<p>As requested by dereckmcd here is the synopsis presented earlier in another thread: </p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">In my humble but absolutely correct opinion:</span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">The time has come to recap the various statements and allegations made by Mr. Mozina with regard to “EU Theory”, his misrepresentations and attacks on mainstream physics and physicists, and to debunk his assertions.<span> </span>He has recently adopted the stance of steadfastly refusing to even define what he means by EU Theory.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">Kristian Birkeland and Hannes Alfven were respected scientists of the early and mid-twentieth century.<span> </span>Their work, in the proper context, is valuable and is respected still.<span> </span>No criticism of their work, or the proper interpretation of it, has been made by the majority of mainstream scientists. Despite Mr. Mozina’s brazen lies to the contrary, I have not criticized either Alfven or Birkeland, in the proper context. <span> </span>But their work has been widely misinterpreted and misrepresented by those advocating the pseudoscience of the Electric Universe perspective.<span> </span>Mr. Mozina is an advocate of a most outrageous brand of pseudoscience. </span></p><p><strong><span style="font-size:8pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><span>I.<span style="font:7pt'TimesNewRoman'"> </span></span></span></strong><span style="font-size:8pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">Avoiding the challenge to define EU Theory and he sees it, Mr. Mozina instead attempts to behind the skirts of Alfven and Birkeland and claims that they have completely defined EU Theory, hence that the credibility of EU Theory rests on their reputations.<span> </span>Nothing could be farther from the truth.<span> </span>Let us review some of the assertions made by Mr. Mozina.</span></p><p><strong><span style="font-size:8pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><span>1.<span style="font:7pt'TimesNewRoman'"> </span></span></span></strong><strong><span style="font-size:8pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><span> </span>The primary source of energy for the sun is an external electric current.<span> </span></span></strong><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">"If one theorizes that the sun is its own energy source, and the core of the sun is the whole energy source of a solar system, it's hard to imagine a sun with a crust. If however one puts a Birkeland model sun in context with EU theory, and theorizes it to be a simple conductor of electrical current, then a sun with a crust doesn't seem farfetched at all. It can still radiate heat from the current it conducts, and we should not be surprised that the heliosphere is roughly the same temperature as the photosphere." -- Michael Mozina </span>
<span style="font-size:8pt;color:#003399;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif';text-decoration:none;text-underline:none">http://www.space.com/common/community/forums/?plckForumPage=ForumDiscussion&plckDiscussionId=Cat:c7921f8b-94ec-454a-9715-3770aac6e2caForum:2f3143ad-161c-461f-b1e1-f88bf188e3cfDiscussion:3eca296d-2ec2-4989-9749-098a272ba62e&plckCurrentPage=3&sid=sitelife.space.com</span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">"The universe itself is electric. Any physical body will conduct current. The larger the body, the larger the current it will carry. It's not a mystery why the sun erupts as it does. It's simply electrically interacting with an electrically conductive universe." -- Michael Mozina </span></p><p>
<span style="font-size:8pt;color:#003399;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif';text-decoration:none;text-underline:none">http://www.space.com/common/community/forums/?plckForumPage=ForumDiscussion&plckDiscussionId=Cat:c7921f8b-94ec-454a-9715-3770aac6e2caForum:2f3143ad-161c-461f-b1e1-f88bf188e3cfDiscussion:3eca296d-2ec2-4989-9749-098a272ba62e&plckCurrentPage=3&sid=sitelife.space.com</span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">"Yes, that is a reasonably accurate description of my views. You are actually more attentive to detail than I gave you credit for. It is entirely correct that EU theory diverges at various points, particularly solar theory. Birkeland's solar model works well in a lab and it's been well tested to work in a lab. Hydrogen fusion doesn't seem to be sustainable in a lab. FYI, the solar model I favor is the same one that Birkeland himself favored over 100 years ago. He realized the sun had a plasma atmosphere that was electrically active. That would still be true of a completely plasma sun, including a mass separated plasma sun. Either concept would likely produce similar results as long as the primary energy source is the electrical flow of the universe." -- Michael Mozina</span></p><p>
