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Dmitry Livanov
The Physics
of Planet Earth
and Its Natural
Wonders
The Physics of Planet Earth and Its Natural Wonders
Dmitry Livanov
The Physics of Planet

Earth and Its Natural
Wonders
Dmitry Livanov
National University of Science
and Technology MISIS
Moscow, Russia
ISBN 978-3-031-33425-2 ISBN 978-3-031-33426-9 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33426-9
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2023
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Preface
The book you are holding in your hands is about the physics of the world.
The world around us, which is made up of the planets and stars that we see
when looking at the sky, mountains and rivers on the Earth’s surface, the seas
and oceans with their storms and lulls, our planet’s atmosphere with lightning
and thunder, wind, snow and rain—all of this is like a huge laboratory in
which physical experiments are taking place every minute and every second.
Steven Hawking wrote, “The subject of science is often taught in school in
a dry and boring way. Children learn to mechanically memorize material
in order to pass tests, but do not see any connection between science and
the world around them.” The aim of this book is to show that this connec-
tion really does exist and to explain several physical phenomena, which we
encounter every day.
Over the centuries people have asked the question: Why is our world like
this? By providing us with the knowledge that we need, physics gives us infor-
mation about the world, an understanding of what happens in nature and
why and also predicts what will occur in the future.
What is the special significance of physics for the development of our
civilization and what distinguishes it from other natural sciences?
First, while describing and explaining natural phenomena, physics
constructs a scientific picture of the world of modern man. Everyone should
have at least a general idea of how the world in which they live works. This is
fundamental not only for our general development; a love for nature implies
that we also respect everything that happens in it. In order for this to happen,
v
vi Preface
we need to understand the laws that cause these natural processes to take place
so that we leave our children a world in which they can live. Neither all prop-
erties of the material world nor all laws of nature have been studied; nature
is still fraught with many mysteries. As physics develops, we become more
knowledgeable about the world around us.
Second, physics determines mankind’s technological development. Every-
thing that distinguishes modern-day civilization from society of past centuries
has arisen as a result of practical application thanks to discoveries in physics.
Research in the field of electromagnetics, for example, led to the development
of household electrical appliances, cell phones and the Internet, which are so
essential today, while discoveries in mechanics and thermodynamics resulted
in the production of automobiles and trains. Moreover, advancements in
the physics of semiconductors gave rise to the unveiling of the computer,
while in aerodynamics, airplanes, helicopters and rockets were developed.
In return, innovations in engineering and technology make it possible to
conduct fundamentally new research.
Third, physics forms the foundation of all the other natural sciences—
astronomy, chemistry, geology, biology and geography—because it explores
fundamental common factors. Chemistry, for example, studies atoms and
molecules, the substances of which they are composed and the transformation
of one kind of matter into another. The chemical properties of a substance
are determined by the physical properties of atoms and molecules, which are
described in such branches of physics as thermodynamics, electromagnetics
and quantum mechanics.
Fourth, physics is closely connected with math because math provides
a framework with which the laws of physics can be precisely developed.
Physical theories are almost always formulated as mathematical equations.
Mathematical formulas had to be included in this book, as they make the
essence of physical phenomena clearer. Math makes it possible to quantify
what occurs around us and to establish common factors and connections
between physical quantities, thus making it possible not only to explain, but
also to predict, and, in so doing, take control over the future. Without ques-
tion, only those mathematical relationships that can be verified and measured
observationally and with experiments are of value in physics. Furthermore,
the level of complexity of mathematical tools should correspond to the
approximation of the physical model that is used. Everyone knows the joke
made by Albert Einstein, Nobel Laureate in Physics, who, when referring to
using overly complex mathematical tools in physics said, “Since the mathe-
maticians have invaded the theory of relativity, I do not understand it myself
anymore.” Therefore, the level of mathematical description used for each
Preface vii
problem in this book is of the simplest nature and does not go beyond the
scope of the material that is presented in a school curriculum. It is also usually
limited to qualitative explanations and approximate estimates.
Fifth, observations and experiments form the basis of physical research. By
generalizing them, it is possible to highlight those patterns that are overar-
ching and the most substantial, as well as aspects of observed phenomena. In
the early stages of experiments, these underlying characteristics are primarily
empirical, i.e., they describe only the properties of physical objects and not
the internal operations that produce these properties. By analyzing empirical
regularities, physicists use appropriate mathematical tools to develop physical
theories, which explain the phenomena being researched based on today’s
ideas of the structure of matter and the interaction between its constituent
parts. In so doing, this gives clarity to the way that systems work and reasons
for the occurrence of different phenomena. General physical theories help to
formulate the laws of physics, which are undisputed until large quantities of
new experimental results do not require that they be clarified and reviewed.
I invite you to venture into the fascinating and complicated world of
physics. I will end this short preface with a quote from another Nobel
Laureate in Physics, Peter Kapitza, who said, “Nothing prevents a person
from becoming smarter tomorrow than they were yesterday.”
Prof. Dmitry Livanov

Doctor of Physical
and Mathematical Sciences
National University of Science
and Technology MISIS
Moscow, Russia
Acknowledgements Author would like to thank Dr. Jill A. Neaendorf for the excel-
lent work of translating the book from Russian into English. The English translation
of the book would not have been possible without the extensive support and help
of my friend and colleague Dr. Timothy E. O’Connor.
About This Book
This book is meant for high school students, university students, professors
and teachers of physics, as well as everyone who wants to understand what
is happening in the world around them and develop a scientific perspective
on the vast number of natural phenomena that exist. Every section of this
book has essentially a set of physics problems, which enable the reader to
strengthen their understanding of physical laws and learn to apply them in
interesting situations.
ix
Contents
1 The Earth in the Solar System 1

1.1 The Law of Universal Gravitation and Kepler’s Laws 4
1.2 A Star Called the Sun 14
1.3 The Planets in the Solar System 28
1.4 The Rotation of the Earth Around Its Axis 33
1.5 Inertial Forces 36
1.6 The Calendar 46
Further Reading 51
2 The Earth and the Moon 53
2.1 The Color of the Moon 55
2.2 Solar and Lunar Eclipses 62
2.3 High and Low Tides 66
2.4 Precession of the Earth’s Axis 72
2.5 Deceleration of the Earth’s Rotation 75
Further Reading 77
3 The Depths and the Surface of the Earth 79
3.1 The Shape of Planets 80
3.2 The Acceleration of Gravity on the Earth’s Surface 90
3.3 Coordinates and Navigation 92
3.4 The Earth’s Internal Structure 98
3.5 Movement of the Earth’s Crust 102
3.6 Volcanoes and Geysers 106
xi
xii Contents
3.7 Earthquakes 115

Further Reading 121
4 The Earth’s Atmosphere 123
4.1 The Structure of the Atmosphere 124
4.2 The Color of the Sky 129
4.3 Mirages 133
4.4 Rainbows 136
4.5 Wind 145
Further Reading 156
5 The Ocean 159
5.1 Special Qualities of Sea and Ocean Water 160
5.2 Ocean Currents 163
5.3 Types of Waves 169
5.4 Sea Swells 176
5.5 Tsunamis 184
5.6 The Color of the Sea 191
Further Reading 200
6 Fresh Water on the Earth 201
6.1 Groundwater 202
6.2 Rivers 205
6.3 Waterfalls 218
6.4 Glaciers and Icebergs 228
Further Reading 240
7 The Weather and Climate 241
7.1 What Determines the Climate? 243
7.2 Clouds 252
7.3 Drops in the Air 260
7.4 Atmospheric Electricity. Thunder and Lightning 272
7.5 Types and Shapes of Snowflakes. Blizzards 279
7.6 Snow Avalanches in the Mountains 285
7.7 Reasons for Climate Change on the Earth 289
Further Reading 296
About the Author
Dmitry Livanov has held a variety of roles in his life. He began his career in
science in the field of theoretical physics and will be remembered for several
widely publicized articles in the field of superconductivity and the physics of
metals for which he was awarded the Golden Medal of the Russian Academy
of Sciences for Young Scientists. After developing his own course on solid-
state physics and writing his own textbook, Dmitry became heavily involved
in teaching. Within the following decade, Dmitry climbed the ranks from
Associate Professor to Chancellor of the Moscow State Institute of Steel and
Alloys (MISiS) and during that time he did a great deal to make MISiS into a
modern-day European scientific and technical university. While holding the
position of Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation,
he worked from 2012 to 2016 on reforming Russia’s system of science and
education. However, regardless of the capacity in which he works or the posi-
tion he holds, Dmitry remains, first and foremost, a scientist with creative
drive and a rational perspective on the world.
xiii
1
The Earth in the Solar System
Abstract We start with a discussion of the two milestones of Nature—the

law of universal gravitation and Kepler’s laws, and the latter is the sequence of
the first. These laws account for the formation of the Solar system. The Sun is
considered with special attention as the main source of energy inside the Solar
system. Then we review the main physical features of the planets in the Solar
system. The rotation of the Earth around its axis is then discussed, and the
associated physical phenomena on the Earth’s surface as well. In concluding
the first chapter, we look at the physical background of our calendar.
Planet Earth is the home of all human beings and people have long sought
to understand how it works. What is the shape of our planet? Why and how
does it move in relation to the Sun and stars? Why do different phenomena
on the Earth’s surface, deep inside of it and around it occur exactly as we
see them? These are perhaps the primary questions that mankind has always
sought to answer.
To our ancient ancestors, the Earth seemed to have a flat surface like that
of a disk resting on elephants or turtles (Fig. 1.1). They reasoned that a starry
sky, through which heavenly bodies moved, hung above the flat Earth. Today
such an idea would make even elementary students laugh, but at that time
it was an excellent concept. It explained all natural phenomena: the Earth
seemed flat to someone standing on it and earthquakes were thought to be
caused by the movement of that very gigantic animal supporting the Earth’s
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 1

Switzerland AG 2023
D. Livanov, The Physics of Planet Earth and Its Natural Wonders,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33426-9_1
2 D. Livanov
Fig. 1.1 The Earth as imagined by our ancient ancestors
foundations on its back. No one had seen the ends of the Earth because it
is so big. Moreover, our ancestors understood the concept of “down” as a
direction perpendicular to the Earth as a disk.
However, more than two thousand years ago, the ancient Greeks under-
stood that the Earth is round. Aristotle, the great philosopher of ancient
times, was the first to prove that the Earth has a spherical shape. He noticed
that during a lunar eclipse, the shadow of the Earth is round and the constel-
lations that are visible from the Earth change places when one travels along
its surface. Aristotle surmised that the motionless Earth was located in the
center of the world, around which all cosmic bodies rotate in circular orbits
(Fig. 1.2). This was called a geocentric model . Today we sometimes think in
terms of the geocentric system when we say, for example, that “the sun rises”
and we imagine that it emerges from a motionless forest instead of a forest
that is rotating around the Earth’s axis. However, every child today knows
that the Earth revolves around the Sun in its orbit (Fig. 1.3). Moreover, the
Earth, just like a top, spins around its axis. But what is the shape of the orbit
of the Earth and of other planets? Does the angle between the plane of the
Earth’s orbit and the axis of its rotation change? And why don’t the Earth and
other planets fly away from the Sun, and the Moon fly away from the Earth?
What are their laws of motion? We will examine these questions in the first
chapter of this book with the help of physics and math.
Fig. 1.2 One of the earliest images of the geocentric system that has survived.
Macrobius, a manuscript from the ninth century BC
Fig. 1.3 The Solar system. An illustration from Nicolaus Copernicus’ book On the
Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres, 1543
4 D. Livanov
1.1 The Law of Universal Gravitation

