Saturday, April 23, 2011

Leonardo Da Vinci: On the Expanding Earth



Above: Franco Rosselli's 1508 map showing the island of Atlantis (Antarctica).

"OF THE EARTH'S INCREASE

INSTANCES AND DEDUCTIONS AS TO THE EARTH'S INCREASE

Take a vase, fill it full of pure earth, and set it up on a roof. You will see how immediately the green herbs will begin to shoot up, and how these, when fully grown, will cast their various seeds; and after the children have thus fallen at the feet of their parents, you will see the herbs having cast their seeds, becoming withered and falling back again to the earth, and within a short time becoming changed into the earth's substance and giving it increase; after this you will see the seeds springing up and passing through the same course, and so you will always see the successive generations after completing their natural course, by their death and corruption giving increase to the earth. And if you let ten years elapse and then measure the increase in the soil, you will be able to discover how much the earth in general has increased, and then by multiplying you will see how great has been the increase of the earth in the world during a thousand years. ... For do you not perceive how, among the high mountains, the walls of ancient and ruined cities are being covered over and concealed by the earth's increase? Nay, have you not seen how on the rocky summits of the mountains the live stone itself has in course of time swallowed up by its growth some column which it supported, and stripping it bare as with shears and grasping it tightly, has left the impress of its fluted form in the living rock?" -- Leonardo Da Vinci, polymath, Codex Atlanticus, Of the Earth's Increase, 265 r.a., ~1478-1519

17 comments:

OilIsMastery said...

Jeffery,

"So grass causes the Earth to get bigger? Really?"

If you actually did the repeatable scientific experiment Da Vinci explained you would know the answer to that question.

"Who knew Leonardo could be such a dumbass on occasion."

LOL. Predictably, desperation leads to ad hominem fallacy.

Jeffery Keown said...

He says that growing plants increases the size of the Earth.

He is wrong.

No ad hom there... just Leo bein' a dumbass. He was a brilliant guy, but even the best do stupid things and believe nonsense.

OilIsMastery said...

Jeffery,

Silly Da Vinci should have realized that according to Plate Tectonics, plants have negative biomass.

Jeffery Keown said...

Actually, they have a zero-balance biomass relative to the mass of the planet. The material the plants use for growth is already here. We talked about this over two years ago.

OilIsMastery said...

"The material the plants use for growth is already here."

Really? I never knew that, according to Plate Tectonics, the Sun exists inside the Earth so that the photons for photosynthesis don't have to come from outerspace. Convenient!

Jeffery Keown said...

Really? I never knew that, according to Plate Tectonics, the Sun exists inside the Earth so that the photons for photosynthesis don't have to come from outerspace. Convenient!

This is the most unutterably stupid thing you have ever typed. And you've had some good ones.

I have a bit of searching to do on this very blog, and then I'll be back.

Jeffery Keown said...

Ah... here it is.
++++++++++++++++++++++++
Photons from outerspace (energy from the sun) produce "an estimated global net primary production (NPP) of 104.9 petagrams of carbon per year" on the earth.

We talked about photosynthesis and such over a year ago. It wasn't proof then, and its not proof now.

Net primary production is the rate at which all the plants in an ecosystem produce net useful chemical energy; it is equal to the difference between the rate at which the plants in an ecosystem produce useful chemical energy (GPP) and the rate at which they use some of that energy during respiration. Some net primary production goes toward growth and reproduction of primary producers, while some is consumed by herbivores.

That carbon you cite is already here, not arriving from space. Even if it was, it is not enough to generate the the growth you claim. Meteor and cosmic ray impacts are not sufficient to grow the Earth by 5mm over a million years, let alone one year has you have claimed before.
+++++++++++++
This makes the third time you've tried to claim that planets grow because of plants. You really should stop. The photons are radiated away as heat by the atmosphere or used up to power the photosynthesis process.

Photons dislodge electrons, (the electron gets ejected, and forced into a higher energy level), the energy of this is used in the formation of ATP, in the process of Photophosphorylation.

OilIsMastery said...

Are photons from the Sun terrestrial in origin, yes or no?

Jeffery Keown said...

Nope, but they do not add mass either.

Do you think nucleosynthesis occurs on Earth?

OilIsMastery said...

"Photons from outerspace (energy from the sun) produce 'an estimated global net primary production (NPP) of 104.9 petagrams of carbon per year' on the earth."

104.9 petagrams is not "no mass" as you claim.

Jeffery Keown said...

The carbon in net primary production Is. Already. Here.

Can you fucking read?

Photons do not cause nucleosynthesis of carbon in the atmosphere. Do you understand that?

OilIsMastery said...

Jeffery,

You don't know what "from outerspace" means.

Jeffery Keown said...

Nucleosynthesis is not the same as Photosynthesis. Light comes from outer space, but it doesn't magically turn into carbon.

Do you beleive in magic? Leonardo didn't.

carbon dioxide + water + light energy → carbohydrate + oxygen

As you can see, NPP produces carbohydrates and oxygen as a waste gas.

Are you so lonely that you post this shit so I'll talk to you?

I suggest you try to get out more often. Perhaps a dating site or visiting the elderly, certainly they could use the laughs.

Jeffery Keown said...

Another read of your quote shows that you didn't understand a word of what Leo was talking about.

For do you not perceive how, among the high mountains, the walls of ancient and ruined cities are being covered over and concealed by the earth's increase?

When he writes "earth" he doesn't mean the planet...he means dirt.

Fungus the Photo! said...

Have you been reading my blog again?

Good to see historical agreement with what is obvious to all who think.

The next question is how long does it take to make stone out of soil?

PS Don't feed the Troll!

Unknown said...

So what do you guys think a piece like this one would be worth?

Unknown said...

What do you think a piece like tis is worth?