High School Physics Textbook suggests Full Moon is Responsible for "weirdness"

[Jeremy]

I am a high school physics student, and my class uses "Conceptual Physics", a textbook published by Prentice Hall, and written by Paul G. Hewitt. On page 193, in a section about gravitational interactions, the book makes the following statement about tides in the ionosphere.

Tidal effects in the ionosphere, so named because it is made up of ions, electrically charged atoms that are the result of intense cosmic ray bombardment and ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Tidal effects in the ionosphere produce electric currents that alter the magnetic field that surrounds Earth. These are magnetic tides. They in turn regulate the degree to which cosmic rays penetrate into the lower atmosphere The cosmic ray penetration affects the ionic composition of our atmosphere, which in turn is evident in subtle changes in the behaviors of living things. The highs and lows of magnetic tides are greatest when the atmosphere is having its spring tides -- again, near the full and new moons.* Emphasis mine

And in a footnote at the bottom.
Could this be why some of your friends seem a bit weird at the time of a full moon?

This is from the version published in 2002; I am unsure if it is in later or earlier versions.

How should I go about changing this errant claim, in a book which is otherwise fine (there is even a small inset decrying pseudosciences such as palmistry and horoscopes earlier in the book).

[drapier]

Huh. And I thought it was the flouride in the water that caused the weirdness.

[casebro]

Tidal effects are greatest at full and new moons, when the sun and moon are either opposite each other, or in line with each other. So that part is OK.

However, the foot note has been disproven many times.

[Skeptic Guy]

I don't think the author is talking about the moon's gravity directly affecting living things but rather the ionic composition of our atmosphere doing so (as caused by "magnetic tides". If that is correct, it is the first I have heard of it and I think it equally wrong.


The cosmic ray penetration affects the ionic composition of our atmosphere, which in turn is evident in subtle changes in the behaviors of living things.


In any event, it's wrong and I think you should write the publisher about it. I doubt it'll do any good, but my glass is usually half empty anyway.

[ObscureReferenceMan]

Maybe the footnote "Could this be why some of your friends seem a bit weird at the time of a full moon?" is an exercise for the student. The answer being, "No."

[mooseypops]

How should I go about changing this errant claim, in a book which is otherwise fine (there is even a small inset decrying pseudosciences such as palmistry and horoscopes earlier in the book).

My experience with Prentice Hall has been incredibly unsatisfying. We used their MOS textbooks to teach Microsoft Office XP, and despite the mistakes we spotted, Prentice Hall refused to reissue the books saying that noone else had ever complained about the textbooks. They were also planning to start working on the newer versions of those textbooks for Office 2003, and felt it was unnecessary to reprint these older versions.

I don't think you'll change their minds, so I would draw attention to it in class and (as was already suggested) turn it into a critical thinking exercise.

[Trifikas]

I think it's one of those "little grain of truth" things. It's not so much effecting behavior, but rather providing light to do things outside at night.

You have your pre-electricity tribesmen able to do things at night that they normally cannot, it's "Odd" or "Wierd" to be doing things at night, ergo it's the Full moon that causes them to do act wierd. Get enough people to believe it and there you go - the Full blown, full moon myth.

But my opinion, I could be wrong.

Trif

[Elizabeth I]

Find out if your state school board (or whatever agency is responsible for education) has a textbook review committee. Those committees usually have public hearings.

If not, you might try getting in touch with the textbook review committee in Texas or California. It's my understanding that those two states are the biggest purchaser of public school texts in the nation and if you can influence one of them you have an influence on texts printed for the entire country.

[Fnord]

The cosmic ray penetration affects the ionic composition of our atmosphere, which in turn is evident in subtle changes in the behaviors of living things.


This seems more like an oblique reference to the Schumann Frequency -- the frequency of the resonant cavity formed between the Earth's surface and the ionosphere. This frequency varies between 5 and 10 Hz. and can be influenced by the intensity of cosmic rays striking or passing through the ionosphere (among other things).

The Wooists have latched onto this real phenomenon, and it's purely coincidental similarity to Theta waves produced in the human brain, as proof of a connection between the mythical 'Gaia' and the human mind.

They've also defined the 'Schumann Wave' as being precisely at:

(60 Hz x 3) / 23 =
7.8260869565217391304347826086957 Hz
or about 7.83 Hz

Where 60 Hz is the power line frequency in the United States, and 3 and 23 are 'Mystical' prime numbers.