and Kepler’s Laws
Astrologists of the Middle Ages unsuccessfully tried to predict the life events
of specific people based on the movement of celestial bodies. Their predic-
tions turned out (and still do) quite badly, but their observations and
descriptions of the movement of planets have been extremely useful. The
Dane Tycho Brahe, who developed new methods of observation that made
it possible to minimize measurement errors and achieved a level of accuracy
that was unprecedented for the sixteenth century, made particularly correct
predictions. Thanks to data from his observations, Johannes Kepler discov-
ered the laws of planetary motion in the seventeenth century. Based on these
laws, Isaac Newton formulated the law of universal gravitation in his book
The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, which was published in
1687.
Newton introduced the law of universal gravitation in his book The Mathemat-
ical Principles of Natural Philosophy, which was published in 1687, and in which
he did not mention anything about the gravitational constant. It was only after
a little more than 100 years, in 1798, that Henry Cavendish introduced it on
an experimental basis and the formula took on its final form.
This is how the historical chain of discoveries progresses, but the logic of
physical theories does not always coincide with this progression. Although
Kepler’s laws were discovered prior to the discovery of the law of universal
gravitation, we will first consider this law as the reason for the movement of
celestial bodies, and thereafter examine Kepler’s laws as a result of the law of
universal gravitation.
The law of universal gravitation quite simply states:
Two material points with masses m1 and m2 are mutually attracted and the
force from their mutual attraction is proportional to the product of their
masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
m1m2
F=G (1.1)
r2
If we are not dealing with material points, but with round bodies of finite
sizes, then the law of universal gravitation will include the distance between
the centers of these spheres (Fig. 1.4). However, not only round bodies are
attracted, but also bodies of any shape. In the latter case, it is necessary to
split each of the bodies into very small parts and sum up the interaction of
these parts in order to get the force of gravitational pull.
Now it becomes clear that the direction “down” coincides with the direc-
tion of the force that acts on a body by the Earth. In this case, “down” is the
direction toward the center of the Earth.
The law of universal gravitation is one of the most important laws of
physics. It is both simple and universal. From atoms and molecules to stars
and galaxies, this law is applicable to all bodies of the universe, the distance
between which is much larger than their size. But why don’t we notice, for
example, a pull between books lying on a table? The reason is because of the
G coefficient, which is called the gravitational constant. Its value is very small:
2
G = 6.67 × 10−11 kgms2 .
Consequently, the force of gravitational pull becomes noticeable only when
a body’s mass is not just large but very large! Which body close to us has the
largest mass? The Earth, of course. This is precisely why we feel the pull of
all bodies toward the Earth, which we call gravity, and we absolutely cannot
detect any gravitational pull of objects on a table toward each other.
Thus, according to the law of universal gravitation, let us assume that a
planet and the Sun are pulled toward one another: force is directed along a
straight line that connects the centers of their mass and is inversely propor-
tional to the square of the distance between them. If these conditions are met,
the movement of bodies is described by Kepler’s three laws.
Kepler’s First Law The path of the planets around the Sun is elliptical in shape, with the
center of the Sun being located at one focus.
Fig. 1.4 The forces of gravitational pull acting between two bodies
6 D. Livanov
Planets do not move around the Sun in a perfect circle, as ancient

astronomers believed, but rather in elliptical orbits (Fig. 1.5). The scientific
community was not eager to accept this fact because by default it was thought
that “the celestial sphere was the epitome of perfection” and the circle was
officially considered the most perfect geometrical figure. Therefore, all celes-
tial bodies were “required” to move only in a circle. However, to this end
nature had its own opinion, which had to be reckoned with.
An Ellipse What exactly is an ellipse? Figuratively speaking, an ellipse is an
elongated circle (this definition is sometimes seen in crossword puzzles). A
circle has a center and the distance between the center and any point of the
circle is the radius, which is always the same. Now imagine that there are
two centers and they have begun to separate. In order to imagine this, we
will conduct a small experiment. We will take a piece of paper (cardboard is
better), poke two needles or pins into it that are about 5 cm (1.97 in.) apart,
connect them with a ring of thread and then, while pulling on the thread
with a pencil, draw a line, making sure that we are always pulling on the
thread (Fig. 1.6). Now we have an ellipse!
Half of the “length” of the ellipse is called the semi-major axis and is
denoted by a, and half of the “width” of the ellipse is called the semi-minor
axis and is denoted by b. If we move the needles further apart from each
other, the ellipse will be more elongated; if we move them closer together, it
will be less elongated. In the most extreme case, when the needles are very
Fig. 1.5 A planet’s orbit in the Solar system

Fig. 1.6 How to draw an ellipse
close together, the “width” is equal to the “length” and a circle forms, i.e.,
a = b. The elongation
⟨ of the orbit of a celestial body is determined by the
2
eccentricity e = 1 − ab2 (e = 0 is a perfect circle and e = 1 is when the
ellipse degenerates into a line segment).
The equation of an ellipse is:
x2 y2
+ =1 (1.2)
a2 b2
If a = b, the equation of an ellipse turns into a center-radius form with a
radius of a.
An ellipse is usually characterized
⟨ by the value of the semi-major axis a
2
and of the eccentricity e = 1 − ab2 . The foci of the ellipse are two points
that are symmetrically located on a large axis and the distance between them
is equal to 2ae (Fig. 1.7). Those who are interested in geometry can easily
prove that for any ellipse point, the sum total of the distances to the foci is
constant and equal to 2a.
We will calculate the area of an ellipse. In order to do this, we imagine
a cylinder with a height h, a radius of the base b, and a volume equal to
V = πb2 h. We cut the cylinder along a plane at an angle α (Fig. 1.8a). An
ellipse with semiaxes a = cosb a and b is obtained in the cross section.
We attach the truncated top of the cylinder to it from below (Fig. 1.8b),
but the volume of the cylinder does not change. Now we cut the cylinder
into a large number of n disks that are parallel to the new base. The area of
8 D. Livanov
Fig. 1.7 Parameters of an ellipse
Fig. 1.8 How to calculate the area of an ellipse
each disk is S and the height is hn cos α. When we make the volume of the
cylinders equal, we get S = πab.
Now that we know what an ellipse is, we can move on to Kepler’s second
law.
Fig. 1.9 Illustration of Kepler’s second law
Kepler’s Second Law The radius vector drawn from the Sun to each planet sweeps out equal
areas in equal intervals of time (Fig. 1.9).
Fig. 1.10 Illustration of Kepler’s second law

10 D. Livanov
Support for Kepler’s Second Law Let us consider a planet with the mass m moving in the
field of gravity of the Sun, which is located at point O. We will disregard the influence of
other celestial bodies on the planet’s movement.
We will denote the planet’s speed as v. Its momentum is then P = mv and is directed
along the tangent to the planet’s trajectory (Fig. 1.10).
We will fix the origin of coordinates at point O and drop the perpendicular from it onto
a line that is defined by the vector P. We will denote the length of that perpendicular as ρ.
The product is called the angular momentum:
L = ρ P = ρmv. (1.3)
Because the moment of gravity relative to the origin of coordinates is zero, the angular
momentum of the planet relative to the Sun does not change when the planet moves. During
Δt the planet orbits the distance vΔt. Let’s consider a shaded triangle with the base vΔt (see
Fig. 1.10). Its area is
1 1 LΔt
ΔS = vΔtρ = . (1.4)
2 2 m
If Δt time is short, then the base of the triangle practically coincides with the portion
of the trajectory through which the planet passes. In this case, the triangle itself is a section
of the area that the radius-vector R of the planet sweeps out during Δt. Since the angular
momentum is constant in time, the area swept by the line segment is proportional to the
time interval Δt, that is, for equal periods of time the radius-vector of the planet will sweep
out equal areas. This is the principle of Kepler’s second law.
Let’s imagine that an imaginary thread connects the Sun and a planet.
The area over which the planet has passed remains constant each time for
the same intervals of time. By applying Kepler’s second law, we can easily
calculate the linear speed of the planet, the velocity value of which can
greatly differ depending on the place where the planet is located at that
particular moment. In perihelion, which is the point in a planet’s orbit that
is closest to the Sun, planet speed is at its maximum, while in aphelion,
which is the furthest point from the Sun, planet speed is minimal. There-
fore, the speed of the Sun has the highest possible velocity value in perihelion
vmax = 30.3 km (18.83 mi)/s. In the furthest point in orbit the formula is
vmin = 29.3 km (18.21 mi)/s. This is why in January when the Earth reaches
its perihelion, the Sun’s speed in the sky is a little bit faster than in July when
it is at aphelion. Admittedly, it is very difficult to observe this with the naked
eye due to the fact that the shape of the Earth’s orbit is almost circular.
However, this is not the case with other celestial bodies such as comets.
Many of them travel on extremely elongated paths. For example, the orbital
eccentricity of Halley’s Comet is 0.967. Imagine that you are flying on that
comet further and further away from the Sun until it is nothing more than a
bright star. Your speed in relation to its speed becomes slower and slower…
In the darkness and silence, you travel for decades toward aphelion by cosmic
standards at a snail’s pace of 0.9 km (0.56 mi)/s. Now you have passed
through aphelion and the comet starts to pick up speed. The Sun keeps
expanding and finally the comet passes through perihelion with incredible
speed—54.5 km (33.86 mi)/s! During that very short trip radiation from
the Sun causes the comet’s surface to quickly become very hot. Owing to
this, particles of the comet frantically evaporate and it grows a tail millions
of kilometers (hundreds of miles) long. Imagine if the Earth had the same
eccentricity as Haley’s Comet. Without any sunshine in aphelion the temper-
ature would drop to almost zero; even the air would freeze and precipitation
would fall on the cold and lifeless surface. In perihelion the Sun would turn
into a brutal fiery ball that would make oceans dry up and rocks melt.
Kepler’s Third Law The ratio of the squares of the orbital periods of planets around the
Sun (Fig. 1.11) is equal to the ratio of the cube of the length of the semi-major axis of its
Fig. 1.11 Illustration of Kepler’s third law

12 D. Livanov
elliptical orbit:
T12 T22
= . (1.5)
a13 a23
Connection Between Kepler’s Third Law and the Law of Universal Gravitation Newton
deduced the law of universal gravitation from Kepler’s third law. Let’s try to follow his train
of thought.
Let’s assume that there are several planets that move around a star and for simplicity’s sake,
let’s say that this movement follows a circular pattern. We will denote the radii of planetary
orbits as R 1 , R 2 , etc., and their orbital periods around the star as T 1 , T 2 , etc. Based on
Kepler’s third law it follows that:
R13 R23
= = · · · = const. (1.6)
T12 T22
After introducing the angular velocity of the planets ω = 2π T , Eq. 1.6 can be written as
follows: ω12 R13 = ω22 R23 = · · · = const.
Newton assumed that the force of interaction of a planet with a star is an exponential
function of the distance between them, i.e., it follows that: F = A R n .
Then the accelerated velocity that the planet receives when it comes in contact with a star
is proportional to the distance as well: a = B R n .
Newton understood that when movement occurs around the periphery of a circle,
centripetal acceleration is proportional to the squared velocity and inversely proportional to
the distance, i.e.,
v2
(1.7)
2
a= = ω R ⇒ ω2 = B R n−1 .
R
By virtue of Kepler’s third law, the product ω2 R 3 should have a constant value, specifically,
it does not depend on distance. On the other hand, ω2 R 3 = B R n+2 , which shows that the
required condition is met in the case of n = −2. In that event, ω2 R 3 = B. Newton
also surmised that the constant value B is proportional to a star’s mass M: B = G M. For
acceleration we then get: a = G RM2 .
The force that passes such acceleration on to the planet with the mass m will be equal to:
Mm
F=G . (1.8)
R2
This is the law of universal gravitation. Newton is not to be commended as much for the
fact that he discovered a way to express the force of gravitational pull as he is for universalizing
this law.
The derivation of Kepler’s third law is also quite intriguing.
We will find the time of a planet’s complete period of rotation around the Sun, which
is the orbital period T. According to Kepler’s second law, during Δt the radius-vector of the
planet sweeps out the area S = Δt 2m L
. This means that one can calculate the orbital period
after having divided the area of the ellipse by the sweep speed: T = SL .
2m
The area of the ellipse is equal to S = π ab where b is its semi-minor axis. Then
T = 2π abm
L .
From the laws of conservation
⟨ of energy and momentum, we can obtain the formula
b = √ L and then T = π a 2m
E . After expressing energy in terms of the semi-major axis
( 2m E )
a E = Gm2a
M
, we get:
2π
(1.9)
3
T = √ a2.
GM
What is the use of knowing about Kepler’s third law? First, we can compare
planets’ orbits. Second, when we understand the orbital period of a celestial
body, we can find the point of the semi-major axis of its orbit. Alternatively,
after measuring the point of the semi-major axis of a celestial body’s orbit, we
can confidently determine what its orbital period is. The further a celestial
body is from the Sun, the longer its orbital period.
Kepler’s laws have proven just how versatile they are. In particular, they
“work” well not only when calculating the orbits of celestial bodies around
the Sun, but also when determining the parameters of the motion of man-
made satellites and natural satellites of other planets. Information obtained
from studying other galaxies has validated that Kepler’s laws are carried out
in outer space, which makes it possible to receive a great deal of significant
and fascinating data.
It was recently reported that astronomers discovered a galaxy in which
Kepler’s third law does not “work”: in this particular galaxy, which has a high
velocity of rotation, hydrogen should have been emitted into more distant
orbits, but this did not happen. This is because in this galaxy mass is “in short
supply.” But this is precisely how the natural sciences differ from the liberal
arts in that laws that have been discovered and proven cannot be “incorrect”
or “out of date.” If you find out that a law that has proven its validity millions
of times over can suddenly be disproven, that can only mean one thing—
there is some new factor at work here that is unknown to you. This was the
case in this situation. If we assume that in a galaxy there is a significant mass
of a certain type of matter that we have not observed, then a law will once
again be applied. In order to find this additional mass, scientists estimated
the mass of gas between the stars. But that was not enough. Modern-day
physics was faced with a mystery—what is the invisible substance called
14 D. Livanov
“dark matter”? Kepler, who had formulated his laws several centuries ago,
still contributes to the development of modern-day science.
1.2 A Star Called the Sun