<span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><font color="#800080">http://www.space.com/common/community/forums/?plckForumPage=ForumDiscussion&plckDiscussionId=Cat:c7921f8b-94ec-454a-9715-3770aac6e2caForum:2f3143ad-161c-461f-b1e1-f88bf188e3cfDiscussion:3eca296d-2ec2-4989-9749-098a272ba62e&plckCurrentPage=3&sid=sitelife.space.com</font></span><span style="font-size:8pt;color:#003399;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"> </span><span style="font-size:8pt;color:#003399;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"> </span></p><p><strong><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><span>2.<span style="font:7pt'TimesNewRoman'"> </span></span></span></strong><strong><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><span> </span>The primary source of energy for the sun is fusion.</span></strong><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">“The energy source for the Sun and ordinary stars seems to be neutron-emission and neutron-decay, with partial fusion of the decay product, rather than simple fusion of hydrogen into helium or heavier elements. Neutron-emission from the solar core and neutron-decay generate about sixty five percent of solar luminosity and H-fusion generates about thirty-five percent.” – Manuel, Kamat and Mozina<span> </span>
<font color="#800080">http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0510001</font></span><span style="font-size:8pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">It should be noted that Mr. Mozina has also posted several more e-prints on ArXiv, but has not been able to have them accepted in refereed journals.<span> </span></span>
<span style="font-size:8pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><font color="#800080">http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Mozina_M/0/1/0/all/0/1</font></span><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">“Measurements on !-rays from a solar flare in Active Region 10039 on 23 July 2002 with the RHESSI spacecraft spectrometer indicate that the CNO cycle occurs at the solar surface, in electrical discharges along closed magnetic loops.” – Mozina, Ratcliffe, and Manuel
<font color="#003399">http://arxiv.org/ftp/astro-ph/papers/0512/0512633.pdf</font></span><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><span> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">(Note: The CNO cycle for the fusion reaction in stars has been known since the 1938 paper of Hans Bethe. </span>
<span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><font color="#800080">http://prola.aps.org/pdf/PR/v55/i5/p434_1</font></span></p><p><strong><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><span>3.<span style="font:7pt'TimesNewRoman'"> </span></span></span></strong><strong><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><span> </span>Fission is a major contributor to the energy of the sun</span></strong><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">”It should also be noted that I have published a paper on fusion processes in the solar atmosphere, and I do not believe that fission is the *only* energy source of the sun. There are many variables in play, including induction and fusion as well, and solar models remain in debate within the EU community. There is no "consensus" on that issue, and I would in fact assume I am in the minority of folks that prefer a Birkeland model over a standard solar model.” – Michael Mozina<span> </span></span>
<span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><font color="#800080">http://www.space.com/common/community/forums/?plckForumPage=ForumDiscussion&plckDiscussionId=Cat:c7921f8b-94ec-454a-9715-3770aac6e2caForum:2f3143ad-161c-461f-b1e1-f88bf188e3cfDiscussion:fe11cb81-01b7-46b5-a90f-f1a39d1eddba&plckCurrentPage=11&sid=sitelife.space.com</font></span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">“Um, it "potentially" points to new properties for neutrinos just as it "potentially" points to a new primary energy source like fission that can release all three neutrino leptons. That would also preserve lepton conservation "laws".” – Michael Mozina<span> </span></span></p><p>
<span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><font color="#800080">http://www.space.com/common/community/forums/?plckForumPage=ForumDiscussion&plckDiscussionId=Cat:c7921f8b-94ec-454a-9715-3770aac6e2caForum:2f3143ad-161c-461f-b1e1-f88bf188e3cfDiscussion:91e16c2e-278f-44c5-adbe-1e79ee1e1662&plckCurrentPage=23&sid=sitelife.space.com</font></span><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">It is rather apparent from items 1-3 that Mr. Mozina is rather confused with regard to what he, himself, believes.<span> </span>It is no wonder that the rest of us are in the dark as well. Note that, for the record, the mainstream opinion is the proton-proton fusion is the primary source of power for stars of about 1.4 times the mass of the sun and the CNO cycle dominates for larger stars.<span> </span>So his second notion carries some truth, but is direct conflict with his more common assertions as to the source of solar energy.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"> </span><strong><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><span>4.<span style="font:7pt'TimesNewRoman'"> </span></span></span></strong><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><span> </span><strong>The surface of the sun is solid and the photosphere is primarily neon</strong></span><span style="font-size:8pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">“The sun's photosphere is often mistakenly referred to as the surface of the sun. In reality however, the sun's photosphere is only a "liquid-like" plasma layer made of neon that covers the actual surface of the sun. That visible layer we see with our eyes is composed of penumbral filaments that are several hundred kilometers deep. This visible neon plasma layer that we call the photosphere, and a thicker, more dense atmospheric layer composed of silicon plasma, entirely covers the actual rocky, calcium ferrite surface layer of the sun</span>
