From: jbatka@desire.wright.edu
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: THE TRUE CAUSE & ORIGIN OF EARTHQUAKES
Date: 16 Oct 92 15:58:37 GMT
Article-I.D.: desire.1992Oct16.105838.4892
Organization: Wright State University


On EM waves:

OH M'GOD!  He *IS* right!!  Just look at the numbers!

The receives 2-3E18 Watts from the Sun (Yes 2-3 Billion GigaWatts)

and 7.8E11 Watts from the Moon (assuming a full moon) (Yes ~800 GigaWatts)

Of course this amounts to ~1W/cm2 from the sun (enough to warm your face
and burn out your eyeballs)

and only 6E-06 W/cm2 from the moon (not even enough to see colors by).


Now if he is talking about LASER (note spelling :) ) effects.  What
power?  I've seen what ~ 800 W/cm2 can do to silica first hand while
it happens (oooh! look at the pretty flame colors) and I've seen the
results of MUCH higher irradiances.  In none of them have I seen any
actual physical movement of the material (except the stuff being
vaporized).

SO are you talking of electrical or magnetic field effects then?
From what I understand the Helio magnetic field is rather weak out
here and the lunar magnetic field is negligable.  For an electrical
field to affect the rocks, I think it would help for them to be carrying
a charge.  I believe most naturally occuring rock formations are 
electrically neutral.  I guess the electrical field could interact
with magnetic rocks but there aren't many of those either.



ON Stress:

I believe stress is used (and possibly created) by engineers.  YES
NOT scientists.  Let me give you an example.

If you had an aluminum cable, that was able to hold 70,000 pounds up,
and you then made a cable that had 2 x the cross-sectional area, would
you guess that the load the new cable could carry would be:

a)	The same amount 70,000 lbs
b)	half the amount 35,000 lbs
c)	twice the amount 140,000 lbs
d)	none of the above
e)	all of the above

If you guessed (or maybe read ahead and got the answer) A, you are
WRONG (Thanks for trying though (: ).

Answer C is correct.  This is what stress is, the load carried by
some unit area.  If the first cable had a cross-sectional are of 1 in
its Max stress would be 70,000 psi.  When you double the area and the
load, it is still 70,000 psi (140,000lbs/2in2).

This has NOT been created by scientists to EXPLAIN
some facet of a crackpot theory.


ON Geologists (and seismologists) ability to predict earthquakes:

They are extremely precise on predicting the location, magnitude, and
even the TIME of earthquakes.  You just need to understand the time-
scale they are using.  1 years Geologically speaking is a smaller time
unit then 1 second is to you.  When looking at the geological aspects of
the earth 1 million years is not a particularly long period of time.

The earth has been around for >4 billion (let me put the zeros on for you
to understand [4,000,000,000]) years!  1/4e09 of your lifespan is about
0.5 sec.  You try being that precise by trying to predict the next time
you need to take a leak to within 0.5 sec!


On Browning:

My interpretation of what Browning's prediction was that he was not
a crackpot (and neither was his theory).  Geologists and Seismologists
have predicted that sometime within the next 10-20 years a major 
(8+ Reichter scale) earthquake would happen on the new madrid fault.

Browning just stated that the additional stresses caused by the
planetary alignment would increase the probability of it occuring
on that day.  BTW, I am aware that all of the other planetary stresses
combined are negligable compared to the sun and moon (it's been a while
but I think venus is next at about 1/1000 that of the sun).

Just some rambling thoughts.



-- 

   Jim Batka  | Always remember ...                        | Buckaroo
   Modemman   |    No matter where you go, there you are!  |   Bonzai
--------------+--------------------------------------------+--------------
It is very    | Work Email:  BATKAJ@CCMAIL.DAYTON.SAIC.COM | Elvis is
often easier  | Home Email:  JBATKA@DESIRE.WRIGHT.EDU      |   DEAD!
to get for-   |--------------------------------------------+--------------
giveness then | 64 years is 33,661,440 minutes ...         | Beatles:
permission!   |    and a minute is a LONG time!            |   Yellow Submarine
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