Power lines tie in nicely with wooish claims of governmental mind control through the military-industrial complex, and also with claims of 'allergic' reactions to technology.

WOO-WOO!

[Art Vandelay]

How should I go about changing this errant claim, Well, it's not a claim, but a question. And I think that you meant to call it erroneous, rather than errant. Possibly, they meant it as a joke, and it just fell flat.

in a book which is otherwise fine (there is even a small inset decrying pseudosciences such as palmistry and horoscopes earlier in the book).Personally, I found the first sentence to be rather flawed: "Tidal effects in the ionosphere, so named because it is made up of ions, electrically charged atoms that are the result of intense cosmic ray bombardment and ultraviolet radiation from the sun." It's like the author had no idea where he was going with that sentence. "Tidals effects on the ionosphere.. oh, wait, I guess I haven't defined "ionsphere"; it's made up of ions... gee, I don't think I've defined "ions" either; they're electrically charged of ion... where was I again?" How that got past a copy editor is beyond me. It falsely implies that ions are in general the result of cosmic ray bombardment and UV radiation, and it is actually a sentence fragment; the author starts out with the subject "Tidal effects in the ionosphere...", and never actually gets back to provide a verb or an object for it. Unless you forgot to copy the end of that sentence.

I think it's one of those "little grain of truth" things. It's not so much effecting behavior, but rather providing light to do things outside at night. Affecting, not effecting.

You have your pre-electricity tribesmen able to do things at night that they normally cannot, it's "Odd" or "Wierd" to be doing things at night, ergo it's the Full moon that causes them to do act wierd. Weird, not wierd.

[fuelair]

I am a high school physics student, and my class uses "Conceptual Physics", a textbook published by Prentice Hall, and written by Paul G. Hewitt. On page 193, in a section about gravitational interactions, the book makes the following statement about tides in the ionosphere.

Emphasis mine

And in a footnote at the bottom.


This is from the version published in 2002; I am unsure if it is in later or earlier versions.

How should I go about changing this errant claim, in a book which is otherwise fine (there is even a small inset decrying pseudosciences such as palmistry and horoscopes earlier in the book).
Contact Paul - I have met him and unless he is great at hiding the kind of person he really is, he will pay attention to you. As the author, he can kind of influence the changes. He is fun, by the way.

http://www.conceptualphysics.com/pghewitt.shtml

[Hindmost]

Hewitt is too smart to put something in his books that is woo-ish (and he also has a good sense of humor).

The case about full moon affecting behavior is just baloney stuff.

However--and I am speculating--I think there are some animals that use EM radiation for navigation. Changes in the ionisphere due to cosmic radiation could affect those specific animals. Worth some investigation.

I have an edition of his book at school and I will check this out.

glenn

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioelectromagnetism

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

My grandmother used to tell me fairy tales about the full moon, too. When I was a kid, she used to tell me that was when sleepwalkers came out and sleptwalked across their roofs. On a full moon, at midnight.

Sadly, I sorta believed her and went up to my roof to see if it was true.

You should never lie to your kids like that- they just might believe you.

[fuelair]

My grandmother used to tell me fairy tales about the full moon, too. When I was a kid, she used to tell me that was when sleepwalkers came out and sleptwalked across their roofs. On a full moon, at midnight.

Sadly, I sorta believed her and went up to my roof to see if it was true.

You should never lie to your kids like that- they just might believe you.

Did you ever think she might have told you that story to get you to go up on the roof to check and fall off and........ Just asking!!!:D

[delphi_ote]

The last bit there is totally tongue in cheek.

[Jeremy]

Unless you forgot to copy the end of that sentence.
Wow, that was dumb of me. The passage ought to read.

In the upper part of the atmosphere is the ionosphere, so named because it is made up of ions, electrically charged atoms that are the result of intense cosmic ray bombardment and ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Tidal effects in the ionosphere produce electric currents that alter the magnetic field that surrounds Earth. These are magnetic tides. They in turn regulate the degree to which cosmic rays penetrate into the lower atmosphere. The cosmic ray penetration affects the ionic composition of our atmosphere, which in turn is evident in subtle changes in the behaviors of living things. The highs and lows of magnetic tides are greatest when the atmosphere is having its spring tides -- again, near the full and new moons.* Emphasis again mine

It doesn't change the part in question, however.

