Aether and Gravitation

by William George Hooper

Thus the further a body is from its controlling centre, the weaker the Attraction of Gravitation upon it becomes. Taking therefore Mercury and the earth as examples, we find that their mean distances are respectively 35,000,000 miles and 92,000,000, which is a proportion of about 1 to 2-1/2. So that the intensity of the sun's attraction on the earth is about four-twenty-fifths of what it is on Mercury, that being the inverse square of the relative distances of the two bodies.

Now the intensity of Light and Heat received by the earth is regulated by the same law of inverse squares, so that the earth would receive about four-twenty-fifths the intensity of light and heat which Mercury receives when they are both at their mean distances.

This law of inverse squares is applicable to every body which acts as a gravitating source throughout the whole of the universe, whether that body be small or large, and whether it be in the form of meteor, satellite, planet, sun or star.

Each satellite, planet or sun exerts an attractive influence upon every body that exists, that attractive influence being regulated by the masses of the respective bodies, and decreasing inversely as the square of the distance from the body viewed as the centre of attraction. So that, the further the attracted body is from the attracting body, the less is the intensity of the mutual attracting forces, though that intensity does not vary simply as the distance, but rather as the square of the distance, and that in its inverse ratio. Thus if we take two masses of any kind or sort, and place them at various distances as represented by the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, the intensity of the attracting forces between the same masses at the relative distances will be represented by the numbers 1, 1/4, 1/9, 1/16, 1/25, 1/36, which are the inverse squares of the respective numbers representing their distances. As we shall see, the same law holds good in relation to heat, light and electricity, and indeed to all forms of energy which radiate out from a centre equally in all directions.

There is no need to apply Newton's Rules of Philosophy to this Attraction of Gravitation, as it has been demonstrated to exist, times without number. Moreover its laws are exactly the same as those governing the phenomena of sound, light, heat, and electricity, so that apart from being proved by actual experiments in relation to the gravity of the earth, we have a wider experience of the application of the same ruling principles of the law in other departments of science.

The Law of Universal Attraction, which is strictly the Centripetal Force of the compound Law of Gravitation, fully satisfies the three governing rules of Newton's Philosophy. Not only is it simple in its conception, but it is borne out by experience, and adequately accounts for the distinctive phenomena which it seeks to explain. By it, astronomical observations can be taken with a precision and certainty that defy error or failure. The motion of a planet in its orbit can be so perfectly calculated, that its position in space in relation to other planets can be foretold years in advance. The theory of the Aether, therefore, which is to be perfected in this work, must philosophically show that the pressures or tensions of that medium, which are postulated as the cause of Gravitation Attraction, must themselves fulfil the laws of inverse squares, which govern light, heat, electricity and the Attraction of Gravitation. I premise that this will be done in the theory of the Aether to be submitted to the reader in the after pages of this work.

Art. 23. Terrestrial Gravity.--Before passing from this phase of the subject, I should like briefly to look at the question of the Attraction of Gravitation from the standpoint of our own earth, as by so doing we shall notice some facts regarding the same, hitherto unnoticed, in the preceding articles.

Terrestrial Gravity is but a phase of Universal Gravitation. One of the most familiar facts and phenomena of everyday life is, that when a body, such as a stone or stick or bullet, is thrown or projected into the air, it always falls to the earth again. This is due to the attraction of the earth and the stone for each other. It has been proved experimentally that if a stone and a weight are let fall from a height of 16 feet, they would reach the earth in one second of time. Again, a feather, or cork, or even a piece of iron would take exactly the same time falling through the same space, provided that the feather or cork could be screened from the resistance of the air.

The distance, however, through which a body falls in one second varies at different parts of the earth's surface, being least at the equator, and greatest at the North and South Poles. This is accounted for by the fact that the polar diameter is only 7899 miles, while the equatorial diameter is 7925 miles, thus the distance from the centre of the earth to either pole is about 3950 miles, or 13 miles less than the equatorial radius of the earth. Now the force of gravity decreases upwards from the earth's surface inversely as the square of the distance from the earth's centre of gravity, but decreases downwards simply as the distance from the centre decreases. Thus if a ball were taken down 2000 miles, that is half the distance to the centre, it would only weigh half-a-pound, while if it were taken to the centre of the earth, it would have no weight at all; while a pound weight at the equator would not weigh one pound at the poles, because it would be nearer the centre of the earth by 13 miles.

Thus a pound weight is not always a pound weight. It varies as we carry it to different parts of the earth's surface, depending upon its relation to the centre of the earth for its exact weight. The point which I wish to make perfectly clear, as it will be necessary for future reference, is, that there is no such thing as weight apart from the gravity of the earth; or, if we apply the principle to the solar system, there is no gravitating force in that system apart from the gravitating force of the central body, the sun, or the planets and other bodies which form the solar system.