The Great Einstein Relativity Hoax and Other Science Questions, Hypotheses, and Improbabilities

By Page Truitt

If you are looking for a top-rated science textbook, this is not the book for you. If you are looking for a reiteration of the historical progression of the physical sciences by a well-educated, experienced scientist, this book's not for you. However, if you are interested in considering logical thinking that is outside the scientific box and that challenges conventional science concepts, this may be the book for you.The entire first section presents a logical, convincing argument that concludes that the problem Einstein solved with his special theory of relativity never existed in the first place. There is nothing wrong with his reasoning or mathematical equations that address the problem he believed existed. There just was not a real problem to begin with. The whole section is an excellent tutorial on Einstein and relativity for anyone who is interested in understanding relativity, whether the reader agrees or disagrees with the conclusions.The second section is a tutorial on electrons and their role in the production of light, the reflection and refraction of light, and the role of electrons in the production of electricity, electronic device function, and heat. All tutorials are written in laymen's easy-to-read language.The third section examines many outside-the-box hypotheses in the realm of theoretical physics. This book is packed with easy-to-read nonmathematical explanations of physical phenomena, ranging from the appearance and properties of electrons to the construction of matter from particles and energy fields. Have you ever wondered what charge is or why electrons do not fly apart from internal repulsive forces or spiral into the nucleus of atoms? Is light a continuous wave or pulses of electromagnetic field? Why do moving electromagnetic fields not have positive and negative charge or north and south poles? How does light reflect off itself? Why is your car battery attached to the body of the car? How do atoms attract to form molecules when their electrons repel one another? These and other questions are answered, often in unconventional ways, but others may not be answered at all. If you need a science research project or a dissertation idea, this book is for you. If you do not need it for a project but you just have an interest in better understanding science, this book is for you. If you have an open mind enough to at least consider alternate ways of thinking about scientific concepts and principles, this book is definitely for you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781662424939

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Objects And Motions

Einstein’s special theory of relativity (and, ultimately, the general theory of relativity) grew out of the supposed problems encountered when measuring the speed of light relative to moving objects. This chapter and the next deal extensively with speed-related concepts, particularly those relative to various moving-object relationships. It is extremely important to understand them before moving into Einstein’s theory itself. The subject of this chapter probably should have been concepts and definitions, for I am now going to spend considerable time on those subjects!

The meanings of objects, motion, distance, time, space, and speed may seem to be clear, but I would still like to elaborate on each one. What is really meant by these words and concepts?

An object is any one thing or group of things with mass and inertia that moves as a unit.

An electron is the nearest thing to a simple object that can be imagined. Other objects are more complex, like atoms, molecules, rocks, solar systems, and galaxies. As small objects group together into larger unified systems, they become larger objects. Electrons, protons, and neutrons all bond together to become atoms. Atoms group together to make compounds and molecules that, in turn, make up rocks; and rocks make up large portions of planets, moons, and solar systems. Solar systems are locked together by gravity to create the galaxies that then group together to form the even larger galactic clusters. The clusters make up the universe. It is not known what comes next, but one could speculate that the universe is only one of many universes that group together into some yet unknown object. Except for electrons and, possibly, quarks, objects are always groups of other objects held together by some force with spaces between the objects.

So an object is any one thing or unified group of things that moves together as a unit. Using this definition, a swarm of bees or a flock of geese can be called an object. However, the term is more often used to refer to multiple units locked together by one or more of the four known forces (i.e., electromagnetism, gravity, and the strong and weak nuclear forces). For purposes here, anything behaving as a unit in motion will be termed an object.

Motion is simply the change in location of an object or of a point on that object from point A to point B on some other object. The emphasis is on some other object! Sometimes it is difficult to specify the points to measure the distances or to measure the time required for the change of location. The following paragraphs outline a few scenarios that illustrate some of those difficulties.

