NOTES AND REFERENCES (Part I and Part II)
1. I. Velikovsky, Worlds in Collision (New
York: Macmillan, 1950), Part 11, "Mars."
2. Ibid., p. 272.
3. W. Schwabacher, "The Olympian Zeus
before Phidias," Archaeology 14 (June,
1961):
4. W. Bostick, Scientific American 16
(October, 1957): 87-94.
5. Plasmoids, though uncharged, are
carriers of concentrated electric and
magnetic energy. The impact of a cosmic
plasmoid could produce an earth-shaking-
perhaps even orbit-changing- explosion.
According to Bostick, plasmoid velocities
in his vacuum experiments were "comparable
to the speed of stars in galaxies and of
flares shooting out from the sun"- which is
to say, fast enough to travel from Jupiter
to the orbit of Venus in the space of a
month or so, but not so fast as to blur the
form and surface details of such an object.
6. Homer, Odyssey Vlll.
7. J. D. Cobine, Gaseous Conductors- Theory
and Engineering Applications (New York:
Dover, 1958). Cobine taught electrical
engineering at Harvard University before
moving on to be a physicist at the General
Electric Research Laboratory. Though I have
never corresponded with him, he can rightly
be held responsible, through this volume,
for turning me on as an
electrical-discharge fanatic. ..
8. L. Loeb, Fundamentals of Electricity and
Magnetism (New York: Dover, 1951), P. 501.
9. B. J. Ford, Spaceflight 7 (January,
1965): 13-17.
10. New York Times, early city edition,
July 21, 1969.
11. Velikovsky, Worlds in Collision, "The
Moon and Its Craters," pp. 360-2. 1 am
afraid I find this concept difficult to
accept, particularly, the problem of
getting molten rock to hold together as a
membrane of thousands of square kilometers
while gas pressure elevates it from below
seems insurmountable, and I have to go
along with Baldwin (The Measure of the Moon
[Chicago: University of Chicago
Press,1963], p. 392), who finds this
mechanism for dome-formation "completely
impossible physically. "
12. This, of course, in no way excludes the
rayed craters from consideration in the
present inquiry. Indeed, to my way of
thinking the rays are strong evidence that
the craters associated with them are
electric-discharge touch down points. The
rays appear to be Lichtenberg figures-
starlike patterns produced on dielectric
surfaces by electric sparks. They have no
discernible depth on the lunar surface- a
point consistent with the idea that they
are purely superficial markings produced by
avalanching electrons. The pity is that
Lichtenberg, who discovered this phenomenon
almost 200 years ago, has had his name
attached to a small lunar crater of no
particular prominence and apparently
lacking rays.
13. 1. Velikovsky, Memorandum to Space
Science Board, National Academy of
Sciences, May 19, 1969, published in Pensee
2 (fall, 1972): 29; see also R. Treash,
Pensee 2 (May, 1972): 21.
14. F. R. Moulton, An Introduction to
Astronomy (New York: Macmillan, 1910), p.
268.
I5. W. H. Pickering, The Moon (New York:
Doubleday, Page and Co., 1903).
16. Quotations from Pickering in these last
two paragraphs are from V. A. Firsoff's
Strange World of the Moon (New York:
Science Editions Inc., 1962), p. 159. I
i. Ibid., p. 160.
18. The Nature of the Lunar Surface, ed. W.
N. Hess, D. H. Menzel, and J. A. O'Keefe
(Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1966),
pp. 107-21.
19. H. Urey, Nature 216 (1967): 1094.
20. J. A. O'Keefe, Science 163 (1969): 669.
21. J. A. O'Keefe and E. W. Adams, Journal
of Geophysical Research 70 (1965): 3819.
22. W. S. Cameron, Astronomical Journal 68
(1963): 275.
23. R. E. Lingenfelter, S. J. Peale, and G.
Schubert, Science 161 (19 July 1968):
266-9.
24. J. E. M. Adler and J. W. Salisbury
Science 164 (2 May 1969): 589.
25. S. A. Schumm and D. B. Simons Science
165 (11 July 1969): 201.
26. Scientific American 223 (November,
1970), "Science and the Citizen."
27. R. Greeley, Science 172 (14 May 1971):
722-5.
28. Lunar Orbiter 5 photographed a "unique
ridge-rille" northwest of Gruithuisen
Crater. This rille appears to be a chain
of oval craterlets joined by short,
imperfectly aligned rille sections. See
Sky and Telescope for March, 1971, p. 172.
29. Ranger 8 and 9, JPL Technical Report
3Z-800, Part 11 (1966), p. 35.