The most important place in the homes of ancient people was the hearth. It
gave off warmth, light and it was where people cooked. In those days when
people did not know how to make a fire, a cold hearth could lead to the
death of an entire tribe. The Sun, just like the hearth, gives light and warmth
to the entire Solar System. Without the Sun no life forms on the Earth could
exist. This is exemplified by the fact that in our energy-based biosphere there
are planets that store the Sun’s energy in the process of photosynthesis. It is
not a surprise that in the religions of different countries the Sun God (Ra,
Helios, or Jarilo) always existed and was among the most highly revered and
powerful gods (Fig. 1.12). Therefore, we will devote some attention to our
“cosmic hearth,” under the rays of which life began and exists.
The mass of the Sun is MS = 1.99 × 1030 kg. Although it is difficult for
us to imagine such a weight value within the categorical concepts to which
we are accustomed, when speaking about celestial bodies such a quantity is
nothing out of the ordinary. The Sun’s mass makes up no less than 99.9%
of the entire Solar System. In a manner of speaking, the mass of the Sun is
the mass of the entire Solar System. Therefore, the Sun’s supremacy over all
other celestial bodies in the Solar System cannot be doubted. Its mass is large
enough to keep planets and other celestial bodies of the Solar System in orbit
around it.
But on the scale of the Galaxy, the Sun is of average size and an ordinary
star; there are, according to various estimates, between 200 and 400 billion
such planets in our Galaxy alone, which is called the Milky Way. We are
located deep in the Galaxy (Fig. 1.13) at a distance of 26,400 light years from
the center of it. It is a quiet place and it is precisely there, according to one
hypothesis, that the speed of the stars and the spiral arms of the Galaxy come
together. For this reason, it is difficult for us to fall out of the Galaxy, overtake
our neighbors or lag behind them. This is called the corotation circle and we
are very lucky to be located inside of it. After all, if a collision occurs between
a celestial body in our Galaxy and another star, the existence of something as
insignificant as our planet will not be of great concern to our celestial neigh-
bors. However, thanks to the corotation circle we have little reason to worry
about this actually happening.
Fig. 1.12 The Sun God Ra, ancient Egypt, 901–713 BC
Fig. 1.13 The structure of our Galaxy
The galactic year of our planet, i.e., one complete revolution around the
center of the Galaxy, is approximately 200 million years.
Since we have already described the Sun’s location, now we need to speak
about its age. The Sun was formed approximately 4.5 billion years ago when
a molecular cloud composed of hydrogen, helium and other elements rapidly
compressed under the influence of gravitational force. A star with a mass
16 D. Livanov
such as that of the Sun has a lifespan of approximately 10 billion years. Thus,
according to the standards of a star, the Sun is in its prime.
Ancient astronomers already knew the average distance from the Earth
to the Sun: RE−S = 1.496 × 1011 km, which stems from the laws of
gravitational astronomy. If one were to fly on an airplane at the speed of
800 km (497 mi)/h, it would take more than five years to cover this distance.
However, it takes a beam of light 8 min and 19 s to do this.
Because of the fact that from the Earth the Sun resembles a ball with an
average angular diameter αS = 9.3 × 10−3 rad = 31' 59'' , it is easy to calcu-
late the Sun’s radius. It is: RS = 6.7 × 108 m, which is 109 times greater than
the Earth’s radius. The average solar density is ρS = 1.4 × 103 kg/m3 . We see
that solar density is just slightly greater than water density and approximately
four times less than the average density of the Earth.
The internal structure of the Sun is well studied today. With the help
of various devices, including spectroscopes and different types of telescopes,
the Sun’s electromagnetic radiation is recorded in a variety of ranges and its
surface and activity are observed, which enables us to draw conclusions about
its internal structure.
The chemical composition of the Sun mostly consists of hydrogen (about
90%) and helium (about 9%) atoms. The remaining elements (iron, oxygen,
nickel, nitrogen, silicon, sulfur, carbon, magnesium, neon, chromium,
calcium and sodium) account for less than 2%.
The primary value of the physical characteristics both on the surface and
in the inner regions of the Sun, as well as the nature of energy that the Sun
(and other stars) constantly emits, is also well known. How did this informa-
tion become known? After all, it is impossible to fly to the Sun and measure
its temperature with a thermometer. Knowing physics and mathematics help
make everything clearer.
Constitutive Relation of Solar Matter We will identify some of the physical characteristics
of the processes that take place on the Sun.
The intensity of solar radiation is characterized by a value called the solar constant. It
is the total solar radiation energy per unit of area perpendicular to the Sun’s rays and at
the Earth’s average distance from the Sun. According to data obtained from exo-atmospheric
measurements, the solar constant is: S = 1367 W/m2 . Despite its name, the solar constant
does not remain constant over time. Its value is determined by two main factors: the distance
between the Earth and the Sun, which changes throughout the year (the annual variation is
6.9%, which is from 1412 W/m2 at the beginning of January to 1312 W/m2 at the beginning
of July) and changes in solar activity.
If we multiply the solar constant by the area of the sphere with a radius RE−S , we can find
out how much total energy is emitted by the Sun in 1 s, i.e., the solar radiation output or the
solar luminosity. It is equal to L = S × 4π RE−S

2 = 3.83 × 1026 W. We can also find the solar
energy flux density, i.e., the amount of energy that is emitted per second by a square meter
(square foot) of the Sun’s surface. This is, in fact, its brightness: R = 4πLR 2 = 6.29 × 107 W.
S
The energy flux density emitted by an object is related to its temperature according to the
Stefan–Boltzmann law: R = σB T 4 , where σB = 5.67 × 10−8 m2WK4 . From here it follows that
we can calculate the temperature on the Sun’s surface: TS.surf = 5780 K.
We can obtain the constitutive relation of solar matter, specifically, the relationship between
temperature, pressure and density. If the gas on the Sun’s surface consists mainly of electrically
neutral atoms (weakly ionized plasma), then when immersed deep into the Sun and when the
temperature and pressure are increased, the electrons of the atomic shells detach themselves
from their atoms, thus forming plasma, the degree of ionization of which reaches 100%.
Let’s assume that solar plasma is made up of hydrogen nuclei (protons), helium nuclei and
electrons in a ratio of 91:9:109, respectively. Solar plasma is, in fact, a mixture of three gases:
hydrogen nuclei, helium nuclei and electrons of the same temperature. For each of the gas
mixtures, which can be considered ideal, the constitutive relation p = nkB T is true, where
the concentration of gas particles is n = mρ (ρ is the gas density and m is the mass of gas
particles) and kB = 1.38 × 10−23 J/K.
In addition, the total plasma pressure is the sum total of the pressure of individual gases:
p = pH + pHe + pe , while the overall concentration is n = n H + n He + n e . We will designate
the fraction of hydrogen ions in the total number of particles as N . Then the fraction of
helium ions will be proportional to 1 − N , and the fraction of electrons will be proportional
to 2 − N . The concentration, pressure and gas density of hydrogen ions can be written as
N
nH = n, (1.10)
3− N
N
pH = nkB T, (1.11)
3− N
N
ρH = m H n. (1.12)
3− N
This is similar for the gas of helium ions:
1− N
n He = n, (1.13)
3− N
1− N
pHe = nkB T, (1.14)
3− N
1− N
ρHe = m He n. (1.15)
3− N
For the gas of electrons, it is:
2−N
ne = n, (1.16)
3− N
2−N
pe = nkB T, (1.17)
3− N
18 D. Livanov
2−N
ρe = m e n. (1.18)
3− N
We will take into account that the mass of a helium ion is four times greater than the
mass of a hydrogen ion, m He = 4m H, while the mass of the electron is small to negligible as
compared to the mass of the proton, m e « m H . Then we can assume that ρe ≈ 0. We get:
4 − 3N
ρ = ρH + ρHe + ρe = m H n. (1.19)
3− N
The constitutive relation of solar matter will take on a modern-day appearance of the ideal
gas law (also known as the Mendeleev-Clapeyron equation):
ρ
ρ= kB T , (1.20)
μm H
for gas with a molar mass:
4 − 3N
μ= = 0.61. (1.21)
3− N
This mass turned out to be very small due to the fact that, although electron gas exerts
pressure, it has no bearing on a change in density. This explains the low density of solar
plasma.
Since we know the constitutive relation, we can find the temperature and pressure in
the central region of the Sun. The pressure, which is created inside the Sun, is due to the
gravitational compression of matter. If we consider a column of matter with the density p and
the height H in a gravitational field with an acceleration of gravity g, the pressure it creates
will be equal to: p = ρgH . This formula can be roughly used in this case, although the rate
of acceleration of gravity for stars naturally varies with depth. We get:
G MS2
p S ≈ ρS gS R S ≈ ≈ 1015 N/m2 . (1.22)
RS4
By using an equation of condition, one can even estimate the temperature of the central
region of the Sun: TS ≈ pkSBmρSH ≈ GkMBSRmS H ≈ 2 × 107 K.
Our estimate of 20 MK roughly corresponds to information about precise calculations.
But is gravitational energy enough for the Sun and other stars to exist? We will estimate the
G M2
potential energy of the Sun after it has been compressed by the force of gravity: E p ≈ RS S ≈
4 × 1041 J.
This energy can provide the Sun’s brightness that we see: L = 3.83 × 1026 W for a period
E
of t = Lp ≈ 3 × 107 years.
The lifetime of the Sun can, in fact, last almost as long as five billion years. The solution
to our above-calculated equation illustrates that, in addition to gravitational energy, a different
and much more powerful energy source is needed to warm the Sun and other stars.
We will first focus on the structure of the Sun (Fig. 1.14) and the primary
physical features of its layers (Fig. 1.15). Thereafter, we will analyze those
physical mechanisms that cause physics to be at work in the universe.
The central part of the Sun is the core having a radius of approxi-
mately 151,000 km (93,827 mi). Matter in the core is extremely dense. It
is about 1.5 × 105 kg/m3 , which is 150 times higher than water density. The
temperature in the center of the solar core exceeds 1.5 × 107 K.
It seems to us that the Sun is a burning ball, but burning is actually an
example of a chemical change, while an energetically more powerful process
occurs in the solar core: a thermonuclear reaction that makes hydrogen nuclei
fuse into helium nuclei. Every second the Sun loses 4.3 T (4.74 sh. tn.) of
hydrogen. But there is no need to worry—scientists estimate that because the
Sun has a mass of 2 × 1027 T, there is enough solar fuel to last about five
billion years.
Fig. 1.14 The structure of the Sun

