Physics and chemistry of the shroud of turin

MATEC Web of Conferences

2015

Section: How Did the Body Image Formed?supporting

confidence: 52%

Section: How Did the Body Image Formed?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Introductory Paper: Scientific Results on the Turin Shroud Coming from a Paduan University Research Project

MATEC Web of Conferences

2015

“…The most important and in-depth scientific analysis of TS was performed in 1978 by STURP (Shroud of Turin Research Project) [1,2] although no explanations for the impressed human image were put forward [3][4][5][6]. Presently, the optical and physicochemical properties of the image result definitively assessed with the specification that they are not amenable to reproduction altogether, in spite of the efforts made to explain the debated imaging mechanism.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Turin Shroud-like electric imaging connected to earthquakes

Liso

Lattarulo

2015

SHS Web of Conferences

Abstract.A large amount of long lasting experiments, carried out by the first author with the supervision of coauthoring experts in electrical imaging and Turin Shroud (TS) studies, was addressed to obtain TS-like impressions. To this end, the experiments was especially performed by using conducting objects previously enveloped in two-folded cloths, then inserted into a gap bounded by a pair of rocky plates. The prerequisite for image formation seems to be an especially abundant emission of radon, related to earthquakes, ultimately giving rise to a macro-scale background electric field of the order of 1 kV/m in the gap and, more importantly, to micro-scale field amplification. This additional field is localized in the air filled interstices of the exposed fabric, thus causing consequent aging. In spite of the complicate and unpredictable character of the natural phenomenology under examination, the investigators succeeded in categorizing different kinds of impressions and selecting one of them as being thoroughly successful. Specifically, the images of the selected category do exhibit basic physicochemical and optical features distinctive of the figure impressed on the Turin Shroud.

“…The Turin Shroud [1,2,3] (TS) is a handmade 3-1 twill linen cloth, 4.4 m long and 1.1 m wide, on which the complete front and back images of a human body are indelibly impressed. According to the Catholic Christian tradition, the TS is the burial cloth in which Jesus Christ was wrapped before being placed in a tomb in Palestine about 2000 years ago; for this reason, it is the most important Relic of Catholic Christianity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The most depth scientific analysis of the TS, performed in 1978 by the STURP (Shroud of TUrin Research Project) [1,2], yielded no explanations for the body image formation on the TS. As the breaking strength, the Young modulus and the loss factor are mechanical parameters that can be easily correlated with the age of a linen fabric, an ad hoc cyclic-loads machine able to measure these parameters of flax fibers has been built and used to date the TS [11,12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Monte Carlo method applied to the mechanical dating of the Turin Shroud

Basso

MATEC Web of Conferences

Malfi³

2015

Abstract. Alternative dating methods to radiocarbon have been recently developed to study the Turin Shroud (TS), the linen sheet that according to the tradition enveloped the dead body of Jesus Christ; among them, a mechanical one is based on the study of five mechanical parameters in reference to the breaking strength, the Young modulus and the loss factor. This method tests single TS linen fibers using a machine, built in for the purpose, capable to measure the stress-stain parameters during loading cycles. These parameters have been already shown to be dependent on the age of the linen under test, and a preliminary result has been obtained: the TS date is 400 A.D. ±400 years at 95% confidence level. A companion paper has combined this mechanical result with two chemical ones, coming from Raman and FT-IR spectra, and the combined result is 90 AD ±200 years at 95% confidence level, thus confirming the compatibility of the age of the TS with the period in which Jesus Crist lived in Palestine. As the evaluation of the uncertainty propagation is not simple in the case of the mechanical parameters, this paper tries to furnish a more reliable result applying the Monte Carlo method to the mechanical parameters directly measured. The obtained mechanical age of the TS of 279 A.D. ±216 years at 95% confidence level is compatible with the previous results, but with an uncertainty almost halved.