Ether
Ether is what was once thought, or imagined, to fill Space. This ether was probably first thought of as the filling for outer space, since the empty space of the atoms was not known then. There also was not that much known about electromagnetic phenomena. Space does have things within it... and also has attributes of its own... but I feel we just need to gain more knowledge about Space... give it its due, and just define Space better, without trying to dream up another unknown entity. So Space is Space, for me, and I don't need an imaginary pie filling! I am going to try to work with what we presently know of and have, without inventing any new entity, or phenomena.
I cover Space in its own web page in the following reality section, along with light. I weigh in heavily on the side of light, virtual idle photons, being the ether of Space, and or idle virtual quarks. (However, my latest thoughts lean to the notion that idle light photons and idle matter quarks may be the same entities.) This is an original thought for me... but, not to say that another person might have also thought of it... more on other pages following...
I put Space in the reality section since even if it is empty or full... it is real at least in three dimension volume to house the Universe. I don't go with ether, as some unique entity of its own. And even if it is, we have no knowledge of it, except in our imagination. Hence it is fantasy. However, I also do not believe in perfect nothingness, prefect vacuum, or absolute void... Hum...
Below are quotations from the works of Einstein... since some people I have communicated with had mistaken ideas of these views from Einstein. There still seems to lurk... confusion about ether and Space.
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... Updating... 06-13-2011
From Albert Einstein's book, Sidelights on Relativity... I am going to quote a bit upon ether... and then re-do it in my interpretation...
Einstein was writing about Ether and Relativity...
"As to the mechanical nature of the Lorentzian ether, it may be said of it, in a somewhat playful spirit, that immobility is the only mechanical property of which it has not been deprived by H. A. Lorentz. It may be added that the whole change in the conception of the ether which the special theory of relativity brought about, consists in taking away from ether its last mechanical quality, namely, namely it immobility. How this is to be understood will forthwith be expounded.
The space-time theory and the kinematics of the special theory of relativity were modeled on the Maxwell-Lorentz theory of the electromagnetic field. This theory therefore satisfies the conditions of the special theory of relativity, but when viewed from the latter is acquires a novel aspect. For if K be a system of co-ordinates relatively to which the Lorentzian ether is at rest, the Maxwell-Lorentz equations are valid primarily with reference to K. But by the special theory of relativity the same equations without any change of meaning also hold in relation to any new system of co-ordinates K' which is moving in uniform translation relative to K. Now comes the anxious question : __Why must I in theory distinguish the K system above all K' systems, which are physically equivalent to it in all respects, by assuming that the ether is at rest relatively to the K system? For the theoretician such asymmetry in the theoretical structure, with no corresponding asymmetry in the system of experience, is intolerable. If we assume the ether to be at rest relatively to K, but in motion relatively to K', the physical equivalence of K and K' seem to me from the logical standpoint, not indeed downright incorrect, but nevertheless unacceptable.
The next position which it was possible to take up in the face of this state of things appeared to be the following. The electromagnetic fields are not states of a medium, and are not bound down to any bearer, but they are independent realities which are not reducible to anything else, exactly like the atoms of ponder-able matter. This conception suggests itself the more readily as, according to Lorentz's theory, electromagnetic radiation, like ponder-able matter, brings impulse and energy with it, and as, according to the special theory of relativity, both matter and radiation are but special forms of distributed energy, ponder-able mass losing its isolation and appearing as a special form of energy.
More careful reflection teaches us, however, that the special theory of relativity does not compel us to deny ether. We may assume the existence of an ether; only we must give up ascribing a definite state of motion to it, i.e."
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Thus Einstein related about his concepts of ether... I have put items in the writings above in Italic's of which I will elaborate, relate, expound, and interpret as I understand...
"§Kinematics: The branch of mechanics concerned with the motions of objects without being concerned with the forces that cause the motion. In this latter respect it differs from dynamics, which is concerned with the forces that affect motion." ...A Concise Dictionary of Physics
I believe my works are more of a dynamic nature that extends into the kinematics arena to try to explain unknowns... partly because we know more of the universe now than prior to the above time, and partly in my belief that some of the past has been misconstrued.
I imagine, "K be a system of co-ordinates.", and I interpret this as a "frame of reference", except it is done with imagination, as hypothetical. This way the pseudo frame of reference can eliminate unwanted things and pretend to deal with an ideal natural situation. It is a valid way to look at things, but it is never exactly true. And, the unreality must never be forgotten. It is difficult to compare the frames of reference, and all measurements, of the equators on the planets of Saturn to Venus for example. And describing a whole frame of reference in uniform motion relative to another exactly equal frame of reference is only hypothetical. In strictness there is no true uniform motion. The whole Universe is in curved motion, which is accelerative.
That being said.. I do go along with: What is good for the goose is good for the gander. We cannot have a fixed ether in one region of the Universe, and not be fixed in another. Why must I in theory distinguish the K system above all K' systems, which are physically equivalent to it in all respects, by assuming that the ether is at rest relatively to the K system? Both systems should have basically the same attributes or properties.