30. G Schubert, R. E. Lingenfelter, and S.
J. Pearce, Reviews of Geophysics and Space
Physics 8 (February, 1970): 199-224.
31. Science 175 (28 January 1972): 407-15.
32. Ibid., p. 409
33 R. Greeley, Science 172 (14 May 1971):
p. 722
34. Ibid., p. 724.
35. Science 175 (28 January 1972): p. 409.
36. Scientific American 224 (September
1971), "Science and the Citizen."
37. B. Hapke and B. Greenspan, EOS-
Translations, American Geophysical Union 51
(1970): 346
38. The electric-field-confining
capabilities of space-charge sheaths are
discussed in Pensee 2 (Fall, 1972): 6-12
39. H. G. Booker writes: "For each
dielectric there is a maximum strength of
electric field that the dielectric will
sustain. If the electric field is too
strong, the distortion of atoms... becomes
so great that electrons begin to part
company from their atoms. The insulating
properties of the dielectric then 'break
down,' and there is a temporary discharge
of the system through the dielectric... The
maxi- mum electric field strength that a
dielectric will sustain without breaking
down is known as its dielectric strength
and depends upon the molecular structure of
the dielectric... In designing capacitors
it is desirable to avoid sharp points and
sharp edges that would produce locally high
electric fields and encourage breakdown of
the dielectric..." (An Approach to
Electrical Science lNew York: McGraw-Hill,
19591,p.70).
40. P. E. Viemeister The Lightning Book
(New York: Doubleday, i961), p. 137.
41. A. W. Graubau, Principles of
Stratiagraphy, vol. I (A. G. Seiler, 1924;
New York: Dover, 1960), p. 72.
42. Apollo Lunar Geology Investigation
Team, "Geologic Setting of the Apollo 15
Samples," Science 175 (28 January 1972):
411.
43. G. Schubert, R. E. Lingenfelter, and S.
J. Peale, Reviews of Geophysics and Space
Physics 8 (February 1970): 204, figure 5.
44. S. Whitehead, Dielectric Breakdown of
Solids (Oxford: 1951)
45. "The Apollo 15 Lunar Samples: A
Preliminary Description," Science 175 (28
January 1972): 363-75.
46. W. H. Gregory Aviation Week & Space
Technology (17 April i973): 38-42.
47. G. Schubert, R. E. Lingenfelter, and S.
J. Peale, Reviews of Geophysics and Space
Physics 8 (February, 1970): 207.
48. Cf. J. A. Greenacre, Sky and Telescope
26 (December 1963): 316.
49. B. Middlehurst, Reviews of Geophysics 5
(May, 1967): 173-89.
50. Science 179 (23 February 1973): 800-3.
51. Ibid., pp. 792-94.
52. H. Raether, Electron Avalanches and
Breakdown in Gases(Washington, D.C.:
Butterworths, 1964), p. 113.
53. L. Loeb, fundamentals, p. 493.
54. H. Raether, Electron Avalanches, p.
125.
55. This photograph is reproduced on p.
200 of Sky and Telescope for October, 1971.
56. This age difference between Herodotus
and Aristarchus is generally accepted,
since light-colored ejecta from Aristarchus
can be seen inside the rim of Herodotus.
57. Reproduced by Schubert, Lingenfelter
and Peale, Reviews of Geophysics and Space
Physics 8 (February, 1970): p. 200. Hadley
Rille, at the Apollo 15 landing site, does
not appear to be one of a cluster of
rilles, nor does it appear to be overrun to
any significant degree by eJecta from a
return-stroke crater. Perhaps we might look
to nearby craters Aratus and Hadley A as
touchdown scars of a multiple or branching
streamer to this area. "Aratus and Hadley A
are extremely enhanced in the 3.8- and
70-cm radar [images] and in infrared
[observations], are bright in full-moon
photographs [a typical rayed-crater
phenomenon] and also appear fresh, blocky,
and sharp in the high-resolution Lunar
Orbiter photographs. There appears,
therefore, to be an extensive field of
decimeter- and meter-sized rocks
surrounding these craters [to judge from
the radar results] and extending out to
about 10 km from each of these craters.
These features suggest that Aratus and
Hadley A are very young.... (S. H. Zisk,
et al., Science 173 [27 August 19711:
808-12)." Both Aratus and Hadley A are
several tens of kilometers from Hadley
Rille, and their ejecta blankets do not
reach that far.
58. 1. Velikovsky, "When Was the Lunar
Surface Last Molten?" Pensee 2 (May, 1972):
19-21.
