MODERN SCIENCE - THE VELOCITY OF LIGHT
Until the twentieth century, man’s primary domain of interest was concentrated on measurable objects and activities which occurred on (or very near to) the surface of the Earth. The prior "classical" laws of physics remanded adequate because man’s interest involved matters that shared a common space-time frame associated with man himself. Words and mathematical equations had been created, and mentally accepted, as reality unto themselves to explain "altitude" (ie, relative radius) and "velocity" (ie, relative motion). The sixteenth century concepts of centripetal force and mass attraction were now called "laws of nature".
Within the scientific establishment, Isaac Newton was recognized as an unquestionable authority - somewhat equivalent to manner that Jesus is accepted in the eyes of the clergy. It no longer occurred to anyone that current concepts such as velocity were only imaginary mathematical ratios of change in location divided by change in time, or that such a ratio was about as illogical as a ratio of a dozen apples compared to five pounds of thought.
However trouble was brewing. Technological advancements now made it possible for man to recognize and begin to measure objects and activities which occurred in previously unrecognized realms of size. Science begin to attempt to explain newly discovered concepts, such as electricity, atoms of physical material, the speed of light, and the beginnings of our universe. Unbeknownst to man, he was beginning to think about concepts which exist in different space-time frames from himself. In those new realms the old laws of classical science failed.
Man does not give up his prior beliefs easily. And the members of the scientific establishment were not about to abandon their prior belief in the reality of the imaginary mathematical concepts of mass attraction, centripetal force, and acceleration. It was therefore necessary to build upon the exiting dogma in an attempt to explain the newly discovered concepts. It might be necessary to abandon a few of the less established concepts, but the more established concept of mass attraction would not be sacrificed.
EXPLAINING THE UNEXPLAINABLE
During the 1880’s, it was commonly believed by the scientific establishment that an invisible substance called ether permeated all space (like water in an ocean), and was the substance through which light moved (like waves in the ocean). Experiments were conducted to measure the change in the arrival of waves of light through the ether as a result to the motion of the Earth around the Sun. The expected effect would be analogous to measuring the rate at which ocean water moves by a boat as the velocity of the boat changes. However, the unexpected result of the experiment indicated that the waves of light arrived at the detector at the same rate, irrespective of the earth’s velocity. This was analogous to saying that no matter how much the speed of the boat changed, the water still moved by the boat at the same rate. The scientific establishment was baffled. There seemed to be no way to explain those unexpected results
THE PROSTITUTION OF CLASSICAL PHYSICS
A few years later, Albert Einstein advised he had found a solution. He advised that light (and all other electromagnetic waves) travel at a fixed universal constant velocity, denoted mathematically as "C". Time and Length factors which are applicable to a moving sensor, shrink in proportion to the ratio of the velocity of the sensor to the universal constant C. The amount of shrinkage was such that the "relative velocity" between the light and the sensor remained constant at the value of C.
But this solution created another problem. If the relative velocity of the sensor decreased, then the mathematical value of momentum (mass times velocity) would be diminished. Such a change in momentum defied another "law" of science named "the conservation of momentum" . It was therefore necessary to add the following amendment to the new theory.
Einstein advised that the mathematical value of the "relative mass" of the sensor increases in inverse proportion to the mathematical value of the decrease in the "relative velocity" of the sensor. Now, at first glance it might appear that all was in order once again. The sacred words of "mass" and "velocity" were retained, and the results of the 1880 experiment were explained by Einstein’s new theory, and the previously accepted concept of "conservation of momentum" was preserved.
Hogwash! The concept of "relative mass", "relative distance", and "relative time" were all completely new imaginary mathematical concepts, which have no connection at all with the imaginary mathematical concepts of "inertial mass" and "acceleration" which Newton had created. The reality of mass being a natural resistance force which resists any change in the current rate of motion of a physical object (as proven in Newton’s experiment) was revised to mass being a unit of "energy" in Einstein’s concept. Never-the-less, Einstein’s concept was accepted by the establishment, and is now commonly recognized and taught as an accepted "Theory of Special Relativity".
