“A lot of your response consists of assertions… Thus: my discussion is entirely about solving the problem with conventional electromagnetic theory. This involves solving the math. I snipped your various different words about "philosophy" and assertions about physics because they do not contribute to the question at hand: solving the math.” -- Geoffrey Landis, October 11(?), 2005


Philosophy and Assertions, of Theory N


  Theory N also has quite a few assertions built into the math, many of which are vacuous, contradictory and unwarranted. Some of these assertions behind the math of conventional electromagnetic theory are the topic of the Catt Question, particularly the part about sweeping the mass of the electron under the rug.
   ‘Mathematicism’ is a branch of ‘Phenomenologicalism’- the utilitarian philosophy that if a model yields good results, it is a good model. I’m not entirely adverse to this, particularly for non-social engineering applications, except when we discover that the model has flawed assumptions and untenable conclusions. The Ptolemaic/Copernican revolution is an iconic example- though ‘Theory Pt’ was quite advanced and useful for celestial prediction in its day we cannot use the epicycles for reliable spacecraft navigation.
   Theory N, or conventional electromagnetic theory, is an accretion and amalgamation of several historical accidents. The electrons-in-wire-is-electric-current idea (EWEC) came from earlier, phlogiston-like hypotheses of one or two fluids flowing inside the wire. This is a useful model for things like Ohm-Kirchhoff-Thevenin-style lumped-element circuit analysis. The math encodes that philosophy and the assertions (assumptions). These are the things being revised or extended by Theory C++.
   Maxwell’s equations, as Catt emphasizes, are not directly involved in the EWEC, they came much earlier (ca. 1880’s, depending on how you count), before electrons (1897), their mass, and charge/mass ratio (1909) were discovered. So the EWEC was grafted on to Theory N during the 20th Century as a sort of afterthought, with the massive incongruities buried in the math.
   In Theory N, we assert that we can write P = VI, I = Q/t, Ploss = I^2R, V = IR, “what goes in must come out”, and so on, and get a reliable model. We assume I = Q/t refers to the moving electrons, since we can count how many electrons drift past a given plane cutting through a conductor. The mass of the electron is irrelevant, except when it isn’t.
   We assert that the voltage difference, caused somehow by the EWEC, between the upper and lower rails, sets up a transverse electric field, which we can ignore. We assert that static magnetic fields encircle the conductors, as a result of the EWEC, except sometimes when it is the other way around. For circuit analysis, we can just ignore the transient conditions.
  We assert that c, mu|o (mu-subscript-o) and epsilon|o are the fundamental constants of interest.
   We, Jackson, et al, assert that the various versions of the integral or differential Maxwell equations, together with the Heaviside-Lorentz relation, capture all the classical phenomena of interest, which can always be decomposed into sine waves, spherical harmonics, and the other things of a beautiful, mathematical, symmetry…

 

Philosophy and Assertions, of Theory C


   “Now, in Maxwell’s theory there is the potential energy of the displacement produced in the dielectric parts by the electric force, and there is the kinetic or magnetic energy of the magnetic induction due to the magnetic force in all parts of the field, including the conduction parts. They are supposed to be set up by the current in the wire. *We reverse this; the current in the wire is set up by the energy transmitted through the medium around it*…”- Oliver Heaviside, 1892 (emphasis on causality added)
   We assert that the transverse electromagnetic wave (TEM wave), propagating at ‘Mach 1’ = c, through the constant aethereal impedance of Zo = ~377 Ohms, is the fundamental entity that transmits most, if not all, energy and information. The TEM wave is a shock-wave slab of energy-current, obstructed or otherwise- a half-cycle square wave in the time domain. This replaces the sinusoidal photon of occasional properties.
   These two fundamental constants, c and Zo, are ‘reciprocal’ to the permittivity and permeability of the aether: permittivity eps|o = c^-1 * Zo^-1 and permeability mu|o =  c^-1 * Zo. These properties in turn are manifest in the orthogonal transverse axes of the TEM wave, and back.
   We assert that the 19th Century concept of a rail-to-rail TEM wave guided by the two conductors, as a train is guided by the two rails of a railroad track, is closer to the truth than is the electron-photon picture. Resistance heats up the wires, outside to inside, like rolling-resistance to the train’s movement heats up the train-track rails.
   We assert that the flow of electrons in a wire can no more be responsible for electricity than water on the ground can cause rain.
   We muse that the height of a hill, h, points to a fact- an aspect of objective reality, of matter piled up. The slope of a hill, dh/dx, points to an opinion- a cognitive state of the modeler, an idea of which matter is next to what. Each concatenated mathematical transformation applied to an original, objective fact moves the imaginary model further toward the rear of Plato’s cave. --partly after Ivor Catt
   We assert that the basement relations for Maxwell’s equations contain no useful information. dE/dx = -dB/dt and dB/dx = dE/dt have no causality, and little descriptive power. They say that the height of a sloped, moving object is proportional to the rate of change of the other, transverse-axis slope of the same moving object, which is a trivial observation. E can no more cause B than the length of a brick can cause its width. These enigmatic equations, once thought to be the crowning achievement of modern physics, are little more than a cipher, wrapped inside a void… --after Ivor Catt

 

Forrest Bishop, October 13, 2005

=====================

 

 

[concerning propagation of electricity on a two-wire transmission line] 

Assertions and Hypotheses of Theory N (con't):

a)  The electric and magnetic fields between the wires are static.
b)  The electric field 'lines' or 'tubes' terminate on things in the wire called "electric charges".
c)  A field line from a positive charge terminates on a negative charge, and vice versa. This collection of discrete “charges” is called a “surface charge density”, and is in partial conflict with the “electrification” hypothesis.
d)  Charge is conserved.
e)  The charges can only move slower than the speed of light.
f)  The electron, proton, etc. are points of charge, mass, etc., except sometimes when they feel like being waves. Other little Epsilon point-wave gears and levers rattle around inside to help glue a crank theory together.


Assertions and Hypotheses of Theory C (con't):

a)  The electric and magnetic fields are dynamic cross-components of the TEM wave. All components of the fields move at the speed of light (or c/n) at all times. This is the hypothesis that is comparable to Copernicus's. The repercussions are across the board.
b)  The TEM wave is all. A redirection (annihilation/creation) of the TEM wave creates the illusion of "electric charge" distribution on the surface of the wire, which Heaviside calls "electrification".
c) ,d)  The electric field (and the magnetic) of the TEM wave has directionality. One direction is called "positive" and the other direction is called "negative". Charge conservation is simply a restatement of the fact that a line has two endpoints- one on each wire. The more advanced concept includes the rest of the electric and magnetic field or flux lines (curve), which close back on themselves. Then 'positive' and 'negative' only refer to the two directions along a curve, not its endpoints. Then divE = 0 always.
e)  "Electrification" (surface-charge density) can appear to move at any speed, from 0 to <infinity, depending on the angle the TEM wave makes with the conductor surface. When the grazing angle becomes zero, and the electric flux is perpendicular to the surface, it is called "electricity", and moves at “c”- the speed of light in the dielectric medium between the wires. This appears to be ~lost knowledge.
f)   The electron, proton, etc. are collections of TEM shockwaves in the luminiferous aether (called “quantum foam” by some). All parts of them are moving at vacuum-c and only c. The “electrification” effect is an exchange process (called “photon exchange" in the Standard Model) between the external TEM waves and the conductor-electron TEM waves. Movement of the electron center-of-mass afterwards is a secondary effect- a literal sideshow.

 

Home  

Forrest Bishop, October 23, 2005

=====================