DOOMSDAY!!

In the recent past I have been getting quite a number of sms and also mails regarding the DOOMSDAY 21-12-2012. Well IS NATURE SO PREDICTABLE ??? I just dont understand how people get time to cook up such startling stories. However the movie in youtube is really good. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11iCmzGnOI8&hl=en]

I was infact taken aback when i saw this the first time. Then I just tried getting more information on this-scanned the NASA site.Just read on to know more about the physics behind doomsday. I got this information from NASA's site.

---------------------------------

---------------------------------

306a. "Will the World end in 2012?"

I came across your website while looking for answers to this question and wondered if you could help. Unfortunately a Google search on this subject brings up more coo-coo science from dooms-day authors than scientific facts. Fortunately I found your website and was able to locate your email address.

My eight year old daughter was told by a friend at school that, "the world was ending in 2012." Her friend cited something about reversal of the earths poles, increasing solar activity (solar max??), planetary alignment and the Mayan Calendar ending at 2012. I tend to put things like this in the Art Bell/George Noory category and move on, but this has really frightened my little girl so I'm seeking some guidance. More importantly, her question suggests that she has some interest in physics so I'd like to find a way to keep that spark alive while providing some reassurance.

Can you provide a simple way of explaining earth rotation, earth polarity and angular momentum that would help quell her fears while at the same time peaking her interest in physics? Also any information on the Mayan calendar would be helpful.

Reply

I hope your daughter learns a lesson from this--don't trust Google, which collects web pages by machine and cannot tell sane from crazy. And don't rely on rumors. Find out! Rumors and Google can provide hints where to look, but to make a judgment--of what makes sense and what does not--is one's own job.

Being 8 years old is a bit early for making such judgments, so I hope she has your help (and maybe her mother's and her teacher's) to sort out the facts. I myself am just a retired physicist, too far from you to be of much help.

Luckily, questions like hers have arisen before, and the more significant ones are answered on the web site. The key file is
http://www.phy6.org/stargaze/StarFSubj.htm
which sorts the questions by subject. Your daughter's interests are particularly suited for section #7a ("Earth Rotation") and there to questions such as #26, #78, #165, #166 and #171 . Also section #7c ("Calendar and related items") and in particular the last two entries (#264 and #302) which relate directly to the Maya calendar and the year 2012 (as does one following immediately below here).

I hope your daughter (with your help) will be reassured and informed by what she reads. I also hope that she will become interested in science, and in particular astronomy! You can start her on the early sections of "Stargazers" and maybe begin with the paper sundial in section #2a there.

The reversal of the Earth's magnetic poles is a different subject altogether, discussed in "The Great Magnet, the Earth." It's not expected to happen soon, and while it has occurred in the past, you are not likely to notice it if it does, unless you are using a compass.