Aether and Gravitation

by William George Hooper

Art. 65. Direction of Ray of Heat.--The question as to the path which a ray of heat takes may best be attacked by finding out what is the path which a ray of light takes in its progress through the Aether. When we come to deal with light, we shall find that it has been experimentally proved that the path of a ray of light is that of a straight line through space; so that if we have any body emitting light, the rays of light will proceed from that body in straight lines, with decreasing intensity, according to the law of inverse squares, the same as Gravitation.

It can readily be shown, that wherever there is light there is heat. For example, the radiant heat from the sun proceeds through space along with the light from the sun, and when one set of waves, the light waves for instance, are intercepted, the heat waves are also intercepted. Or, to take another illustration, when the sun is eclipsed, we feel the sun's heat as long as any portion of the sun is visible, but as soon as the sun is totally eclipsed, then the light waves disappear, and with it the heat waves. From this we can readily see, that not only do the heat and light waves from the sun proceed in the same straight line, but that they also travel at the same rate through space, at the rate of 186,000 miles per second. Then again the common lens, which is so familiar to every one, will prove the same fact by concentrating the rays of light to a focus, and by so doing will produce sufficient heat to burn a piece of paper, or even set fire to wood. If, therefore, the path of a ray of light be that of a straight line, proceeding from the luminous or lighted body, and the path of a ray of heat coincides with the path of a ray of light, the path of the ray of heat must also be in the direction of a straight line from the heated or luminous body, which, as we shall see in a subsequent article, also decreases in intensity according to the law of inverse squares the same as Gravitation Attraction.

Professor Tyndall, on the direction of a ray of heat,[12] states his opinion on the matter as follows: “A wave of Aether starting from a radiant point in all directions in a uniform medium constitutes a spherical shell, which expands with the velocity of light or of radiant heat. A ray of light or a ray of heat is a line perpendicular to the wave, and in the case here supposed, the rays would be the radii of the spherical shell.” From this it can be seen that a ray of light or heat corresponds to what is known as the radius vector of a circle ([Art. 20]), and therefore a ray of light and heat takes exactly the same path through space (if we consider the sun as the source of the light and heat) as the path of the attractive power of Gravitation. Collecting, therefore, our results from the preceding articles of this chapter, we learn that heat is due to vibrating wave motion of the Aether, and that that motion is a motion which is always directed from the central body which is the source of the heat; and further, that this motion amounts to a repulsive motion acting in an opposite direction to the attractive power of gravity or to the centripetal force of Gravitation. What is more remarkable still, the path of a ray of heat corresponds with, and takes up exactly the same direction through space, whether it be atomic space, solar space, or interstellar space, as the attractive force of Gravitation.

Looking at the subject from the standpoint of the solar system, with the sun as the central body, we see that while we have the sun, which acts as the controlling centre of the particular system of planets, holding all the planets in their orbits by its attractive power, yet at the same time it is also the source of all light and heat. Now heat being due to the wave motion of the aetherial medium, such motion being always exerted from the central body, we arrive at the only legitimate conclusion that can be arrived at, viz. that the sun is also the source of a repulsive motion, which motion coincides with the path that the attractive power of Gravitation takes, that is, along the radius vector of the circle, as shown in [Art. 20].

Art. 66. Law of Inverse Squares applied to Heat.--The law of inverse squares which governs not only the Law of Gravitation Attraction ([Art. 22]), but also electricity and light, is equally applicable to the phenomena of heat, so that we say the intensity of heat varies inversely as the square of the distance. Thus, if we double the distance of any body from the source of heat, the amount of heat which such a body receives at the increased distance is one-quarter of the heat compared with its original position. If the distance were trebled, then the intensity of the heat would be reduced to one-ninth; while if the distance were four times as great, the intensity of the heat would only be one-sixteenth of what it would receive in its first position. This may be proved from experiments as given by Tyndall in his Heat, a Mode of Motion.

Let us apply the law of inverse squares in relation to heat to the solar system, and see what the result gives. In our solar system, we have the sun as the central body, the source of all light and heat, with the eight planets, Mercury, Venus, the Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, describing orbits around the central body, and at the same time receiving from it the light and heat which the sun is ever pouring forth into space. The mean distance of Mercury from the sun is about 36,000,000 miles, while that of the Earth is about 92,000,000 miles, so that reckoning the distance of Mercury as unity, the distance of the Earth is a little more than 2-1/2 times that of Mercury from the sun. Now the square of 2-1/2 is 25/4, and that inverted gives us 4/25, so that according to the law of inverse squares, the intensity of heat at the Earth's distance from the sun is 4/25 of what the intensity of heat is at the mean distance of Mercury. Again, the mean distance of Mars is 141,000,000 miles, while the mean distance of Saturn is 884,000,000 miles, and taking Mars' distance from the sun as unity, the distance of Saturn would be represented by 6-1/4. Now the square of 6-1/4 is (25/4)² which gives 625/16 and the inverse of that is 16/625, so that the intensity of heat at the distance of Saturn's mean distance from the sun, in comparison with the intensity of heat at Mars' mean distance, would be about 16/625; or in other words, the heat received by Saturn would be only 16/625 of the intensity of heat received by the planet Mars. In [Art. 63] we have seen that heat is a repulsive motion, being a wave motion of the Aether which is propagated from the heated and central body, which in this case is the sun. Therefore, according to the law of inverse squares from the standpoint of heat, we find in the solar system a repulsive motion, due to the wave motion of the Aether, which is always exerted away from the sun in the same path that the centripetal force takes, and which like that force diminishes in intensity inversely as the square of the distance. So that, wherever the centripetal force, or the attractive force of Gravitation, is diminished on account of the increased distance from the sun, the repulsive motion due to heat is also diminished in exactly the same proportion and along exactly the same path. If at any point in the solar system the attractive force is doubled, then according to our repulsive theory of heat, and the law of inverse squares, the repulsive motion is also doubled. If the attractive force is halved, then the repulsive motion is halved also, the repulsive motion being always and at all places exactly proportional to the increase or decrease of the attraction of Gravitation.

