Aether and Gravitation Part 17

AETHER AND ELECTRICITY

ART. 79. _Electricity, a Mode of Motion._--The question as to What is Electricity? is one of the greatest problems of modern times. In view of the electro-magnetic theory of light, however, science is able to give a better definition as to what electricity is, than it was able to do previous to the introduction of the theory by Maxwell, and its practical establishment by Hertz.

If that theory teaches us anything at all with regard to the nature of electricity, it teaches us that electricity is due to certain motions of the universal Aether, that not only fills all so-called s.p.a.ce, but surrounds all particles and atoms of all Matter.

The question has been asked by various scientists, "Is Aether Electricity, or, in other words, are Aether and Electricity one and the same?" Let us look at the question from the standpoint of the a.n.a.logy from the phenomena of light and heat. As we have already seen (Art. 61), heat is due to a particular kind of motion of the universal Aether, generally known as vibratory motion, which motion is communicated to the Aether by a luminous or heated body.

So that we learn that heat at any rate has an aetherial basis, as it is a particular kind of aetherial motion. From Art. 70 we learn also that light is due to an undulatory or wave motion in the Aether; the waves, however, in this case being shorter, and of more rapid vibration than those waves which give rise to heat.

Thus light and heat both have an aetherial basis, being due to vibrations of that medium. From these a.n.a.logies, therefore, we come to the conclusion that electricity and magnetism have an aetherial basis, and are also due to certain kinds of motion in the Aether.

That motion may be rotatory motion or vibratory motion, as the case may be, but whatever definition we give of electricity, we cannot as yet say definitely that Aether is electricity.

We may a.s.sume, and indeed prove, that Aether has an electrical and magnetic basis, in the same way that it has a thermal or heat basis, or a luminiferous or light basis; but while we admit such a hypothesis, we cannot admit as yet that Aether and electricity are one and the same thing. It is not within the province of this work, however, to prove what electricity is, or show the relation of Aether to all the various forms of electricity with which we are conversant, but I think I may venture to make this statement, that all forms of electricity, whether it is electro-static, that is electricity at rest, or current electricity, or electro-magnetism, are due to certain forms of motion of the universal Aether, in the same way that light and heat are also particular forms of motion of the same medium. I need hardly point out that it is an absolute impossibility for me to deal with such a subject as Electricity in all its details and various aspects in one chapter; so that I shall have to a.s.sume that the reader is familiar with some of the elementary truths of the subject.

At the same time, I will endeavour to make clear most of the technical terms used as we proceed. From the Electro-Magnetic theory of light, therefore, we learn that Aether has an electrical or electro-magnetic basis, so that, wherever we get Aether, there we have the bases and conditions which will produce all the phenomena with which we are conversant in the sphere of electricity. Given the required motions in the Aether necessary to produce any particular form of electricity, then that form is produced as soon as the motions of the Aether are generated by any charged or electrified body. Produce a circular current in any way in the Aether, and you will have a circular current of electricity; produce radiations from a radiating body, and you will get electric radiations which speed away with the velocity of light.

This phase of the Aether is entirely in harmony with Dr. Larmor's Hypothesis of Electrons, which has already been referred to in Art. 44.

Dr. Larmor in his work indicates that electricity has an atomic basis, and further states that "the atomicity of electricity is coming within the scope of direct experiment."[22]

Now, if electricity, as I have indicated, be due to certain motions in the Aether, then it can easily be seen that postulating atomicity for electricity will be the same as postulating atomicity for the Aether.

Dr. Larmor[23] definitely and clearly states, "that each electron has an effective ma.s.s of aetherial origin, which forms part, and may be the whole, of the ma.s.s of matter to which it is attached;" and again points out (p. 64) that "an electron is nothing more than a point singularity or pole in the electro-dynamic and optical Aether." Thus we see that Dr.

Larmor's hypothesis as to the atomicity of electricity is a further proof of the atomicity of Aether, and is also in harmony with the electro-magnetic theory of light.

Now in dealing with electricity as a mode of motion, it will be necessary to show that electricity is also a form of energy in the same way that heat and light are forms of energy.

If it can be demonstrated that electricity is a form of energy, then it can easily be demonstrated that work can be done by it, and that that work may take a mechanical form in the same way that the energy of heat and light may produce mechanical results. Clerk Maxwell has given us, in his greatest work, his conception of the two kinds of energy due to electricity and magnetism. On the subject he writes: "In the theory of Electricity and Magnetism accepted in this treatise, two forms of energy are recognized, the Electro-Static and Electro-Kinetic (paragraphs 630 and 636), and these are supposed to have their seat not merely in electrified or magnetized bodies, but in every part of surrounding s.p.a.ce, wherever electric or magnetic force is observed to act. Hence our theory agrees with the undulatory theory of light in a.s.suming the existence of a medium which is capable of becoming susceptible to two forms of energy."[24] The question has arisen many times as to what is meant by the terms Electro-Static and Electro-Kinetic energy used by Maxwell, and various hypotheses have been advanced to explain the same.

