Chapter 16
The De Witte
Effect
"If we ignore the facts contained in one part of the world, surely
we are hampering scientific advance."
Sir Douglas Mawson (1882-1958)
Introduction
As
has been stated many times in this text, our solar system, and thus our earth,
is moving at about 370 kilometers per second
(kps), relative to cosmic microwave background radiation (i.e. CMBR).
One
of the main purposes of the SR is to dispense with the concept of a URF and to
replace it with the concept of a RRF.
In other words, according to Einstein, the motion of our earth in space
has no affect on anything that happens on earth, because the Universe itself is
not a reference frame. This theory has
already been disproven with the discovery of the CMBR. However, there is another experiment that
more directly detects this URF - the Roland De Witte experiment of 1991.
During
a 178-day experiment in Belgium in 1991, Roland De Witte detected a phase shift
in the frequency of a 5 Mz signal sent 1.5 kilometers on a copper coaxial
cable. But what was of profound
significance about the observed shifts is that the phase shifts changed
constantly and formed a sinusoidal curve with a nearly perfect "sidereal
day" period for the entire 178-day duration of the experiment![19]
A
"sidereal day" period can only be attributed to the motion of the
earth relative to the Universe. In
other words, De Witte detected a URF; something that Einstein said did not
exist! Neither Einstein's SR, nor his GR, would ever predict an
experiment with a sidereal day period.
As
to why De Witte detected this sinusoidal period may be up for discussion, but
the mere fact he detected such a period is indisputable proof that there is a
URF. His data (ignoring his theories)
is sufficient to prove that!
This
chapter is designed to help people understand the De Witte experiment. The most common explanations I hear for why
he got uniform phase shift patterns involve: ground temperature, the magnetic
field of the earth, or other solar activity related items. Such explanations reflect a total
misunderstanding as to what a "sidereal day" is. Anything related directly or indirectly to
the orbit of our earth around the sun will generate data that synchronizes with
a "calendar day," not a "sidereal day." A sidereal day is an entirely different
phenomenon than a calendar day (i.e. solar day), as I will explain below.
The
end result is that the De Witte experiment is one of the great experiments of
the twentieth century and deserves to be replicated and understood by everyone.
Overview of the De Witte Experiment
During
1991, while at the Belgium Telephone Company (now Belgacom), Roland De Witte
set up an experiment using 1.5-kilometer copper wires, six cesium atomic clocks
and six phase comparators. A phase comparator
gives a DC signal proportional to the phase difference variation between two
signals. This DC signal was recorded 24 hours a day, during the 178-day
experiment.
Three
atomic clocks were set up at point A and three at point B, where A and B were
both in Brussels. Point A and point B
were 1.5-km apart (Note: generally the cable was north/south, but it was not
straight). Two key signals traveled
over separate underground coaxial cables.
The signals from A1 towards B1 and from B1 towards A1 demonstrated a
clear sinusoidal waveform (per the phase comparators) with a consistent
sidereal day period for the entire experiment.
The other clocks were used to establish a baseline.
The Definition of a Sidereal Day
A
"sidereal day" is 23 hours and 56 minutes (and 4.09 seconds), as
opposed to a "calendar day," which is exactly 24 hours. Our clocks are defined and calibrated to specifically measure one
revolution of the earth relative to the location of our sun. That is the calendar day. In other words, as the earth orbits the sun,
a calendar day is the rotation of the earth defined such that in 24 hours the
same spot on the earth is again directly under the sun.
But
a "sidereal day" is an entirely different matter. A sidereal day measures one revolution of
the earth relative to some distant object, such as a distant star. A sidereal day has absolutely nothing to do
with the rotation of the earth relative to our sun, but is based on the
rotation of the earth relative to a very distant point in outer space, the
further the better.
(Note:
As usual, my discussions on astronomy are simplified so the reader can focus on
the important concepts and not get distracted with issues not directly
significant to the discussion. A
"sidereal day" is technically defined as: "the length of time
for the vernal equinox to return to your celestial meridian."
See:
http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/time/timekeeping.html
However,
such a definition is neither intuitive nor instructive, nor is it any more
accurate than my definition.)