http://www.thesurfaceofthesun.com/images/T171_000828.avi<span style="font-size:8pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">. The visible photosphere covers the actual surface of the sun, much as the earth's oceans cover most of the surface of the earth. In this case the sun's photosphere is very bright and we cannot see the darker, more rigid surface features below the photosphere without the aid of satellite technology.” – Michael Mozina</span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">and</span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">“The running difference imaging technique used by both NASA and Lockheed Martin have revealed to us for the first time that the sun is not simply a ball of hydrogen gas; it has a hard and rigid ferrite surface below the visible photosphere that can be seen in all of the images on this page! “ –Michael Mozina<span> </span>
<font color="#800080">http://www.thesurfaceofthesun.com/</font></span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">This is,<span> </span>of course , in conflict with Hannes Alfven’s own statement in <em>Cosmical Electrodynamics</em> that “The concept of frozen-in lines of force may be useful in solar physics, where we have to do with high- and medium-density plasmas (cf. 5.1.4), but may be grossly misleading if applied to the magnetosphere of the earth.” (pg. 191), or, “`In the interior of stars the gas is almost completely ionized.<span> </span>In the photosphere of the sun (and other stars) the degree of ionization is not very high, but above the photosphere =, in the chromospheres and corona, the ionization if higher again (almost 100 per cent).” (pg. 134)</span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">Mozina seems to be relying on the <em>Norwegian Aurora Polaris Expedition 1902-1903 </em>by K.R. Birkeland (published in 1908) for his interpretation of the sun as a solid object powered by electric current.<span> </span>While Birkeland’s observations regarding the earth’s aurora borealis phenomena have proved to be prescient, his notions of solar physics are rather far off the mark.<span> </span>This is understandable since his work was published prior to the announcement of the discovery of the nucleus by Ernest Rutherford in 1911.<span> </span>Lacking knowledge of the nucleus itself, it is no wonder that Birkeland did not know of nuclear fusion.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">His notion that the photosphere is composed largely of neon is also in conflict with known solar physics, but consistent with his notion that the sun in nothing more than externally powered electric neon light bulb. </span>
<span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><font color="#800080">http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/HBASE/tables/suncomp.html</font></span><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"> and </span>
<span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><font color="#800080">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun</font></span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">The notion of<span> </span>a solid surface of the sum is in direct conflict with all estimates of the surface temperature of at least 5600 C. </span>
<span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><font color="#800080">http://hypertextbook.com/facts/1997/GlyniseFinney.shtml</font></span><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">
<font color="#003399">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun</font> well above the melting point of calcium ferrite which is about 1200C </span>
<span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><font color="#800080">http://hypertextbook.com/facts/1997/GlyniseFinney.shtml</font></span><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">Mozina’s rather bizarre notion regarding the surface of the sun are recognized as easily debunked pseudoscience in the professional astronomy community (</span>
<span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><font color="#800080">http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=673</font></span><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">) :</span></p><p><span style="color:black;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><font size="3"> “</font></span><span style="font-size:8pt;color:black;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">As we have stated in other places, we do not feel that the "Curious" site is not the appropriate place to debate the in-depth details of such models, although I should note that it takes only basic Physics to find flaws in the idea of a solid iron surface to the Sun (for example the fact that iron is vaporized at the temperature of the Sun's surface). If you do want more details I would like to refer you to the Bad Astronomy and Universe Today Forum which hosted this </span>