59. P. E. Viemeister, The Lightning Book
(New York: Doubleday, 1961), p. 110.
60. R. B. Baldwin, The Measure of the Moon
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1963), Chapter 8.
61. L. B. Loeb, Journal of Ceophysical Re-
search 71, (October 15, 1966): 4711.
62. The postulated Mars-Moon potential
difference of 1012 volts, spanning an
interplanetary gap of 5000 km (5 X 108 cm)
yields an average field strength in the gap
of only 2 X 103 volts/cm, whereas it is
likely that fields of 107 or more volts/cm
would be required to break down lunar rock
formations and produce sinuous rilles.
However, local topographic features can be
expected to intensify an external field at
least one hundredfold. Also, as Loeb
points out (Fundamentals of Electricity and
Magnetism, p. 501), similar effects on a
much finer scale (due to surface roughness
features too small to be seen) can further
intensify electric fields by several orders
of magnitude. Thus it is not too difficult
to imagine an interplanetary field of only
a few thousand volts per centimeter being
intensified locally on the lunar surface to
a point where coherent rock formations
begin to succumb to the electrical stress.
Overlying loose materials- fractured rock
and dust, with voids permeated with tenuous
gases- would have greater resistance to
breakdown than a sound, underlying
formation, and thus the "lightning" channel
would pursue a subsurface path.
63. V. A. Bailey, Nature 186 (May 14 1960):
508.
64. 1. Michelson, Pensee 4 (Spring, 1974):
15-21.
65. R. E. Juergens, Pensee 2 (Fall, 1972):
6-12.
66. E. M. Shoemaker, R. M. Batson, H. E.
Holt, E. C. Morris, J. J. Rennilson, and E.
A. Whitaker, Journal of Geophysical
Research 74 (November 15, 1969): 6081.
67. W. K. Hartmann and F. G. Yale, Sky and
Telescope (January, 1969): 4.
68. In an article on "Measuring the Shape
of the Moon," in Sky and Telescope for
March, 1966, R. L. Wildey calls attention
to, and reproduces, a map of the Moon
prepared in' 1901 by two German
astronomers. On this early and rather
primitive map we find Tycho in the highest
region- "uber 1200 Mtr."
69. Baldwin, The Measure of the Moon,
Chapter 11.
70. E. M. Shoemaker, et al., Journal of
Geophysical Research 74 (1969): 6081.
71. Cf. "Hot Spots on the Moon," Sky and
Telescope (February, 1961): in an abstract
published in the Astronomical Journal (vol.
68, p. 287), B. C. Murray and R. L. Wildey
suggest that "These anomalies are possibly
generated by extensive exposures of bare
rock. In January, 1963 (pp. 3 and 24), Sky
and Telescope reported: "Corroborative
evidence for a relatively denser surface in
Tycho has recently been found through
infrared measurements of lunar surface
temperatures (Shorthill, Borough and
Conley, 1960)."
72. T. W Thompson and R. B. Dyce report
(Joumal of Geophysical Research 71 [October
15, 1966]: 4843) that their radar-
backscattering studies suggest that
backscattering from Tycho is anomalously
high because its floor is free of a
"tenuous layer" that otherwise blankets the
Moon.
73. S. H. Zisk's discussion of the flooding
of crater floors with molten material from
below (Science 178 |I December 19721: 977)
is just one example. L. J. Kosofsky and F.
El-Baz comment (The Moon As Viewed by Lunar
Orbiter (Washington: NASA, 19701 p. 83):
"Some geologists consider the symmetrical
rings or shells surrounding the large
mounds [in the floor of Tycho] to be due to
the flowage of shock-melted rock off the
surface of the mounds. Others interpret
them as volcanic domes." Given proper
conditions, perhaps each of these ideas has
merit, but none of them seems convincing in
context with the absence of debris from the
floor of Tycho, or with the makeup of the
crust in this lunar- highland region.
74. J. J. and G. P. Thomson (Conduction of
Electricity through Cases Vol. 11 11933,
New York: Dover Publications, 19691, p.
458) point out that cathode disintegration
through the expulsion (sputtering) of atoms
of metal was first reported by Plucker in
1858. The cleanup process includes, in
addition to the sputtering of cathode
metals (an effect long in use technically
in the production of semi-transparent
metallic ,films on glass for optical
purposes), the generation of considerable
fine dust and of cathode-material vapors,
which condense and produce fallout beyond
the confines of the immediate cathode
"spot" or "crater" in which a discharge
burns. This last effect suggests a likely
source for the Moon's ubiquitous glassy-
sphere soil particles.
75. Baldwin, The Measure of the Moon, p.
351.
