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For the Week of 10/29/08 |
Assignment 9
Revolution of Revolutions
The
Big Dipper, the Little Dipper, and the North Star (Polaris)
The
North Star appears to be about 4.5 lengths (measured by Merak to Dubhe
distance)from the tip of the bowl
of
the Big Dipper and along the same line as the two stars indicated. Polaris will not perceptably move in
our lifetime
for
all practical purposes and the Big Dipper (and all the other ÒfixedÓ stars)
will rotate around it every 24 hours.
From
our location, Polaris is approximately 41¼ above the horizon.
Question:
Which way does it rotate?
Note:
Stevens insists that I post midterm grades. This is not my idea and I donÕt like having to do it.
They
are not a full reflection of your status, only a general idea. If you donÕt like your grade, the
problem is most likely that you havenÕt done all of the required homework. Get me all of those first 3 homework
assignments! All of you are in
striking distance of a B or better.
Just
so you know, the highest grade I will give at midterm is an A-. ItÕs a motivational tool. I will not look at the midterm grade
when figuring out your final grade.
I will look at your overall numbers.
The
midterm grade is an imperfect shadow on the wall of your cave,
cast
by the ideal perfection of what it really is as it passes in front of the
illuminating fire of truthiness.
Look at this scale graphic of our solar
system. Scroll through the whole
thing. YouÕll notice why Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto were not seen by the
pre-moderns.
Here is
another site with the same idea:
Read the chapter titled ÒCopernicus
Incited a RevolutionÓ in McClellan and Dorn. (It is Chapter 11 in newer editions and chapter 10 in older
editions.) Look over this web page
and as you read the McClellan and Dorn, follow along with the materials I have
posted below.
Read this web page entirely and play
with the links provided.
Browse over these parts of KeplerÕs Mysterium cosmographicum (1596) – Kepler_MystCosmoExcerptsSm-OCRd-imaged-5.9MB.pdf.
DonÕt skip the title page and all the fluff. The fluff is as interesting as the meat of the book. Just
poke around this PDF and see if anything grabs your attention.
Browse through these excerpts from
VesaliusÕ De humani corporis fabrica [On the fabric of the human body] from 1543.
Just look over the illustrations and study a few of them closely.
Vesalius_DeFabrica100-OCR-9.8MB.pdf
View this movie: Copernican
explanation of the retrograde motion of Mars: http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/projects/data/Retrograde/
Write a 1.5, single-spaced essayÉ.
É.
relating to the readings and viewings.
Refer to the readings and if possible relate to previous readings and
other things you know. Always feel
free to experiment or go off on a tangent, just make sure to refer to the
readings some way.
Éor
perhaps find a passage from one of the Kepler readings I posted above. Just find any part that you can latch
onto and write on it, or about it, or paraphrase it, or incorporate it into an
essay on a topic that it fits. Much of the material is hard to get, but here and
there it is totally coherent.
The
following are selections from various astronomical texts from this period,
usually referred to as the beginning of the Scientific Revolution.
You
should look at these as you read the McClellan and Dorn.
This is a
reproduction from the manuscript by Copernicus.
[available
here: http://www.bj.uj.edu.pl/bjmanus/revol/titlpg_e.html]
In comparing
this with the printed version [below] I notice that the labels are below the
circular lines rather than sitting above them as in the printed edition. Also the sun is just a word and the
moon is not shown at all. Is this
significant? I really donÕt know,
but this manuscript drawing seems to more clearly imply a finite and contained
universe, with the sphere of the fixed stars clearly enclosing the universe,
whereas the printed version suggests something outside this sphere. This is more of an issue with Aristotle,
but later theological debates over the size of the universe and the possibility
of other worlds might have been exacerbated by the somewhat ambiguous diagram
in the printed version.
Here
is a page from the first printed edition of 1542/3.
The Latin text above and below
this diagram reads as follows. The
exact section shown in the page image above is in blue.
The sphere of the fixed stars is followed by the first of
the planets, Saturn, which completes its circuit in 30 years. After Saturn,
Jupiter accomplishes its revolution in 12 years. Then Mars revolves in 2 years.
The annual revolution takes the seriesÕ fourth place, which
contains the earth, as I said [earlier in I, 10], together with the lunar
sphere as an epicycle. In the fifth place Venus returns in 9 months. Lastly,
the sixth place is held by Mercury, which revolves in a period of 80 days.
[You
will note that the numbers on this diagram do not correspond with the text that
surrounds this illustration. I have two theories for this. 1) This can be
explained by the difference between cardinal and ordinal numbers. In your first year of life you are not
yet one year old. When you are finally one year old you are in your second year
of life. The diagram uses cardinal
numbers while the description uses ordinal. 2) In the text Saturn is the first planetary sphere
as distinguished from the sphere of fixed stars. Either way, his presentation is a bit confusing.]
At
rest, however, in the middle of everything is the sun. For in this most beautiful
temple, who would place this lamp in another or better position than that from
which it can light up the whole thing at the same time? For, the sun is not
inappropriately called by some people the lantern of the universe, its mind by
others, and its ruler by still others. [Hermes] the Thrice Greatest labels it a
visible god, and SophoclesÕ Electra, the all-seeing. Thus indeed, as though
seated on a royal throne, the sun governs the family of planets revolving
around it. Moreover, the earth is not deprived of the moonÕs attendance. On the
contrary, as Aristotle says in a work on animals [De anima? On the Soul?], the
moon has the closest kinship with the earth. Meanwhile
the earth has intercourse with the sun, and is
impregnated for its yearly parturition.
