Cecil, W5DXP wrote:
"But by 1920, Einstein had reintroduced a physical ether as a necessary
condition for the general theory of relativity to be valid."

Recall the high school physics experiment of a clock ticking inside a
bell jar. The air is then pumped out. When the air is nearly all gone,
the clock ticks become nearly inaudible but you can still clearly see
the clock. If ether had been inside the jar it would have been evacuated
too and the EM lightwave would have lacked a medium, making sight of the
clock disappear along with its sound. It seems likely to me that this
experiment indicates that no medium is required for transmission of
light despite the need of a medium to transport sound.

Best regards, Richard Harrison, KB5WZI

Richard Harrison wrote:
Cecil, W5DXP wrote:
"But by 1920, Einstein had reintroduced a physical ether as a necessary
condition for the general theory of relativity to be valid."

Recall the high school physics experiment of a clock ticking inside a
bell jar. The air is then pumped out. When the air is nearly all gone,
the clock ticks become nearly inaudible but you can still clearly see
the clock. If ether had been inside the jar it would have been evacuated
too and the EM lightwave would have lacked a medium, making sight of the
clock disappear along with its sound. It seems likely to me that this
experiment indicates that no medium is required for transmission of
light despite the need of a medium to transport sound.

Best regards, Richard Harrison, KB5WZI


Ever see a wire bucket that you carry golf balls in, to the driving range?

Now, it works wonderfully on the golf balls, attempt filling it with
water and you find it leaks! Same thing with that bell jar. You simply
can't pump the ether out ...

Indeed, the bell jar, being made of the large molecules of our matter
would appear as a very large screen, or even like a layer of gravel to a
liquid/gas, to the quantum-structure-nature of ether ...

Regards,
JS

Richard Harrison wrote:
It seems likely to me that this
experiment indicates that no medium is required for transmission of
light despite the need of a medium to transport sound.

If the vacuum pump was evacuating ether along with
air molecules, the clock would also be evacuated.

An opaque solid is a medium that will pass sound but
not light. A vacuum is a medium that will pass light
but not sound. One cannot evacuate ether using a
vacuum pump.

In that evacuated space in the bottle, two conducting
plates will be pushed together although connected to
nothing. What does the pushing if not something in
the vacuum medium?
--
73, Cecil http://www.w5dxp.com
"According to the general theory of relativity,
space without ether is unthinkable." Albert Einstein

John Smith wrote:
Indeed, the bell jar, being made of the large molecules of our matter
would appear as a very large screen, or even like a layer of gravel to a
liquid/gas, to the quantum-structure-nature of ether ...

Consider that the ether may be made out of exotic dark
matter capable of occupying the same space as the glass
in the jar, indeed providing the very structure that
allows the glass to exist in the form that we perceive.
--
73, Cecil http://www.w5dxp.com
"According to the general theory of relativity,
space without ether is unthinkable." Albert Einstein

Cecil Moore wrote:
John Smith wrote:
Indeed, the bell jar, being made of the large molecules of our matter
would appear as a very large screen, or even like a layer of gravel to
a liquid/gas, to the quantum-structure-nature of ether ...

Consider that the ether may be made out of exotic dark
matter capable of occupying the same space as the glass
in the jar, indeed providing the very structure that
allows the glass to exist in the form that we perceive.

Could be, but can be explained without "dark matter" ...

Lead is a very dense material, we use it as shielding against atomic
particles. Take a chunk in your hand and contemplate all those
molecules of lead you are holding. Then realize if that block of lead
were enlarged to scale, to where an atom of that lead were the size of
an orange, and you are standing next to one atom--the next closest atom
would be about the length of a football field away. This leaves plenty
of room for quantum material to pass though easier than wind passes
though a chain-link fence ...

Actually, I am far too conservative in this example ... this:

"If a drop of water were enlarged to the size of the earth, each atom in
it would be about the size of an orange. Yet most of an atom is empty
space through which the electrons whirl. The nucleus itself occupies
only one million-billionth of the atom's bulk. "

From he

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...792294,00.html

"Our matter", being used as a "bottle" for ether is a "SERIOUS JOKE!"

Regards,
JS

"Cecil Moore" wrote in message
...
John Smith wrote:
Indeed, the bell jar, being made of the large molecules of our matter
would appear as a very large screen, or even like a layer of gravel to a
liquid/gas, to the quantum-structure-nature of ether ...

Consider that the ether may be made out of exotic dark
matter capable of occupying the same space as the glass
in the jar, indeed providing the very structure that
allows the glass to exist in the form that we perceive.
--
73, Cecil http://www.w5dxp.com
"According to the general theory of relativity,
space without ether is unthinkable." Albert Einstein

Sure, Why not just spray paint the inside of the jar? Or use Houdini's
black cloth. Experiments like that prove that "medium" can only tend to
hinder photons. Hence photons travel best without ether. How does ether
affect the velocity factor of light?

Can't find my ether pump anyway, so we have do these experiments virtually.

JB wrote:
... How does ether
affect the velocity factor of light?

Can't find my ether pump anyway, so we have do these experiments virtually.

Yeah, beginning there would be good, baby steps, at first ...

In the same way air affects the speed of sound, it limits its speed.

In some common units:

670,616,629.4 miles per hour.

983,571,056.4 feet per second (roughly one foot per nanosecond.)

186,282.397 miles per second.

I think the particles of a photon pass though the ether unhindered, why?
Now that is part of the whole question, isn't it ... perhaps it does
really "travel" at all ... there is that "odd statement" by Einstein,
motion cannot be held against the ether, for any logical observation.

Ether, apparently, is a true "lossless media" in the propagation of
waves ... well, that is how it appears from observation.

Regards,
JS

John Smith wrote:
... perhaps it does
really "travel" at all ...
Regards,
JS

Does = doesn't ... but then, you already knew that.

Regards,
JS

JB wrote:
Hence photons travel best without ether.

Photons cannot travel at all without ether because
the absence of ether means there is nothing through
which to travel. Photons simply cannot travel outside
of the universe into absolute nothingness.

How does ether affect the velocity factor of light?

The velocity factor of free space ether is 1.0.
The velocity factor of absolute nothing is zero.
--
73, Cecil http://www.w5dxp.com
"According to the general theory of relativity,
space without ether is unthinkable." Albert Einstein

John Smith wrote:
I think the particles of a photon pass though the ether unhindered, why?

Without the ether a photon would certainly be "hindered". :-)
How many photons have you ever known to leave the universe?
--
73, Cecil http://www.w5dxp.com
"According to the general theory of relativity,
space without ether is unthinkable." Albert Einstein