To
understand the difference between a sidereal day and a calendar or solar day,
do this exercise. Pick a spot on your
desk or table. Practice moving a pen or
pencil in a large circle around the spot on your desk or table. The pen represents the earth. The spot on your desk represents the
sun. The pen circling around the spot
represents the orbit of the earth around the sun. Each circle represents one calendar year.
Actually
the pen represents a line drawn through the center of the earth, from equator
to equator. The point of the pen always
represents the same point on the earth, which is on the equator.
Now
orient the pen in two different ways.
First, as you move the pen around the spot, make sure that the point of
the pen always points to the spot. As
the earth orbits the sun, after each 24-hour period the same spot on the earth
(i.e. the point of the pen), points to the sun (i.e. the spot on the
desk). If you were to twirl the pen
around its center about 365 times as the pen makes one circle around the spot,
you would have 365 calendar days. Each time the point of the rotating pen
points to the spot on the desk is another calendar day.
Now
let's do this a second way. This time
pick a corner of a window pane, or the corner of something else, in your room,
as far away as possible from your desk.
Now as you circle the pen around the spot, make sure that the point of
the pen always points to the corner of the window. Without twirling the pen, note that the point of the pen only
points to the spot on the desk one time as it circles the spot. If you were to twirl the pen around its
center about 365 times as the pen makes one circle around the spot, you would
have 365 sidereal days. But in this case the beginning of the
sidereal day is when the point of the pen is aimed at the corner of the window.
Thus,
as you quickly twirl the pen around as it slowly circles the spot, whenever it
points to the spot on the desk is the beginning of a new calendar day, but
whenever it points to the corner of the window is the beginning of a new
sidereal day. Study this for an entire
circle of the sun and note how the calendar day and the sidereal day become
totally unsynchronized with each other as you circle the spot.
Finally,
do one last key demonstration. Position
the pen and start the experiment so that a line drawn through the long axis of
the pen points to both the spot on the desk and the corner of the window. Now, without twirling the pen, keep the
pen pointed towards the windowpane and move the pen in a half-circle until it
is on the exact opposite side of the where you started. With the pen pointed towards the corner of
the window, slowly spin the pen until it points to the spot on the desk. Estimate how many calendar day
"hours" (360 degrees equals 24 hours) it will take for the point of
the pen to rotate until it points to the spot on the desk.
The
correct answer is 12 hours. Over a
period of half a year, a sidereal day and a calendar day drift about 12 hours
apart! Over a period of 178 days, the length of the De Witte experiment,
it is quite easy to determine whether the sinusoidal period of his data had a
calendar day period or a sidereal day period.
So
why is there a difference? From an
astronomy perspective, there is no need to have a calendar day, it makes no
sense. But people who go to work at
8:00 AM every morning, want to go to work in the morning all year long. They don't want to go to work at 8:00 AM in
the middle of the night, as would happen sometimes if we used a sidereal day
for our clocks.
Since
the earth orbits the sun, it is convenient for people to measure time relative
to the sun. The sundial was obviously
oriented towards a calendar day. Thus
the calendar day was adopted over the more correct sidereal day. Thus, on average, the sun will reach its
pinnacle at about noon (per our clocks) on every day (as I said this is a
simplification), anywhere in the world and on any day.
Theoretical and Actual Data
Let's
look at a table showing how these two concepts become unsynchronized using
theoretical data.
Column 1: The day number of the experiment,
using standard calendar days. Note that
on the chart 9 days are skipped between each row to better show the difference
between a calendar day and a sidereal day.
Column 2: The calendar time, noon in this
example, for the days shown. This is
what our watch would read as each new calendar
day begins (at noon in this case).
Column 3: The calendar clock reading when the
sidereal day starts. In other words, if
we look at our standard calendar watch continuously, this is the approximate
time that the referenced sidereal day
begins.
(1) (2) (3)
1 12:00 12:00
11 12:00 11:20
21 12:00 10:40
31 12:00 10:00
41 12:00 9:20
51 12:00 8:40
61 12:00 8:00
71 12:00 7:20
81 12:00 6:40
...
As
can be seen, in less than three months the sidereal day begins more than 5
hours before the calendar day! By the end of a 178-day experiment the
sidereal day and calendar day are about 12 hours off. In the actual experiment, a regression line drawn through the
actual data was consistently very close to the theoretical sidereal day.
