WhatsApp, Sun, Equinox, Dehydration... Umesh P N May 22, 2018 1 Background The following message takes its rounds in whatsapp now: Drink more water for the next seven days (May 22-28) due to EQUINOX (Astronomical event where the Sun is directly above the Earth s equator). Resultantly, the body gets dehydrated very fast during this period. Please share this news to maximum groups. Thanks While the underlying message of drinking more water to avoid dehydration is great, the facts mentioned are wrong. This document investigates those. 2 When is equinox? Equinoxes are points in time when the Sun is directly above the equator. On those days, day and night will be of almost the same length everywhere on earth. Due to the inclination of the earth s axis to its orbit, the Sun appears to be above latitudes ranging from 23.5 o N to 23.5 o S. In this journey, the Sun crosses the equator two times. The one that occurs when crossing from south to north is called the Vernal Equinox ( First point of Aries for people who are inclined to astrology) and the one that occurs when crossing from north to south is called the Autumnal Equinox ( First point of Libra ). They occur around March 21 22 and September 23 24 respectively. There are two extreme points where the Sun reaches the north-most point and the south-most point. They are called the solstices. The Summer Solstice ( First point of Cancer ) happens around June 21. On this day, the day is the longest and the night is the shortest in the northern hemisphere, while the day is the shortest and the night is the longest in the southern hemisphere. 1
The Winter Solstice ( First point of Capricorn ) happens around December 22. On this day, the night is the longest and the day is the shortest in the northern hemisphere, while the night is the shortest and the day is the longest in the southern hemisphere. Figure 1 shows these four points. 25 o 2 15 o 1 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 23.5 o 5 o 5 o 1 15 o 2 25 o 23.5 o Vernal Eq. Mar 20 Summer Sol. Jun 21 Autumnal Eq. Sep 23 Winter Sol. Dec 21 Figure 1: Sun s path: Equinoxes and Solstices in 2018 The message says equinox happens during May 22-28, which is not true. For every place on earth, the vernal equinox is in March and the autumnal equinox is in September. 2
3 Did the author mean that the sun is directly above Kerala during that time? Calling the-sun-above-a-place as equinox is silly and incorrect, but since it is connected to dehydration, probably the author meant that it is the time when the sun is directly above a particular place. Since this was distributed among the people from Kerala, probably the sun is above Kerala during this time, right? Most probably not. Kerala s center is at around 10.5 degrees north. Figure 2 shows when Kerala s latitude intercepts the Sun s path. It corresponds to April 18-19 when the Sun going north and August 24-25 when the Sun is going south. Not during May 22 28. 25 o 2 15 o 1 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 23.5 o 10.5 o 5 o 5 o 1 15 o 2 25 o 23.5 o Figure 2: Sun s path: Over Kerala in 2018 3
4 Where on earth the Sun is above the head during May 22-28? Probably the post is written for some place where the Sun is above the head during May 22-28. Can it be a possibility? Let us see. Figure 3 shows the May 22-28 period and the corresponding latitudes from the graph. It turns out that these latitudes are 20.28 o and 21.38 o, corresponding to some areas in Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Orissa. 25 o 2 15 o 1 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 23.5 o 5 o 5 o 1 15 o 2 25 o 23.5 o Figure 3: Sun s path: During May 22 28, 2018 4
5 Other questions Question 1 Does the equinox, i.e., the Sun being above equator, cause any dehydration in India? No. Question 2 Does the sun being above the head cause dehydration? May be. But there are many other factors as well. Checking the temperature is a better measure. 6 So, can we find some interpretation of the post that makes sense? If equinox means the time at which the sun is above some place and this message is targeted for people in Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Orissa, and we ignore all other factors causing dehydration, we can argue that the post makes sense. But that is a lot of ifs. It turns out that, the post is one among many such hoaxes. In 2017, there was another chain message that warned about the Equinox phenomenon that can seriously affect people. It even gave a scientific method to prove the phenomenon, which also was complete fake. It has been the favorite pass-time of many people who had a lot of time in their hands to write silly hoaxes like this. The unfortunate thing is, it is the educated mass that are propagating these hoaxes without even thinking whether it is true. 7 Wait. It promotes a good thing Drinking water? Isn t the goal more important than the path? There is no question of goal and path here. Goal can be achieved without wrong path. Just say, Drink lot of water, especially when it is very hot. Spreading a fake news for a good cause is not justified. Still not convinced? Then let us spread these also. Each of these has a great goal, even though the path is wrong. 1 1 Some of these may leak out of this document and gets circulated in whatsapp by educated people. I am not responsible for any impact they will make to the society. 5
1. Kidneys are situated exactly in the middle of two ears. Combined with the pancreas, which is situated in the brain, they emit positive energy every seven seconds. It passes through the back of the nose through the mouth into the heart. If you open your mouth during that time, the positive energy will escape through your mouth and get wasted. So, when you cough or sneeze, always cover your mouth. 2. The earth is flat and is situated on the horn of a bull. It is perfectly balanced by carefully arranging ocean, forest, meadows and things like that. Man created a lot of artificial things that caused imbalance already. If we cut more trees, the weight in those areas will be less and due to the imbalance, the earth will topple over. So, don t cut trees and keep forests, and plant a new tree for every cut tree. 3. A woman doesn t deserve freedom. In the childhood, she belongs to and should be protected by the father. When she is a young woman, she belongs to and should be protected by her husband. In the old age, she belongs to and is protected by her son. Hence, rape of a young woman by any man other than her husband should be condemned. 4. There is proof that there was Internet, aeroplane, atom bomb, wireless chat and all modern technology in India 5000 years back. Hence we should be proud of our heritage. I rest my case, your honor! 6