A DCS reader made a comment on one of my article today and this comment mentioned that going towards 2012, we’ll eventually reach a point where “time will stop” and this process has already began. Apparently, we now have 16 hours days instead of 24h. I’ve looked around to figure out where that claim was coming from and there’s a quote that is spread all over the web about this. Here it is:

The resonance of Earth (Schumann Resonance) has been 7.8Hz for thousands of years.ans Since 1980 it has risen to over 12Hz. This means that 16 hours now equate to a 24 hour day. Time is speeding up!

First of all, this quote is all over the internet without any kind of scientific explanation. You can search for this and you will literally find 100’s of websites saying the exact same thing with the quote copy pasted, which basically mean nobody has a single clue about what this mean. This affirmation is aimed at people with no scientific knowledge and here’s why: There’s a small scientific affirmation at the beginning about the Schumann Resonance that look quite serious because let’s admit it, not many people know what Schumman Resonance is. Then, there’s absolutely no explanation why the Schumman Resonance can be linked to time and boom, conclusion about time speeding up. I’m sorry but that kind of argument doesn’t make sense and can’t be trusted. What’s the link between 7.8Hz to 12Hz and 24h to 16h? I’d like a proper explanation.

What is that Schumann Resonance?

According to Wikipedia:

This global electromagnetic resonance phenomenon is named after physicist Winfried Otto Schumann who predicted it mathematically in 1952. Schumann resonance occurs because the space between the surface of the Earth and the conductive ionosphere acts as a waveguide. The limited dimensions of the Earth cause this waveguide to act as a resonant cavity for electromagnetic waves in the ELF band. The cavity is naturally excited by energy from lightning strikes. Schumann resonance modes are observed in the power spectra of the natural electromagnetic background noise, as separate peaks at extremely low frequencies (ELF) around 7.8, 14.3, 20.8, 27.3 and 33.8 Hz.

The fundamental mode of the Schumann resonance is a standing wave in the Earth-ionosphere cavity with a wavelength equal to the circumference of the Earth. This lowest-frequency (and highest-intensity) mode of the Schumann resonance occurs at a frequency of approximately 7.8 Hz. Further resonance modes appear at approximately 6.5 Hz intervals, a characteristic attributed to the atmosphere’s spherical geometry. The peaks exhibit a spectral width of approximately 20% on account of the damping of the respective modes in the dissipative cavity. The eighth overtone lies at approximately 59.9 Hz.

Schumann resonances are used to track global lightning activity. Owing to the connection between lightning activity and the Earth’s climate they can also be used to monitor global temperature variations and variations of upper water vapor. Extraterrestrial lightning may also be detected and studied with Schumann resonances. Schumann resonances have been used for research and monitoring of the lower ionosphere on Earth and was suggested for exploration of lower ionosphere parameters on celestial bodies. Schumann resonances can be used to track geomagnetic and ionospheric disturbances. More recently, Schumann resonances have been used for monitoring transient luminous events – sprites, elves, jets, and other upper-atmospheric lightning. A new field of interest using Schumann resonances is related to short-term earthquake prediction. Schumann resonances have gone beyond the boundaries of physics, invading medicine, raising interest in artists and musicians, and gaining interest from fringe fields such as psychobiology.

So, how can we link this to time?

Unfortunately, I haven’t found any scientific evidence to link the Schumann Resonance to time. I also came across an interesting article that you can find at this address: http://www.oulu.fi/~spaceweb/textbook/schumann.html

The website shows a graph of the Shumann Resonance and how humans can influence it. On the graph, there’s a peak at 17Hz that is due to Swedish railroads. So basically, there’s a way of influencing the measures and because there’s Swedish railroads in the area, does it mean time goes faster there?

Anyway, you can think about the whole thing, but that time accelerating argument is just nonsense. Being physically possible or not, just the way its brought is a problem. You can’t back your argument by scientific facts without explaining how it is influencing your conclusion.