Aether and Gravitation

by William George Hooper

If a solid body fails to impart all its rotational velocity to the medium there, then it will certainly fail to impart its full rotational velocity to the enveloping medium 100 miles away, and fail still more at a distance of 1000, and still more at a distance of 100,000,000, and so on proportionate to the distance.

What, then, is the effect of the rotational velocity of the surface of the earth on the atmosphere near to it? We know that the velocity of the surface of the earth is greatest at the equator, as at that place the circumference of the earth is about 25,000 miles, but the further we get away from the equator, and the nearer we get to the North and South poles, the velocity of the surface decreases, simply because the circumference of the earth decreases.

Or, to reverse the statement, the velocity of the surface of the earth is least at the poles, but increases the nearer we get to the equator. It is also familiar knowledge that there are currents of cold air ever moving from the North and South poles to the equatorial regions near the surface of the earth. Thus the cold air currents, in passing from the North and South poles, are ever passing over surfaces which are increasing in velocity as they journey on their way to the equator. This of course occurs all round the earth, so that the earth is continually revolving in these currents, and if the rotational velocity of the surface of the earth were wholly imparted to the air directly over its surface, then the currents would be always flowing due North and South.

If, however, the earth fails to impart all its rotational velocity to the atmosphere, or the atmosphere fails to pick up the whole of the rotational velocity at once, then the result will be that the atmosphere as it passes over the surfaces of greatest velocity will lag behind, because its rotational velocity will be less than the velocity of the earth's surface.

Now this is exactly what does happen in regard to the atmosphere, with the result, that instead of getting winds blowing due north and south, we get what are known as Trade Winds, which blow north-east in the northern hemisphere and south-east in the southern hemisphere. Here then we have direct experimental proof on a large scale of the very principle I have stated, viz, that a medium surrounding any rotating body does not move through the whole of its extent with the same velocity as its does at the surface. Thus it can be seen that the velocity of the rotating Aether will be greatest at the surface of the sun, but its angular velocity will decrease the further the medium recedes from the sun.

The same principle can easily be proved from an electrical standpoint; for if we consider the Aether currents as electric currents, no one would think of suggesting that the intensity of the currents was the same at a distance of several million miles away, as it is near the source of the currents, which in this case may be looked upon as the sun, because at its surface we have the greatest electric potential ([Art. 80]).

So that we see from this reasoning, that not only is there a decreased mass of the Aether at the distance of Venus, compared with Mercury, but there is also a decreased velocity in the rotatory electro-magnetic Aether currents, with the result that the impressed force exerted upon Venus is less than the impressed force exerted upon Mercury, and therefore Venus should move slower through space than Mercury, which is exactly what happens, as Mercury has an orbital velocity of 29 miles per second, while Venus has an orbital velocity of 22 miles per second.

As the angular velocity decreases in proportion as the distance increases, it follows that at the respective mean distances not only of Venus, but also of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, the capacity of the Aether to exert its impressed force upon the various planets will decrease as the distance increases, with the result that the farther a planet is from the sun, the less force will the Aether currents exert upon that planet, with the result that its orbital velocity should decrease as the distance increases, and this is perfectly in accordance with planetary phenomena.

Here, then, we have at once a physical basis for Newton's Second Law of Motion, the results of which are entirely in harmony with observation and experiment, and whose conception fully satisfies all the Rules of Philosophy; as it is simple in conception, fully agrees with observation and experiment, and satisfactorily explains the Second Law of Motion sought to be explained.

Thus we find that from the physical standpoint, as well as from the mathematical standpoint, “Change of motion is proportional to the impressed force, and takes place in the direction in which the force is impressed,” that is, in a circular direction.