20 D. Livanov
R
LA
SO IND
W
PROMINENCE CORONAL RAY
× cm km
RADIATIVE LOWER BOUNDARY PHOTOSPHERE CHROMOSPHERE INNER

ZONE OF CONVECTIVE CORONA
ZONE
. × g/cm³ g/cm³ × g/cm³ × g/cm³ g/cm³
× K K K K . × K
× atm atm . atm atm × atm
cm³ cm⁻³ × cm⁻³
Fig. 1.15 The physical features of the layers of the Sun
Energy of the Sun Let’s estimate how much energy is released during thermonuclear reactions
and the amount of solar matter consumed by them per unit of time. Understanding the nature
of the Sun and other stars’ inner energy sources forms the basis of Einstein’s 1905 discovery of
the theory of special relativity. If a system’s mass changes during a reaction, then this change
Δm is counterbalanced by a change in the energy of the system according to the formula:
ΔE = −Δmc2 , (1.23)
where c is the speed of light. It follows that when any transformation of matter occurs, the
sum E + mc2 remains the invariant. When chemical reactions occur, they are followed by
the release or absorption of energy; a relative change in mass is negligibly small and usually
cannot be experimentally detected. If elementary particles are involved in the reaction (this
type of reaction is known as a nuclear reaction), then a relative change in mass is noticeable.
The gravitational pull that groups protons and neutrons together in atomic nuclei functions
at short distances—around 10−15 m (33−49 ft)—but it is very strong. Thus, any realignment
of the atomic nucleus requires a great deal of work in order to resist this force. If a change
in the mass of the system occurs during a nuclear reaction, energy is released.
This energy, which is the kinetic energy of particles and photons that are flying in different
directions, as well as of quantum radiation, ultimately transforms into heat, which vigorously
heats up a substance.
Fig. 1.16 Proton-proton chain reaction
When conducting possible nuclear reactions, one must remember that the interaction of
particles is realized only when certain conservation laws are satisfied during these reactions.
There are three of such conservation laws. The first is the law of conservation of charge,
according to which during a reaction the full electric charge should not change. The second
conservation law calls for conserving what is referred to as the baryon number, which is the
total number of protons and neutrons before and after the interaction. Finally, the third law
of conservation dictates lepton number conversation. Electrons, muons and taumesons (and
corresponding neutrinos) are called leptons and conserving a lepton number means that when
any interactions occur, the difference in the number of leptons and their antiparticles remains
constant.
22 D. Livanov
Since the largest number of hydrogen nuclei (protons) is located in solar plasma, we will
first consider the reaction that occurs when two protons collide. If there are two protons
on the left side of the reaction, a deuteron—which is formed from a nucleus of the heavy
isotope of hydrogen known as deuterium—must be on the right side in order to fulfill the
law of conservation of a baryon number. In order to conserve an electric charge, a positively
charged particle, i.e., a positron, must be added to the right side. But if a positron, that is, an
antiparticle of the election, appears on the right side, then it is necessary to add a neutrino
to the right side in order to converse a lepton charge. Thus, the resulting reaction appears as
follows:
1
p + 1 p → 2 d + e+ + v (1.24)
The positron that is created will dematerialize with one of the many electrons:
e+ + e → 2γ . (1.25)
The result is:
1
p + 1 p + e → 2 d + v. (1.26)
Now let’s determine the mass balance of the reaction. The particle mass that has reacted
(the left side) is equal to 2.01575 AMU (atomic mass units). Since a neutrino does not have
any mass, the mass of the reactor products (the right side) is 2.0142 AMU. Therefore, the
mass defect, i.e., the loss in particle mass during the reaction, is Δm = 0.00155 AMU. The
amount of energy E = Δmc2 = 2.3 × 10−13 J released during the reaction largely changes
into a neutrino’s kinetic energy. What happens next? When a helium isotope is created, a
deuteron will react with a proton:
2
d + 1 p → 3 He. (1.27)
In this reaction, Δm = 0.0059 AMU and the energy emitted is E = Δmc2 = 8.8 ×
10−13 J. Since neutrinos are not generated during the reaction, this energy is entirely used to
heat the surrounding solar matter. The isotope of the helium atom 3 He is relatively stable.
However, when exposed to high temperatures and pressure, this isotope combines with one
just like it to produce the 4 He isotope and two protons:
3
He + 3 He → 4 He + 1 p + 1 p. (1.28)
For this reaction, Δm = 0.0138 AMU and E = Δmc2 = 2.1 × 10−12 J. The nuclei of the
4 He isotope do not react any further. The latter reaction occurs in 65% of cases. In the
remaining 35%, the following reactions take place:
3
He + 4 He → 7 Be + v; (1.29)
7
Be + e → 7 Li + v; (1.30)
7
Be + 1 p → 8 B; (1.31)
8
B → 8 Be + e+ + v. (1.32)
A diagram of the proton-proton chain reaction is shown in Fig. 1.16.

In either case, the proton-proton (PP) chain ends with the creation of the nucleus of a
helium isotope 4 He from four protons. In addition to protons, two electrons reacted. The
products of the cycle, in addition to the helium isotope, are two neutrinos. The total mass
defect of the proton-proton chain is equal to 0.0287 AMU. Thus, the formation of one
helium nucleus is followed by a release of energy that is equal to 4.3 × 10−12 J. If we roughly
consider that a neutrino takes all of the energy that is released because of the first reaction
of the cycle, which is about 4.5 × 10−13 J, then we see that as a result of each proton cycle,
approximately 4 × 10−12 J of energy is spent on heating solar matter.
Interestingly, the first reaction of the proton-proton chain (the interaction of two protons)
is the slowest, which is believed to limit the rate at which energy is released in a star and
ultimately the star’s evolution over time. The reason for this is that since two protons have
the same charge, the probability of their interaction is very small. Let’s estimate how often
the protons of solar plasma react. We already know that the luminosity (the full power of
radiation) of the Sun is L = 3.8 × 1026 W and as a result of each thermonuclear reaction of
a helium isotope , 4 × 10−12 J of energy is released. After dividing one by the other, we can
determine how many helium atoms form on the Sun in 1 s, which is 1038 . But how many
total hydrogen atoms are there in the Sun? Once we have divided the Sun’s mass by the mass
of a hydrogen atom, we get the answer—1057 . Hence, every second about a 10−19 th part
of solar matter is used in nuclear reactions. To put this a different way, out of 1019 protons
only one pair interacts each second. Our Universe is ten billion years old, which means that
during its entire lifetime less than 10% of stellar matter will have time to be consumed. This
means that the thermonuclear source of solar energy is virtually inexhaustible.
Thermonuclear reactions occur only in the Sun’s core. How is the tremen-
dous amount of energy that is generated by the nucleus transferred to the
outer layers? As is well known, there are three types of heat transfer: thermal
conductivity; convection and radiation. Let’s figure out which type is most
appropriate in this case. Since there is a great deal of pressure near the core,
convection cannot occur because it requires that layers of matter be mixed
together. Energy transfer due to thermal conductivity is also difficult. The
reason for this is simple: in order for the process of heat transfer to occur,
it is necessary to have a rapid change in temperature. Heat transfer through
thermal conductivity, for example, will take place when one end of an ash
rake is in the flame of a fireplace and the other is in a basin of ice water. But
if the ash rake is completely thrust into a large bonfire, heat transfer will not
occur because both ends of it will be heated to the same temperature.
The only type of heat transfer that is left is radiation. A particle of elec-
tromagnetic energy known as a photon, which is hydrogen, immediately sets
off at the speed of light. But a photon’s journey is short because after having
24 D. Livanov
moved only 1 μm (one millionth part of a meter) (10−5 in.), it is absorbed

by a nuclear atom. The nucleus center then heats up and reradiates a photon
of the same wavelength. The reradiated photon penetrates the next micron
before being absorbed by another nucleus and the process repeats itself. Since
a photon does not have any preference in which direction it goes, it moves
randomly and often in the opposite direction from the outer surface of the
Sun toward its core. This means that photons “roam” around in this area for
an average of 170,000 years! That is why this fascinating area is called the
radiative zone. The temperature in this zone varies from 7 MK in depth to
2 MK on the surface, while its mass density varies from 20 g/cm3 (in depth)
to 0.2 g/cm3 (on the surface) of the density of water.
Closer to the surface of the Sun, the mass density decreases, which allows
plasma to be stirred up. Therefore, the transfer of energy to the surface of the
Sun takes place mainly by the movement of matter itself. This is similar to
how water moves in a pan on the stove: when water heats up on a burner,
it expands, is pushed up, cools down and settles down. This type of energy
transfer is called convection and the subsurface layer of the Sun, which has a
thickness of approximately 2 × 105 km and is called the convective zone, is
where this process takes place.
Because of convection, so-called granules (Fig. 1.17) appear on the surface
of the Sun. Figuratively speaking, granules are like “cooking pots,” in each
of which the heated plasma rises in the center, gives off energy and settles
back down to the depth along the “walls.” Granules have a lifespan of 10–
15 min, which is approximately the time it takes for solar matter to make a
complete revolution around a granule. As one gets closer to the Sun’s surface,
the temperature drops to 5800 K and the mass density becomes less than
10−5 of the density of the Earth’s air.
But now our long-suffering photon, which was picked up by a convec-
tion stream, has finally burst out onto the Sun’s surface, which is known as
the photosphere. The photosphere is gas. According to different estimates, the
height of its column reaches 100–400 km (62–249 mi). Most of the Sun’s
optical radiation comes from the photosphere. As the temperature gets closer
to the outer edge of the photosphere, it drops to about 4400 K. In such condi-
tions as these, hydrogen stays primarily in a neutral state. When we look at
the Sun, we see the photosphere.
The next outer layer of the Sun that surrounds the photosphere is called
the chromosphere. It has a thickness of about 2 × 103 km. Solar matter called
spicules is constantly ejected from the upper boundary of the chromosphere.
An average of 60,000–70,000 spicules are observed at a time. The tempera-
ture of the chromosphere increases with altitude from 4000 to 20,000 K. The
Fig. 1.17 Granulation around a sunspot
chromosphere can be observed only when there is a total solar eclipse and the
Moon blocks the light from the brighter photosphere. It is at this moment
that the chromosphere becomes visible in all of its glory (Fig. 1.18).
Fig. 1.18 The chromosphere of the Sun during a total solar eclipse (a pink ring
around the Moon is visible)
26 D. Livanov
The corona, which is the last outer layer, crowns the Sun. Gas emissions
similar to large arches called prominences (Fig. 1.19) form the basis of the
Sun’s corona. Within two to three months, prominences are able to stretch
out their “tentacles” more than 50,000 km (31,069 mi). Upon reaching
this altitude, they may erupt and transmit large amounts of matter into
space at speeds up to 1000 km (621 mi)/s. These eruptions can last from
several minutes to several hours. When emitted matter reaches the Earth,
a geomagnetic storm occurs followed not only by the beautiful northern
lights (Fig. 1.20), but also by unpleasant phenomena such as disrupted
radio communication and malfunctioning radio electronic equipment. Addi-
tionally, people who are sensitive to changes in the weather do not feel
well.
“The Carrington Event,” which was the most powerful geomagnetic storm in
history, occurred on September 1, 1859. On that day the largest coronal mass
ejection was observed and after 18 h all telegraph systems throughout Europe
and North America stopped working. Storms of this intensity occur approx-
imately once every 500 years. If it had happened today, the consequences
Fig. 1.19 A prominence on the Sun