[12] Heat, a Mode of Motion.

Art. 67. First Law of Thermodynamics.--The Law of Thermodynamics is based on two fundamental truths which have reference to the conversion of Heat into Work, and Work into Heat. In [Art. 54] we have already seen that energy in the form of heat, light, electricity and magnetism is capable of being converted into other forms of energy, while in [Art. 59] we have seen that Joule gave us the exact relation in foot-pounds between heat and work. He showed that when 1 lb. of water fell through 772 feet its temperature was raised one degree Fahr. Thus the principle underlying the first law of thermodynamics states, that whenever work is spent in producing heat, the amount of work done is proportionate to the quantity of heat generated; and conversely, whenever heat is employed to do work, a certain amount of heat is used up, which is the equivalent of the work done. This principle is also in accord with the conservation of Energy and Motion ([Arts. 52] and [57]), which assert that whenever energy or motion disappears in one form, it is manifested in some other form. Thus, from the first law of thermodynamics, we learn that wherever we have heat we have the power to do work, and the amount of work so done is proportionate to the heat used up. Heat, then, has a capacity to perform work, and that power is known as the mechanical equivalent of heat. Both Mayer of Germany, and Dr. Joule of Manchester, have worked out this problem, and have given us the mechanical value of heat. By experiments Mayer found out that a quantity of heat sufficient to raise 1 lb. of water one degree Fahr. in temperature was able to raise a weight 771.4 lb. one foot high. Dr. Joule of Manchester, after making a number of experiments which lasted over many years, came to the conclusion that the mechanical equivalent of a unit heat was 772 foot-pounds, a unit of heat being the quantity of heat which would raise 1 lb. of water one degree Fahr. So that if a 1-lb. weight fell from a height of 772 feet, an amount of heat is generated which would raise 1 lb. of water one degree Fahr.; and conversely, to lift 1 lb. 772 feet high, one degree Fahr. of heat would be consumed.

Now if this law of thermodynamics is true, it must not only be true in relation to terrestrial heat, or heat produced by artificial means on our earth, but it must equally hold good in relation to the solar system; and not only the solar system, but equally true throughout all the systems of worlds that flood the universe. So that wherever we get heat in the universe, in the solar system for example, there, according to our first law of thermodynamics, we should have the capacity to do work of some kind or other. That work may take either the form of expanding a body, as the atmosphere of a planet for example, or it may take a mechanical form, that is, actually moving a body by the increased pressure due to aetherial heat waves generated by the sun. We have already seen in [Art. 64], on Radiant Heat, what a store of heat the sun has. For thousands and millions of years the sun has been pouring forth its heat rays into space, and yet its temperature does not seem to be diminished. The great Carboniferous or coal period of past geological times is an indication of the heat and light of the sun, which it must have radiated out millions of years ago; and year by year, these aetherial heat waves are still being poured forth by the sun on every side into space, so that no matter where a planet may be in its orbit, there it may be the recipient of these aetherial heat waves which break upon its surface. Now if there be this quantity of heat existing in the sun, and heat according to the first law of thermodynamics has a mechanical value, which is that it can push or lift a body through space, the question arises, as to what is the mechanical value of this heat of the sun? Are we to suppose that if one unit of heat can lift 1 lb. 772 feet, the millions and millions of units of heat which are constantly being poured out of the sun into space are doing no work at all? Such an assumption is not only contrary to that simplicity which governs our Philosophy, but is entirely opposed to experience, which is the very foundation of all philosophical reasoning. If, therefore, experience is to be any guide at all, we are compelled to come to the conclusion that the heat poured forth into space does do work on the bodies, as comets, meteors, planets, upon which the aetherial heat waves fall. The problem is, what is the character of the work done? I have already indicated part of the work, viz. in the expansion of the atmosphere of the planets. Then there is also the reception of the heat by the animal and vegetable life of the planet, but these do not account for all the motive power of the aetherial waves, which break upon the planet or its atmospheres.

The true solution of the first law of thermodynamics, in its relation to the solar system, seems to me to be found in the fact already stated in [Art. 63], viz. that heat is a repulsive motion, and the law of thermodynamics confirms that statement, and shows that the work done on a planet by the aetherial heat waves is that of pushing it, or urging it by their very energy and motion away from their controlling centre, the sun. This would practically amount to a repulsive force which had its home in the sun, and this conception would bring our Philosophy into harmony with our experience, which teaches us that wherever there is heat there is the capacity of doing work, the amount of work being proportionate to the heat generated and consumed.