It may be helpful to elaborate this statement from a galactic perspective. Imagine yourself to be at a vantage point far out in space, so far out that you can observe the galaxies without being in a galaxy yourself. Assume that you can see all the galaxies without a telescope. You will notice the galaxies appear to be in motion away from one another. This means the distance between a point on one galaxy and a point on another galaxy is increasing over time. According to most texts, this distance divided by the time required for the increase gives the speed at which the galaxies are moving apart. But the result is only an equivalency, not a speed. It is not possible to calculate a speed when two objects are moving toward or away from each other. There is no way to determine whether each galaxy is moving away from the other or whether one is stationary and the other is moving toward or away from it. In your imagination, you may be thinking of what exists between those two galaxies as black space against which you could mark off distances. That is a Newtonian concept with little, if any, reality. The assumption that all the action is taking place against a background of ubiquitous black space extending outward forever is unlikely. The motion of each galactic object relative to every other galactic object is likely, but that motion can only be inferred from the redshift of the light from the stars in each galaxy and measurements of the increasing distance between the two galaxies. To say there is motion relative to the background of space is not true. If you removed all objects except one, you would not see it move against the black background! So all the motion is relative to other objects. Any motion relative to the background is illusory only unless and until that background can be construed as part of another larger object (e.g., a galactic cluster on which points A and B can be specified on some object in that cluster). Points can’t be specified on black space. Obviously, points cannot be placed on objects that are light-years away, so the distances and times would have to be transferred to paper or a computer, and the speed calculations would then be made on paper or in a computer.

NOTE: The next few paragraphs are a general summary and reiteration of some of the ideas already discussed but in a slightly different language from earlier writings. They are included with the hope that they might offer further clarification of some of the points already made.

The reader is probably aware that no one knows what space is or whether it has always existed or will always exist. It is not assumed that it would remain if all the objects in it were somehow magically removed. It is not certain that matter would exist in the absence of space or that space would exist in the absence of matter. Suppose that matter is, for example, nothing more than swirls of fields. Its relationship to space would be quite different than it would be if matter is solid like rocks and rivers. Such a definition could mean that matter and space are one and the same. Einstein disregarded the existence of space as a background against which objects move. One would have to agree that it is impossible to imagine an object moving against a background of something that cannot be seen. Black space is not something that can be seen. It is simply the absence of matter and light, and it is not known what would be there if it were illuminated. Of course, it can’t be illuminated since that would require an object to either produce light or reflect it. There is simply no way to see space or to know whether it exists in the absence of matter.

Objects in motion are often seen in motion at more than one level and in various orientations.

Now in your imagination, reposition yourself to a vantage point near a specific galaxy (e.g., the Milky Way) and observe the motion of the objects in it at different levels. (The Milky Way itself is orbiting the center of the galactic cluster at 60 mps and is spinning at 370 mps, but those speeds are not relevant right now.) The solar system (as a unified object) is orbiting the Milky Way galactic center at a speed of 500,000 mph. Here, the galactic circumference at the solar system’s radial distance from the center of the galaxy is where points A and B are specified. Within the solar system is the planet Earth, and since it is a component of the solar system, it is also orbiting the galactic center at 500,000 mph. But Earth also orbits the sun at the rate of one revolution per year or 67,000 mph. Now if you observe for a while, eventually Earth will move into a position around the sun where it is going the same direction as the sun around the galactic center. Earth is now going at the solar system speed of 500,000 mph plus its orbit speed around the sun of 67,000 mph for a total speed of 567,000 mph. If you were standing on the equator at the time and Earth happened to rotate on its axis so that its rotational speed of 1,000 mph is added to the solar orbit speed and Earth orbit speed, you would be moving at the total speed of 568,000 mph. Jump on your motorcycle and head out in the same direction and add those miles per hour to the total and you could really brag about how fast your bike could travel! (Some readers are probably aware that the planes may not exactly align, but the point is made nonetheless.)

Everything in the universe is in motion at some level. Like the people in a big city, everything in the universe seems to be going somewhere else. The universe appears to be expanding, and that expansion appears to be accelerating. As noted above, if one clocks the speeds of two galaxies by measuring the lengthening of the distance between them over a specified time, one might find that they are moving apart at near light speed. This, of course, is not a speed measurement but an equivalency.

Stars are being created and destroyed. New life is created. Old life dies, and the atoms and molecules are recycled. Even seemingly stationary objects, like mountains and rocks, are in motion. Gravity keeps water flowing down mountainsides, and the sun boils it back up into the atmosphere. Electromagnetic forces break down atoms and molecules, and those same forces form new ones. All the particles are incessantly zipping to and fro, never resting. Even when they are bound into crystals and other formations, they sit there and vibrate like kids on a high sugar diet. Temperature and pressure differences create the forces of wind and weather. Solar energy makes some things grow and breaks down others. Heavenly bodies move about under gravitational influences and the cosmic explosions of eons ago. Who knows, even the entire universe may be on its way to somewhere else!