<span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><font color="#003399">thread</font></span><span style="font-size:8pt;color:black;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"> in June-July 2005 in which the author of </span>
<span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><font color="#800080">thesurfaceofthesun.com</font></span><span style="font-size:8pt;color:black;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"> debates his model with various other members of the forum.”</span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;color:black;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><span> </span></span><span style="font-size:8pt;color:black;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">His ideas have been debated elsewhere, as noted, with professional astronomers, and have been shown to be pure pseudoscience, for many reasons.<span> </span>A particularly easy point to make is that the solid calcium ferrite which he claims makes up a large portion of the solid surface of the sun has a melting<span> </span>temperature on the order of 1200 C which is far below the surface temperature of about 6000 C.<span> </span>Mozina has no credible answer to this criticism.</span><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"> </span></p><p><strong><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><span>5.<span style="font:7pt'TimesNewRoman'"> </span></span></span></strong><strong><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">The universe is not expanding and red shift is caused by other factors</span></strong></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">Mr. Mozina refuses to accept that it is a consequence of the observed red shift of distant galaxies, the nature of the cosmic background radiation and the apparent validity of Einstein’s general theory of relativity that space itself is expanding and that the universe originated at some time in the distant past in a very compact form, an event known in the mainstream as the Big Bang.<span> </span>He further confuses the ordinary expansion of space with the theory of inflation proposed by Alan Guth.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">“While I accept and believe in "space-time expansions" (objects in motions stay in motion), I do not personally happen to believe that "space expands". – Michael Mozina</span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">At the same time Mr. Mozina purports to accept general relativity “as Einstein taught it”.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"> </span><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">“I have no problem accepting GR theory as Einstein taught it to his student (and to me while reading his material). GR theory as I was taught it in college is just fine by me.” – Michael Mozina<span> </span>
<font color="#003399">http://www.space.com/common/community/forums/?plckForumPage=ForumDiscussion&plckDiscussionId=Cat:c7921f8b-94ec-454a-9715-3770aac6e2caForum:2f3143ad-161c-461f-b1e1-f88bf188e3cfDiscussion:3eca296d-2ec2-4989-9749-098a272ba62e&plckCurrentPage=11&sid=sitelife.space.com</font></span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"> </span><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">“In Einstein's version of GR, "space' did not expand. There was no constant. He tried that and yanked it the moment he realized there was expansion happening. The "expansion" he envisioned and taught was simple physical expansion of the mass objects that make up "space time". He in no way suggested that "space" expands, that there were any negative pressure vacuums, etc.” – Michael Mozina </span>
<span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><font color="#800080">http://www.space.com/common/community/forums/?plckForumPage=ForumDiscussion&plckDiscussionId=Cat:c7921f8b-94ec-454a-9715-3770aac6e2caForum:2f3143ad-161c-461f-b1e1-f88bf188e3cfDiscussion:3eca296d-2ec2-4989-9749-098a272ba62e&plckCurrentPage=15&sid=sitelife.space.com</font></span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"> </span><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">Yet, as pointed out to Mr. Mozina on numerous occasions, </span><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">Einstein did, in fact, remove the cosmological constant from his formulation of the field equations and adopted the perspective of expanding space, consistent with the observations of Edwin Hubble. Moreover, the cosmological constant introduced by Einstein had the sole purpose of permitting a static solution to the field equations of general relativity – A. Einstein in “Cosmological Considerations on the General Theory of Relativity as reprinted in <em>The Principle of Relativity </em>by A. Einstein (see especially page 188).</span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">Mr. Mozina has several times made reference to e- papers by Ari Brynjolfsson that Mr. Brynjolfsson has been unable to publish in refereed journals.<span> </span></span>