Fig. 1.20 The northern lights
would have been far more severe than in 1859 because today there is much
more equipment, which is essential not just for communication but for our
lives in general, that is capable of malfunctioning.
The Sun’s corona gives life to solar wind, which is a stream of particles of
solar matter. On average solar wind blows about 1036 ionized particles into
space every second. It is easy to estimate that because of solar wind, the Sun
loses about 2.5 × 10−14 of its mass within a year.
Hence, our Sun is a large, complex thermonuclear explosion that has been
erupting for more than one billion years. What will happen to it in the future?
After all, the existence of our civilization directly depends on it.
Physicists were able to simulate the Sun’s future “life journey.” As time
passes, it will become brighter and brighter. In 1.1 billion years, the Sun will
be 11% brighter than it is now and its surface temperature will reach its
maximum. This increase in brightness of solar radiation will pose a serious
risk to all life forms on the Earth. The Sun’s temperature will then gradually
drop because of an increase in its volume. Although it will slowly cool down,
its brightness will continue to intensify.
In another 2.4 billion years, when the Sun is eight billion years old, it
will be 40% brighter than it is now. Because of this, water on the Earth will
completely evaporate and the surface conditions on our planet will become
similar to those on Venus today.
When the Sun is 10.9 billion years old and the hydrogen that is in its core
runs out, it will be twice as bright as it is now. A thermonuclear reaction
28 D. Livanov
will occur outside of the nucleus that will spread out further and further into
areas far from the Sun’s center. It will then begin to grow larger and double
in size. The temperature of its photosphere will drop to 4900 K.
After the Sun is approximately 12.2 billion years old, it will become more
than 200 times larger and its surface temperature will drop to 2650 K. As
a result of a thermonuclear reaction of helium nuclei, the Sun will become
thousands of times brighter. Given these conditions, the planets closest to the
Sun, including the Earth, will most likely cease to exist.
After helium has been depleted, the Sun will turn into a very hot and very
dense star about the size of our Earth. At the beginning of this phase, the
Sun’s surface temperature will exceed 120,000 K and its brightness will be
3500 times greater than it is now. For billions of years the Sun will then cool
down. A “life trajectory” such as this is typical for stars that have a mass like
that of the Sun.
It is obviously sad to realize that this planet will someday disappear, but
there are several reasons why it is premature for us to worry today that the
Sun’s future will put mankind in danger. First, there are other threats to our
civilization, which makes it quite possible that life on the Earth will disappear
before any solar cataclysmic events take place (this, however, is not a very
reassuring argument). Second, since the Sun will still be in existence for a
long time, if humans do not disappear first, we will definitely come up with
some way to save ourselves. Many optimistic science fiction writers think
that it is not the Sun that threatens humanity, but, on the contrary, a rapidly
developing civilization searching for sources of energy can simply “devour”
the Sun.
1.3 The Planets in the Solar System

According to the opinions of today’s astrophysicists, the Solar System was
formed due to an evolution of a rotating nebula, which originally consisted
of solid dust particles and gases. After the particles collided, they became
enlarged and the largest number of collisions took place in the center of
the nebula where the Sun formed. The terrestrial planets—Mercury, Venus,
Earth and Mars—emerged out of large particles of matter that were located
some distance from the center of the future Solar System. However, the giant
planets—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune (Fig. 1.21)—were formed
from light gases scattered on the periphery of the nebula.
Fig. 1.21 The Solar system. The planets’ conjunction is shown
In the twentieth century it was thought that the Sun had nine planets, but
in August 2006 at the 26th General Assembly of the International Astronom-
ical Union (IAU) Pluto was “demoted” to the ranks of a dwarf planet. It is
curious that the planes of the planets’ orbits in the Solar System are almost
congruent except for that of Pluto, the ecliptic plane of which is slightly
inclined more than 17°.
We will first present the main characteristics of the planets’ orbits in the
Solar System. What is more, we will begin, of course, with our home planet,
whereas the characteristics of other planets will be compared with those of
the terrestrial ones.
The Earth’s mass is ME = 5.976 × 1024 kg. The parameters of the Earth’s
orbit when it revolves around the Sun are as follows: the semi-major axis of
orbit is a = 1.4959787 × 1011 m, eccentricity e is 0.017 and the orbital
period is T = 3.1558150 × 107 s.
The main characteristics of other planets are given in Table 1.1.
Jupiter, which is sometimes called a “failed star,” has a very impres-
sive mass. Saturn is distinguishable by its extraordinary rings. One year on
Neptune is equal to 164 years on the Earth. One year for us is almost four
Mercurian years. Venus and Mars most resemble the Earth and are its nearest
neighbors.
Table 1.1 Main characteristics of planets in the Solar System

Mass
Distance to the Sun Orbital period around the (in
Planet (in RE−S ) Sun, year ME ) Eccentricity
Mercury 0.39 0.24 0.056 0.206
Venus 0.72 0.62 0.81 0.007
Mars 1.52 1.88 0.11 0.093
Jupiter 5.20 11.87 3200 0.048
Saturn 9.54 29.46 95 0.056
Uranus 19.18 84.01 15 0.047
Neptune 30.06 164.82 17 0.009
30 D. Livanov
Today there is a lot of information about the planets. It is extremely fasci-

nating to mentally travel to each planet and imagine what the landscape there
looks like. I hope that if you have not already done this you will definitely
do it in the future. But we are interested in something else—how do these
planets affect the Earth?
As one might easily guess, Jupiter, by virtue of its mass, and Venus,
because of its close proximity to the Earth, exert the greatest influence on
our planet. But estimates show that even Jupiter’s force of gravity is less than
one hundredth of a percent of that of the Sun.
However, even exerting such a small influence over a relatively long period
of time affects the Earth’s movement (as they say, drop by drop the sea is
drained). The Earth’s orbit is distorted because of its mutual gravitational
attraction with other planets in the Solar System, which has been occur-
ring for about 25,000 years. Exact calculations show that the eccentricity of
the Earth’s orbit changes nonperiodically and it typically takes approximately
100,000 years for these changes to occur. Figure 1.22 illustrates how the
eccentricity of the Earth’s orbit will change in the next million years. Eccen-
tricity will decrease over the course of roughly another 25,000 years, which
will cause the Earth’s orbit to become almost circular. Thereafter, eccentricity
will begin to increase and reach an amount four times greater than its current
one.
Influence on the Earth by the planets in the Solar System not only causes
precession with a constant angle, but also a slow change in the Earth’s axial
tilt, also known as the obliquity of the ecliptic (Fig. 1.23).
The principle of precession is based on the fact that the direction of the
Earth’s axis turns as it rotates around the North Pole.
Fig. 1.22 Changes in the Earth’s eccentricity in the future

Fig. 1.23 The Earth’s axis of precession
Fig. 1.24 Future changes in the Earth’s obliquity
This angle of rotation is very small—about 20 s/years. It is clear that this

vector will circumscribe the shape of a cone around the vertex after it has
returned to its original position in about 26,000 years.
Figure 1.24 shows the calculations of this angle’s measurement for the next
400,000 years.
The Earth’s obliquity varies over an oscillation cycle of 41,000 years.
32 D. Livanov
Influence of Planets on the Earth By influence we mean the ratio of the force of gravitational
interaction of the Earth and a planet to the force of the gravitational interaction of the Earth
and the Sun. This estimate yields:
( )2
Fpl Mpl RS−E
≈ , (1.33)
FS MS Rpl−E
where MS = 11.99 × 1030 kg, RS−E = 1.49 × 108 km and Rpl−E is the distance between the
Sun and the Earth and between a planet and the Earth, respectively. Jupiter is the heaviest
planet in the Solar System. Its mass is 3200 times more than the Earth’s mass and is equal
to MJ = 1.91 × 1027 kg. The distance from Jupiter to the Sun is 5.2 times greater than the
distance from the Earth to the Sun and is equal to 7.75 × 108 km. By substituting numerical
F
values, we see that FSJ ≈ 5 × 10−5 , i.e., less than one hundredth of a percent.
Let’s conduct a similar estimate for Venus. Although it is much closer to Earth, its mass
is much less than that of Jupiter and about 20% less than the Earth’s mass—MV = 4.83 ×
1024 kg. The distance from Venus to the Sun is equal to 1.07 × 108 km. In actuality Venus’
influence is even weaker:
FV
≈ 3 × 10−5 . (1.34)
FS
The mutual gravitational attraction of planets is strongest at the time that they are in
conjunction (see Fig. 1.21) when they are in alignment on one side of the Sun. Since planets
move periodically, they are in conjunction at regular intervals. Let’s say there are two planets
with orbital periods around the Sun T 1 and T 2 . All planets revolve around the Sun in the
same direction, and the relative frequency (i.e., the frequency ratio) is greater the closer the
planet is to the Sun. The relative frequency
| of conjunction
| is the difference in the rate of
−1 | |
rotation of two planets, i.e., Tconj = |T2−1 − T2−1 |. Therefore, the conjunction period will
be equal to:
T1 T2
Tconj = (1.35)
|T1 − T2 |
After each planetary conjunction, a distortion of the planets’ orbits occurs. This ratio
distortion can be estimated as the ratio of the force of gravitational pull of a given planet to
the nearest planet, Fpl1−pl2 , and the force of gravitational pull of a given planet to the Sun,
Fpl1−S . This means that the time during which a planet’s orbit is significantly distorted due
to mutual gravitational attraction with another planet is
Fpl1−pl2 MS (R2 − R1 )2
Tdist ≈ Tconj = Tconj. . (1.36)
Fpl1−S M2 R12
This estimate means that distortion of the Earth’s orbit will take place after roughly
25,000 years and what is more, Jupiter and Venus have the greatest influence on the Earth.
How can the force of gravity affect a specific person on a specific day?
Moreover, according to astrologers, gravity’s influence affects different people
in different ways: one day Venus helps a person deal with their work, another
person gets help with their family matters and a third person receives financial
assistance. When looking at a time series graph with a scale of 50,000 years,
one can tell that these statements are obviously absurd. The universe func-
tions according to completely different time and spatial categorial concepts
than we do; it is undeniably much too massive to affect successfully obtaining
a loan or passing a test in school. Truth be told, an icicle hanging from
the roof of a tall building can have an incomparably greater impact upon
a pedestrian than Mars in the “5th house.”1
1.4 The Rotation of the Earth Around Its Axis

The rotation of the Earth around its axis can be illustrated by observing the
diurnal motion of stars around the Celestial Pole, which is a fixed point
on the celestial sphere. The North Pole is located within the constellation
Ursa Minor, while the South Pole is in the constellation Octans. The picture
(Fig. 1.25) taken in the Himalayas with a 24-h exposure shows the stars’
visible rotation around the North Pole.
The ecliptic passes through 13 constellations. Twelve of them are the zodiac
constellations and the Ophiuchus constellation, all of which everyone knows
well. You have heard of them. But it is important to remember that no
reason or system has been used to divide the starry sky into constellations.
The ancient Greeks adopted these divisions from the Babylonians. In ancient
China, however, stars were united into constellations in an altogether different
way.
It is necessary to devise an analogy with geographic poles, i.e., points at

which the Earth’s axis intersects with its surface.
Throughout the entire year, the Sun moves around the stars along an imag-
inary line called an ecliptic. This annual motion of the Sun is naturally only
a reflection of the fact that the Earth revolves around it.
1 The fifth house in astrology is the House of Pleasure. It describes the activities that bring joy,
creativity and entertainment into one’s life. It is ruled by the Sun and the sign of Leo. The position
of the planets in the fifth house determine the effect they will have on a person’s life (translator’s
note).
34 D. Livanov
Fig. 1.25 Stars’ rotation around the North Pole. This picture was taken in the
Himalayas with a 6-h exposure
The Earth’s obliquity of the ecliptic controls the seasonal cycle. Unfortu-
nately, a large number of intelligent adults think that seasonal change is due
to the Earth’s rotation around its axis and that the Earth is closer to the Sun
in summer and further away from it in winter.
Let’s take a look at Fig. 1.26. The Earth’s position on the extreme right
aligns with December when the Northern Hemisphere is experiencing winter.
Imagine that the Earth is rotating around its axis and we are standing at the
North Pole. Note the fact that the Sun’s rays do not fall at all on the area of
the Earth’s surface around the North Pole (this area is covered by the Arctic
Circle). This means that right now we are at the North Pole during the polar
night. The opposite is true near the South Pole where even at night the Sun
does not set; at that time there is the polar day. As the Earth moves in orbit,
the areas affected by the polar night in the north and the polar day in the
south become fewer.
On March 20th, which is the day of the vernal equinox, the Earth’s axis is
perpendicular to the Sun’s rays. On this day, the length of day and night
is almost equal everywhere on the Earth’s surface. Astronomical spring is
coming. As the Earth continues to move in orbit, summer arrives in the
Northern Hemisphere and the polar day begins. June 20th or 21st is the
day of the summer solstice and the beginning of astronomical summer. At
noon on these days, the Sun is at its zenith at a latitude known as the Tropic
of Cancer.
The Earth continues to travel in orbit, and in the Northern Hemisphere
fall arrives. On September 22nd or 23rd, the Earth’s rotation axis is once
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Conditions of As one approaches the desert the land is sprinkled with
the stockrange bushes which protect themselves from being eaten with a
very strong nasty taste, or deadly thorns. Of these the sage
brush comes first, a thousand miles wide followed by a thousand miles of
greasewood and acacia varied with forests of cacti. The grass becomes
more scanty as one forces a way onward into the heart of the desert, where
there are regions of naked rock and belts of drifting sand.
As the annual rainfall varies from year to year the desert tracts expand
or shrink by turns. As the winds swing from side to side, or wax or wane in
their supply of moisture, a fertile region is made desolate for a few
centuries as Palmyra, or a desert shrinks before the spreading pasture. In
cycles the desert blossoms or withers, but with the millions of years it
slowly widens.
Such, then, were the conditions of the stockrange to which the ancient
herds had to adapt themselves, learning to dispense with the shrunken
meadows, and make the most of varying crops of bunch grass.
The taste for green pasture is so far forgotten that range horses will
swim rivers and break fences to escape from the richest of meadows and get
to the desert hillsides which seem to grow nothing but stones. Where sheep
tear the bunch grass out by the roots and leave stark desert, the horses' lips
and teeth are so delicately adapted to this feeding that they never uproot the
plant.
The grazing It is a sound rule that range ponies do not travel beyond
rules their necessities of grass and water. Leaving the water, they
graze outwards, forming a trampled area which widens daily
as they feed at the edges. So, riding across the rich and untouched grass
lands of the south-western deserts, I have come to a line where the
pasturage ended abruptly, and beyond were innumerable pony tracks
leading from six to ten miles to a water hole. The wild horse looked upon
that ring area as the tame horse does a stable, with water and feed
conveniently arranged. That was his home, and if man or the storm, or
wolves drove him a couple of hundred miles away to better feed and water,
he would always break back at the first chance, travelling steadily with little
delay for grazing.
A horse's neck is exactly long enough for grazing on level ground, but I
never saw one try to graze downhill. Neither does he readily graze directly
up any steep place, preferring to quarter along the hillside, rising very
slightly.
Rules in His first rule in grazing then is to crop uphill.