76. Ibid., p. 358.
77. "News Notes," Sky and Telescope (July,
1966).
78. Baldwin, The Measure of the Moon p.
355.
79. E. M. Shoemaker, "The Geology of the
Moon," Scientific American (December,
1964): 38-47.
80. W. H. Pickering, The Moon (New York:
Doubleday, Page and Company, 1903), p. 53.
81. E. M. Shoemaker, et al., Journal of
Geophysical Research 74 (1969): 6081.
82. V. A. Firsoff, Strange World of the
Moon (New York: Science Editions, 1962),
p. 168.
83. The term "western" is here used in the
astronautical sense. The rim of Tycho in
question is therefore that side of the
crater where the Sun sets. Astronomical
custom, as a result of the reversal, left
to right, and inversion, top to bottom, of
telescopic images, would have it that this
same "sunset" region is the "eastern" rim
of Tycho.
84. To the best of my knowledge,
Velikovsky's March 14, 1967 memorandum to
the Space Board of the National Academy of
Sciences (Pensee 2 [Fall, 1972], p. 28)
was his first occasion to express in
writing the idea that lunar rays were
produced by interplanetary discharges. On
July 4, 1962, I wrote to Harold C. Urey,
suggesting, among other things, that the
rays constitute Lichtenberg figures. His
reply (July 25, 1962) struck me as the
expression of a rather strange attitude for
a prominent scientist: "I find it more
satisfactory to admit that I do not
understand a natural phenomenon at any time
than to accept explanations based on other
things which I also do not understand. "
85. Cf. J. D. Cobine, Caseous Conductors,
p. 201.
86. Cf. S. Whitehead, Dielectric Breakdown
of Solids (New York: Oxford, 1951), pp.
170- 71.
87. Cf. L. B. Loeb, Electrical Coronas, pp.
189 ff.
89. For example, Lichtenberg figures can be
used to measure very brief time intervals
between current surges (see Cobine, Gaseous
Conductors, p. 202).
90. Cf. Loeb, Electrical Coronas, pp.
189ff.
91. E. Nasser and D. C. Schroder,
International Conference on Gas Discharges,
15-18 September 1970 (London: Institution
of Electrical Engineers, 1970), pp. 539-43.
92. Cf. E. Driscoll, "Far Side: Study of
Contrast," Science News 100 (September 18,
1971): 194-95.
93. Baldwin, The Measure of the Moon p.
236.
94. Baldwin (The Measure of the Moon, p.
355) calls attention to Pickering's early
work (1892) indicating that rays are made
up of component parts, or elements, "all
roughly alike"- long, narrow, elliptical
sections.
95. The kind of interplanetary near-
collision described by Velikovsky
necessarily raises many questions as to the
provenance of many different materials on
all the planetary bodies involved in such
encounters. In the context of Worlds in
Collision, it will not do to assume, for
example, that any particular material,
however abundant it may be on the present
surface of the Moon, is "lunar" in the
sense of having originated on that body.
96. In Worlds in Collision, Part 11,
Chapter 4, Velikovsky relates numerous
forms ascribed to Mars by ancient peoples
and suggests that distortions of the
Martian atmosphere during approaches to
other bodies- Venus, Earth Moon- inspired
such reports.
97. Cf., S. Glasstone, The Book of Mars
(Washington: NASA, 1968), p. 86.
98. Ibid.
99. Glasstone, The Book of Mars, pp. 87-
90; see also B. C. Murray, "Mars from
Mariner 9," Sientific American (January,
1973): 49- 69.
100. Cf. for example, M. H. Carr,
"Volcanism on Mars," Journal of Geophysical
Research 78 (July 10, 1973): 4049.
101. G. H. Kuiper reported the first firm
evidence of carbon dioxide in the Martian
atmosphere in 1947, although its presence
had long been assumed. Velikovsky
anticipated, in a lecture copyrighted in
1946, and again in Worlds in Collision
(1950), the ultimate discovery that rare
gases, argon and neon in particular, make
up a considerable fraction of Mars'
atmosphere; others postulated argon as a
likely constituent, but only in minor
amounts. A typical 1961 estimate of the
makeup of the planet's atmosphere was this:
Nitrogen- 93% of molecules present; Argon-
5 to 6%; carbon dioxide- I to 2%. Infrared
data secured in 1963 led to a major
revision in the estimate: carbon dioxide up
to between 50 to 100%. (The foregoing
largely from The Book of Mars) But in
April, 1974, the Soviet Union announced
that the Mars 6 lander had detected "tens
of percent" of inert gases in the Martian
atmosphere. The investigators concluded
that argon was the most likely
candidate-gas to account for this finding,
with neon probably in lesser abundance.
