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Does The Sun Really Exist?

Wiccan_Child

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A Poe? No. If you don't believe what I've said to be true, then either look it up or bring up a rebuttal.
What rebuttal can be brought, except "That's just not how things work"? If you told me concrete contains liquid marshmallow, the onus is on you to substantiate your claims, not on me to disprove them.

The fact remains that the Sun's emission spectrum is sufficiently intense between 450 and 750 nm that the naked eye can see it. Indeed, it's so intense that one can easily be blinded by looking at it for too long.

The fact remains that an object is 'seen' when the spectrum of visible light from its position betrays its existence; direct emission and indirect reflection both satisfy this condition. The Sun clearly does the former, and is so bright as to effectively preclude the latter (hence why it's a very good approximation of a black body), and this is something so obvious I'm still not entirely convinced you're being serious.
 
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Skaloop

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A Poe? No. If you don't believe what I've said to be true, then either look it up or bring up a rebuttal.

I can see the Sun and other sources of emitted light with my naked eye. That's my rebuttal. So, citation, please, that only reflected light is visible and emitted light is not.
 
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QueSi

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Wiccan_Child said:
What rebuttal can be brought, except "That's just not how things work"? If you told me concrete contains liquid marshmallow, the onus is on you to substantiate your claims, not on me to disprove them.

The fact remains that the Sun's emission spectrum is sufficiently intense between 450 and 750 nm that the naked eye can see it. Indeed, it's so intense that one can easily be blinded by looking at it for too long.

The fact remains that an object is 'seen' when the spectrum of visible light from its position betrays its existence; direct emission and indirect reflection both satisfy this condition. The Sun clearly does the former, and is so bright as to effectively preclude the latter (hence why it's a very good approximation of a black body), and this is something so obvious I'm still not entirely convinced you're being serious.

I can see light bulbs just fine, but when screwed into a socket and electricity is run through it, I can only see the light emitted from the light bulb, no longer can I see the light bulb or filament.
 
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Non sequitur

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I can see light bulbs just fine, but when screwed into a socket and electricity is run through it, I can only see the light emitted from the light bulb, no longer can I see the light bulb or filament.

Here you go.

light-bulb_460x276.jpg
 
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Wiccan_Child

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I can see light bulbs just fine, but when screwed into a socket and electricity is run through it, I can only see the light emitted from the light bulb, no longer can I see the light bulb or filament.
Of course you can. Non sequitur posted just such a picture.

These are pieces of red hot metal in a steel works:

steel-works_1400347i.jpg


By your logic, because they are emitting their own light, we can no longer see them.

These glasses are glowing under their own power:

Nooka-Mercury-Glow-In-The-Dark-Sunglasses.jpg


Because the light coming from them is by emission, not reflection, would you argue that we can't see them? If so, then what on Earth am I looking at?

Could you explain the key difference between emission and reflection, that renders the former 'unseen'? Because, physically speaking, they're the same thing. The root source of the energy is different, but ultimately the light the Moon sends us is being emitted by its atoms just as the Sun's atoms emit light.
 
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QueSi

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Wiccan_Child said:
Of course you can. Non sequitur posted just such a picture.

These are pieces of red hot metal in a steel works:

By your logic, because they are emitting their own light, we can no longer see them.

These glasses are glowing under their own power:

Because the light coming from them is by emission, not reflection, would you argue that we can't see them? If so, then what on Earth am I looking at?

Could you explain the key difference between emission and reflection, that renders the former 'unseen'? Because, physically speaking, they're the same thing. The root source of the energy is different, but ultimately the light the Moon sends us is being emitted by its atoms just as the Sun's atoms emit light.

I like vanilla cake with chocolate icing, can you explain that? :) You win. Congratulations. :D. High five.
 
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juvenissun

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I'd attach a thermal imaging device to a working part of your brain via electrodes, and train you to 'see' (or 'hear', or 'smell', or otherwise 'sense') the Sun.

BBC News - Two blind British men have electronic retinas fitted

New Technology Brings “Vision” to the Blind Via the Tongue

We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We can make him better than he was. Better... stronger... faster.

If you made the person "see" anything by any means, then it violates the premise of the question.

So, your argument is illegal.
 
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J

Joshua0

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If so, then what on Earth am I looking at?
You are looking at a situation where the atoms are getting excited by the light. Use a black car for an example. The Black absorbs light and converts the light to heat. This happens because the atoms get excited and spin faster and that produces heat. Of course one is thermal and the other chemical, still there is a conversion process. I got a niece that can explain this stuff real good. She runs circles around the rest of us.
 
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Wiccan_Child

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If you made the person "see" anything by any means, then it violates the premise of the question.

So, your argument is illegal.
Not at all. The OP states that the person is blind, and asks how we would convince such a person that the Sun exists. It never for one second ruled out giving them back their sight. The full text of the OP is:

"If I was born blind, how would you prove to me or convince me that the sun exist?"

The easiest way to prove to a blind person that the Sun exists, is to make them no longer a blind person. Where, in the OP, is the solution to the hypothetical forbidden to be a cure to the aforementioned blindness?
 
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Wiccan_Child

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You are looking at a situation where the atoms are getting excited by the light.
I know, but QueSi claimed that you can't see something by any light it emits by itself, you can only see something by the light it reflects. Yet, clearly, we can see those objects by their emission spectra alone.

Use a black car for an example. The Black absorbs light and converts the light to heat. This happens because the atoms get excited and spin faster and that produces heat. Of course one is thermal and the other chemical, still there is a conversion process. I got a niece that can explain this stuff real good. She runs circles around the rest of us.
Being a particle physicist, that's not quite right. When atoms absorb light as heat, they oscillate more in all degrees of freedom; though this includes spinning, the energy actually goes more into vibration than anything else.

As well, the reason they begin to glow is actually due to their stronger and more frequent collisions with their neighbours, giving their electrons energy. These electrons drop back down, releasing that energy as a photon. The hotter the object, the bigger the drop, the more energetic the photon. That's why things begin to glow when hotter, from red to yellow to white, giving way to blue.
 
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Doveaman

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Use a telescope that translates photon hits on the CCD into a raised textured map that you can touch...
We could then move into neutrino release which we could also translate into the same textured map instead of a visual display.
If I gave you a raised textured map of God-energy, would you be convinced God exists?
We can always translate photons into a display that a blind person can interact with using their sense of touch.
We can always translate God-energy into a display that a blind person can interact with using their sense of touch – the universe.
Even sighted people can use instrumentation to "see" photons that are outside their visual range. You might as well ask a sighted person how they know that xrays exist, or that radiowaves exist.
Even sighted people can use the universe to "see" God who is outside their visual range. You might as well ask a sighted person how they know God exists. :)
 
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