grazing
But the moment the air stirs he applies his second
grazing rule, which is "feed up wind."
If he had the man's way of reasoning, he would argue thus, "If I graze
down wind I smell myself, the grass, and the dust. But if I graze up wind I
get the air clean to my nostrils, and can smell an enemy in time to fight or
run."
His third rule is to graze if possible homeward or towards shelter.
If the grass is plentiful he feeds quickly, and has time for rest on warm
sheltered ground or in the lee of timber. If food is scant, he gets no time for
rest.
On the natural range there are hollows to which the surface waters have
carried the ashes of burned grass. These alkali licks are needed to keep
horses in health; but rock salt in the stable seems to meet their wants.
Failing that they will lick brick walls. Even the licking of a man's hand is a
means of getting salt from the skin rather than making love.
II. BETWEEN GRASS AND WATER.
The best way to measure the distance and the sort of ground which the
ancient herds were accustomed to traverse between grass and water, is to
study the conduct of a horse in dealing with steep places.
Horses on I was dining with some friends at Gibraltar when the

cliffs story was told of long ago times when a couple of mad
midshipmen rode ponies for a wager up the Mediterranean stairs. This is a
stone stairway up the eastern wall of the Rock which is sheer and some
thirteen hundred feet high. The story had special interest for me because my
father was one of the two mad middies. He had told me that the ponies were
not frightened, except at the last flight of all when the Atlantic wind was
blowing into their faces over the summit. There a step was missing, the
ponies reared, and both lads had to dismount, losing a wager for which the
leader had undertaken the ride.
The ponies were Spanish, of the type which re-stocked North America.
I frightened an English horse into hysterics with such small rock walls
as I could find in Wales, but have never known an American range animal
to show very much alarm. My worst climb was made in twelve hours, with
three horses up a 3,600 foot cliff where a trail would have been a
convenience. The pack and spare horses pulled hard at times because,
although ambitious animals, they would have preferred some other way to
heaven. That is why the lead rope got under the saddle-horse's tail, which
made him buck on a ledge overhanging blue space where there really was
no room. A little later the led horses pulled my saddle horse over the edge
of a crag. I got off at the top, and the horse lit on his belly across a jutting
rock about twelve feet down. He thought he was done for until I persuaded
him with the lead rope to scramble up again. Near the summit the oak and
juniper bushes forced me to dismount, leading the horses one at a time
under or round stiff overhanging branches on most unpleasant ground. They
showed off a little because they wished to impress me, but I found out
afterwards that horses or even cattle, held at the foot of that cliff until they
are hungry, will climb to the top for grass. The place is known as The
Gateway and leads up out of the Cañon Dolores in Colorado to the Mesa la
Sal in Utah.
Much more dangerous was a 4,000 foot grass slope down from the
Mesa Uncompaghre into the Cañon Unaweep. I managed that by leading
the horses and quartering the slope in zigzags. I was much more frightened
than they were.
Bad ground Many times I have ridden along the rim rock of cliffs of
any height up to a mile sheer, and so far from being afraid, I
found some horses preferred the very edge. One may ride slack rein where
one would never dare to venture afoot.
But although range horses like cliffs, they are poor climbers. One may
ride them up any place where a man can climb without using his hands, but
they will never face a step above knee high. Sometimes I have been obliged
to pass my rope round a tree and pull my horse down walls that he dared
not jump. Even then he would argue the point.
Horse sense American railway bridges have no pathway, and when

one leads a horse, stepping from tie to tie, he thinks he has
five legs. With two legs down, and a train expected or a bear sauntering
ahead, he looks so damned patient that one begins to realise an obscure trait
in his character which needs explaining. It is easier to take him across
bridges than to ride or lead him through a waterfall. He prefers a waterfall
to a corduroy-timbered swamp road when it happens to be flooded and
afloat. I have tried him with quicksands and moss holes and glare ice on the
mountain tops. Because I cannot swim I have stayed in the saddle
swimming lakes, rapids, and rivers which run sand. Still worse are beaver
swamps under a tangle of deadfall timber, and old avalanches. All these and
sundry other kinds of evil ground a horse accepts as fate so long as he trusts
his man. It is not his business. It is the man's affair. One begins to think that,
like a savage, he lacks continuous purpose of his own and is merely the
meek victim of his destiny. And that is exactly where the man is fooled.
When a horse really wants grass, water, or to get home, he rivals the white
man in sustained purpose, and does his own job with an intelligence and
courage which he never gives to that of his employer. In other words, the
difficulties of travel between grass and water gave to the ancient ponies the
highest possible qualities of endurance, valour and skill. These qualities are
latent in every horse.
There is a more important lesson to be learned by practical study of wild

range.
The range has two types of herbage, the bunch grass and the thorned or
aromatic bushes. The bunch grass is the staple food, the bushes a reserve in
time of drought. The use of the reserve food has taught the horse to adapt
his stomach to a change of diet.
The trail to Compared with farm land the range has very little food
water to the acre, supports only a small population of grazing
beasts, and, in its distances between food and water, has
trained the horse to a deal of exercise as well as to endurance of thirst. On
the other hand the needs of travelling for water and of grazing have reduced
his time for sleep to about three and a half hours per day, which he takes
standing, however weary, unless he is quite confident as to safety and kind
treatment. In brutally managed stables horses are apt to sleep standing,
because they are not off guard.
At first glance, too, the water on level range, however distant from the
edge of grass may be safely visited. Yet as one approaches the stream by
slopes of the usual coulee, densely bushed with poplar and wild fruit trees;
or, coming down open grass, enters a grove of cottonwood along the level
bottom, one begins to note that the horses appear to be nervous. A bunch of
loose ponies will let the wisest mare scout ahead while they string out in
single file to follow all alert, picking their way most delicately, pointing
their ears at all sorts of smells and sounds, and glancing backward often as
they go. Again one watches tame horses watering at a trough, always alert,
on guard. If one of them makes a sudden movement the rest will at once shy
backward. Some horse are so nervous that they have to be watered singly.
Always a horse drinks while he can hold his breath, lifts his nostrils to
breathe deep and fill his lungs, then takes a second drink, perhaps a third,
and turns away abruptly. There is no lingering at the waterside. At the bank
of lake or river no range horse goes deeper then he need, or offers to take a
bath.
Race- Here are race-memories of mortal peril from a daily

memories of watering in face of instant danger and of sudden death. I
peril have seen so many horses piteously drowned in moss or
mudholes that I understand why they tread cautiously as
they approach wet ground. The bush beside the water is apt to be full of
snakes who come down as horses do, to drink in the gloaming, and are not
easily seen. The bush beside the water is the lurking place of every beast of
prey, and everybody knows how horses go stark mad at the smell of bear.
What chance had the ponies, strung out on a bush trail, against grey timber
wolves? What thoroughbred fighting horse would ever have a chance
against the Siberian tiger, or the African lion? Cougar, puma, jaguar,
leopard—the cats of all the world with their sudden spring at the withers or
throat of a range pony, have taught his descendants their art of self-defence.
That we must deal with later.
III. THE FAMILY.
We have broken up the family life of our horses, and are apt to forget
that they ever had private affairs of their own.
The harem Twice on the range I have met horse families. On the
first occasion the family happened to be grazing near the
trail as I passed. The stallion was furious at my intrusion, trotted up to me
and stood glaring, pawing the ground, his great neck arched and splendid
mane and tail rippling astream in the high wind. My saddle and pack beasts,
a pair of gentle geldings, were rather frightened, disposed to halt, even to
run away but for my voice keeping them to their duty. The stallion's mares
had stopped grazing to admire their master, each with an observant eye
cocked at me and an expression of smugness not to be beaten in any
Bigotarian chapel. Then, as I laughed, the stallion, with a loud snort of
contempt, swung round, lashed dirt in my face for defiance, and trotted off
to round up his harem and drive them out of reach lest my evil
communications should corrupt their morals.
On the second occasion I took a half-broken pack-train into a pasture on

the bench of a cañon, so that the spring grass might cure an epidemic of
strangles which had killed seven and sorely weakened the rest. The pasture
belonged to a wild stallion who lived there with his family of young mares,
colts and foals. He stole my twenty-five mares, added them to his harem,
and made off. I was obliged to build a corrall, round up the whole bunch,
cut out my mares, and drive the harem out of the district. Meanwhile my
stock had lapsed from civilised ways and become wild beasts who had to be
broken all over again before it was possible to use them for pack-train
work.
They say that a horse family depends in size upon the powers of the
strongest stallion, who rises to command by fighting and defeating all
competitors, and holds his command by single combat with the leaders of
rival families who try to rob him.
The The commandant stallion is able to hold a family of

commanding fifteen to fifty head, but there must be some who by
stallion conquest of rival leaders, and stealing of their harems, rise
to commands on a much larger scale. Ranging his family
between grass and water, he is most particular to close herd his mares, to
hold his own pasture which he never leaves except under dire stress, and to
have special places where he casts his droppings. In range life the geldings
have separate families, and their own private runs.
There is not very much known about the internal arrangements of wild
harems, but a good deal can be guessed from watching the Red Indian's
pony herd, the Cow outfit's bunch of remounts, the Mexican remuda, the
Argentine tropilla, the stock of a horse ranch, or even a herd camp of
Mounted Police, all units of horses living more or less the wild life of the
range. From these it is known that a feral pony herd keeps a certain military
formation while grazing, with the weaker animals ringed by the stronger,
and a few vedettes and flankers thrown out to watch for danger. At the
assault of a wolf pack the formation closes, the fighting horses and mares
making an outer ring, close-set and facing outwards. When a wolf comes
within range, the nearest horse swings round and lashes out with the hind
feet to kill. As American wolves only pack in winters of famine this event is
rare, but in one case an Indian boy who was herder to a Blackfoot tribal
camp, was, with his mount, placed by the fighting herd at their centre for
his defence, and was able to watch the whole battle until his people came
out to the rescue.
In breeding and fighting the Commandant stallion is sole authority, but

it has been noticed that some wise old mare usually decides the time for
moving and leads the marches.
It is said that a foal is able to keep with the travelling herd from the day
of birth. It is said that the foal will outlast a hard day's journey—and dies
afterwards. To what extent this may be true I have no means of knowing,
but I believe that the leggy foal does keep up with a moving herd. It is one
more bit of evidence as to the desperate emergencies of drought or storm
survived by the ancient herds.
IV. SELF-DEFENCE.
Self-defence There is a general belief among horse that man is