This
is why temperature, solar activity, humidity, etc. cannot cause a sidereal day
period. Temperature changes are
synchronized with the calendar day (because the sun affects temperature). But the De Witte experiment was synchronized
with the sidereal day!
From
the standpoint of the De Witte experiment, the fact that his data had a
sidereal day period is of profound
significance, because it means his data is related to the universe, rather than
to the sun!
Here
is actual data from the De Witte experiment.
The
first zero crossing time (i.e. the time where there was no phase shift)
occurred on 3 June 1991 at 7h19 GMT or 22h20 Greenwich Sidereal Time. The measurements below represent zero
crossing times compared to a sidereal day period; beginning with the first zero
crossing time.
4
june 1991 +15m
11 june +20m
18 june +35m
25 june +15m
2
july 1991 -5m
9
july -10m
16 july -15m
23 july -5m
30 july +15m
6
august 1991 +15m
13 august +20m
20 august +10
27 august +25m
3
september 1991 +20m
10 september +25m
17 september +15m
24 september 0m
1
october 1991 -10m
8
october -5m
15 october +10m
22 october +25m
29 october +15m
5
november 1991 +20m
12 november +30m
19 november +10m
26 november +18m
By
studying the regression line for this data (see his web site), the obvious
answer is that his data represents a perfect sidereal day period, but there is
minor noise.
Considering
the number of variables during the experiment related to calendar days (e.g.
temperature), some noise is to be expected, but the core of the data (i.e. the
regression line) is clearly sidereal in nature!
It
is currently not know why the De Witte Effect exists. I will discuss several possibilities for why his data resulted.
Doppler Effect
Let
us consider a train that is headed down a perfectly straight train track at 150
kph. The train headed down the train
tracks represents the earth's net motion in space.
On
the front engine of the train, suppose there is a very loud horn pointed
straight ahead, as they always do. The
horn represents the 5 Mz signal sent down the copper wire. The sound waves will clearly be compressed
to those people in front of the train.
Now
let us rotate the horn as the train travels, and measure the sound wave
compression, or expansion, from a point 100 feet directly in front of the
direction the horn is pointed. For
example, we could rotate the horn 15 degrees to the left of the tracks and
measure the sound waves (frequency) 100 feet from the horn, in the exact
direction the horn is pointed (i.e. not in the direction
the train is headed).
Now
suppose we measure the frequency of the signal every 15 degrees until the horn
has made a complete rotation (that is 24 measurements in total).
If
we plotted these 24 measurements on a graph, and then plotted a 25th
measurement when the horn is again pointed straight ahead, we would notice a
somewhat sinusoidal plot.
So
what is it that represents the rotation of the horn? It is the rotation of the earth.
Just
like a train headed down straight tracks, the earth is moving in a straight
line in the direction of the constellation Leo. The rotation of the earth is equivalent to rotating the horn of a
train, though things are a lot more complicated with the earth.
Now
let us suppose that the train tracks were straight for many thousands of miles,
and suppose we rotated the horn of the train continuously and smoothly so that
it made one exact rotation once every sidereal day. If we plotted the frequency of the horn
signal, we would see a sinusoidal wave (under perfect conditions) with a period
of exactly one sidereal day.
If
someone else came along, and didn't know anything about the speed with which
the horn was rotating, he or she could look at the graph and conclude that the
horn rotated once every sidereal day.
The person could also determine the speed of the train by looking at the
graph.
Likewise,
we can look at the De Witte data, and conclude that the earth is rotating once
every sidereal day. Even though we
already knew this, it is earthshaking news that electrical signals are affected
by something that is related to our motion towards Leo!
So
where and why could the Doppler Effect happen?
It must happen as the electrical signal is originally created. Because of ether drag, even though ether is
needed for the electrical signal, the ether itself cannot have caused the
Doppler Effect. If the Doppler Effect
is the correct explanation, there must be something related to the universe (it
cannot be our solar system or else he would have got a calendar day period)
that ether drag does not filter out.
What that might be I do not know.
The Moving Target Laws
Understanding this
explanation requires a strong understanding of the Moving Target Laws (MTLs), which have been discussed in detail in an earlier chapter.
Suppose there is a
train traveling at 100 miles per hour forever on a train track that loops the
earth at the equator, meaning the train is traveling in a permanent loop around
the equator of the earth. Suppose that
on this train there are three flatbed cars.
