Aether and Gravitation

by William George Hooper

If we consider the rotating Aether currents as purely currents of electricity, then exactly the same results follow. For, as we shall see later, Professor Lodge in his Modern Views of Electricity proves that electricity possesses both inertia and momentum, and if electricity possesses these properties, then it also possesses the requisite properties to enable the currents to propel or push any planet around its central body, or a satellite round its primary planet. Therefore the same course of reasoning that applies to the rotating Aether currents, equally applies to the currents of electricity that circulate round each satellite, planet, and sun and star, and by that circulation gives rise to the electro-magnetism associated with each body, while at the same time they supply the kinetic energy which enables any dependent or associated body to be propelled round their controlling centre.

Art. 103. Second Law of Kepler.--According to Kepler's Second Law ([Art. 27]), we learn that the radius vector, which is the imaginary straight line joining any planet to the sun, describes, or sweeps over, equal areas in equal times. So that, while Kelper's First Law describes the path which a planet takes in revolving round the sun, the Second Law shows how the velocity of that planet varies in different parts of its orbit.

While, however, there is a difference in the velocity of any planet at various points in the orbit, there is still a proportion existing between its various velocities, in that equal areas are covered in equal times. We have now to apply the hypothesis of our rotatory Aether currents, in conjunction with the centripetal and centrifugal forces, in order to see whether the Second Law of Kepler can be explained on a physical basis, in the same way that Newton explained it from the mathematical standpoint.

We have again to conceive the sun as the centre of two equal but exactly opposite forces, and also possessing a rotatory motion on its axis, with the electro-magnetic Aether currents ever circulating round it. If the sun were stationary, it will be manifest at once that Kepler's Second Law would be literally and strictly fulfilled, for in that case the orbit of all the planets would be perfect circles, and the motion of planets in their orbits would be perfectly uniform, and therefore equal areas would be covered by the radius vector in equal times. Thus any quarter of the orbit would be described in exactly a 1/4 of a year, 1/12 in 1/12 of a year, 1/40 in 1/40 of a year, and so on, the time being exactly proportional to the proportion of the area covered by the radius vector.

The area covered would always be uniform, because the radius vector would always be uniform in length. But, as we have seen in the previous article, the distance of a planet from the sun, that is, the length of the radius vector, is not uniform, as the Earth is nearer to the sun at perihelion, and further away at aphelion, its distance gradually changing as it passes from each of these points to the other.

Now what is the effect of the decreased distance upon the circulating or rotatory Aether currents? We have already seen ([Art. 99]) that the closer these Aether currents are to the central body, the sun, the greater is their velocity and the greater their mass, so that the total impressed force which they exert over any planet is greater the nearer that planet is to the sun. This is proved by the fact that Mercury has a greater orbital velocity than Venus, Venus than the Earth, the Earth than Mars, and so on right through the whole of the planetary system. In view of these facts, let us again consider the effect of the sun not being stationary, but having an orbital velocity of its own through space. Thus let the sun be at S and the Earth be at point D of its orbit (Fig. 25).

The circulating Aether currents are ever acting upon the Earth, carrying it round the sun with them, while at the same time the centripetal force is pulling it towards the sun with a certain intensity, but the centrifugal force is repelling the Earth with exactly the same intensity, and if the sun remained motionless the two forces would exactly balance each other, while the Earth would describe the half-circle E D C. But while the Earth is moving towards the point D with a velocity of 64,000 miles per hour, the sun is also moving at the velocity of about 18,000 miles per hour towards that point.

Thus the repelling power of the radiating electro-magnetic Aether waves has to overcome, not only its exact counterpart, the centripetal force, but also the onward motion of the sun as it rushes on its course through space. This the centrifugal force is unable to do, with the result that the distance is gradually lessened, and instead of the Earth describing the arc E D, it describes the arc E F, at which point its distance is at the minimum, or about 91 millions of miles.

Or, to put the same fact in another way. When the Earth is at E, the centripetal force and the orbital velocity of the Earth and the sun are acting conjointly, with the result that they overcome the centrifugal force, and the distance is gradually decreased. This decreased distance means an increased aetherial density and an increased velocity of the aetherial currents, with the result, that as the distance is decreased, the orbital velocity of the Earth is gradually increased, so that by the time the Earth gets to F, at its perihelion, it has now acquired its greatest orbital velocity, and is carried round the sun by the electro-magnetic Aether currents at its maximum velocity.

Now let us look at the Earth being circled round the sun by the electro-magnetic Aether currents as it goes on to perform the other half of the orbit. In this case we have the orbital motion of the sun and the centrifugal force working conjointly, with the result that together they overcome the centripetal force, and the Earth is repelled and carried beyond its mean distance. Let S represent the sun, the Earth being at point C of its orbit, after passing round its perihelion, and at this decreased distance it is carried along by the circulating and denser Aether with its maximum velocity (Fig. 26).