vicious. If he were a little more intelligent we could explain
to the horse that appearances are deceptive, and that we are not really
vicious when we throw things at each other such as shells, torpedoes and
bombs, or lay mines to blow each other to pieces on land or sea. As it is, he
bases his belief that we are vicious upon our methods of dealing with him,
in the use for example, of bearing reins, of branding irons, and instruments
which dock tails.
My own impression, after many years of experience with both, is that

man, and especially civilised man, is much more ferocious than the horse.
May I venture then to quote the wisdom of a gentle Bengali Baboo who
wrote an essay as follows:
"The horse is a highly intelligent animal, and, if you treat him kindly, he
will not do so."
The discovery was made in Arabia, also in Kentucky, in Ireland and

elsewhere, that if a foal is handled as a pet, and so brought up that he
remembers nothing but kindness and constant care at the hands of men, it
never occurs to him that he needs to defend himself from his master as from
an enemy. He never develops the arts of self-defence. As a colt he learns
that to get at his feed he must jump over a stick on the ground. As he grows
the stick is raised inch by inch until jumping over it becomes a part of his
accomplishments in which he takes a natural pride and delight. So with the
rest of his education. Horses can learn a great deal of the language we
speak, to enjoy music, to select colours, to add up figures, to take a vivid
interest in sport, to share with us the terror and glory of battle. They will set
us an example in faithfulness, in self-sacrifice, and every finer trait of
character.
But if we teach a young horse nothing but distrust, making fear and
hatred the main traits of his character, it is the last outrage upon common
sense to call his honest methods of self-defence by such a name as vice. We
have the power to raise up angels or devils, but if we breed a horse to be a
devil, we cannot expect the poor beast to behave himself like an angel.
Varieties of Horses vary in character almost as much as we do, and

character there are with them as with us a small proportion of born
criminals whose warped or stunted brains cannot be trained
aright by any means we know. What we do not and can never understand is
the mysterious power of saints who charm wild men and beasts to tameness,
and of certain horsemen to whom the worst outlaws are perfectly obedient.
Among ourselves there are certain dreams such as the falling dream, the
flying dream, and that of being eaten by wild beasts, which are supposed to
be race-memories dating from the time when man was a forest animal like
an ape, before the immortal Spirit entered into his body.
Among horses there are race-memories dating from ancient times in the
wilderness when the pony was driven to self-defence on pain of a violent
death. These race memories take the form of habits, and explain the various
methods by which the horse defends himself from human enemies.
Pawing, for example, is the subject of many theories. Not that the habit
really needs explanation, because we fidget ourselves when we have
nothing better to do. Yet when a horse paws the water at any drinking place,
the learned are apt to say he does it to clear away the mud. I doubt if any
horse is such a fool. Other observers note that the action is really stamping,
a motion of race-memory dating from the time when thin ice had to be
tested to see if a frozen river could be safely crossed. That sounds most
reasonable, until one wonders dimly how it accounts for either pawing or
stamping on dry ground.
Race memories If then the fidgets must be explained by any theory of

race memory, one would suppose that the gestures used in
killing snakes or in scraping through snow to get grass might very well have
come down through the ages. I think though that if I had four hoofs and an
irritable temper, I might be allowed to indulge in cow-kicking or striking
without my symptoms being used as a pretext for abusing my dead
ancestors.
We have seen that the old range harem adopted military formations, and
went into action well organized for defence against wolves. They kicked,
but any range cow, addressed on the subject of milking, without hereditary
training as a kicker, can give points to the average horse. Yet where the cow
is merely obstinate the horse is reasonable.
Horse He is marvellously swift as a critic of the horseman,

mastership ready to kick the same abundantly at the slightest sign of
ineptitude or nerves, or to render a cheery obedience to one
who understands. The man who walks nervously through a stable making
abrupt movements to avoid possible heels is sure to be criticised with
contusions by any horse with a decent sense of humour. Yet if one
understands the signs of thrown-back ears and balancing in readiness for the
kick, one has only to tell the animal not to play the fool, then watch his
shamefaced grin at being found out. It is so easy to charm the most irritable
horse with a little hay while one is busy with him in the stall. He cannot,
like a man, think of two things at once, and in military stables, horse-
masters who have their grooming done while the horses feed will find that
even dangerous kickers become gentle. That is of course contrary to much
theory and more army practice; yet it is not forbidden, and being easily
tested is well worth trying before it is condemned.
Kicking Having nearly cured my horses of kicking, I am still

extremely anxious to persuade young horsemen to get as
close as possible to a horse while grooming him, so that no kicker has room
to deliver the full force of the blow, which may be fatal. Horses are very
careless among themselves, kicking each other for fun while they forget that
the iron shoe may break a leg. I have noticed also that a horse who
deliberately gets himself disliked will very soon be the victim of organized
attack, a comrade being told off by the rest to lay for him. In this way
during the last six months I have been obliged to have four horses shot for
fractured legs.
Horses in pasture will often stand in pairs, head to tail abreast, so that
each with his whisk of tail can keep flies from the other's face. One will
nibble and lick along the other's neck and withers out of kindness, adding a
bite or two for fun. So in the stable, horses bite one another for fun, but if
they apply the treatment to a man it is a sure sign they are badly educated,
and liable to get their noses smacked for their pains.
Faults and PIG-JUMPING is the plunging action which civilised

remedies horses suppose to be genuine bucking. It is not so much self-
defence as an expression of joy.
KANGAROO-JUMPING is unusual, but must be great sport for a horse

who knows the trick. It never fails to astonish.
REARING. To cure a rearing horse, throw him on his near side. When
ready to throw, draw the rein taut, the off rein tightest; then as he rears, keep
the left toe in the near stirrup, but get the right free of the off stirrup with
the knee on the horse's rump, for a purchase as you throw your body
suddenly to the left. The Horse loses his balance and crashes to the ground
while you step clear. As you do so draw the taut off rein back and low to the
pommel. So you will raise the head and prevent horse from rising.
Never strike a horse on the head for rearing.
BOLTING AND STAMPEDES. Horses were trained by wolves and

other dangers of the range to run at the warning neigh of their stallion
commanding. Sudden and blind panic is a trait innate in the horse character,
and the best preventive is the human voice. Singing hymns or any familiar
songs in chorus is the very best way of preventing a stampede; but, judging
by my own voice, is rather apt to panic any horse who has a good ear for
music.
Balking BALKING. There is a story of a New England farm

horse drawing a load of hay, whose master had no influence
with him. After trying for an hour to persuade the animal to move, he made
a bonfire under its belly. When the flames caused him discomfort, the horse
moved on—eight feet, exactly enough to bring the bonfire underneath the
hay.
Tap quickly with a whip behind his knees, hitting them alternately. He
will mark time then walk to get away from the whip. I heard lately of a
stranger who walked up to a balking horse, rolled a cigarette paper and
placed it carefully in the animal's ear, then led him unresisting along the
road. Mr. Horse was wondering, 'Why the deuce did he put that thing in my
ear?' He forgot to balk. No horse can think of two things at the same time.
BALKING AT A GALLOP. Whereas refusing to start is evidence of a

misguided past, the sudden refusal to take a jump may indicate that the
horse lacks confidence in his rider, or that the reins are very badly handled,
giving him no chance of taking off with head free.
To balk at a gallop means throwing the body back and bearing against
the ground with all four feet, head down.
PROPPING. This is balking at a gallop and taking a series of springs in

that position, each with a rigid crash on all four legs. The rider has a
tendency to continue his journey alone. Propping is much favoured by
range horses.
This completes the list of defensive measures remembered by civilised

horses.
Little ways TREADING. They have also invented a few methods of

expressing their feelings. When a horse presses his hand on
my foot, and adds to the tenderness of the greeting by waving his other
hand, I know he means to impress me, although I may not have leisure at
the moment to hear what he has to say.
TAKING IN THE SLACK. When a horse takes the seat of my breeches

firmly between his teeth as I try to mount, he may not wish me to ride, or
possibly he wishes to criticise the English riding costume. Breeches with
puffed sleeves are perhaps an acquired taste.
CROWDING. A horse may corner or crowd me when I try to leave the
stall after feeding him, and if he hugged me he could do no more to express
his pleasure. But if he will not let me re-enter his stall while he feeds, I
suspect some groom has been stealing his oats from the manger.
JOGGLING. Soldier horses on the march are obliged to keep the pace
set by the leading file. If that pace is beyond their walk, they keep up by
joggling. To break a joggling horse to a walk, stand in the stirrups, place the
free hand on his neck, and bear with the whole weight of your body.
To return now to defensive methods.
BUCKING. To lower the head, and spring into the air, humping the
back, drawing the feet close together, and coming down on all four rigid,
for the next spring. Repeat. It is useful when starting a spring with the head
north to twist in the air and come down facing south; or to make the series
of jumps in a narrow circle and then bolt at a tangent; or to buck on the run,
dislodging the rider first, then the saddle which can be kicked to pieces. If
the rider is dragged his brains can be kicked out.
SUNFISHING. To buck, coming down on both hind feet and one fore,
while doubling up the other free limb. This brings one shoulder to the
ground, and to sunfish is to drop alternate shoulders. Very few horses know
this exercise.
SCRAPING. To run or buck under low branches or against trees or

walls. Some civilised horses know this.
BACKFALLS. These may be used to add to the general effect of either

rearing or bucking. I once bought a black mare seven years old, snared in
the forest, who had probably never seen a man. When ridden she bucked,
and while bucking threw herself seven times on her back, three falls being
over a cut bank on to a rocky river bed. Towards evening she cricked her
neck, and showed blood at the nostrils, making an awful picture of despair.
During the night she slipped a foal, of which there had been no sign. Before
dawn she died—a case of broken heart. The horse breaker, an English
gentleman, stayed with her throughout, and was not hurt.
Acts of passion So far we have dealt with acts of hot-blooded passion,
culminating in suicidal rage. The fiercest buckers, having
dislodged the rider, will turn at once to grazing and wait with cheerful
defiance for the next bout. Almost all horses are sportsmen and there is
nothing that they dread more, or are so careful to avoid as treading upon a
disabled man. Even in cavalry charges a man down has only to lie still so
that the horses can see exactly where he is, and they will all leap clear. They
dread placing a foot on anything which might collapse or roll, and so cause
a dangerous fall.
Man killing There remain extreme cases in which horses are guilty
of deliberate, planned murder.
SAVAGING is practised by civilised as well as by range horses. It is a

sudden, and often unprovoked, wide-eyed staring rush with teeth bared, an
attempt either to inflict a dangerous bite or to get a man down and trample
him to death.
HOLDING WIND. The only case I know of was that of a fine buckskin
gelding for whom I paid a rifle, a suit of clothes and ten dollars in trade
with an Indian. It seemed impossible to get the girth properly tight until,
after three days, I concluded that my suspicion of his holding wind was
merely foolishness. All the same I used to regirth a mile or two out on each
march. I had regirthed at the top of a mountain pass, and was mounting,
when he suddenly let out all his wind and bolted over rock heaps. The
saddle came down with me on the off side, I was dragged, and afterwards
woke up to find myself maimed for life. Then we had a fight, which he
won. It turned out afterwards that holding wind until he could catch out and
kill his rider was an old accomplishment for which the horse was famous.
This is the only case I have known of unprovoked, carefully planned, and
deliberate crime, as distinguished from self-defence.
Vices are human qualities. The worst possible vices with regard to a
horse are,
To show fear.
Meanness or neglect in fending for him.