In physics, the field of mechanics is the study of the relationship between forces and objects in motion. An object is any system or entity with mass that moves as a unit relative to some other object that is also moving as a unit at some level. Before Einstein, the study of objects in motion was in accordance with the laws formulated by Galileo and Newton and was rather straightforward. Many objects appeared to be stationary, like Earth, and the motion of other objects relative to the stationary object was relatively easy to study. But once physicists realized that everything is in motion at some level, it became much more difficult. The motion of one object was meaningful only in terms relative to another moving object. Newton had simply declared that space was the ultimate stationary background against which the motion of all other objects could be measured. Then along came Einstein who disregarded space altogether and asserted that the motion of all objects could only be studied in relation to other objects. I have further asserted that the term speed refers only to the movement of object number one from point A on object number two to point B on object number two divided by the time required. All other so-called speeds are only equivalencies.

Further, there is no such thing as the absolute motion of any object in the universe.

Just as there is no such thing as a motionless object, there is no such thing as the absolute motion of any object. If there is no stationary object and if there is no absolute motion, then how is the speed of an object to be determined? All one can do is to measure the speed of one object relative to another. That is somewhat difficult to do when both are moving. At least one object must be made stationary, but how can that be done? If you want to determine how fast a car is moving down the highway, you must imagine the highway as stationary. It is, of course, if you assume Earth is stationary, which it is not. What is usually done is to arbitrarily characterize Earth as stationary even though it is rotating on its axis, orbiting the sun, orbiting the Milky Way galaxy center (along with the solar system), and moving in various other ways through the universe. This is easy to do when the person doing the measuring is on Earth and moving at Earth speed, making it seem that both Earth and the observer are stationary. If the observer is not on Earth, however, Earth must arbitrarily be made stationary before one can measure the speed of the car going down the highway.

Distance is a measure of the linear space on an object or, more precisely, of the linear space between two points on an object.

Measurements, of course, are the number of times a specified chosen length can be repeated along a line between any two points on an object. That chosen length may be one foot, a light-year, a mile, or a millimeter, whichever seems most suitable or is simply preferred. Real objects don’t usually have lines and points drawn on them, but the concept is the same. For example, a street doesn’t have distances marked on it, but you know how far you have traveled by looking at the car’s odometer. The odometer tallies the number of rotations the wheel makes, and since the circumference of the wheel is known (e.g., 6 ft), each time the wheel makes one complete rotation, the car travels 6 ft. Once the wheel rotates enough times to equal 5,280 ft, the odometer registers the distance as one mile. Measurements on real objects can be transferred as geometric representations onto paper or calculators for other purposes.

The shortest, most concise definition of time is that it is the duration of an interval between events.

In common usage, the human conception of time includes other meanings. Often those meanings have more to do with the measurement of time than time itself. Statements such as It’s time to leave or It’s time you change your ways are references to the location of the hands on a clock or the date on a calendar. Other usages denote simultaneity as in We ate at the same time or The band played in perfect time. These and many other usages of the word time are abstract extensions of the primary meaning of the word as duration.

Like space, which is difficult to imagine as an entity, it is virtually impossible to imagine time as anything other than a measurement or some aspect of the measuring device itself. Time does not exist separate and apart from its relationship to events. Whether it references the duration of the motion of an object or whether it references a period between two events on the calendar, it ultimately implies motion. You may wish to argue that some events do not require motion for time to elapse. It is true that watching paint dry doesn’t imply motion, but at the molecular level, there is plenty of motion. The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas seems to be only blocks on a calendar, but when one considers that the calendar is based on lunar cycles and Earth’s orbit around the sun, the relevant motion becomes obvious. The assertion here is that time has become an abstraction, a perception, that is ultimately based in the duration of motion. Most measuring devices move themselves. (The sundial is not an exception since Earth is rotating and moving around the sun.) The units of time measurement—seconds, months, years—are based on the number of clicks of tiny gears, the motion of the moon, and Earth’s rotation around the sun. Only when time is viewed as an abstract perception can it be somewhat divorced from motion. Just as color is a perception, so is time. Color is abstracted from the frequency of light pulses and neuronal pathways in the brain. Time is abstracted from the duration of the motion of objects and the devices that measure those durations. In fact, the perception of time is very likely unique to humans who can use language to imagine events of the past, present, and future. It is doubtful animals have a concept of time even though they are aware of the duration of events.

Einstein stressed simultaneity in his discussions of time. It is essential to the measurement of duration. To establish the starting time of an event, it must coincide with the time registered on a clock (i.e., the position of the hands or the numbers shown). Similarly, the ending time of an event must coincide with the time shown on the clock. When one clock is stationary and another is moving, an event that is simultaneous with the hands of the stationary clock may not be simultaneous with the hands of the moving clock. This anomaly, in part, led Einstein to develop the special theory of relativity.

