years.
- seiferteric 4y agoActually ya your right, searching for it, they thought it would only last about 5k years. Actually they also thought it might be meteors falling in may add more energy that might allow to last 100s of millions of years... https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/experts-doubt-the-sun-is-actually-burning-coal/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/experts-doubt-the...
- oxymoron 4y agoI think our understanding of the inner structure of the earth is another interesting example of something that we’ve deduced scientifically but never directly observed. It surprised me a bit when I first realized that the Earth’s crust had never been pierced (by humans) and that it was all based on indirect observation.