<span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><font color="#800080">http://front.math.ucdavis.edu/search?a=Brynjolfsson&t=&q=&c=&n=25&s=Listings</font></span><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"> </span><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">“Actually we *believe* (at the moment) that it's expanding. In reality however Ari's paper demonstrates that there are other mathematical ways to "interpret" the redshift data. Arp’s observations must also be reexamined, particularly in light of the fact that astronomers have been talking about galaxies ejecting large objects at very high speeds. MECO theory suggests that large physical objects may have an intrinsic redshift. We *presume* from the redshift observations that the universe is expanding. For the time being that seems to be the most logical conclusion, but it's not a given, and the 'interpretations' of the redshift phenomenon may change over time.” – Michael Mozina</span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">
<font color="#5574b9">http://www.space.com/common/community/forums/?plckForumPage=ForumDiscussion&plckDiscussionId=Cat:c7921f8b-94ec-454a-9715-3770aac6e2caForum:2f3143ad-161c-461f-b1e1-f88bf188e3cfDiscussion:3eca296d-2ec2-4989-9749-098a272ba62e&plckCurrentPage=17&sid=sitelife.space.com</font></span><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><span> </span>These papers purport to describe a hitherto unknown mechanism for the production of redshift that would be an alternative hypothesis to the expansion of the universe.<span> </span>Unfortunately Mr. Brynjolfsson appears to not understand the basic difference among a photon, the quantum mechanical wave function that describes the state of a single photon and an electromagnetic wave that is the result of the behavior of a huge number of individual photons. <span> </span>He simply misunderstands basic physics.<span> </span>See the first paragraph of section 2 in the paper </span>
<span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><font color="#800080">http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/astro-ph/pdf/0401/0401420v3.pdf</font></span><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">. </span><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"> </span></p><p><strong><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><span>II.<span style="font:7pt'TimesNewRoman'"> </span></span></span></strong><strong><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">Mr. Mozina has demonstrated a profound misunderstanding of fundamental physics</span></strong><strong><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"> </span></strong></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><span>1.<span style="font:7pt'TimesNewRoman'"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">Mr. Mozina has consistently demonstrated a complete misunderstanding of ions and conductivity, a topic essential to any application of plasma physics or magnetohydrodynamics. <span> </span>He apparently confuses “ions” with “iron”.</span><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">“Ions most certainly do "conduct" electrons. Iron atoms will "conduct" electrical current. Iron ions will most certainly "conduct" electrical current.</span><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">Nobody doubts that the movement of charged particles *is* current. Ions however will themselves conduct electrons flow, just as those ions in the spinning filaments are conducting electrons through the filament.” – Michael Mozina<span> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><span> </span></span>
<span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><font color="#800080">http://www.space.com/common/community/forums/?plckForumPage=ForumDiscussion&plckDiscussionId=Cat:c7921f8b-94ec-454a-9715-3770aac6e2caForum:2f3143ad-161c-461f-b1e1-f88bf188e3cfDiscussion:fe11cb81-01b7-46b5-a90f-f1a39d1eddba&plckCurrentPage=10&sid=sitelife.space.com</font></span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><span>2.<span style="font:7pt'TimesNewRoman'"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">Mr. Mozina seems to think that a Wal Mart plasma ball is somehow representative of the physics of the sun. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">“The question posed and answered was with regard to the plasma balls that you seem to like from Wal Mart, not the sun.” – DrRocket</span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">To which Mr. Mozina replied</span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">“The "physics" are similar, they differ only in terms of their amounts of "current flow".” – Michael Mozina</span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><span>3.<span style="font:7pt'TimesNewRoman'"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">Mr. Mozina has been rather vociferous in his advocacy of circuit theory in analyzing plasma phenomena, relying on Alflven’s use of the work “circuit” while misunderstanding Alfven’s meaning entirely.<span> </span>Alfven understood that plasmas are described in the theory of magnetohydrodynamics via Maxwell’s equations for electromagnetic fields, the Lorentz force equation and the principles of fluid dynamics.<span> </span>He did use the idea of <strong>equivalent</strong> circuits, a common electrical engineering device, to describe certain aspects of plasmas (see for instance section 5.3.2 of <em>Cosmical Electrodynamics).