102. The Thomsons (Conduction of
Electricity through Gases) describe this
phenomenon in terms of "Fall in Pressure in
the Gas due to the Discharge" (vol. 2, pp.
466-68): "Solids in contact with gas have
always a layer of gas condensed on their
surface, much of which comes off when the
layer is heated. If, however, an electric
discharge is passing through the gas in
which the solid la glass discharge tube,
for example] is immersed, the gas gets into
a state in which it is only partially
detached from the surface by heating, at
any rate by any heating the glass of the
discharge tube can stand." Strictly
speaking, of course, the cathode and the
walls of a discharge tube are two different
things. Yet lunar surfaces not directly
involved as spark-channel "cathodes"
(craters) might well be likened to
discharge-tube walls. Indeed, during
interplanetary-discharge events, it would
seem highly likely that the entire surface
of a cathode body would be covered with
glow or electrical corona- less violent
forms of discharge. In any case, as Loeb
points out (Electrical Coronas, p. 360),
breakdown, "being a cathode controlled
phenomenon, is extremely sensitive to the
surface properties of the... cathode...
positive ion bombardment sputters oxide
films, gas films, and cathode material from
the surface. Ambient gases reacting
chemically or physically with the surface,
as well as with ions driven into the
surface by their impact energy, will alter
or strive to alter the surface in various
and sometimes opposing fashions.... Too
heavy bombardment and high current
densities will melt and/or sputter the
surface. They may also trap gases which can
erupt; or else vapor jets from local hot
spots can erupt...." [emphasis added]
103. Cf. various papers in Science 167
(January 30, 1970), especially in sections
headed "Abundance of Major Elements" and
"Stable Isotopes, Rare Gases, Solar Wind,
and Spallation Products."
104. 1. Velikovsky, Pensee 2 (May, 1972):
20.
105. J. G. Funkhouser, et al., Science 167
(January 30, 1970): 538; quotation from
abstract.
106. Cf. 1. Friedman, et al., Science 167
(January 30, 1970): 538; 1. R. Kaplan and
J. W. Smith, Science 167 (January 30,
1970): 541.
107. Lunar Sample Preliminary Examination
Team, Science 165 (September 19, 1969):
1211.
108. 1. Friedman, et al., Science 167
(January 30, 1970): 538.
109. G. Eglinton, et al., Scientific
American (October, 1972): 81.
110. A. J. Hundhausen (Reviews of
Geophysics and Space Physics 8 I November,
19701: 729) lists, as the only positively
identified ions in the solar wind, 1H+,
4H++, 4He+, 3He++ 160+5 160+6, and 160+7.
Carbon ions are known to be present in
solar cosmic radiation, but they probably
originate in the lower atmosphere of the
Sun, not in the corona (idem, p. 736).
111. W. Cochran, "Apollo 11 Lunar Science
Conference," GeoTimes (February, 1970); G.
Eglinton, et al., Scientific American
(October, 1972): 81.
112. Cf. C. E. Moore, "The Identification
of Solar Lines," in The Sun, ed. G. P.
Kuiper (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1953).
113. Cf. Cobine, Gaseous Conductors, p.
343. This author also points out (p. 364)
that in electric-arc cutting, "the work is
usually made the anode when direct current
is used because of the greater heat
developed at the anode. "
114. J. J. and G. P. Thomson (Conduction of
Electricity through Gases, p. 579) call
attention to the rapid erosion of the anode
in a carbon arc due to the extraction of
positive ions.
115. E. J. Hellund (The Plasma State [New
York: Reinhold, 1961] points out (p. 74)
that "Electron bombardment of the anode
surface can lead to disruption of the
molecules normally resident there.... | and
] loosely bound atoms are disposed to
volatilize and leave the parent lattice."
116. One notices a certain lack of
definition of terms in the works of authors
discussing electric-discharge phenomena.
Particularly hazy is the distinction
between a "spark" and an "arc." One author
describes a spark as a transient arc. J. M.
Somerville (The Electric Arc [New York:
Wiley, 1960]) says: "The term arc is
usually applied only to stable or
quasi-stable discharges, and an arc may be
regarded as the ultimate form of discharge
which will be reached under all conditions
if the current through the gas is made
large enough." He adds, however: "Attempts
at rigid definitions of physical phenomena
are seldom successful or helpful, and the
arc is no exception. It is best to outline
the characteristics of a typical arc and
leave the question of the classification of
marginal cases for tearoom debate."
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