Electro-static energy is said to be that phase of electricity in which we deal with stresses set up in the Aether by an electrified body at rest, whether that body be small or large. It further deals with the process of induction, that is, the action of an electrified body upon another body, such action taking place through the medium between the two bodies. Electro-kinetic energy is the energy due to electricity in motion. On this point Maxwell says: "A conducting circuit in which the current has been set up has the power of doing work in virtue of the current, for it is really and truly energy. It appears, therefore, that a system containing an electric current is a seat of energy of some kind; and, since we can form no conception of electric current except as a kinetic phenomenon, its energy must be kinetic energy, that is to say, the energy which a moving body has in virtue of its motion." (Arts. 551 and 552.)

It is not our purpose to deal with the electro-kinetic form of energy referred to by Maxwell in this chapter. We shall deal with that form of energy due to electricity in the succeeding chapter. We will consider first the effect of the electro-static energy in relation to electrified bodies, but I wish it to be distinctly understood, that in all the different kinds of electric phenomena manifested, the Aether plays the chief part, and without it, none of the phenomena observed could be produced; because, what Aether is to light and heat, so it is to electricity, being that medium which by its motions propagates and gives rise to all electrical phenomena.

This being so, we have now to apply some of the facts taught us by electricity, and especially by the electro-magnetic theory of light, to our solar system, with the hope that we shall find further evidence of a Centrifugal Force which is physical in character, and whose action can be traced throughout the whole realm of s.p.a.ce. Let us, in starting to apply some of the truths already learned, recall some of the facts concerning light, its production and its propagation. We recall the fact that light is produced by the action of the sun upon the Aether, giving rise to waves which speed away from the generating source with a velocity of 186,000 miles per second. We further remember that Hertz has definitely proved that these light waves are identical with electro-magnetic waves, as they ought to be if the Aether possesses an electrical basis, as Dr. Larmor and Professor Lodge suggest.

In order that there may be no mistake on this point, let me quote from one of Hertz' papers, where, in his conclusion, he says: "The experiments described appear to me, at any rate, eminently adapted to remove any doubt of the ident.i.ty of light, radiant heat, and electro-magnetic wave motion." Now, what I want to point out regarding this fact is this. If the sun gives rise to the aetherial light waves, and these light waves are identical with electro-magnetic waves as proved by Hertz, then the sun must either be an electrified body or else a magnet.

It must be one or the other, because, if it were not, we should then have an anomaly in Nature of a body emitting electro-magnetic waves which is itself neither electrified nor a magnet. Therefore, according to our second Rule of Philosophy, such a body would be incapable of giving rise to these waves, as such a result would be contrary to universal experience and experiment.

We know that the earth is a magnet, but up to the present it has never been proved that the sun is a magnet, although, as I shall show later on, Lord Kelvin and others have suggested such a possibility. If we a.s.sume that the sun is a magnet, our grounds for a.s.sumption would not be so strong at this point, and our reasons so philosophical, as they are if we a.s.sume that the sun is an electrified body.

We have philosophical reasoning to prove that the sun is an electrified body in the fact that it emits or gives rise to electro-magnetic waves in the Aether, and no other hypothesis can be made other than that the sun is an electrified body, in order to prove the connection between the two.

Thus we affirm that the sun is an electrified body, which like any other electrified body is capable of generating electric waves, and speeding them through the Aether with similar velocity to that of light.

Not only so, but, like any other electrified body, it must have its electric field and possess the ability to electrify any other body by induction, that may happen to be in its electric field, as we shall see later on.

Further, being an electrified body, the electric density will be greatest near the sun's surface, and this fact fully accords with our statement in Art. 45, that Aether is gravitative. As pointed out in that Art., if Aether be gravitative, it must be densest nearest to the attracting body; and, as Aether has an electric basis, then with the denser Aether there must be an increased electric density, which can only happen provided the sun is an electrified body.

Sir G. Stokes was also of this opinion, for in his Burnet Lectures on Light he writes (p. 212): "There is nothing, therefore, unreasonable in supposing that the sun may be a permanently charged body."

So that all the reasoning that has led to this result seems to harmonize and confirm each several hypothesis which has been advanced. There can be little doubt, therefore, that the sun is an electrified body, and it is for us now to carry out this fact to its logical and philosophical conclusion, by applying all the truths which circle round it to the solar system, when we shall find greater confirmation of the statement just advanced than any we have yet adduced.

According to Professor Young of America, the sun is not only an electrified body, but is also the abode of living and sentient beings.

This astronomer has suggested that the sun is the centre of electric force, and that converging streams of Electricity are ever flowing to it as a centre; but on meeting with the atmosphere they give rise to brilliant discharges, which thus gives the appearance of a solid incandescent body.

Now, whether this hypothesis is correct or not, it is absolutely certain that the sun is an electrified body, as it gives rise to electro-magnetic waves in the Aether, as philosophically proved by direct experiments.

[Footnote 22: _Aether and Matter_, p. 8.]

[Footnote 23: _Ibid._, p. 64.]

[Footnote 24: _Magnetism and Electricity_, by C. Maxwell, Art. 782.]

