1967b
The following is a Letter to the Editor of the IEE journal
'Electronics and Power' published in the March, 1967 issue at p. 95.
MAGNETIC ANOMALIES
Dear Sir - R. A. Waldron, in a reply to a
previous letter (Jan. 1967 Electronic and Power, p. 22) [1967a],
states that he cannot understand my comments about conduction electrons in
metals reacting to screen magnetic fields; and he states that the null result of
the Trouton-Noble experiment is only surprising in the light of aether
theory.
To clarify the first point, consider electrons in motion in a
steady magnetic field. It is well known that they are deflected into a helical
path, and always move to produce a magnetomotive force opposing the field. If
there are free conduction electrons in random thermal motion in a metal, the
metal should, on electron theory, act as a screen against steady magnetic
fields. Quantitatively, the reaction magnetic moment is the kinetic energy of
the reacting electrons, calculated from their component velocities normal to the
field direction, divided by the magnitude of the resultant field (Aug. 1966
Electronic and Power, p. 288) [1966c].
For example, 1022 electrons per cm3 at 104 cm/s
would develop a reaction field of 4000 oersted for a 1 oersted resultant field.
A strong applied field would, therefore, be heavily screened by a good
nonferromagnetic metal conductor at room temperature.
The fact that this
event does not happen presents an anomaly in magnetic theory. It can be
explained by theorising, as I did in the letter mentioned above, that the
kinetic energy of the reacting charge maximises, and is, in fact, the
magnetic-field energy inside the conductor. Then the density of free electrons
is determined by the magnetic-field strength, in accordance with the
thermal-velocity state. Also the reaction effect exactly cancels half the
applied field.
To keep our units correct, the actual field produced by
any motion of charge has to be doubled, which then explains the observed
gyromagnetic-ratio factor of 2, whether determined from reversing magnetism in a
pivotally mounted ferromagnetic rod or from magnetic-resonance experiments; and
the explanation requires only orbital motion of charge. Whatever is meant by
'spin' in physical theory is not relevant to the observations. Indeed, spin
might be a kind of motion in a minor orbit, but this does not matter.
The
Trouton-Noble experiment proved that two charges of opposite polarity, moving in
parallel at the same velocity and in any direction relative to the line joining
the charges, develop electrodynamic interaction forces only along the line
joining the charges. This fact is contrary to the usual electrical engineering
teaching about magnetic fields set up by a charge in motion and the forces on a
charge in motion in a magnetic field. The experiment was founded on such
theories, and a suspended capacitor should have turned about the suspension by
an amount proportional to the velocity of the apparatus. It did not turn,
proving either that our laws of electrodynamics were wrong, that the aether
could develop a reaction couple on the charges, or that the electrodynamic
reference frame or aether moves with the apparatus.
If one ignores the
aether, the laws of electrodynamics need modification. The empirical law is
presented as equation (2) in an earlier letter (April 1965 Electronics and
Power, p. 137) [1965a].
This law is consistent with the null result of the Trouton-Noble experiment and
all other observations. However, as applied between charges in nonparallel
motion without an aether to complete the system, Newton's Third Law of Motion is
defied.
To avoid the problem, radiation momentum is added to the momentum
of matter to satisfy this law. The system of the charges is thus completed by
energy somewhere in space. Such energy is mixed up with energy from millions of
other such systems, and surely forms the metric of space-time otherwise known as
the aether. The aether is a medium permeating all space. It is primed with
energy, and is able to take up the balance forces in electrodynamic
interactions. Our difficulty is that there is reluctance in appreciating that
energy has been dispersed into the aether for so long that it has become
uniformly distributed, and become a medium well worth studying in its own
right.
H. ASPDEN
IBM United Kingdom Laboratories
Hursley,
Winchester, Hants.
3rd January 1967
