The human race is the most advanced and most intellectual organism living on earth. But no matter how intelligent we are, there are some elements about our planet that we find hard to believe. Isaac Asimov has described some scientific facts in his story. These facts are used to make his story (which is after all science fiction) more plausible.
The story obviously does not take place here on earth, but their society is somehow like ours. The characters that appeared in the story are scientists, reporters, and religionist. These are individuals that we can relate to. Not only could we identify ourselves with the characters, but the way they think and behave are no different to our society. "The public is an ugly humor" ( 357 ) "investors don't really believe the world is coming to an end, but just the same they"re being cagey with their money until it's all over" ( 357 ). The public disregarded Aton's future prediction. Their concerns are on other things such as money, popularity and power. Our society would also react the same way. How many people have actually realized that we are damaging our planet? Why do you think that many scientists are begging us to stop contamination and destructing our environment? .
"The law of universal gravitation states that there exists a cohesive force among all bodies of the universe" (365). The law of gravitation that is mentioned in this story also applies to our planet. "It has been shown that the eclipse will occur only when the arrangement of the suns is such that Beta is alone in its hemisphere and at a maximum distance, at which time the moon is invariable at minimum distance" (366). The Eclipse also occurs in our planet, and it does bring darkness. These short passages oblige the reader to believe that the story is true.
The theory of evolution, gravity and the theory of relativity have been argued long and hard. It seems that the scientists have been able to understand these theories.