Song 387 – Collision

By August 20, 2018Songs

This song is referenced by Song 021 – Dunes. This is  another of the geology songs, talking about the astrophysical process of worlds colliding. I remember when I first heard of a book called “Worlds in Collision,” by Immanuel Velikovsky. As I recall, the account I read talked about how the moon was formed when another planet crashed into the earth, and pulled the moon out. This was a new concept to me, and it rang true. I still have not read the book. Now this concept seems to be well accepted by the scientific community, and is known as the “Giant impact hypothesis.” To quote from www.space.com, where the image to the left comes from, “The prevailing theory supported by the scientific community, the giant impact hypothesis, suggests that the moon formed when an object smashed into early Earth. Like the other planets, Earth formed from the leftover cloud of dust and gas orbiting the young sun. The early solar system was a violent place, and a number of bodies were created that never made it to full planetary status. One of these could have crashed into Earth not long after the young planet was created. Known as Theia, the Mars-sized body collided with Earth, throwing vaporized chunks of the young planet’s crust into space. Gravity bound the ejected particles together, creating a moon that is the largest in the solar system in relation to its host planet. This sort of formation would explain why the moon is made up predominantly of lighter elements, making it less dense than Earth — the material that formed it came from the crust, while leaving the planet’s rocky core untouched. As the material drew together around what was left of Theia’s core, it would have centered near Earth’s ecliptic plane, the path the sun travels through the sky, which is where the moon orbits today.” Maybe these concepts excite me because LDS Doctrine teaches us we are each destined to create our own worlds. Maybe this is why I like geology so much. And thinking about these things, it is easy to conclude “The universe is old, The universe is cold, And from what I’m told, The universe will fold On itself over time.” “Then comes the collision of two worlds, as time and space merge together.” After all, “They are things to be acted upon.” “Why do I sigh? Because Earth may die, By itself over time. Colliding with the Earth, It gave birth, Creating lunar girth, Something of great worth.” More recently, “The dinosaurs were lost, At an asteroid’s cost, Who am I? Just planetary dust tossed, Quickened with spirit over time.” To me, these are exciting concepts, tied to and derived from a collision of worlds.

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