It is important to be convinced that time means elapsed, interval, a duration between events, before and after, and now and then—all of which suggest motion. The duration is how long the motion continued. How many times did the pendulum swing? How many clicks of the gears were heard? How many heartbeats were there? How many oscillations occurred? Duration means some number of lesser events occurred. Each lesser event is also of some duration and occurred at regular intervals. Short durations serve as clocks for longer durations just as short distances serve as measurements for longer distances. Ultimately, the shortest and longest of each is beyond human capability and imagination. Neither the senses nor the instruments of people can register the smallest, the shortest, the largest, or the longest.

The most concise definition of space is that it is the entity in which matter is embedded.

One can readily see that such a definition is lacking. In everyday usage, the word takes on other meanings. When one is thinking about deep space in a cosmic sense, there is the likelihood that a void comes to mind, an area with nothing in it, not even light. This seems to be the concept of space used by Newton as the background against which all matter moves. In other words, this void would exist even if no objects existed in it. There is, of course, no certainty that space would exist in the absence of objects. Another kind of space can best be characterized as invisible matter space. This is space with matter in it, but the matter is invisible. Earth’s atmosphere comes to mind as a notable example. Of course, invisible matter space also includes some space that is devoid of matter. The third kind of space is visible (like the space between the red squares on a chessboard or the office spaces in a building). This is a somewhat loose concept of space. When one speaks of an object moving through space, the person is usually referring to some combination of visible space, invisible space, and a void. (It is understood that complete voids may not exist since gravitational and electromagnetic fields are assumed to exist everywhere. In fact, space, fields, and matter may ultimately all be one and the same anyway.)

It seems timely now to return to Earth and look at all the many and varied object relationships that complicate the measurements of distance and time and the calculations of speed. When only two objects are being studied, the measurement of distance and time is straightforward, but objects don’t always move around the universe in pairs. In fact, they move in multiple configurations, some of which become very complex for speed calculations.

There are only two fundamental types of speed relationships between objects:

The speed of the object is locally independent from the speed of other objects.

The speed of the object is partially or completely dependent on the speed of another object of which it is a component part.

The key words here are independent, dependent, and object. As has already been stated, object means any system of matter that moves as a unit whether it be a galaxy, a planet, an automobile, or an electron. The object is in independent motion when its motion is caused by some force that changes its location from point A to point B on another but larger object. An object is in dependent motion anytime that the object’s speed is the same as that of some larger object it is included in or is attached to. That same object’s motion may increase and therefore become independent whenever some force increases its motion. Most objects are dependent by virtue of their inclusion or attachment to another larger object, but their motion can be increased by some force that places them in independent motion as well. This means that most objects are in both a dependent and an independent motion at the same time. Further, both types of motion usually require algebraic summing to arrive at their net speed. An automobile is in dependent status by virtue of its attachment to Earth. This is also true of the passenger in the auto, but once the auto is placed in motion by the engine, the car’s motion becomes independent as well. A rock held in the hand of the passenger is in dependent motion until it is thrown at some object on the side of the road at which time it also becomes independent by the force of the passenger’s best throwing arm. The rock is already moving as fast as the vehicle before it is thrown, and its speed is only increased by the passenger’s throwing arm.

Even though only two fundamental types of speed relationships between objects exist, various combinations make for some very interesting studies of motion. I have already elaborated on the concepts of objects, motion, distance, space, time, and speed.

Time and distance are ultimately the bases for the measurement of speed, which is the subject of the next few paragraphs. Everything in the universe is going somewhere else, at some level, in the universal hierarchy. Speed is the measurement of how fast each object is going relative to the others.

Now I will return to the subject of speed and elaborate on what is meant by speed, uniform motion, velocity, and relative to.

Speed is the measured or calculated extent to which one object or entity is moving faster than another.

If two objects are moving in perfect unison, then there is no speed calculation for the objects relative to each other. Any speed calculation would have to be relative to a third object. Objects are never in absolute motion or at absolute rest. They are always moving faster, slower, or equal to some other object. This applies to objects in independent motion, dependent motion, in or on another object or separate from another object. Only light can be characterized as being in absolute motion. (Whether it should be is the question.) It is in motion even in a vacuum where no other object exists with which to compare its motion. One could argue that each pulse is in motion relative to the one preceding it or that its speed is relative to its origin, but as noted above, those speeds are only equivalencies.