Cruelty or ill-temper.
V. THE SPIRIT OF THE HORSE.
Spirit of the The young of the church and of the universities who
horse know all about everything, and attach a deal of importance
to their funny little opinions, are quite agreed that the lower
animal is an "it" as automatic as a slot machine. Put in a penny and the
machine utters a box of matches. Put in food and the animal develops
energy. So much is perfectly true of animals and men, for our bodies are
automatic.
Moreover, the animal has "instincts" which impel "it" to beget a foal or
a litter of puppies. Humans, with the same instincts are impelled to beget a
bumptious young bacteriologist, or a pair of curates.
In a like way the wolf, the Christian, or the tiger mates with one wife,
while the horse and the Moslem both prefer a harem.
Shall we say, then, that the wolf is the more religious, or the horse not
quite so respectable?
The horse A certain Sergeant Parker, of the Northwest Mounted

spiritual Police, went on patrol with a saddle horse. They got lost in a
blizzard, and in the succeeding calm the man became
snowblind. On the seventh day, the horse saw an outfit of freighters passing
in the distance. He ran to their sleighs. He whinneyed to the horses, who
understood his talk, and he beckoned to the men, who were not so clever.
Then the men noticed that his belly was terribly swollen by long pressure of
the girth. They followed him. At a distance of one and a half miles they
came to a tract of prairie with the snow grubbed up where the horse had
been scratching for grass. In the midst was a heap of snow like the mound
of a grave, on which lay Sergeant Parker in seeming death. His long
delirium, beginning with visions of angels and closing with a dream of
meat-pies, had ended in coma just at the verge of death; while the horse
stayed on guard until it was possible to get him rescued. So much was told
me afterwards by the man.
The other day in France a British soldier was killed, whose horse
remained with the body for two days, out in the zone between the opposing
armies, exposed to a hurricane of fire beyond example, refusing to be
rescued, moved by a love stronger than death.
The horse The young of the clergy will tell us all about the lower
immortal animal who does not subscribe to the tenets of the church,
and so must perish everlastingly despite the Father's care.
Yet if they read the Prophets and the Revelations they will find chariots of
fire, and see in visions the deathless chargers ridden by Archangels. Are all
the Hosts of Heaven infantry? We have the full authority of the Holy Bible
for an idea that horses may be immortal.
But then the young of science have assured us that the clergy talk a deal
of nonsense, and that the Holy Scriptures are so much folk lore. Our
modern teachers, unused to sleeping outdoors, have never seen the great
heavens thrown open every night. They believe in nothing they have not
seen, and those I meet have not seen very much. To them the lower animal
is hardly a personal friend, but rather an automaton steered by instincts,
built on much the same principles as a dirigible torpedo. The "instincts"
have to account for deeds which in a man would be attributed to love or
valour.
I often meet young people who gently wave aside my life experience
while they crush me with some religious or scientific tenet to which they
attach importance. Sometimes this bias has caused total blindness, more
often they lack sympathy; but any horse can teach fellows who have eyes to
see with, and hearts to understand. Then they will realise in him a
personality like that of a human child.
I do believe that there are men and horses in whom the spirit burns with
so mighty and secure a strength that it cannot be quenched by death; and
that there are others in whom the flame burns low or has been blown out.
The horse Everybody has acquaintances who possess a certain
psychic sense, not yet quite understood, which enables them to read
unspoken thoughts; to see events in the past, the distance, or
the future as happening to their friends; or to be conscious of certain states
of the atmosphere produced by strong human emotions; or to see or hear
phenomena which some folk attribute to discarnate spirits. Such people are
called psychic, and, if they use their powers as a means of earning money,
they are defined as frauds. As a blind man does not deny the existence of
eyesight, so, if I am not psychic myself, I have no call to decry the honest
people who possess this gift. I have heard stories told in all good faith of
dogs and horses showing uneasiness and alarm at apparitions which men
failed to see, of so-called "ghosts," for example, in places which had been
the scene of a violent death. Without careful investigation one can scarcely
treat such tales as evidence; but it is quite possible that some horses, like
some women, are strongly psychic.
Sense of That horses have a crude sense of humour is known to

humour every horseman. To rip the cap off a groom's head and drop
it in the water is the sort of joke which appeals to a horse or
a little boy. Once I was standing beside a friend who sat in a dog-trap, and
each of us enjoyed a glass of beer while we passed the time of day. Just for
fun the pony drank half my beer, but when I brought him a bowl of the
same, pretended to be an abstainer. That pony would visit his master's
dining-room of a morning to remove the covers and inspect the dishes for
breakfast.
Another friend of mine once had a horse named Kruger, black roan with
a white star on each flank. It had been his life's ambition to be a skewbald,
and disappointment had lopped both ears over a glass eye, so that he looked
like the very Devil. A greyhound body, long legs and a mincing gait
completed his unusual list of beauties. Some fourteen years after my friend
had sold out and left that country, accident brought me to Fire Valley,
British Columbia, and dire need of a new pack animal constrained me to
buy the horse. Perhaps for political reasons, or to evade the police, by this
time old Kruger had changed his name to Spot. Frightened of him at first,
my partner and I discovered his great talents as a pack-horse. Besides that,
he was brave, loyal, and gentle, and above all things humorous. A rough
passage of mountains brought us to settlement, where men would laugh at
Spot, but horses never dared. One had only to say "Sick 'em!" as to a dog,
and Spot would round up all the horses in sight and chase them. His face
was that of a fiend save for a glint of fun in the one eye he had for business.
For about fourteen hundred miles he spread terror before him, stampeding
bunches of loose horses but always coming back with a grin, as though he
said, "Now, ain't I the very Devil?"
The horse In the North-west Mounted Police, a detachment of us

comrade used to ride down bareback with led horses to water at the
ford of Battle River. Close by was a wire cable for the ferry.
On one occasion, my horse as he left the water turned under the cable to
scrape me off his back. Failing in that, he returned higher up the bank, and
this time I was scraped off into a pool of dust. Out of that brown explosion
of dust, I looked up in time to see his malicious pleasure in a successful
joke.
And so one might set forth instances by the score, all to the same
monotonous effect, that humans and horses have a sense of humour.
Limitations Please imagine a man to have his hands and feet

and tricks replaced by boxes of horn such as the hoofs of a horse, and
that, so disabled, he is tied by the head in a cell. Reduced to
the conditions of horse-life in a stable, the man would be as clever as a
horse in the use of lips and teeth. He would slip his headstall or break his
head-rope, open the door and escape until such time as the need for food
and water drove him back to prison. When asked to go to work, he might
give a clever impersonation of a lame horse. He might also copy the trick of
the beggar horse who gives the love call to every man who enters the stable,
fooling each of them with the flattery of special homage, a sure way to gifts
of sugar, apples or carrots. Or he might copy the horse who whiles away
dull times by keeping a pet cat, or bird, or puppy. It seems odd, too, that the
most dangerous human outlaws and man-slaying horses are gentle with
small animals and children. So long as we punish unoffending horses with
imprisonment in dark cells, we may expect them to show traits of character
evolved by the treatment of prisoners in the Middle Ages.
Horses, dogs, and men are oddly alike, too, in the way they dream, with
twitchings of the limbs to illustrate great exertion, and snortings, murmurs
and groans, which take the place of speech.
So horses just like humans are dour or cheery, truculent or cheeky,

humorous or stolid, some with a lofty sense of dignity, while others behave
like clowns. Some horses are like some children, exacting until they are
petted, while other children and horses hate to be pawed. Both will sulk or
quarrel, play the fool or grumble, make intimate friendships or bitter
enemies. I think, though, that the love of sport, and the desire to excel are
much more general with horses than with children.
The horse In a military camp I asked some women to tea, and

musical turned loose a few Beethoven records on the gramaphone.
At the first tune all the horses in pasture assembled at the
fence, stood to attention while the music lasted, and when it was over
scattered off to grass. They certainly love music. At the same camp, by
some mysterious means they got wind of the fact that twenty of them were
to be sent away. Until the detachment actually marched off, their conduct,
for twenty-four hours on end, was sulky and mutinous. Afterwards both
groups immediately mended their manners.
Signals Everybody who lives with horses learns that they

exchange confidences, arrange for concerted action and try
to tell us their troubles. Nobody knows how they talk, few of us can tell
what they are talking about, but so far as the evidence goes they seem to
express their feelings rather than their thoughts. Here then are a few of their
signals:
(1) When a horse throws his ears to point forward and down, and he
makes a short, sharp snort it means "Wheugh! Look at that now!" If he
throws himself back on his haunches while he points and snorts, it means:
"Oh, Hell!" If he points, snorts and shies a few yards sideways in the air, he
is playing at being in a terrible fright. It means: "Bears!" He is not really
frightened, for when he is tired out he will pass a railway engine blowing
off steam without taking the slightest notice.
(2) One ear lopped forward and the other back, head sideways, gait
sidelong, may be defined in the words of a learned Hindu: "Sir, the horse
with which your Honour entrusted me has been behaving in a highly
obstreperous and devil-may-care manner."
Horse speech (3) The love call is a little whinney, soft, sweet and low.
(4) The demand for food is a rumbling neigh.
(5) A cheery neigh greeting other horses in passing means: "How d'ye
do!"
(6) A loud trumpet peal of neighing at short intervals is a demand,

sometimes a piteous appeal to other horses to join company.
(7) The groan of great pain is the same as that of a man, and may be
attended by crying, when tears run from the nostrils. The sound is heart-
rending, beyond endurance.
(8) The scream is only uttered in sudden and mortal agony as from
burning, or from some kinds of wounds received in battle.
Signs and (9) Ears thrown back even ever so slightly express
protests anger, but thrown back along the neck mean fighting rage.
In wild life the fights between stallions are mainly with the
teeth, and horses forced to fight as a sport for men, as in ancient Iceland,
rear up against one another, striking as well as biting. The ears are thrown
back to save them from being bitten.
(10) Rage and pretended anger are expressed by a sudden squeal, the
signal of attack.
(11) Gestures of pain.
Stamping is merely impatience.
Pawing may be due to colic. If also the animal sweats and keeps looking
at his flank, there is certainly pain in the abdomen.

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The Physics of Planet Earth and Its

Natural Wonders Dmitry Livanov

Earth s evolving systems the history of planet Earth

Man Made Wonders of the World DK Wonders of the World

Waterfalls of the Blue Ridge A Guide to the Natural

Poetics of the Earth Natural History and Human History

Wonders of the World (DK Eyewitness) Dk

South America's Natural Wonders: Patagonia, Neuquén

Borrowed Planet Grey Earth 1 1st Edition Mark

The Earth and Its Peoples: A Global History (7th Ed.)

The Physics of Planet

ISBN 978-3-031-33425-2 ISBN 978-3-031-33426-9 (eBook)

Prof. Dmitry Livanov

1 The Earth in the Solar System 1

3.7 Earthquakes 115

Abstract We start with a discussion of the two milestones of Nature—the

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 1

Fig. 1.1 The Earth as imagined by our ancient ancestors

1.1 The Law of Universal Gravitation

Planets do not move around the Sun in a perfect circle, as ancient

Fig. 1.5 A planet’s orbit in the Solar system

Fig. 1.6 How to draw an ellipse

Fig. 1.7 Parameters of an ellipse

Fig. 1.8 How to calculate the area of an ellipse

Fig. 1.9 Illustration of Kepler’s second law

Fig. 1.10 Illustration of Kepler’s second law

Fig. 1.11 Illustration of Kepler’s third law

1.2 A Star Called the Sun

Fig. 1.12 The Sun God Ra, ancient Egypt, 901–713 BC

Fig. 1.13 The structure of our Galaxy

solar luminosity. It is equal to L = S × 4π RE−S

This is similar for the gas of helium ions:

For the gas of electrons, it is:

for gas with a molar mass:

Fig. 1.14 The structure of the Sun

PROMINENCE CORONAL RAY

RADIATIVE LOWER BOUNDARY PHOTOSPHERE CHROMOSPHERE INNER

Fig. 1.15 The physical features of the layers of the Sun

Fig. 1.16 Proton-proton chain reaction

The result is:

remaining 35%, the following reactions take place:

A diagram of the proton-proton chain reaction is shown in Fig. 1.16.

moved only 1 μm (one millionth part of a meter) (10−5 in.), it is absorbed

Fig. 1.17 Granulation around a sunspot

Fig. 1.19 A prominence on the Sun

Fig. 1.20 The northern lights

1.3 The Planets in the Solar System

Fig. 1.21 The Solar system. The planets’ conjunction is shown

Table 1.1 Main characteristics of planets in the Solar System

Today there is a lot of information about the planets. It is extremely fasci-

Fig. 1.22 Changes in the Earth’s eccentricity in the future

Fig. 1.23 The Earth’s axis of precession

Fig. 1.24 Future changes in the Earth’s obliquity

This angle of rotation is very small—about 20 s/years. It is clear that this

1.4 The Rotation of the Earth Around Its Axis

It is necessary to devise an analogy with geographic poles, i.e., points at

Rules in His first rule in grazing then is to crop uphill.

His third rule is to graze if possible homeward or towards shelter.