As you look at the morning sunrise, you sometimes notice the glow shines with red light. This is the subject of a saying for mariners that goes like this. "Red sky at night, sailor take delight. Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning." This is advice concerning the forcoming weather that draws attention to material in the sky that is defusing the blue light, suggesting that foul weather is on the way. It is a form of redshift that is observable with regard to a light emitting object that is relatively close to earth. How it works and its implications follow - read on.
This posting is written with the intent that you try the experiment outlined for yourself. You are more than welcome to just read the entry and accept the findings. However, you may find enjoyment in observing the process for yourself. Seeing is believing.
Materials Required: A ten gallon (or larger), rectangular fish tank, a sheet of white paper, one functioning flashlight, some scotch tape, and some white milk.
Setup: Fill the fish tank with tap water to within 2 or 3 inches from the top. Tape the sheet of white paper to the outside of one small side of the fish tank.
Execution 1: Turn the flashlight on and point it at the end with the paper attached from the other end. The light should be passing through the tap water and reflecting off of the paper.
Observation 1: The reflected light will be shining white. No surprise.
Execution 2: While continuing to shine the light as described above, begin adding small amounts of milk to the water. Continue until a visible change is apparant in the light reflected off the paper.
Observation 2: The reflected light from the sheet of paper will now be red. The visible light has changed from white to red.
Explanation: The white light at the start of the experiment is a display of all of the visible light. While not easily discerned, this light includes blue light. The combination of the blue and red light has given a visual impression of white light. Thus, it (the white light) contains both ultraviolet and infrared light, both of which have different wave lengths. After adding milk into the liquid, you difused (redirected) the ultraviolet light away from the reflection point on the paper. Thereby, less ultraviolet light is included in the reflected light.
Background: I was quasi watching (more listening to) a show on a cable network where a Jr. High School Science Fair was being featured. In this fair, a young lady (student) had submitted this experiment to show what happens to light when the blue light is difused. Her entry, if memory serves me correctly, earned her a third place award in the Science Fair. I wish I could remember her name because she deserves to recieve some credit here. If you can help identify her, please let me know.
Major Scientific Implication: While this was missed by the judges at the Science Fair, I did not fail to identify the larger implication of this simple experiment. What was really proven by practical application, was that Hubble has misinterpreted his observations of light coming from stars and galaxies in the Universe. Hubble viewed the cosmos looking to see red and blue shift in an attempt to prove that the Universe is expanding. He did, in fact, find that most of the Light Emitting Bodies (LEB's) were displaying a redshift from our perspective. Because most of these LEB's were showing redshift, he assumed that they were moving away from us here on Earth. The more redshift that LEB's displayed indicated to him that they were moving faster away from us faster than those that displayed less redshift. This was later interpreted by others to also indicate a farther distance from Earth. Conversely, those LEB's, that were few in number comparatively, that showing blueshift were either closer to or closing with us. This blueshift theory, I am in agreement with. Hubble went looking for evidence to support a preconceived notion, and therefore, failed to contemplate any other possibility for his observations. Thanks to the fish tank experiment, we can, with practical experimentation, speculate that all LEB's in space are likely to display redshift due to all sorts of debris and gas out there. A true redshift measurement of LEB's movement relative to Earth would have to take into consideration the amounts of debris/gas in between. While those LEB's displaying blueshift are most probably moving closer to us, those displaying redshift are likely to be indiscernible, at this time, with regard to movement or distance. We need a system to measure the amount of debris/gas located between the measured objects. Therefore, redshift LEB's could be at vast distances, moving away or closer, or staying relatively stationary. Our current science cannot tell.
Additional Observational Support: Scientists observing the heavens for Gamma Ray Bursts are using the redshift of heated debris and gasses to measure the distance to supernovas, hypernovas, blackholes, or any other object currently considered to be gamma ray emitters. Gamma rays can not be visibly recorded or seen by us. So the heating of nearby debris and gasses by the rays and, the subsequent, measuring of redshift from these objects is used by scientists currently to guess at the distance between us and the gamma ray emitters. However, debris and gasses are the very items that would cause ultraviolet light difusion (redshift) between any bodies. The vast distances between us and any other body would contain incalculable amounts of space debris and gasses. Redshift should be displayed almost everywhere!!
Other Scientific Implications: This phenomena has affects on other areas of scientific measurement. Some of those are: Age of the Universe, Spacial Distance, Light Speed, Expanding Universe, Collapsing Universe, Dark Matter, Dark Energy, Star Type/Size, Star Birth/Death, Black Hole Measurements, and all manner of Big Bang Measurements. This just names a few.
More on this Redshift Effect, to be called from here on "The David Effect" is forthcoming in future postings. The term "The David Effect" is hereby claimed under copyright and trademark laws.
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