Modern techniques explore the real-life mysteries of the Great Pyramid

The Great Pyramid of Giza may be able to focus electromagnetic radiation into pockets of energy inside its network of internal chambers and underneath its base, a new study has suggested.

Theoretical research by a team of Russian scientists aimed to understand how the pyramid would respond to radio waves directed at it, with the goal of recreating its shape at a nanoscale.

But far from unveiling and harnessing some mystical property of the ancient structure, the scientists hope to use their findings in technological applications such as creating effective solar cells.

Great Pyramid in Egypt has huge ‘plane-sized’ void in the middle. Speculation about the supposed function of Egypt’s pyramids has been prevalent since at least the early 20th century, and the structures have been linked with everything from aliens to the apocalypse.

As the oldest and largest of the Giza pyramids, the Great Pyramid constructed for Pharaoh Khufu thousands of years ago has drawn some of the wildest theories.

In their paper, the scientists acknowledge that “these amazing structures excite the imagination of people engendering various fables and baseless assumptions”.

This, they explain, is what makes it all the more important for scientists to use modern techniques to explore the real-life mysteries of the pyramids.

They used mathematical models to understand how light would react with a hypothetical nanoparticle shaped like the ancient wonder of the world.

“Egyptian pyramids have always attracted great attention,” said Dr Andrey Evlyukhin from ITMO University, one of the study’s authors.

“We as scientists were interested in them as well, so we decided to look at the Great Pyramid as a particle dissipating radio waves resonantly.”

Their research has been published in the Journal of Applied Physics. The scientists first estimated that a so-called “resonant” state could be achieved in the pyramid using radio wave lengths ranging from 200m to 600m, meaning electromagnetic energy would be concentrated within and underneath the structure.

“Due to the lack of information about the physical properties of the pyramid, we had to use some assumptions,” said Dr Evlyukhin.

“For example, we assumed that there are no unknown cavities inside, and the building material with the properties of an ordinary limestone is evenly distributed in and out of the pyramid. With these assumptions made, we obtained interesting results that can find important practical applications.”

The team’s interest in the Great Pyramid was first roused while they were investigating the interaction between light and certain nanoparticles.

Light can be controlled at a nanoscale by varying the size, shape and refractive index of the nanoparticles’ source materials.

“Choosing a material with suitable electromagnetic properties, we can obtain pyramidal nanoparticles with a promise for practical application in nanosensors and effective solar cells,” said Dr Polina Kapitanova, another ITMO University physicist.

This is not the first time the worlds of physics and pyramid research have collided.

In a 2017 paper published in the journal Nature, scientists used particle physics techniques to discover a new chamber inside the Great Pyramid – the first to be revealed since the 19th century.