Part 11 (1/2)
I need hardly point out that the hypothesis that Aether is gravitative, is bound to play a most important part in the consideration and development of this phase of the study of the universal aetherial medium. It is not my intention, however, at this stage of the work to go fully into the development of this aspect of the subject.
The application of this principle will be considered at the right time, and in the right place. It is, however, generally a.s.sumed, that the Aether is at rest in s.p.a.ce, and that the earth, the planets, and the sun and all stars, move through it with varying velocity, although, as Lord Kelvin points out, such an a.s.sumption is covered with a cloud which up to the present is ”as dense as ever.” Of course, if the Aether be at rest, and the planets and other heavenly bodies move through it with varying velocity, then the only a.s.sumption regarding the Aether is, that it is frictionless, but, as I have shown in Art. 45, this is opposed to all philosophical reasoning, and therefore to experience and observation.
We have, therefore, to postulate for the Aether such motions as shall fulfil all the Rules of Philosophy, that is, shall be simple in conception, shall be in harmony with our experience and observation, and which shall satisfactorily account for the phenomena sought to be explained, that is, the universal Law of Gravitation; for it is by the properties, combined with the motions of the Aether, that the physical cause of Gravitation is alone to be explained.
Let us revert to the question of a stationary Aether for a moment or two, and let us ask ourselves, where is the evidence for such an a.s.sumption? Has the sun ever ceased to s.h.i.+ne, or to send its light-waves with their enormous velocity speeding through the solar system? So far as experience and observation go, I have never read of any record of such a fact, or that light-waves have ceased to proceed from the sun and fill the solar system with Aether-waves.
Not only is this true of the sun, but it is equally true of every planet and satellite, every meteor or comet, every star and sun that exist or dwell in this aetherial medium; for, as has already been shown (Art.
49), every body emits Aether-waves, and these waves spread out in all directions in a spherical form.
The truth is, that the universal Aether is in eternal motion, and that motion forms the physical life of the universe. If it were possible to destroy the motion, then the whole fabric of the universe would fall to pieces, and the beauty, order, and harmony of the celestial mechanism would be replaced by disorder, confusion, and ultimate ruin. Take any a.n.a.logy of Nature, and see what such an a.n.a.logy teaches us. Look at any planet, sun, or star. Do we find any one of these stationary or at rest?
Why from the smallest meteorite or satellite, to the largest star that s.h.i.+nes in the firmament of heaven, there is nothing but motion; each satellite, planet, sun, and star moving on and on, ever and ever through the countless ages of time until its course is run and its existence ended. But rest, never! Such a thing as rest is unknown in the entire universe, whether it be in the atomic systems of matter, or the systems of stars and suns that form the universe of worlds.
Take another ill.u.s.tration--that of the ocean! Is that ever at rest, with its unceasing wave and tidal motion? Has the reader ever stood on the sh.o.r.e and seen the ocean when it has been absolutely still, or when the tide has ceased to flow? Such a possibility is almost absurd to contemplate. The same argument applies to the air with its regular flow of winds. Now in regard to the aetherial and universal medium, there are just as regular motions as the flowing of the tide round the earth, or the revolving of a satellite round a planet, or a planet round the sun.
And what is as important, all the motions can be as satisfactorily explained and accounted for from the physical standpoint, as the flow of the tide, or the revolution of a planet.
Year in and year out, the motions of the Aether remain the same, governed by the same laws and producing the same effects. Age after age, the Aether has been moving, producing by its various motions the continuity of that beauty, order, and harmony that govern the universe as a whole.
I have already indicated in Art. 45 the effect of Gravitation on the Aether surrounding each satellite, or planet, or star, or sun. As each satellite, or planet, or star moves through the universal Aether, it takes with it its surrounding Aether as indicated in Art. 45, in the same way that each planet or sun takes with it its own a.s.sociated atmosphere, which is held in contact with it by the self-same force of Gravitation.
In addition to this motion of the aetherial atmosphere through s.p.a.ce, there are other motions of this same gravitating Aether that have to be taken into consideration, before a complete and adequate conception of all the motions of the Aether can be arrived at.
I do not intend, however, at this stage to go fully into such motions, but rather wish to lead up to them from a consideration of hypotheses put forward by such men as Rankine, Challis, Maxwell, Lord Kelvin, McCullagh, and Helmholtz, and from a consideration of such hypotheses in the realm of heat, light, and electricity to be able to form a scientific conception of the proper motions of the Aether, as well as a philosophical one.
CHAPTER V
ENERGY
ART. 51. _Energy._--In the days of Newton, and for a long time afterwards, all energy went by the name of ”Force.” Thus Newton in his Laws of Motion refers to the action of forces on stationary or moving bodies, and shows how the motion of any body is effected by the impressed force.
(Art 13.)
As science advanced, and scientific research was carried into the fields of heat, light, and electricity, we find that the various forces began to be particularized, with the result that such terms as electrical force, magnetic force, chemical force, etc., became common and familiar terms. As gradually it became known that one particular kind of force was the outcome of another kind, there was given to the world such terms as the Correlation of Forces (Grove), in which he proved that whenever one kind of force appeared as heat or light, it was at the expense of another kind of force, as electricity.
Of later years, however, another term has crept into Philosophy, and instead of the term Force, which is very indistinct and indefinite in character, there appeared the term Energy, although Force and Energy are not exactly synonymous terms. Thus electricity, heat, and light are forms of energy, and are convertible into one another, in the same way that the forces were convertible. Thus we get transformations of energy in the same way that we had transformations of force, and conservation of energy in the same way that we had conservation of force.
Even the term Energy, however, is being replaced in the present times by something more definite and simple, and instead of the term Energy, we shall find, in the development of this phase of natural phenomena, that that term is being replaced by the simple idea of motion, or modes of motion, and that all forms of energy, as light, heat, magnetism, and electricity, and even Gravitation itself, are due to motion of some kind or other. We will, however, lead up to this truth by looking briefly at the term Energy, and see what it implies and embodies.
Energy, therefore, is that property which a body possesses, by which it is capable of doing work. Thus our ideas of work give us our conception of energy. For example, when a weight is lifted, work is done, and a certain amount of energy is expended in the process. Further, the amount of work done is proportionate to the weight lifted, and the height to which the body is raised. Work is done against resistance, so that whenever resistance is overcome, then work is the result. For example, suppose one pound is lifted one foot high, in opposition to the force of gravity, then work is done, and this amount of work is known as a foot-pound.
If a body weighs ten pounds, and is lifted ten feet, the work done is equal to ten pounds multiplied by ten feet (10 10 equals 100), so that one hundred times the amount of work has been done in comparison with the lifting of the one pound one foot high.
As all weight is essentially a gravitational measure, depending upon the intensity of gravity at the place, then, whenever a body is raised or lifted, the work so done is done against the gravity of the earth.
Work is also done, as Newton points out in the first and second laws, whenever we apply force to any body, either stationary or already in motion. The results of all observation and experiments prove, that whenever we have two bodies upon which work is being done, the amount of work is determined by the amount of energy transferred from one body to the other, and that the actual amount of energy gained by one is equal to the amount of energy lost by the other.
Energy is always found in a.s.sociation with matter, so that matter has sometimes been termed the Vehicle of Energy. Wherever, therefore, we find energy of any kind or sort, there we find matter also, as the two are inseparably connected together. Thus, wherever we have heat, we have matter in a particular state of motion, generally understood as vibratory motion Wherever we have light, which is also a form of energy, we also have matter in motion, that is the Aether, in a state of periodic wave-motion; and wherever we have electricity, we have again matter possibly in a state of rotatory motion, as we shall see later on.