Return to Physics of the Ether

140. We may now, as a further practical illustration of the theorem that all physical processes are cyclical, consider briefly some of the various industrial operations, or we may take the case of the varied operations of a steam factory for example. Here, after the different machines are in full movement, and the work has assumed its normal value, and there is no further acceleration or accumulation of motion in matter; then it follows that from this point the motion must be in the process of being transferred to the ether as rapidly as it is being derived from the ether. The test of perfect equality in the motion derived from and given to the ether is the continued uniform rate of motion of the machines through which the motion passes in its intermediate stage; for if the motion given up to the ether were less than that derived, there would be an accumulation of motion in matter, or the machines would be accelerated, the converse being the case if the motion given up were greater than that derived. Hence, when the machines are in full movement the derivation of motion from and its transference to the ether take place simultaneously in a cyclical process. It may be noted that at the particular instant when tne machinery was first started, motion was derived from the ether without being simultaneously transferred to the ether, this relatively small amount of motion (representing the motion of the machines) remaining abstracted from the ether so long as the machines are in motion, but when the machines stop, this motion is returned to the ether (in the form of waves of heat), the machines coming to rest by converting their motion into heat.

When, therefore, the machinery, including the mechanism of the coal and engine, is in full action, the surrounding ether must be simultaneously pervaded by two wave systems; the one system consisting on the whole in an excess of motion imparted to the ether, this system comprising the waves generated in the ether by the vibrating molecules of matter as a large portion of the motion derived is converted into heat, including Doth those waves of wasted heat, or the motion (heat) which is transferred direct to the ether by the coal without having previously been transmitted through the machinery, and the motion of the coal which after transmission through the machinery is converted into heat in the mechanical operations taking place. This wave system also includes, as an important part, the increments of motion given to the ether particles in the various kinds of work, such as by the displacement of the molecules of materials, &c. The second of the two wave systems consists on the whole in a loss of motion sustained by the ether, as represented by the decrements of velocity sustained by the particles of the ether as the motive agent

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of the molecular motion taking place in the boiler furnaces represented by the combustion of the coal; the decrement of motion in the one wave system being precisely equal to the increment of motion in the other wave system. The quantity of energy in the ether is therefore, on the whole, neither increased nor diminished by the progress of the work, but the ether is merely broken up into waves representing an interchange of motion going on in the surrounding ether, which is the indication of the interchange of motion going on in the machinery, which latter forms only an intermediate link of the complete chain. That the quantity of energy contained in the ether is unaffected by the progress of the work, follows also at once from the principle of conservation in accordance with which the collective sum of energy contained in the ether and in matter must remain constant. So long, therefore, as the energy of matter represented by the uniform motion of the machinery remains constant, the energy contained in the ether must also remain' constant, for otherwise the total sum of energy would be changed. The ether, therefore, being the source and receptacle of the motion, its component particles are affected by increments and decrements of velocity, these changes of velocity being extremely small compared with the normal velocity of the particles, the ether by the interchange of motion going on among its particles, tending continually to assume its normal state of equilibrium of motion, the small changes of velocity being rapidly carried off in the form of spherical waves, by whose expansion the changes of velocity are soon dissipated by subdivision.

141. Since work consists in the communication of motion, and since no kind of work consists in the continual accumulation of motion in matter, it is clear that in every kind of work, as previously deduced, the motion expended must pass to the ether. Even if it served any practical end, it would clearly be impossible to accumulate motion continually in matter, for the greater such accumulation of motion, the more rapid is its passage to or dissipation in the ether, so that a stage must soon arrive at which the motion dissipated in the surrounding ether equals that expended. Accordingly, every possible kind of work will be found, when analyzed, to consist in the communication of motion to the ether, either directly or in its final stage. Thus, for example, in all the varied operations of shaping materials, whatever their nature, such as the operations of planing, shearing, &c, in which act the vibrating molecules of substances in stable equilibrium with the ether pressure are forced out of their positions of equilibrium, the work consists in the communication of motion to the ether, the rapid dynamic action of the ether particles entailing a large amount of work at the displacement of the molecules.

The process of coiling a spring, as by the winding up of a clock, for example, in which act the vibrating molecules of the spring are displaced, affords another illustration of work consisting

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in the communication of motion to the ether. If the spring be coiled through animal agency or through the intervention of a steam engine, then the motion given up by the ether in transmit- ting motion through the animal system, or through the mechanism of the coal and engine, to the molecules of the spring, is equal to the motion imparted to the ether by the molecules of the spring in the act of being coiled, or the process is a cyclical one, consisting in the transference of motion from and to the ether. Conversely, when the spring uncoils, and communicates motion to a clock, for example, then the motion expended by the ether in urging the molecules of the spring back into their former positions of equilibrium, is equal to the motion imparted to the ether in the form of waves of heat developed by friction in the working parts of the clock; or the physical process is a cyclical one, consisting in the transmission of motion from the ether through a train of mechanism to the ether.

Thus all the commonest operations and phenomena occurring in everyday experience constitute illustrations of the theorem that all physical phenomena are fundamentally correlated as cyclical 'processes consisting in an interchange of motion, and in which the motion is derived from and passes to one universal source of motion, the ether.

142. Since to develop a given power, the dimensions of a mechanism such as the steam engine, for example, are less in proportion as the pressure of the aeriform medium (the steam) is greater, and the speed at which the mechanism is worked is greater; it would therefore be reasonable to expect, on account of the extremely high value of the ether pressure and the high velocity with which the molecular mechanism for deriving motion from the ether is worked, that the total dimensions of this mechanism to develop a given power would be exceptionally small.

If we imagine a portion or stick of coal about the size of an ordinary lead pencil to be ignited at one end so as to burn away at the moderate rate of twenty grains per minute, then this little piece of mechanism represented by the ignited end of the piece of coal would be developing one horse-power under the action of the ether. Here the pressure of the motive agent is so intense, and the parts of the mechanism are so beautifully balanced and curbed by the high elasticity of the ether, that the mechanism is enabled to work at a high speed, thereby developing an intense energy by small dimensions. If only this piece of molecular mechanism could be connected up or brought into perfect gear with mass mechanism, so that the motion was transferred from molecules to masses without loss, a valuable result would be attained. Thus in the transmission of motion between the molecular mechanism and the mass mechanism of the steam engine, a field for improvement evidently exists, in reducing the loss that at present occurs in the carrying over of the motion.

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