Uncategorized The Meaning of 47 Fri 04/07/06 mjh 2 Comments Happy 4/7 everyone! Someone did a search of my site at 7:47am this morning. mjh The Meaning of 47 Share this… Facebook
Your link to “The Meaning of 47” contains several examples of the significance of 47, including that “b]etween the Summer Solstice and the Winter [S]olstice, the sun moves 47 degrees (23 1/2 degrees North of the equator to 23 1/2 degrees South of the equator).” That got me to thinking about something I read somewhere about the important of the tilt of the earth’s axis. I performed a Google search, and, sure ’nuff, the 23.5 degree axial tilt accounts for life as we know it on the planet earth. Specifically, according to K. Smith, who is apparently a professor at Cascadia College: The axis tilt of the Earth, held by the gravity pull of the moon at 23.5º, is an almost perfect tilt in terms of supporting complex life. It is unlikely that complex life could survive at extreme angles, close to or at 0 and or 90 degrees. These tilts are what cause seasons, which determine how much radiation from the sun is concentrated on the Earth’s surface at different places at different positions of Earth’s orbit around the sun. At our current tilt, the sun’s radiation is distributed between 23.5 degrees north and south throughout the year, between the Tropic of Cancer (on the summer solstice) and the Tropic of Capricorn (on the winter solstice), respectively, and at the equator during the autumnal and spring equinoxes. The sun’s highest position in terms of degrees is the same number as the planet’s axis tilt. Thus, a planet with a tilt at 0 degrees has the sun over the equator at all times. A planet with a 45 degree tilt has the sun’s radiation between 45 degrees north and south throughout the year. Seeming as the sun’s radiation is never heavily distributed in one place on the Earth’s surface for an extended amount of time, temperatures stay warm enough around the majority of the planet throughout the year to support complex life, and we still retain our polar ice caps as the sun never goes high enough in latitude to melt them. If a planet is to develop complex life forms, a planet’s axis tilt is a delicate and important issue. Earth’s tilt is about as perfect as it could get. The sun’s radiation is distributed over a wide area of the planet, which does not allow for temperatures to become super-heated in any region. Temperatures stay warm for the majority of the planet, while still allowing for polar ice caps to exist. If either of the two extremes had occurred, human beings would probably not exist, as temperatures would have been too hot in some areas and not warm enough in others. So, there you have it.
Proving earth was placed in the heavens with a steady hand, like an ornament on a Christmas tree. // This brings me back to a question that came to mind very recently. We know the seasons are reversed between northern and southern hemisphere. It is also true that earth’s elliptical orbit brings us closest to the sun during the southern hemisphere’s summer and farthest during the northern hemisphere’s. Seems reasonable that the southern hemisphere receives more solar radiation in its summer than does the north. Is summer really hotter down under? // Didn’t human life originate near the equator, in essence without seasons? peace, mjh
Your link to “The Meaning of 47” contains several examples of the significance of 47,
including that “b]etween the Summer Solstice and the Winter [S]olstice, the sun moves 47 degrees (23 1/2 degrees North of the equator to
23 1/2 degrees South of the equator).” That got me to thinking about something I read somewhere about the important of the tilt of the
earth’s axis. I performed a Google search, and, sure ’nuff, the 23.5 degree axial tilt accounts for life as we know it on the planet
earth. Specifically, according to K. Smith, who is apparently a professor at Cascadia College:
The axis tilt of the Earth, held
by the gravity pull of the moon at 23.5º, is an almost perfect tilt in terms of supporting complex life. It is unlikely that complex
life could survive at extreme angles, close to or at 0 and or 90 degrees. These tilts are what cause seasons, which determine how much
radiation from the sun is concentrated on the Earth’s surface at different places at different positions of Earth’s orbit around the
sun.
At our current tilt, the sun’s radiation is distributed between 23.5 degrees north and south throughout the year, between
the Tropic of Cancer (on the summer solstice) and the Tropic of Capricorn (on the winter solstice), respectively, and at the equator
during the autumnal and spring equinoxes. The sun’s highest position in terms of degrees is the same number as the planet’s axis
tilt. Thus, a planet with a tilt at 0 degrees has the sun over the equator at all times. A planet with a 45 degree tilt has the sun’s
radiation between 45 degrees north and south throughout the year.
Seeming as the sun’s radiation is never heavily distributed in
one place on the Earth’s surface for an extended amount of time, temperatures stay warm enough around the majority of the planet
throughout the year to support complex life, and we still retain our polar ice caps as the sun never goes high enough in latitude to melt
them.
If a planet is to develop complex life forms, a planet’s axis tilt is a delicate and important issue. Earth’s tilt is
about as perfect as it could get. The sun’s radiation is distributed over a wide area of the planet, which does not allow for
temperatures to become super-heated in any region. Temperatures stay warm for the majority of the planet, while still allowing for polar
ice caps to exist. If either of the two extremes had occurred, human beings would probably not exist, as temperatures would have been
too hot in some areas and not warm enough in others.
So, there you have it.
Proving earth was placed in the heavens with a steady hand, like an ornament on a Christmas tree. // This brings me back to a
question that came to mind very recently. We know the seasons are reversed between northern and southern hemisphere. It is also true that
earth’s elliptical orbit brings us closest to the sun during the southern hemisphere’s summer and farthest during the northern
hemisphere’s. Seems reasonable that the southern hemisphere receives more solar radiation in its summer than does the north. Is summer
really hotter down under? // Didn’t human life originate near the equator, in essence without seasons? peace, mjh