Contact Paul - I have met him and unless he is great at hiding the kind of person he really is, he will pay attention to you. As the author, he can kind of influence the changes. He is fun, by the way.

http://www.conceptualphysics.com/pghewitt.shtml

I will attempt to contact him. Even if it is simply an attempt at humor, he needs to understand that people really believe this, and having it ambiguously mentioned in a physics textbook doesn't help the situation.

[e-sabbath]

A note: It doesn't have to mean human. Are there any animals that change behavior patterns based on the moon?

[Jeremy]

A note: It doesn't have to mean human. Are there any animals that change behavior patterns based on the moon?

The thing about affecting life is ambiguous, and would not be cause for concern without the footnote suggesting spring tides were responsible for weird behavior.

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

He. I actually think it was a local legend in the town where she grew up.

In Polish and in Russian as well, the word "lunatic" ("lunatyk") actually means "sleepwalker", not a person who's mentally ill. I believe it stems from a long ago mistaken belief that the phases of the moon caused sleepwalking.

So her stories make a little more sense to me now; cronic sleepwalkers walking outside or falling out of windows had their conditions blamed on the moon.

[Alt+F4]

Here's the non-science explaination. When there is a full moon it's brighter at night therefore in the time before widespread electric lighting more people went out during a full moon than a new moon.

More people out in general means the percentage of weird people coming out also increased. In other words, the full moon didn't make them weird, it just made them come out.

[Fnord]

The last bit there is totally tongue in cheek.


Your tongue and whose cheek?

[delphi_ote]

Your tongue and whose cheek?
Your mother's!
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i133/delphi_ote/Celebrity_Jeopardy_-_Jap_Anus_Relat.png
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! SUCK IT, TREBEK!

[Cuddles]

However--and I am speculating--I think there are some animals that use EM radiation for navigation.

Yes. Using their eyes.

[Hindmost]

Yes. Using their eyes.

Actually, I was suggesting the use of the earth's magnetic field. I had read something about it awhile back.

glenn


http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/blueplanet/infobursts/migration_magnetic_bg.shtml

[Cuddles]

Actually, I was suggesting the use of the earth's magnetic field. I had read something about it awhile back.

glenn

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/blueplanet/infobursts/migration_magnetic_bg.shtml

I guessed you probably meant something like that, but I can never resist the oppotunity for sarcasm. Technically magnetic fields are not radiation. Magnetic navigation, if it exists, uses just the Earth's magnetic field (and possibly local fields as landmarks). Effects from the atmosphere or the Moon are far too small to have any influence on it. What will be amusing is to see what happens when the magnetic poles shift significantly, which may not be too far away.

On the other hand, there is also evidence (http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/mg19125634.200-to-get-home-a-pigeon-just-follows-its-nose.html) that while birds can detect magnetic fields, they do not actually navigate using them. There has been a lot of assumption that because they detect them they must navigate using them, but there seems to be very little actual research into it.

[sinclairmcevoy]

Wouldn't birds use magnetic field detection on nights that are cloudy and have no moon? Migrating at night can be a real b---h.

[Hindmost]

I guessed you probably meant something like that, but I can never resist the oppotunity for sarcasm. Technically magnetic fields are not radiation. Magnetic navigation, if it exists, uses just the Earth's magnetic field (and possibly local fields as landmarks). Effects from the atmosphere or the Moon are far too small to have any influence on it. What will be amusing is to see what happens when the magnetic poles shift significantly, which may not be too far away.

On the other hand, there is also evidence (http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/mg19125634.200-to-get-home-a-pigeon-just-follows-its-nose.html) that while birds can detect magnetic fields, they do not actually navigate using them. There has been a lot of assumption that because they detect them they must navigate using them, but there seems to be very little actual research into it.

Well, I thought you were being sarcastic, but I did want to add some info. Hewitt is one of the best teaching physicists around and I wanted point out that he would put real stuff in his text books--I have rev 7 of the book at school and it has the same paragraph. The possibility of cosmic rays hitting the ionosphere and causing a disturbance in the magnetic field of the earth seems plausible enough--and tidal forces would certainly have some affect on the ionosphere...data would be scarce I would imagine.

If the magentic field does reverse soon, it would be interesting to see how if affects migratory species.

glenn