Among the many lessons to be found in the Bible, prominent
among them is "Look, but don't touch." When an Israelite named Uzzah
laid hands upon the Ark of The Covenant, he was struck down by God. But, in
1933, an engineering professor theorized that the real cause of death was
10,000 volts of static electricity.
According to an
article that appeared in the March 5th, 1933 edition of the Chicago Daily
Tribune, Frederick Rogers, the Dean of the Department of Engineering at the Lewis Institute of Technology,
conducted a careful study of the construction of the Ark as described in the
Bible, and concluded that its design matched a perfectly constructed simple
electric condenser:
The scientific
interest in the construction pointed out by Prof. Rogers was that the acacia
wood box—about 40 inches long and slightly less than 30 inches in width and in
depth—not only was lined with gold teal on the inside but overlaid with the
some metal without. This, according to Prof. Rogers, is the first step that any
modern boy
with a flare for
electrical experimentation will take to create a Leyden jar, except that in the
Leyden jar, a glass receptacle is coated on the inside and outside with tin foil instead of
gold. Then, with the aid of a rod with a small knob at the top and a
short chain at the
bottom which is inserted through the cork so that the chain can make contact
with the bottom of the jar, the young experimenter is ready to collect small
charges of bottled lighting.
But the Ark of the
Covenant was a much larger condenser….The divine directions called for the
creation of two cherubim of pure
gold to be placed on a gold slab or "mercy seat"
overtop the Ark. These cherubim, Prof. Rogers explained, made up what he
believes to have been the positive pole of the circuit.
He explained…that it
is known among physicists that a "difference of potential" exists
between the earth and the air which may be collected in electrical charges
under certain favorable conditions…It was explained that even slight movements
of heat rising in smoke—such as from burning sacrifices or even incense—would distribute
lesser charges of static electricity….This, Prof. Rogers explained, may have
accounted for the collecting of bolts powerful enough to cause death.
The question of
whether it was sufficient to melt Nazi's faces was not addressed.
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