In the middle of the middle flatbed car there is an archer. On the car just in front of the archer's car
there is a target 100 feet from the archer.
Likewise, on the car just behind the archer's car there is a target 100
feet away.
Now let us suppose
that the archer shoots his arrow at such a speed that in the time it takes the
arrow to travel 100 feet the train moves 50 feet (obviously wind, momentum and
a lot of other things are ignored to make this example simple). Relative to the train, if the archer shoots an arrow at the forward car, the
arrow will travel 100 feet. But
relative to the train tracks
(meaning the air space or the ground), the arrow will travel about 150 feet
(simplified).
In other words, if we
marked a spot on the tracks below the
archer at the exact moment the arrow was released; and then if we
marked a spot on the tracks below the
target at the exact moment the arrow hits the target, these two marks
on the tracks would be about 150 feet apart.
I call this the "virtual distance" the
arrow travels.
Relative to the
train, if the archer shoots an arrow at the car behind the archer, the arrow
will travel 100 feet. But relative to
the train tracks, the arrow shot to the rear car only travels about 50 feet
(ditto yielding marks about 50 feet apart on the tracks).
Now a simple
question: is the "time" it takes the arrow to travel to each target a
function of the distance traveled by the arrow relative to the
"train" or relative to the "train tracks?" Obviously, relative to the train tracks! Ponder that very carefully -
"time" is measured relative to the ground, meaning the "virtual
distance"!
Now suppose the archer
is born on the train in a large covered boxcar and knows nothing about the
train tracks or the ground, meaning he only knows about the box car he lives
in. In other words, the boxcar is as
big as the three flatbed cars in the prior example. Note that the traveler cannot see the ground near the train, nor
can he see the sky. To a person born on
the train, who can only see the box car, the box car is not moving because
everything on the train has the same momentum.
Thus the archer would grow up thinking that the box car is stationary
and the box car is the only reference frame.
Now suppose the
archer measures the time
that it takes the arrow to travel to the forward car and suppose he measures
the time that it takes
the arrow to travel to the car behind the archer. He notes that both arrows have traveled 100 feet relative to the
train, but he also notes that it took a different amount of time for each arrow
to travel to their respective target.
This would certainly puzzle the archer if he knew nothing about the train
tracks.
However, eventually
he would conclude that the train he lives on is not the only reference frame
and that there must be a "second"
reference frame other than the train!
Now suppose the
entire boxcar frame slowly rotates completely during each sidereal day. In this case, the time he measures, if he
shot the arrow every few minutes, would form a sinusoidal pattern with a
sidereal day period.
That is basically
what De Witte has done, he had detected a "second" reference frame
that the earth is subject to (other than the earth itself). When the "velocity" of the earth
has an affect on phase shifts in copper wires, there is clearly something
significant going on. When the phase
shift pattern follows a sidereal day period for 178 straight days, whatever is
going on is related to the motion of the earth in open space.
Let us assume that
the cable was pointed directly in the direction the earth is moving towards
Leo. In the time that it takes the
electrical signal to travel 1,500 meters, the earth moves about 1.5 meters
(Note: the earth moves at slightly above 1/1,000th the speed of light). This means that the signal actually has to
travel 1,501.5 meters to arrive at point B.
This the "virtual distance," relative to CMBR, the signal has
to travel.
Why could this affect
the frequency of the signal? In
essence, the signal is "stretched" out because of the Moving Target
Laws at the atomic level. In other
words, if a signal leaves point A, and by the time the signal gets to point B,
point B is 1,501.5 meters away, the signal has to travel 1,501.5 meters to get
to point B.
The point is that
this "stretching" out (or "shrinking" 12 hours later) of
the signal, at the atomic level, could very easily change the frequency of the
signal. It fact it must change the frequency of the signal. What is not known, however, is how much the
MTLs contribute to the overall sinusoidal wave.
Another possibility
is that it is the constant change in the distance (between two
consecutive measurements) the signal has to travel that causes the frequency
change.
In fact, it is
illogical to think that either the Doppler Effect or the MTLs could affect the
frequency of electrical signals. But
something causes the frequency of the signal to change! Data is data, even if it can't be explained.
The Cavity of the
Copper Cable
Another possibility
that is directly related to the MTLs is that the change in frequency is related
to the copper wire itself. An
electrical signal "bounces" around inside of a copper wire. This means that the outside surface of the
copper wire essentially forms a "cavity," much like the cavity in the
Blackbody Radiation experiment or the cavity inside of a fiber cable.