<span> </span></em>Alfven, unlike Mozina, understood that equivalent circuits are only a useful means of calling attention to the implications of the more fundamental field theory, that the parameters of the equivalent circuits are derived from solutions to Maxwell’s equations, and not the other way around.<span> </span>Mr. Mozina simply fails, loud though his protestations may be, to understand the fundamental nature of plasmas and the limitations of a lumped parameter, low frequency approximation to Maxwell’s equations, which is what circuits are.<span> </span>He further misunderstands the relationship between an equivalent circuit, and a physical circuit.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><span>4.<span style="font:7pt'TimesNewRoman'"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">Mr. Mozina has totally misunderstood the nature of the vacuum state in quantum field theory, the importance of the vacuum state in cosmology, or the current issues with regard to the vacuum state, expansion of the universe or dark energy.<span> </span>The FACTS are that the energy of the quantum vacuum provides a negative pressure term for use in the stress-energy tensor in the field equations of general relativity, that negative pressure term is equivalent to a positive cosmological constant, which in turn is equivalent to dark energy, and which provides for a model in which the expansion of space is accelerating.<span> </span>It is also true that current quantum field theory calculations predicts a negative pressure that exceeds that required to explain the observed accelerated expansion by 120 orders of magnitude, which is a HUGE discrepancy, and the theory is not now at all satisfactory.<span> </span>But the reason for the problems is totally unrelated to Mr. Mozina’s illogical rants.<span> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><span> </span></span>
<span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><font color="#800080">http://www.space.com/common/community/forums/?plckForumPage=ForumDiscussion&plckDiscussionId=Cat:c7921f8b-94ec-454a-9715-3770aac6e2caForum:2f3143ad-161c-461f-b1e1-f88bf188e3cfDiscussion:fe11cb81-01b7-46b5-a90f-f1a39d1eddba&plckCurrentPage=12&sid=sitelife.space.com</font></span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><span>5.<span style="font:7pt'TimesNewRoman'"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><span> </span>Mr. Mozina has repeatedly misunderstood both circuit theory and Hannes Alfven’s use of the term to call attention to the need to properly account for boundary conditions.<span> </span>He instead relies solely on semantics and completely disregards the needs of physics.<span> </span>That topic has been discussed thoroughly in the thread “Report on Alvfen’s book <em>Cosmic Plasma.”<span> </span></em>What is important to note is that Mr. Mozina exhibits complete ignorance of physics while arguing vociferously from a perspective of pure semantics.<span> </span>That approach was carried to an extreme in his attacks on mainstream “magnetic reconnection” where he argued vehemently but irrationally for his undefined “circuit reconnection”. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><span>6.<span style="font:7pt'TimesNewRoman'"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">As seen Mr. Mozina misunderstands, perhaps willfully, both basic physics and the work of Hannes Alfven.<span> </span>Since he claims that EU Theory is the work of Alfven, it is clear that he misunderstands it as well.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"> </span><strong><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><span>III.<span style="font:7pt'TimesNewRoman'"> </span></span></span></strong><strong><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">The Work of Hannes Alfven and <span> </span>Kristian Birkeland</span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><span>1.<span style="font:7pt'TimesNewRoman'"> </span></span></span></strong><strong><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">Kristian Birkeland</span></strong><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">Birkeland’s work is published in a large volume, The<em> Norwegian Aurora Polaris Expedition 1902-1903, </em>published in 1908.<span> </span>It is worthwhile putting those dates in perspective.<span> </span>Ernest Rutherford announced the discovery of the modern concept of the nucleus surrounded by an electron cloud in 1911.<span> </span><span> </span>JJ Thompson had discovered the electron only 5 years prior to the expedition, in 1897.<span> </span>Birkeland’s work must be viewed in the light that modern atomic theory was in the process of formation during the time that he was performing his experiments. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">Birkeland did extensive work directed at explaining the aurora borealis, and despite some criticisms at the time and somewhat later, his work has stood the test of time and proven to be prescient in describing the currents that create the aurora.<span> </span>He was the first to postulate that space is widely populated by plasma.