Likewise, the speed of an object relative to another object moving in the opposite direction can only be calculated as an equivalency. It cannot be measured directly. The equivalency is, however, calculated from distance and time measurements. If one car is going 60 mph east relative to the highway and another is going 60 mph west relative to the highway, the distance measurement must be made along the highway in both directions. So if car A traveled 60 mi east in one hour and car B traveled 60 mi west in the same hour, how do you use this time and distance information to calculate the speed of one car relative to the other? All you can say is that at the end of one hour, they were 120 mi apart, so their combined speed was equal to that of one car traveling at 120 mph. They were traveling at 60 mph relative to the highway but certainly not 60 mph relative to each other. Relative speed really means the speed of one object relative to another when they are both moving in the same direction or when one of them can be construed as stationary. When the speed of both vehicles is unknown, one can only determine the separation distance between them and how long it took for them to get that far apart. Then their separate speeds must be arbitrarily assigned. If the distance between two cars going in opposite directions is 100 mi after one hour, one can arbitrarily say they were traveling at 50 mph each or you can say that one was parked and the other traveled for one hour at 100 mph. Similarly, if two cars start out 100 mi apart and at the end of one hour, they are front bumper to front bumper, one can say they were both traveling at 50 mph or you could say that one was going 20 mph and the other was going 80 mph. In either case and with other similar arbitrary speed designations, after one hour, the two cars would end up with their front bumpers touching. The only way to make their speeds known would be to measure them relative to the highway.

The implication of my comments on speed is that I am referring only to uniform motion, not accelerated motion where the speed or direction or both may change over time. That implication is true, so it might be helpful for me to elaborate on some of the points I have made. I begin with the idea of an object being stationary in a universe where I have stated that everything is moving.

An object in uniform motion (constant velocity) will appear as stationary to an observer moving at the same velocity (speed and direction) regardless of the observer’s position in, on, or alongside the object.

Anyone who has flown has experienced the seeming lack of motion once the plane stops accelerating and settles into a cruising mode. Were it not for the knowledge that the plane must be moving to maintain altitude, one could easily think the plane must have parked right there in the sky. Everything inside the plane behaves exactly as it would if the plane was sitting on the ground. Similarly, from a passenger’s perspective, the inside of an automobile does not seem to be moving since the passenger is moving at the same speed as the car. If another car is traveling alongside at the same speed, then the other car also appears to be stationary. Except for the sensory input from observations of the surrounding environment, the passengers would think the two cars were parked side by side. The speed of either car does not become apparent until one or the other accelerates (i.e., changes speed or direction).

The speed of any one object in uniform motion can only be determined in relation to a second object that is locally stationary or also in uniform motion but assigned stationary status.

A highway is locally stationary because it is not in motion relative to Earth onto which it is attached. Other objects may be similarly classified as locally stationary, but many objects must be arbitrarily assigned stationary status. It is easiest to assign stationary status to an object when the observer is moving at the same speed as the object. This is the case with any object that is rigidly attached to Earth and the observer is on Earth and not moving relative to the object. When the observer is outside the frame of reference of both moving objects, then the observer must imagine one of the objects to be in stationary status before any speed calculation can be made. An example would be the observation of a jet speeding across the deck of a moving aircraft carrier. The carrier is moving relative to the ocean, and to measure the jet’s speed relative to the carrier, the carrier must be imagined as stationary. Astronomers must imagine one heavenly body to be stationary to measure the speed of others relative to it. Everything in the universe is moving, and an object’s velocity (speed and direction) can only be measured relative to some other object when that other object is imagined to be stationary. Of course, things are further complicated by the fact that everything moves along a curved path in at least one plane and at least one level in the hierarchies of the universe! That discussion will be saved for some other book. This one will only address stationary and uniformly moving objects in locally straight-line motion. Any curving of the path at higher levels will be ignored.

Uniform motion means that neither the speed nor the direction of an object’s travel changes (while ignoring the curved paths referenced above).

An automobile traveling on the interstate at a constant speed of 60 mph in a northerly direction is in a state of uniform motion. If the auto accelerates, thereby changing its speed or direction, it is no longer in uniform motion. If it goes around a curve, it is no longer in uniform motion even if its speed remains constant. Acceleration is any change in speed or direction. A rotation of the object is not necessarily a change in speed or direction. However, if a spin like that of a spinning baseball causes it to curve, then the spin has imparted acceleration.

A minimum of two objects are necessary for uniform motion to have meaning. The motion of an object has no meaning unless it is in