Daniel Spicer & Edward Toton | 10-Oct-2014 | 3:30-4:00 pm
CHARGE SEPARATION AS THE MECHANISM FOR IMAGE FORMATION ON THE SHROUD OF TURIN
Among the most problematic features of the image on the Shroud of Turin is the fact that the unknown process of image formation is confined to the outermost fibers of the linen cloth, with no discernible alteration within the inner volume of the cloth, and that the image contains vertical displacement information, by which a three-dimensional reconstruction of the crucified body is possible. We recognize two important facts: 1) the Shroud linen is a dielectric material – i.e., the constitutive molecules in its fibers are polar molecules that tend to align themselves in an enveloping electric field that leads to the revealing of surface charges on the outermost layers of the surface fibers, and 2) the human body, being composed of approximately 70% water by weight, is an electrical conductor – i.e., when immersed in an electric field, charged ions within the body will distribute themselves toward the outer surfaces of the body to ensure that no net electric field remains within the body. We advance the hypothesis that a constant, or slowly varying electric field was present in the tomb and that the two stated facts provide the underlying mechanism for formation of an image with vertical displacement information . . .
Click on the title to read the full abstract. Click here for the conference home page.