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">Birkeland did many experiments with his “terella” apparatus to simulate the behavior of plasma in the region of a solid conductive sphere energized with an externally supplied electric power source. <span> </span>Those experiments allowed him to gain an understanding the effect of the Earth and the magnetic field of the Earth on the flow of plasma that emanates from the sun and is moderated by the magnetosphere.<span> </span>However, those experiments, in light of current knowledge of stellar formation, nuclear fusion, and modern electrodynamics are simply not directly applicable to the finer points of solar physics.<span> </span>It would be rather unfair to criticize Birkeland for this, given the state of physical knowledge at the time of his work.<span> </span>Birkeland remains a historic figure in physics, a man to be admired.<span> </span>But his work ought not to be viewed as definitive with respect to modern stellar physics.</span></p><p><strong><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><span>2.<span style="font:7pt'TimesNewRoman'"> </span></span></span></strong><strong><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><span> </span>Hannes Alfven</span></strong></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">Hannes Alfven was a Swedish physicist and electrical engineer. <span> </span>He received a Nobel Prize in 1970 for his work in magnetohydrodynamics, a sub-discipline of plasma physics.<span> </span>Along with Chandrasekhar Alfven had a strong influence on the application of plasma physics to astrophysical problems.<span> </span>He died in 1995.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">Alfven published many papers and two notable books.<span> </span><em>Cosmical Electrodynamics </em>is a widely cited monograph on the subject of plasma physics and magnetohydrodynamics written with a view towards solar physics and astrophysics.<span> </span>The second edition was published, with Carl-Gunne Falthammar as co-author in 1963, prior to Alfven’s receipt of the Nobel Prize and reflects much of the work that earned him that honor.<span> </span><em>Cosmic Plasma, </em>published in 1981 was a stark contrast to <em>Cosmic Electrodynamics. </em>The latter book, discussed at length in the thread “Report on Alflven’s book Cosmic Plasma” is largely speculative and most of the speculations have been invalidated by modern observations.<span> </span>Unfortunately, EU wackos lacking perception and knowledge of physics have actually amplified and expanded upon Alfven’s 27-year-lold speculations to construct some truly outrageous nonsense, which they label “EU Theory”.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">Alfven was a proponent of what is usually termed “Plasma Cosmology” or “The Plasma Universe”, which is based on sensible standard physics.<span> </span>It challenges the Big Bang and asks the reasonable question as to whether at some time in the distant past the transverse motions of the galaxies might not have been comparable to the radial motions and hence questions the extrapolation back to the extreme densities of the Big Bang.<span> </span>This was not an unfair premise at the time that it was made by Alfven and Klein.<span> </span>However, this hypothesis is inconsistent with more modern information regarding the isotropy of the cosmic background radiation (CMBR) and X-ray backgrounds.<span> </span>It is also inconsistent with the theorems of Hawking and Penrose (Hawking and Penrose, (1970) “The singularities of gravitational collapse and cosmology,” <em>Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. </em><strong>A</strong> <strong>31<em>4</em></strong>, 529-48)<strong><em> </em></strong><em><span> </span></em>that show that the Big Bang follows from general relativity and boundary conditions imposed by the lower bound on the observed matter in the universe and the observed expansion of space as reflected in the work of Hubble and more recent surveys.<span> </span>In light of modern empirical data, Alfven’s Plasma Cosmology is no longer seriously considered (see <em>Principles of Physical Cosmology</em> by P.J.E. Peebles, pp. 207-209 or <em>Gravitation</em> by Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler pg. 770)</span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">Just as with the work of Birkeland, one must interpret the work of Alfven in the context of the state of physics during the time in which that work was performed.<span> </span>Alfven’s seminal work in magnetohydrodynamics was performed in the first part of the twentieth century.<span> </span>The understanding of cosmology at that time was far more primitive than it is today.<span> </span>There were several competing approaches to cosmology (see for instance <em>Cosmology</em>, by Herman Bondi; Cambridge University Press 1952).<span> </span>The Big Bang theory originated with the work of Lemaitre in 1927 as a theoretical solution, which he called the “primeval atom” to the equations of general relativity, preceding the experimental work of Hubble that provides strong support. <span> </span>But the Big Bang remained one of several competing theories until the experimental discovery by Penzias and Wilson of the CMBR and the recognition of P.J.E. Peebles of the significance and origin of that microwave signal.