How Meteorites Destroyed the Universe

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hello. On almost any clear night if you
look up at this guy long enough you will
see a shooting star most of these are
just grains of dust burning up in the
atmosphere but once in a while a rock big
enough can survive the fall all the way
to the ground this is a meteorite but
for a long time we didn't think it was
possible for rocks to fall from the sky
in fact the idea of rock falling from
the sky went to get everything we
thought about the universe
that is until an
eighteenth-century lawyer proposed a
ridiculous idea that rocks can fall from
the sky and they come from outer space
good stuff producer matt weber tells the
story of Ernst Chladni the man who
destroyed the universe with meteorites
since time immemorial people have been
telling stories of stones that fall
from the sky in great fireballs today
we know these are meteorites but back in
the 18th century just shortly after the
United States became its own country the
idea of rocks falling from the sky was
considered absurd because rocks can't
just fall from the sky right according
to Aristotle one of the most influential
philosophers in human history the earth
was made up of just four elements air
water fire and of course earth the
heavens were made up of an entirely
different matter perfect and unchanging
rocks their native only to the earth
ergo there are no rocks in the heavens
and this concept of the universe
persisted for thousands of years and
according to Sir Isaac Newton one of the
greatest minds of his time space was
empty except for an intangible substance
called aether that allowed light and
gravity to propagate between celestial
objects space was a vacuum devoid of any
matter and nobody in the 18th century
was going to argue with Sir Isaac Newton
so if they even existed outside the
overactive imagination of ignorant
country-folk these falling rocks had to
have come from Earth because postulating
that they came from outer space back
then was a little like claiming flying
saucers are real and visiting Earth
today but a couple ideas were put forth
they could have been rocks shot into the
atmosphere by volcanic eruptions or
gaseous minerals that waft it up from
the ground and accreted in the sky like
hailstones really Antoine Lavoisier the
father of modern chemistry came up with that idea
or they were never in the sky in the
first place since these rock falls were
often accompanied by what eyewitnesses
described as thunder and lightning
scientists of the time theorized that
the melted and scarred rocks found in
association with these fireballs were
just ores disfigured by the intense heat
of a lightning strike all of these
explanations seemed way more reasonable
than rocks coming from outer space but
Ernst Chladni thought otherwise he
wasn't an astronomer he wasn't a
physicist although he made some
pioneering discoveries in acoustics he
was primarily a lawyer he came from a
long line of lawyers but his real
interest was in science and he had a
keen ear for eyewitness testimony he
believed the stories eyewitnesses told
of rocks falling from the sky were
credible because they were too
consistent to be mere fantasies or
outright lies and he believed the
evidence showed that these rocks came
from outer space even though that went
against every known physical law of the
universe at the time rocks from space
meant that the universe wasn't empty and then
Isaac Newton was wrong it also meant the
cosmos weren't unchanged and perfect
which meant Aristotle was wrong and it
suggested that the heavens were made up
of the same corruptible matter as we
were and that was borderline blasphemy
there was such a stigma surrounding
these rock fall many eyewitnesses were
hesitant to come forward afraid of
ridicule and this further stymied
evidence of these rocks extraterrestrial
origin so Chladni had to actively search
out evidence for his universe shattering
theory he researched eyewitnessed events
of what he called "ironfalls" named for
the metallic nature of the rocks found
associated with these incidents he went
to the sites of the supposed ironfalls
and examined the rocks themselves
gathering evidence that corroborated
eyewitness stories it quickly became
clear to Chaldni that not only
were these masses of iron unlike any
rocks on the surrounding area they were
like nothing else on earth so in 1794
Chladni published a book documenting 18
cases of rocks witnessed falling from
the sky and presenting evidence for
their extraterrestrial origin the book
was a flop. Chaldni's theory was disputed
and widely ridiculed. Chladni's biggest
critics argued that his outlandish ideas
not only went against their
understanding of physics at the time it
went against the Bible and religious dogma.
to the vast majority of the science
community it was impossible for
rocks to just rain down out of the sky and
any stories to the contrary were just
that stories devoid of any credibility I
mean who are you going to believe
Aristotle or some yokel who says he saw
stone fall from the heavens?
But the heavens would grant gladney a lucky
break within months of his book being
published to widely reported and highly
documented accounts of rocks falling
from the sky occurred in siena italy a
massive fireball was witnessed by
thousands of people and pieces of rock
could be found all over the area at
first scientists thought the rocks came
from an eruption of Mount Vesuvius but
soon it became clear that the volcano
was too far away and the observed
fireball came from the opposite
direction a year later another fireball
hit England in this case a laborer
actually saw the rock hit the ground
just 30 feet away from where he stood
the stone became famous and it was even
given a monument and researchers noted
strange similarities between the stone
and the stones that fell near siena
italy despite the great distance and
time separating the events a detailed
analysis of these rocks was performed
and it showed that they were unlike any
other rocks ever seen coupled with
numerous eyewitness reports scientists
had to accept that these rocks that come
from somewhere other than earth but it
wasn't until the rock fall at L'Aigle
France that the consensus began to
change in Chladni's favor. Over 3000
rocks fell over the town prompting the
french academy of sciences to initiate
an investigation of the event
spearheaded by Jean-Baptiste Biot.
His thorough and impassioned report helped
establish that meteorites were real and
that they came from outer space finally
vindicating Chladni. Even Chladni's most
constant critics had to accept the
evidence but they weren't happy about it
because having little pieces of rock
floating around in space suggested that
the almighty had somehow left his
creation incomplete and any creator that
leaves his work unfinished cannot be
absolutely flawless the extraterrestrial
origin of meteorites destroyed our
deep-seated belief in an immaculate and
unchanging universe we now know these
space rocks are leftovers from the
beginning of the solar system making
meteorites of the oldest rocks we can
find on earth and while Chladni's ideas
may have shattered long-held
misconceptions about the universe the
study of these ancient rocks gives us a
glimpse into the origin and true nature
of our solar system
and the fact is the universe isn't
perfect it's a messy place follow the
same matter that makes up our imperfect
world and nothing is more incomplete
than our knowledge of it yet with each
shattered rock that falls from the sky
we are able to assemble a more complete
vision of our imperfect and incredible universe
So what do you think was the
universe better when it was perfect do
we still have misconceptions about the
cosmos that will someday have to be
destroyed do you have some insider
information about the universe that you haven't
told anyone yet let us know in the
comments bracing myself for flat earther
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How Meteorites Destroyed the Universe

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