10. 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?
- How do you know that the image was not a scorch? How do you know that most of the Shroud had not been heated enough to start decomposition?
- 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?
Answer to # 10:
When a cloth is dried on a line, impurities concentrate on both evaporating surfaces; however, more impurities will deposit on whichever surface dries faster. Any concentration of impurities can take part in the image-formation reactions. This can explain the "doublysuperficial" image.
© 2004 Daniel R. Porter, Bronxville, New York