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">Even with the recognition of the CMBR, the ascendancy of the Big Bang hypothesis awaited the work of Hawking, Penrose and Ellis in the late 1960’s which showed the Big Bang to be a logical consequence of general relativity with boundary conditions imposed by a minimum amount of matter supported by astronomical observation.<span> </span>It was further supported experimentally by detailed surveys of the CMBR, such as the COBE (1992) and WMAP (first results in 2003 with observations scheduled to continue through Sept. 2009) surveys that showed small anisotropies consistent with the Big Bang hypothesis.<span> </span>Mather and Smoot were awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in physics for their COBE work mapping the CMBR anisotropies which helped to cement the Big Bang as the leading theory of the origin of the universe.<span> </span></span>
<span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><font color="#800080">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COBE</font></span><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><span> </span></span>
<span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><font color="#800080">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WMAP</font></span><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">Thus one sees that while the cosmological models posed by Alfven were not valid, they were consistent with responsible speculation at the frontiers of research in physics.<span> </span>Alfven’s work was not pseudoscience.<span> </span>But to continue to advance ideas that have been shown to be incorrect and inconsistent with established theory, such as general relativity, and with the body of empirical data that has been gathered in recent years, is most assuredly pseudoscience.<span> </span>It is equally the case that the advocacy of Newtonian mechanics over Einstein’s relativity is pseudoscience, but Newton was clearly a great scientist.<span> </span>There is a contextual element to pseudoscience that cannot be denied.<span> </span>Alfven was no fool.<span> </span>But those who continue to advocate ideas based on his hypotheses, now set aside for sound scientific reasons, are most certainly foolish, and abysmally ignorant of the true state of physics.<span> </span>They deserve no more respect than witch doctors who refuse to acknowledge the work of Louis Pasteur on the microbial nature of infections and continue to treat illness as the result of evil spirits.<span> </span>The tools of the modern advocates of “EU Theory” are the equivalent of beads and rattles.<span> </span>Mozina is no more than a witch doctor with a keyboard.</span><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"> </span></p><p><strong><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><span>IV.<span style="font:7pt'TimesNewRoman'"> </span></span></span></strong><strong><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">EU Theory debunked as pseudoscience</span></strong></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">While Mr. Mozina would like to define EU Theory as simply ” </span><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">the application of MHD theory to objects in space&rdquo
</span><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">so as to trade on the credibility of Hannes Alfven it is abundantly clear that he has a far different view of “EU theory” and a personal agenda.<span> </span>His statements have clearly differentiated his notions of “EU Theory” from those of Alfven and he has even more clearly differentiated his ideas from those of proven physics.<span> </span>Mr. Mozina is an advocate of a most blatant variety of pseudoscience.<span> </span></span>
<span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><font color="#800080">http://www.space.com/common/community/forums/?plckForumPage=ForumDiscussion&plckDiscussionId=Cat:c7921f8b-94ec-454a-9715-3770aac6e2caForum:2f3143ad-161c-461f-b1e1-f88bf188e3cfDiscussion:fe11cb81-01b7-46b5-a90f-f1a39d1eddba&plckCurrentPage=8&sid=sitelife.space.com</font></span><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'"><span> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">In short, Mr. Mozina has demonstrated a profound confusion with respect to fundamental physics so consistently that he simply cannot be accorded any credibility whatever when matters of science in general and physics in particular are of import.<span> </span>EU theory as represented by the bulk of Mr. Mozina’s assertions is not consistent with mainstream physics and is simply pseudoscience.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:'Verdana','sans-serif'">Mr. Mozina’s brand of pseudoscience deserves no serious consideration in the scientific community, and it receives none.<span> </span>He and his web site are a laughing stock among astronomers.<span> </span>The only likely impact from his advocacy of scientific hogwash is damage to young people who have little experience and background, and may be dissuaded from a career in real science or engineering through his offices.<span> </span>But that impact could be tragic to the individuals so affected, and therefore he deserves the strongest censure by people of integrity.<span> </span></span></p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>