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“Fringe scientists” have been saying that cosmic and solar particles have been causing earthquakes for a long time. It seems counter intuitive but an analogy i

“Fringe scientists” have been saying that cosmic and solar particles have been causing earthquakes for a long time. It seems counter intuitive but an analogy is very simple: A 15 mph breeze will do almost nothing to push a person, but will exert tremendous force on a sail of sufficient size. Earth, in this analogy, is a really big sail.

vanderZwan 3y ago
The counter-argument is equally simple: a sail is a surface. The earth is a sphere. A sphere made of solid rock the size of a sail will be even less moved by a 15 mph breeze than this hypothetical person.
- blueprint 3y ago
  you're missing the analogy. the surface area of the sail is the entire volume of eg piezoelectrically responsive rocks - so it's a gigantic sail
- zackees 3y ago
  We aren't talking about the earth being blown off course though, just that there is a large amount of energy that was previously unaccounted for and that this energy is large enough to trigger an earth quake at vulnerable parts.
  - idlewords 3y ago
    Do the back-of-the-envelope computation of how much energy reaches Earth from a coronal mass ejection and see how well your idea holds up. (a typical flare is 10^16 grams of matter moving at about 450 km/sec)
    - CrimsonRain 3y ago
      You don't need a ton of energy to set off a possible chain reaction events.
    - refibrillator 3y ago
      CMEs reaching earth likely account for a mere fraction of the energy flowing through the global electric circuit at any moment. Moreover, your suggestion seems to indicate that you’re only considering kinetic energy, which would be a very myopic and reductionist take on these matters.
    - mensetmanusman 3y ago
      Freezing water>ice shatters a cast iron pipe. It's just about the creation of a crack to initiate stress relief.
- mikewarot 3y ago
  >The earth is a sphere. A sphere made of solid rock [...] The earth is NOT a solid rock. It's a very thin layer of rock, floating on top of a pool of magma, itself floating in space. The rock itself flows on all sorts of time scales as well. A sphere will be forced by the wind, almost the same amount as any other object, regardless of its density or weight.
  - blibble 3y ago
    > It's a very thin layer of rock, floating on top of a pool of magma it's not a pool of magma, the mantle is basically solid (except on very large timescales)

vanderZwan 3y ago

The counter-argument is equally simple: a sail is a surface. The earth is a sphere. A sphere made of solid rock the size of a sail will be even less moved by a 15 mph breeze than this hypothetical person.

blueprint 3y ago
you're missing the analogy. the surface area of the sail is the entire volume of eg piezoelectrically responsive rocks - so it's a gigantic sail
zackees 3y ago
We aren't talking about the earth being blown off course though, just that there is a large amount of energy that was previously unaccounted for and that this energy is large enough to trigger an earth quake at vulnerable parts.
- idlewords 3y ago
  Do the back-of-the-envelope computation of how much energy reaches Earth from a coronal mass ejection and see how well your idea holds up. (a typical flare is 10^16 grams of matter moving at about 450 km/sec)
  - CrimsonRain 3y ago
    You don't need a ton of energy to set off a possible chain reaction events.
  - refibrillator 3y ago
    CMEs reaching earth likely account for a mere fraction of the energy flowing through the global electric circuit at any moment. Moreover, your suggestion seems to indicate that you’re only considering kinetic energy, which would be a very myopic and reductionist take on these matters.
  - mensetmanusman 3y ago
    Freezing water>ice shatters a cast iron pipe. It's just about the creation of a crack to initiate stress relief.
mikewarot 3y ago
>The earth is a sphere. A sphere made of solid rock [...] The earth is NOT a solid rock. It's a very thin layer of rock, floating on top of a pool of magma, itself floating in space. The rock itself flows on all sorts of time scales as well. A sphere will be forced by the wind, almost the same amount as any other object, regardless of its density or weight.
- blibble 3y ago
  > It's a very thin layer of rock, floating on top of a pool of magma it's not a pool of magma, the mantle is basically solid (except on very large timescales)