An example of an everyday comparison (a matchbox) used to explain an unfamiliar scale phenomenon,
"Calculation tells us a good deal about the state of a supernova just before the outburst….It is so enormously dense that a matchbox full of material taken from is central regions contains about 1, 000 tons. Its surface rotations with a speed of about 10,000,000 miles an hour. And the time required for its catastrophic outburst is as little as one minute. Indeed, if some cosmic jester were to grab hold of the Earth and were to put us near such a body, the whole of the Earth would be entirely crushed and would be spread as thin scum over the surface of the body. This is not just a piece of whimsical nonsense, because much of the material of the Earth actually was at one time part of a supernova."
Fred Hoyle (1960) The Nature of the Universe (Revised ed.)
Read about quotidian comparisons
The extract also includes an odd rhetorical flourish:
- claim: if some cosmic jester were to grab hold of the Earth and were to put us near such a body, the whole of the Earth would be entirely crushed and would be spread as thin scum over the surface of the body
- status of claim: This is not just a piece of whimsical nonsense
- justification of status: because much of the material of the Earth actually was at one time part of a supernova.
This makes little sense from a logical perspective. If may well be true both (1) that "if…the Earth would be entirely crushed…" and (2) that "much of the material of the Earth actually was at one time part of a supernova", but (2) offers no rationale that justifies (1).
