4. How do you know that the image was not a scorch?
- How do you know that the radiocarbon sample was not valid for dating the Shroud of Turin?
- How do you know that the fire of AD 1532 did not start a long-term autocatalytic decomposition of the Turin Shroud?
- Why are there bands of different colored linen throughout the Shroud, and what do they prove about image formation mechanisms?
- How fast does cellulose (linen) decompose (produce a color) compared with the impurities found on the Shroud of Turin?
- How is it possible to get image only on the topmost surface of the cloth of the Turin Shroud?
- Can some simple, natural process explain a doubly-superficial image?
- How fast does a human body begin to decompose, and what are the products?
- How do you know that the flax fibers were not involved in image formation?
- Are there any other ways than radiocarbon to date the Shroud of Turin?
- What could be observed about image properties by looking at the damage from the fire of 1532?
- What options for future scientific study of the Shroud's history and image were lost as a result of the "restoration" of 2002?
- What are the optical and physical properties of flax fibers (linen)?
- What Shroud image properties have been observed objectively by scientific methods?
- Can the presence of a "bioplastic polymer" coating anywhere on the Turin Shroud be confirmed? Could it affect the radiocarbon age determination?
- Could a "bioplastic polymer" affect the radiocarbon age of the Shroud of Turin?
- How do you know that the image on the Shroud of Turin was not painted?
- How do you know that there is real blood on the Shroud?
- How do you know that the image was not produced by radiation?
Answer to # 4:
As discussed in (Why radiation did not cause images), the crystallinity of the flax fibers in all of the parts of the Shroud that were not scorched has not been significantly degraded.
The Arrhenius Law describes the effect of temperature on rate constants for all consistent chemical reactions, as follows:
k = Ze-E/RT
where k is the rate constant at any specific temperature, Z is the Arrhenius
pre-exponential (related to the probability that any specific molecule(s) will
react), E is the Arrhenius activation energy, R is the gas constant, and T is
any specific, constant absolute temperature (degrees Kelvin). If the image were
a scorch or any part of the Shroud had been heated enough to make significant
changes in the rates of decomposition of any of its components, we would see
changes in the structure of the flax fibers and blood. The blood still evolves
hydroxyproline on mild heating, and the cellulose crystals are largely
undistorted. Image and control fibers show identical crystal properties. The
image is not a scorch. The cloth was not heated, not even boiled in oil.
© 2004 Daniel R. Porter, Bronxville, New York
