"John Smith" bravely wrote to "All" (12 May 05 08:02:11)
--- on the heady topic of " Reflector Vs Director"

JS Reply-To: "John Smith"
JS Xref: aeinews rec.radio.amateur.antenna:30186

JS If I place a piece of paper over a magnet--gently sprinkle iron powder
JS over the paper--I see lines--claimed to be a "magnetic field"....

JS ... do you think these "lines" are photons (waves?)shooting from one
JS end of the magnet to the other (of course they would actually be lying
JS outside the metal of the magnet in a "static" state).... or is this
JS iron powder a "warping" of the ether I am looking at?

The lines are the after-effects of placing the iron powder in the path
of "virtual" photons. These are photons that exist too briefly to be
detected. Spacetime is not an empty vacuum but is a frothing of energy
and virtual particles of all kinds. The virtual photons responsible
for the observed permanent magnet's field travel only a small fraction
of a wavelength but their wavelength is almost infinite.
(i.e. c/F=3dinfinite, when F=3dzero).

A*s*i*m*o*v

.... "If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?" -George Carlin