ART. 80. _Aether and Electric Fields._--Before proceeding to apply some of the facts of Electricity to the solar system, let us find out what is meant by an Electric Field. An electric field is to an electrified body, what a thermal or heat field is to a heated body, or a luminous or lighted field is to a luminous body. If a lamp, for example, be lighted, its light waves spread out on every side, and extend for a considerable distance unless impeded by such obstacles as the wall of a room.

The extent to which the light waves reach and flow might well be called the lighted or luminous field, and in that field the effect of the aetherial light waves would be manifested and seen.

Now, in a similar manner, when any body is electrified, the electric waves spread out on every side of the electrified body, and the extent to which the waves spread out form what is known as an electric field.

So that an electric field may be defined as any region or s.p.a.ce in which electric energy is manifested by means of the aetherial electric waves, and across which induction may take place.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig: 9.]

Thus, for example, let _E_ be an electrified body (Fig. 9), then it will generate electric waves which will speed from the body with a velocity equal to that of light. If the body be a sphere, then the waves will be spherical in shape, and will proceed from the generating source in the shape of concentric spheres as indicated in the figure. Before proceeding any further, it is necessary that we should look at the electric field from the physical aspect, with a view to discover something of what takes place therein. As has already been indicated, all electric phenomena are due to motions of the universal Aether.

It was left for Faraday to give us a true conception of an electric field, and for Maxwell to perfect that conception and give us a physical aspect of the same. Faraday conceived that stretching out from a magnet or electrified body through s.p.a.ce, that is, through the Aether, were what he called "Lines of Force," and that these lines of force indicated not only the direction of the magnetic and electric forces, but also their intensity or power.

Where the lines of force were closest together, there the electric or magnetic energy was the greatest and most intense; and where they were the farthest apart, there the field was weakest in energy. An ill.u.s.tration of the magnetic lines of force may be obtained by placing a piece of paper over a magnet, and then strewing iron filings over the same, when it will be seen that the iron filings will arrange themselves in certain curved lines, which Faraday called Magnetic Lines of Force.

In this way Faraday mapped out the lines of force, relative not only to single magnets, but also to magnets with poles placed in various positions relatively to poles of other magnets.

Now as there are lines of force which reveal the intensity and direction of the magnetic energy, so there are lines of force radiating out from electrified bodies which reveal the intensity and power of the electric field. The electric lines of force are radial, and are shown in the figure (Fig. 9) by the straight lines _D_ _F_, _D_ _H_, _D_ _K_.

If an electrified pith ball, for example, be hung up in a room, then the lines of force, which extend from the ball, indicate the stress in the Aether surrounding the pith ball, so that if a hair be placed across these lines of force, any movement of the pith ball will be indicated by the motion of the hair.

It was Clerk Maxwell, however, who gave to the world a true physical conception of Faraday's Lines of Force, in his paper on "Physical Lines of Force."[25]

In the opening words of that paper he writes as follows: "We cannot help thinking that in every place where we find these lines of force, some physical state or action must exist in sufficient energy to produce the actual phenomena." Maxwell then went on to show what these physical actions were, which took place in the dielectric--that is, the medium surrounding the electrified body which we now know to be the Aether.

This electric field, he pointed out, was "in a state of stress, which consisted of pressures or tensions different in different directions at the same part of the medium. The relation of these forces were threefold, and consisted in the most general type of stress of three pressures or tensions in directions at right angles to each other."

Thus, in Maxwell's opinion, the existence of a medium, which by its physical character was able to exert energy on material bodies, was one of the fundamental hypotheses of his theory as to the physical character of Faraday's Lines of Force.

This physical medium was to be capable of certain motions, and both electric and magnetic forces were produced by its motions and its stresses. Maxwell's conception, however, of the physical lines of force was more or less hypothetical, and up to the present, as far as I can learn, has not received that authority from science that such a hypothesis requires to make it an accepted theory in science.

But what I venture to point out is, that with the view of the aetherial medium that is submitted in this work, Maxwell's hypothesis remains a hypothesis no longer, and that the hypothetical character of his theory ceases to exist. For, by our conception of an atomic and gravitative Aether, we are able to see that his physical lines of force are indeed physical, and that his brilliant hypothesis now receives a true physical foundation which otherwise it would not receive from a frictionless Aether.

There is nothing, I venture to predict, in Maxwell's hypothesis which cannot be accounted for on a truly physical basis, by the conception of the Aether as given in this work. So that when Faraday saw in his mind's eye lines of force traversing s.p.a.ce, he saw by his imagination that which was actually the real state of affairs, and when Maxwell enlarged the conception by giving to those lines of force a definite atomic and cellular structure, he, too, but antic.i.p.ated the real nature and character of the Aether as given in Chapter IV., which theory is the direct outcome of Newton's philosophical rules, and the result of discarding everything that is not in accordance with experience and observation. Thus the lines of force which exist and surround a magnetic or electrified body are as real as ocean currents, or the waves of the sea, in that they are the manifestations of the motions of the universal Aether, which is as truly matter as air or water.