Chapter 13
General
Relativity and the Ether
"Classification of mathematical problems as
linear and nonlinear is like classification of the Universe as bananas and
non-bananas."
Unknown
Altitude and the H-K
As far as the H-K is concerned, General Relativity
("GR") is concerned with gravity.
Gravity, of course, is stronger near the surface of the earth as opposed
to at high altitudes. The intent of
this chapter is to explain how ether and ether drag can logically and easily
explain the "altitude" or GR portion of the H-K experiment. Other topics will also be discussed.
Hafele and Keating predicted,
because of GR, that at higher altitudes the atomic clocks would operate at a
faster speed. And, of course, they were
right. At the higher altitudes, gravity
is less potent, and the atomic clocks actually measured time faster than time
measured at ground level. Other
experiments have also verified this.
It should be remembered that these
are "actual time" changes.
The direction of the flights had no affect on the GR portion of the
data.
Sometimes an experiment gives us
clearer insight into a phenomenon.
Tesla described ether much like a person would describe a hydrogen gas
atom. Whether this is right or not, it
is important to know whether ether is compressible and whether it is
compressible by the earth’s gravity?
The Hafele-Keating experiment gives us the answer. Since the atomic clocks operated faster at
higher altitudes, it is logical to say that there is less resistance (i.e.
FROS) to the cesium atoms at higher altitudes.
Thus, if the FROS is less at higher altitudes, the density of ether must
be less at higher altitudes. This means
that the density of the ether is a function of gravity. This, in fact, makes perfect sense when
thinking about the Tesla model of ether.
Certainly, our atmosphere is the key, both our atmosphere (i.e. the air)
and ether "thin out" at higher altitudes.
Since the density of ether is
directly proportional to the strength of gravity (this is not an accident, it
is a clear "cause and effect" relationship), it is clear that the
FROS formulas for altitude would be similar, if not exactly the same, as the GR
formulas for altitude (at least as far as measurable and verifiable formulas
are concerned). The variation of density
by altitude is also a strong indication that gravity is what is holding the
ether drag to the earth.
It should be mentioned, however,
that the "density" of ether may not be a matter of ethons becoming physically further apart at the higher altitudes. It may be an issue of energy.
For example, if gravity energizes ether (or vice versa), the ethons may
be the same physical distance apart at higher altitudes, but the energy levels
of the ethons may less, and thus provide less resistance to the electrons in
the atomic clocks at higher altitudes.
In any case, Hafele and Keating
did make a major discovery in their experiment, but it was not the one they
thought they had made. They discovered
that the "density" of ether varies by altitude and thus FROS varies
by altitude and thus "time" varies by altitude.
Can Ether Be A Solid?
While the reader may think that this book favors the theory
that ether is a gas, such is not the case.
Is ether a gas or a liquid or a solid?
The answer is probably "none of the above."
Knowing that ether drag exists, how could ether be a
solid? The answer is that if ether were
a solid, the earth's gravity could locally "energize" the ether as it
travels through the ether, thus giving the illusion that there is physical
ether drag. But there is a problem with
this theory as I will now explain.
In this discussion, the reader must keep in mind the
difference between ether (i.e. "ethons") and the signal
traveling through the ether (i.e. light).
This is similar to separating in our minds the difference between
"air" and "sound."
Consider a fiber optic cable that spans 100 kilometers. During the time the fiber optic signal
is traveling down the fiber cable, the earth and the fiber itself
are moving towards Leo at 370 kps. If
ether were a solid, the earth and the fiber optic cable would be traveling
through the ether at 370 kps. We know
that the signal does not travel with the earth towards Leo, or
else the signal could not stay inside the cable for 100 km. But it is possible that the signal
does stay within the cable, while the cable itself travels through the ether at
370 kps.
This is difficult to understand so let me provide a
metaphor. Suppose you have a long
cylinder of chicken wire (chicken wire is mostly air, the wires are very thin and are very far
apart), which has a radius of 1 meter and a length of 100 km. Suppose this chicken wire is towed
underwater by two tug boats at 10 kph.
The tube of chicken wire is perpendicular to the direction of the tug
boats. While it is being towed, someone
shoots a water balloon down the length of the chicken wire at 30 kph. The chicken wire (i.e. the fiber optic
cable) will travel through the water (i.e. the ether) as if the water wasn't
even there. However, the water balloon
(i.e. the signal) is confined to stay within the chicken wire. It cannot leave the chicken wire. This is an example of how to separate the
ether (i.e. the water) from the signal (i.e. the water balloon). The mirrored surface inside of the fiber
optic cable would act as the chicken wire.
It would contain the signal, but would travel through the ether as if it
weren't there.
Thus, if there were no physical ether drag (i.e. ether was a
solid), the cable (i.e. the chicken wire) would be traveling through the ether
(i.e. the water) at the same speed as the planet. However, the signal (i.e. the laser beam) would be confined to
staying within the fiber optic cable (i.e. the chicken wire).
However, if a laser is fired in open-air there would be no
mirrored fiber optic cable to contain the signal. It would make sense that the signal would attach itself to the
ether, which is assumed to be a solid in this case. If so, we could easily detect that the signal is attached to the
ether, not the earth (i.e. not to the fiber that is attached to the
earth). In my first experiment, if this
were the case, I would have clearly gotten an ellipse! But my experiments make it clear that the
signal is not attached to the ether (this discussion is assuming that ether is
a solid). It is for exactly this reason
that I personally reject the theory that ether is a solid (at least the ether
that light travels through as a signal, there may be other kinds of
ether). It makes logical sense that in
open-air the signal would attach itself to the ether, not the earth, even if
the earth energized the ether particles as it passed by them. In any case, that is my opinion.
The priority of this book is to deal with the existence of
ether, not to speculate as to "what" it is. This book will refer to ether as a gas or liquid (i.e. fluid),
but this is only for convenience.