SELF

O. N. Karavashkina and S. B. Karavashkin.

20

Some aspects of the Earth evolution

By an analogy with the traditional Indo-Iranian model of the world-ovum and its enhanced analogue - Empidocles' theory, Aristotle brings the world centre into coincidence with the centre of basic elements of nature. He describes them five: the interior sphere has been attributed to the soil, the next - to the water, third - to the air, all they belong to the Earth; the fourth is filled by the fire and fifth - by the aether; these highest states of matter compose the celestial bodies. From the height of today level of knowledge, there inevitably arises an analogy of these elements with the levels of matter structure, its phase states, their transitions and interrelation of phases, i.e. with the gravitational differentiation of substance and structurisation of matter. It is meant that space is not empty but filled by the highest and basic form of matter - the aether. Aristotle thinks some 'immovable primary driver' located out of spheres to be the cause of motion. Aristotle was the first who gave not an imaginary-philosophical but just the physical model of the world.

Ptolemy has based on the Aristotle's theory, but he silently omitted the requirement, all bodies to move around one centre. Instead the unhandy concentric spheres he introduced many circular motions around different centres (see Fig. 1.1). By way of resourceful constructing and extremely complicated calculating the system of epicycles which were in essence the initials of harmonic analysis re-discovered by Laplace 1700 years later, Ptolemy succeeded to describe quite precisely the planet motion in the geocentric system, including their uneven, loop-like, "backward" in such system motion and visual stoppage, however "homocentric spheres solve the problems of neither descriptive nor predictive astronomy, they inevitably failed in replication of the observed" [3, p. 31].

Fig. 1.1. The Ptolemy system [8, p. 22, Fig. 8].

Aristarch Samosean (310- 230 B. C.) [3, p. 33] lifted these contradictions having suggested the heliocentric world system. However by that time the Aristotle's theory was settled so strong that even understanding its inability and seeing obviously well more realistic model, the scientific community did not wish to change it. So the Aristotle-Ptolemy theory retained its predominance up to the 15th century A. D. which brought the development of instrumental observation astronomy and with it - the understanding, how small and far from exclusive is our Earth in the universe.

The heliocentric system was suggested again by N. Copernicus (1473- 1543) [9]. In his model, Copernicus considered the gravity nature and optic astronomy data of planets motion; both aspects led him to conclude the Earth moving. Copernicus developed in details the principle of relative motion and substantiated both day and year Earth rotation, established its orbit between the Venus and Mars. From this new viewpoint, the celestial bodies motion is easy explainable. Copernicus' world pattern is logic and resolving many contradictions. However, taking care, the community to be able accepting his results, Copernicus enveloped them in a maximally traditional, rigorously corresponding to the antique tradition form. His system "was no less simple that Ptolemy's and hardly less unhandy. Some simplicity of definite aspects of his theory turned into the greater complication of its other aspects. It was simpler in the sense that it need not the equants and some excentres, but each was substituted by a new epicycle. He abandoned the Ptolemy's technique of two motions of the sphere of immovable stars, but instead he introduced four motions of the Earth. Besides, having been pressed by difficulties which arose from trying to explain the observed motions, Copernicus had to take as the universum's centre some point in the Sun neighbourhood, not the Sun itself as he intended first" [3, p. 159].

"In 1609 the "New astronomy", book by I. Kepler (1571- 1630) was published, in which he modified the Copernicus' heliocentric system, substituting his circular orbits by those elliptic. Kepler undertook the cardinal rupture of tradition: he abandoned the axiom of regular circular motion; this caused the revolutionary changes not only in the astronomy, physics and theology, but in the principles of thinking as such.

… Following Copernicus and Kepler, Galileo (1564- 1642) [10] proclaimed the freedom of scientific creative work and the science independence of theology. He starts creating the new, non-Aristotle physics based on the Copernicus' heliocentric astronomy. So the Copernicus' system 'breakthroughs' into the physical theory. He breaks the tradition completely and definitively" [3, p. 153]. In 1616 the Venus phases were discovered. The new, dynamic physics started. J. Bruno (1548- 1600) [11, 12] renewed and developed the new, materialistic philosophy. If the Copernicus' universe rotates around the immovable Sun, the follower of Copernicus J. Bruno proclaims the infinite universe and innumerable moving worlds. "Bruno has developed also a number of dialectic statements of the unity, connectivity and universal motion in nature, of coinciding oppositions both on the infinitely large and infinitesimal scales" [2, p. 51].