Zero Point Energy doc
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| OINT E NERGY E THER : W HAT IS IT ? BY A MARA G RAPS The properties of light have perplexed scientists ever since humans were capable of giving it thought. Newton thought of light as showers of particles. Young and Fresnel gave evidence for light as waves. Maxwell concluded Light consists of electromagnetic waves" after combined electricity and magnetism in his electromagnetic wave theory. If Maxwell's statement is true, then what do the waves travel in, since mechanical waves have to propagate in some medium This paper is a brief investigation of that medium- called the ether. If light truly is a wave, then an ether is essential. The properties of the hypothesized ether are very unusual. One type of medium is required by Maxwell's electromagnetic equations. Yet another type of medium is required from the noninterference of the ether with motions of bodies in our universe. Maxwell derived his electric and magnetic field equations from his technique of analogy where he likened magnetic lines of force to incompressible fluid flow. However the waves in his electromagnetic field are transverse, that is, in a sinusoidal up and down (or sideways) motion. Transverse waves, cannot travel through a body of liquid or gas. These types of waves can only be conducted through solids, in a gravitational field, or along the surfaces of water. Therefore the ether cannot be a fluid because transverse waves cannot pass through a fluid. The ether has to be a solid. A solid medium carries a transverse wave in the following way. As the wave passes through the ether, that portion of the ether has to be distorted at right angles to the transverse light wave. Then the forces holding that portion of the solid have to snap the ether back. The rate at which the light wave travels through the medium depends on the size of the force that snaps back the distorted region. The greater the force, the greater the snap-back, the more rapid the progression of the wave. Since we know that light travels at over 186,000 mi/sec, the snap-back by the forces must be extremely rapid- in fact the force holding each portion of the ether in place was calculated to be considerably stronger than steel. A second type of medium results from our experience of seeing bodies able to move freely throughout the universe. Because we know that the motions of the bodies in our universe are not interfered within any detectable way- it seems reasonable to assume that ether is nothing more than an extremely rarefied gas. |