[The earth has
Òintercourse with the sun and is impregnated.Ó ThatÕs an interesting description.]
In this arrangement, therefore, we discover a marvelous
symmetry of the universe, and an established harmonious linkage between the
motion of the spheres and their
size, such as can be found in no other way. For this permits a not inattentive
student to perceive why the forward and backward arcs appear greater in Jupiter
than in Saturn and smaller than in Mars, and on the other hand greater in Venus
than in Mercury. This reversal in direction appears more frequently in Saturn
than in Jupiter, and also more rarely in Mars and Venus than in Mercury.
Moreover, when Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars rise at sunset, they are nearer to the
earth than when they set in the evening or appear at a later hour. But Mars in
particular, when it shines all night, seems to equal Jupiter in size, being
distinguished only by its reddish color. Yet in the other configurations it is
found barely among the stars of the second magnitude, being recognized by those
who track it with assiduous observations. All these phenomena proceed from the
same cause, which is in the earthÕs motion.
Copernicus,
Nicholas. De Revolutionibus Orbium
Coelestium; Translated by Edward Rosen. New York: Dartmouth College, Sept.
1999 accessed 2004; Available from http://math.dartmouth.edu/~matc/Readers/renaissance.astro/1.1.Revol.html.
Sun
Centered Copernican System, first proposed in public in 1540.
Sun-Mercury-Venus-Earth
(with moon)-Mars-Jupiter-Saturn-Starry Sphere
This
image and the detail from it is from 1543, Book I, Chapter X of
On the
Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres.
Here are the
translations of the spherical captions.
I. Immobile
sphere of the fixed stars
II. Saturn, is
turned in 30 years
III.
Twelve-year revolution of Jupiter
IV. Two-year
revolution of Mars
V. Earth
(Tellus), with the orb of the moon É[?] É
VI. Venus nine
month return
VII. Mercury É
[?] É80 days
VIII. The Sun
Martin LutherÕs Comment on Copernicus
Cosmological
System of Tycho Brahe, ca. 1577
It is
earth centered, but all other bodies besides moon orbit the sun, which orbits
the earth.
Given
the date, why is TychoÕs theory somewhat odd?
Here is
a FlashMovie of his system: Tycho for
Windows or Tycho for Mac
The
Systems if Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)
Detail
from KeplerÕs first cosmological system from Mysterium cosmographicum – detail of the cosmos. (1596)
Full Image Link (with translated details- click on thumbnail)
Click on this link to hear the cosmos sing.
This link plays the music of the
planets as KeplerÕs mindÕs ear heard them. This piece produced by Produced by Willie Ruff and John
Rodgers
starts
with Mercury and keeps adding in planets (Venus, Earth, MarsÉetc). You can follow along by referring to
the score below, which presents the planets in the opposite order.
Notice the
eccentricities. The bigger the eccentricity the greater the interval the planet
sweeps out in its song.
Compare with the
music directly above this chart. When viewed in this way, KeplerÕs use of music
is not quite so strange.
Tons of astronomical animations can be found here: http://www.csit.fsu.edu/~dduke/models.htm
Last week I mentioned where Hg
(Mercury) came from. Here is the
Roman architect, Vitruvius, on this issue. Vitruvius-excerpt-cinnabar-mercury-544KB.pdf
ItÕs just a page or so long. It is
quite interesting because it covers mining, extraction, chemical and alchemical
techniques, matter theory, and uses.
Need a point of two? Write a modern theoretical counterpoint to VitruviusÕ
description and some other thoughts that come to you.
Here are the citations for the
above works:
Kepler, Johannes, and E. J.
Aiton. The Secret of the Universe
(Mysterium Cosmographicum). Translated by A.M. Duncan and with introduction
and commentary by E.J. Aiton and a preface by I. Bernard Cohen. New York:
Abaris Books, 1981.
McClellan, James E., and Harold
Dorn. Science and Technology in World
History : An Introduction. Baltimore, Md.: The Johns Hopkins University
Press, 1999.
Vitruvius, Dewar, Howe, and
Rowland. Ten Books on Architecture (De
Architectura Libri Decem). Translation from the Latin and commentary by
Ingrid D. Rowland. Additional commentary by Michael J. Dewar. Illustrations and
commentary by Thomas Noble Howe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999
(from first century BC).
Back to Syllabus [HoST Fall 2008]
Me – hostf08@mifami.org
Newsie stuff:
If you thought witchcraft was
just a problem for 17th-century women. Think againÉ
Woman
Sentenced to Death in Saudi Arabia-CNN-2008 - video
or
Penis
Theft Panic in Congo - 2008
[alternate link here]
Chang–ÒFrom
a Strip of Scotch Tape, X-RaysÓ [NY Times, Oct. 23, 2008]
Nuclear fusion from X-mas
wrapping X-rays?
A nice poem if you need a break.
John Donne (1572-1631): Meditation 17:
Bell Tolls
There are no review
materials for this page. The page
itself contains most of the material you should know. Be sure to look over the Vesalius and the Kepler text links
that I wanted you to ÒBrowse Over.Ó
Posted: 12/5/08 2:11
PM