tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4111782305190930044.post6515732081098405928..comments2023-10-19T04:59:08.088-07:00Comments on science buzz: My new sandpit theory for how the Turin Shroud was produced - as a medieval hoaxsciencebodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12051016731274875332noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4111782305190930044.post-75978593429894717862012-02-29T18:24:36.279-08:002012-02-29T18:24:36.279-08:00Update: 1st March
I now think it was SNOW, rather...Update: 1st March<br /><br />I now think it was SNOW, rather than sand. Not only does snow have a lot more give than sand, it also has the added advantage of reducing the risk of excessive scorching, confining the image mainly to a superficial layer close to the area of contact between template and linen.sciencebodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12051016731274875332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4111782305190930044.post-14049203484010679412012-02-03T15:46:41.275-08:002012-02-03T15:46:41.275-08:00Interesting theory
CInteresting theory<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />CAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4111782305190930044.post-89082336469719306082012-02-01T22:26:55.304-08:002012-02-01T22:26:55.304-08:00Have just this minute posted this comment to Tom C...Have just this minute posted this comment to Tom Chivers' Telegraph blogsite:<br /><br /><a href="http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tomchiversscience/100134154/lansleys-nhs-bill-is-unnecessary-incomprehensible-and-possibly-illegal-other-than-that-its-great/" rel="nofollow"> Tom Chivers </a><br /><br />Good morning Tom<br /><br />Sorry, have only just spotted this latest post of yours, having been preoccupied with other (more scientific) matters - about which more in a minute.<br /><br />Yup, I've made no secret in the past on what I think about Lansley and his so-called reforms, ones that turn the NHS organisational pyramid on its head, putting the gatekeepers in charge of vast spending budgets. It's a licence for a lot of people, GPs especially, to get spectacularly rich in a very short space of time with little in the way of accountability.<br /><br />Changing the subject: your two recent posts on the Turin Shroud, notably on the Italian Star Wars stuff with the high energy laser beams, got this retired science bod interested in the subject, and I've been reporting a series of simple experiments in recent weeks with more down-to-earth thermo-imprinting (basically "branding" with hot metal) and thermo-stencilling (a method for trapping infrared radiation). After much thought, debate and indeed flak on a specialist site, I think I finally know how the Shroud was produced as a medieval forgery, using nothing more than an oven, a hot statue of the crucified Christ, a linen sheet and, crucially, a bed of (probably moist) sand. I call it the 'sandpit theory' and believe it is one that can account for a lot of the unusual, unexpected details re the Shroud image. <br /><br />Care to take a look, and, better still, do another, third post on the Shroud, not necessarily on my humble addition to this perplexing topic?<br /><br />My 'sandpit' theory:<br />(Link to this posting)sciencebodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12051016731274875332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4111782305190930044.post-62360424308665028022012-02-01T14:12:49.116-08:002012-02-01T14:12:49.116-08:00OK, D, let's not get hung up on semantics, but...OK, D, let's not get hung up on semantics, but I think it's more than a hypothesis. Why? Because I've devised a method that in my view takes account of a lot of the facts and oddities about the image on the Shroud - like for instance it has no sides, and there is no impression of the top of the head where there is a blank portion that one expected to be in contact with the top of the head etc etc. But I won't complain if you call it a hypothesis or even a hunch. What matters is whether it can stand up to close scrutiny.<br /><br />Yes, I was expecting a comment re foreshortening. It's never been clear to me how that idea that the image was foreshortened, with knees drawn up, came about. How can anyone know be sure of that if all they have is the one image, OK, two, front and rear? I cannot but help wonder if there is not some circular reasoning here - that folk assume it was a real man who was crucified, that he was still in a state of rigor mortis when placed in the Shroud, preserving the posture he had on the Cross, that the image was somehow magically projected onto a flat sheet that did not hug the comtours of the body etc etc. I don't think one should make any assumptions unless one knows the means by which the image was created, and if it was by direct contact as I suggest then it hardly matters whether the knees were or were not drawn up, and your foreshortening becomes a bit of a distraction from the real issue - was it a real body or statue? If as I believe it was the latter, then it can be heated to leave a scorch imprint - no need for Star Wars technology...sciencebodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12051016731274875332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4111782305190930044.post-85201257140320883102012-02-01T13:50:49.653-08:002012-02-01T13:50:49.653-08:00Your "theory" is not a theory and cannot...Your "theory" is not a theory and cannot in any case be correct. You are saying that the image was only formed where the linen was in close contact with your hot metal. But everybody knows the shrouds image is fore-shortened with knees bent and so on. How do you explain that Mr.Sciencebod?<br /><br />DAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4111782305190930044.post-64578467078177981492012-02-01T11:27:07.764-08:002012-02-01T11:27:07.764-08:00Well, it is branding, as with cattle, if one press...Well, it is branding, as with cattle, if one presses hot metal against organic material so as to leave a burn or scorch mark - there's no sense in trying to pretend otherwise. And while this may look like ancient technology, as indeed it is, and has to be, it's infinitely preferable surely to publishing papers that claim the image needs excimer laser uv light to be be reproduced in the lab (as per your ENEA ref which I have previously criticized here).<br /><br />Look at my first graphic. Some of those later images after the metal had cooled down somewhat are at the limit of visibility. Who is to say they are not also one cell-wall thickness? Who's to say that any image on linen that is barely visible is not the thickness figure you cite? And that's without getting into the matter of coated/uncoated linen (the saponin story, the starch story etc etc).<br /><br />It occurred to me after writing this post (I added an edit) that the dampness of the sand may be a crucial factor in avoiding an image that is too dark. If the linen is given time to pick up moisture from the sand, then bearing in mind the high latent heat of vaporisation of water (540cal/gram) most of the heat may go into evaporation, with only a little left over for chemical dehydration, crosslinking etc ("scorching"). In other words, a few wisps of steam are not a bad thing, and may help to produce a softer image. And let's not forget that linen was probably quite pricy in the 14th century - so those hoaxers could not have afforded too many botched jobs. Damp sand may have been a crucial safeguard to avoid "over-scorching" - a like using an electric iron with just a tiny amount of steam.<br /><br />Could you add an initial or two if you come back again (to distinguish from other anonymice)?sciencebodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12051016731274875332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4111782305190930044.post-91550803163611363652012-02-01T10:36:02.423-08:002012-02-01T10:36:02.423-08:00Are you familiar with the ENEA report?
"The ...Are you familiar with the ENEA report?<br /><br />"The Shroud image is "extremely thin, one-fifth of a thousandth of a millimeter, corresponding to the thickness of the primary cell wall of a single linen fiber" <br /><br />How can any branding technique (your description) make an image on linen that is so exceedingly thin, with something as unweildy as a metal statue out of an oven? Sorry but you will have to do better than this.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com