That lesson is imbedded in the student’s mind shortly after the student has been thoroughly indoctrinated with Newton’s theories. The student is advised that he need not be too concerned about any obvious differences between the usage of the word "mass" because physical objects don’t travel at velocities approaching the speed of light. In fact, they are advised, it is a physical impossibility for objects to travel at such high velocity because then their mass would have to increase to infinity - which of course is an obvious impossibility.
No one has yet explained that magic change-over point when something changes from an infinite mass to zero mass - it just seems to be an accepted "fact" of current science. I find it interesting to ponder the question that if one man did somehow achieve a velocity of C, then would other men consider that traveler to be a photon, or would he now appear as a man of infinite weight? And as that one man traveled at velocity of C, would he perceive all the other men as photons of light - or would they be perceived as men of infinite weight? Something is wrong here.
BACK TO THE BASICS AGAIN
In a prior section, it was pointed out that Kepler’s discovery about the motion of an orbiting planet demands that the mathematical value of radial distance must be the reciprocal of the tangential velocity. We now have an analogous situation involving wave length and frequency. For if frequency times wave length is a constant, C, then it must follow that the mathematical value of wave length must be simply the reciprocal value of frequency.
There is an alternative manner to interpret the concept of light (or electromagnetic radiation) and the results of the 1880 experiments:
The word "light" (and all "electromagnetic radiation") refers to any substance which man may recognize to exist, but which has none of the properties normally associated by man in terms of size, weight (or "mass"), or motion.
The nature of the substance described as "light" (or electromagnetic radiation) is described by science in three words: These are "wave length", "frequency", and "intensity". When applied in less technical form, man recognizes these words in association with light as "color" and "brightness".
When the above words are correlated with physical objects (having perceivable size and weight and motion), the word wave length relates to the distance between particles (photons) of an arriving "stream" of light. The word "frequency relates to the number of particles which arrive during a specified duration of time. The word intensity relates to the words weight or size of a physical object. The product of wave length (separation distance between photons) times frequency (rate of arrival of the photons) has been found to be a constant mathematical value. Based on the currently accepted scientific definitions of measurements, the product of wave length (in miles) times the frequency (in seconds) has been found to be 186,000 miles/sec.
If the same measurements are based on relative terms, then the separation distance between photons is one unit of distance, and the relative unit of time is that time required for a photon to move through that relative unit of distance. When these units are applied to the word "velocity", then the velocity of the photons (and therefore the velocity of the light stream) is simply 1/1= 1.0.
WHAT ABOUT ENERGY
The word "intensity" relates light in the same sense that the word "elevation" (or relative radius) relates to the motion of physical objects. This concept may also explain the Planck equation of Energy, E= (another "universal constant") times frequency. This equation may be a statement that the mathematical value of the factor which man has named "electromagnetic energy" is nothing other that the "energy" associated with a single photon (Plancks constant) times the number of photons which arrive at the sensor during a pre-defined duration of time.
Similarly, if the word "rest mass" refers to the potential energy of a photon having zero relative velocity to a sensor, Then the Einstein equation of E=MoC^2, resolves to simply E=Mo*1.0 when we think in relative units of measurement. When that equation is presented in the form E/Mo = 1, we have arrived back again at the same basic conclusion which should have been drawn from Newton’s rolling ball experiment of (Fa/Fn)=1. The underlying nature of both equations is identical. It is only the words which have been created by man during the effort to relay thought that have changed.
This same type of comparative equality can be found in every mathematical equation currently known to man. For every scientific equation is composed of a combination of the "dimensions" which man has named, and the true relative value of all the dimensions has already been shown to be simply 1.0.
Once again it must be recognized that that which man can perceive is a reality. However the mathematics which science has created during the effort to describe those perceptions is purely imaginary. The truth becomes obvious once it is understood that the concept of fixed, irrelevant units of measurement should be replaced by a system of relative units of measurement.
An illustration which depicts the relationships between the physical (space-time-mass) and electromagnetic (wavelength-frequency-intensity) factors will be presented in the next installment..