As the earth rotates,
because of the MTLs and the motion of the earth towards Leo, the
"pattern" of bouncing around constantly changes. For example, if the wire happened to be
straight (which is wasn't), and the wire happened to be pointed directly at
Leo, the center of the signal would barely "bounce" off of the
sides. On the other hand, if the wire
happened to be straight, which is wasn't, and was pointed perpendicular to our
path towards Leo, the center of the signal would have been bouncing around
quite a bit. This extra bouncing could
very easily have changed the frequency of the signal.
A couple of subtle
comments De Witte makes on his web lead me to favor this theory.
A Second Kind of
Ether
De Witte, himself,
believed he detected the ether. While
it is true that without ether there would be no electricity, his opinion is in
direct contradiction with my experiments, which have detected ether drag. Because the ether drag affects the surface
of the earth, the only difference in the speed or frequency of light or
electricity inside of the ether drag would have been related to the rotation
velocity of the earth in Belgium (not the motion of the earth towards
Leo). This is clearly not what De Witte
detected. In fact, because his copper
wire was buried in the ground, he would not have detected any type of change in
the velocity of the electricity, due to the rotation of the earth, because the
rotation speed of the earth would be constant (between the two endpoints of the
cable).
Personally, I feel it
is possible that there is a second type of ether, but I highly doubt that De
Witte detected this type of ether, if it exists. The normal ether that this book has talked about transmits an
electromagnetic signal. The De Witte
Effect only deals with an electrical signal in a copper wire. It is doubtful that an electrical signal
would be affected by a second kind of ether in an entirely different way than
the magnetic portion of the signal would be affected by the main type of
ether. This would mean that the
electrical and magnetic portions of electromagnetic signals would always be out
of phase with each other. This is not
likely and has not been observed to my knowledge. In fact, Telsa claimed that electrical signals, by themselves,
could be transmitted through the ether this book talks about.
In any case, because
his electrical signal was passing through a copper wire, not the air, it is
possible that the electrical signal could have been bound to the copper atoms
and the issue of electromagnetic signals would be moot. Nevertheless, it is highly unlikely that a
second kind of ether would deal with electricity in copper wires and the first
kind of ether would deal with electrical signals in the air.
However, there is a
slim possibility that there is a second kind of ether that is not subject to
ether drag. This kind of ether would
have to be unrelated to light or other electromagnetic signals or electrical
signals. Nevertheless, it could have an
effect on the physical equipment that generated the signal (see the Doppler
Effect discussion). But even this is
unlikely because if the second type of ether could effect the De Witte
experiment, it probably would have affected the H-K atomic clocks.
The De Witte
Experiment Needs to be Replicated and Improved
The reader might
remember my lecture on keeping theories and data separate. The data of the De Witte experiment cannot
be challenged in terms of it having a sidereal day period. Someone may disagree with my analysis and
Roland's analysis, but the data cannot be disagreed with.
The De Witte
experiment is one of the great experiments of the twentieth century. He deserves credit for his experiment. But perhaps just as importantly, his
experiment needs to be redone, with several changes.
First, the copper
wires should only be about 300 feet long (I don't know if there were any repeaters
along his wire) and each should be "as straight as an arrow." It is very disconcerting to me that the wire
he used was not straight.
Second, a fiber optic
cable should be placed next to the copper wire, obviously parallel to the
copper cable. This would allow a
comparison of an electrical signal and an electromagnetic optical signal
side-by-side. I have often said that I
thought that "wander and jitter" in fiber optic signals was caused by
our earth's motion in space. I came to
this conclusion before I learned about the existence of ether drag or De
Witte's experiment. But even with ether
drag the De Witte experiment leads me to believe the De Witte Effect also has
an affect on fiber optic signals, particularly if the MTLs are involved.
Third, very accurate
celestial mechanics formulas need to be derived and synchronized with the exact
direction the copper and fiber optic wires are pointed. In fact, this experiment should be done
several times, with the wires and fiber pointed in different directions each
time.
The end result is
that we can determine the real value of the De Witte experiment, and probably
the real cause. Personally, I believe
the De Witte Effect can lead to some major discoveries in physics!