"electromagnetic fields are not states of a medium" I agree with this, in a reverse manner. EM fields are not a state of the (presumed ether) medium, because the medium is Space that is filled with idle elementary "virtual" particles of matter; that are matter that is, electromagnetic. Thus this EM medium can have a transient state. This medium is unrecognizable, in most circumstance because these EM particulate are almost motionless. They do have motion however, but for the most part below our level of measurement. How do we measure a particle that is possibly an EM quark, or single EM photon corpuscle, to find out how much mass it measures as it expands with the Universe?
"are not bound down to any bearer" I sort of agree with this statement also... I do not think the idle EM virtual particles of Space are physically connected to matter per se. But, I think some quantity will stay configured within matter probably due to the motions in and about the atoms... Possible like a few corks are caught, and swept about, and about; in a river water eddy, while other corks float on by ...
"they are independent realities" I personally think they are the elementary quark building blocks of all matter including possibly light photon sub particle corpuscles. And, yes, I believe they are the basic elementary building blocks of matter, are a form of EM, and are almost motionless. They are realities, but... are just fundamental matter, and not some ether material filling Universal Space.
"are not reducible to anything else,"... Yes, I believe they are not reducible to anything else.
"exactly like the atoms of ponder-able matter"... Instead, I would say: exactly as the fundamental sub-atomic particle theorized to be quarks... but yes, as ponder-able matter.
"electromagnetic radiation, like ponder-able matter, brings impulse and energy with it, and as, according to the special theory of relativity, both matter and radiation are but special forms of distributed energy, ponder-able mass losing its isolation and appearing as a special form of energy."... Actually I feel a need to re-work this statement... to wit:
Electromagnetic radiation, like ponder-able matter, brings impulse pressure and ability to do work with it, and as, both matter and radiation in motion are but special EM forms allowing distribution of the ability to do work.
Further I consider there being two types of radiation. First, is a particulate or body of matter being forced into a line trajectory is what I will call a ray of radiation. If many particulates are radiating it would be an array of radiation. Second, I think there is radiation by association. I liken this to: a real hot popular rock and roll band that start playing in the middle of several thousand teenagers. The young people immediately near start dancing, and the dancing spreads to the whole crowd without the initial teens having to move from their initial locations. I think too many of us visualize radiation as mysterious lines of something, or particles physically traversing in 3D dimensions. People think that photons of light are shining, (impulses), upon us from distant stars, and it takes years for that photon to reach us... when it is probably a nearby photon or two that hit us; and just the wave traversed space. Do you think a wave of sea 'water' that started in Japan; is the same wave 'water' that could hit our continent. There is however, water that can reach us from the Japan, called the Japanese Current that flows into what we call the North Pacific Current, going past Alaska, and our western States... but it takes longer than a wave to reach here.
"We may assume the existence of an ether; only we must give up ascribing a definite state of motion to it, i.e." Yes, there is an ether, but is is not a separated entity of the Universe. It is only a different form of the electromagnetic matter. This EM matter as idle matter does not have a "definite" state of motion. It has attributes as idle matter. And it is ever ready to take on higher level attributes or properties, which then, to but it as Einstein put it, become... our "ponder-able matter".
Ether as some special material other than what we already have, is a fantasy.
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Page Relevant Quotes
"More careful reflection teaches us, however, that the special theory of relativity does not compel us to deny ether. We may assume the existence of an ether; only we must give up ascribing a definite state of motion to it, i.e." Sidelights On Relativity, by Albert Einstein.
"The special theory of relativity forbids us to assume the ether to consist of particles observable through time, but the hypothesis of ether in itself is not in conflict with the special theory of relativity" Sidelights On Relativity, by Albert Einstein.
"Since according to our present-day notions the primary particles of matter are also, at bottom, nothing more but condensations of the electro-magnetic field, our modern schema of the cosmos recognizes two realities which are conceptually quite independent of each other even though they may be casually connected, namely the gravitational ether and the electromagnetic field, or__ as one might call them space and matter." Einstein's Essays in Science, & Sidelights On Relativity, by Albert Einstein.
" As regards the mechanical nature of Lorentz's ether, one might say of it, with a touch of humor, that immobility was the only mechanical property which was left it. It may be added that the whole difference which the special theory of relativity made in our conception of the ether lay in this, that it divested the ether of its last mechanical quality, namely immobility... There is no such thing as the ether. The electro-magnetic fields are not states of a medium, but independent realities, which cannot be reduced to terms of anything else and are bound to no substratum, any more than are the atoms of ponderable matter. This view is rendered the more natural by the fact that, according to Lorentz's theory, electro-magnetic radiation carries impulse and energy like ponderable matter, and that matter and radiation, according to the special theory of relativity, are both of them only particular forms of distributed energy, inasmuch as ponderable matter loses its exceptional position and merely appears as a particular form of energy." Einstein's Essays in Science, Albert Einstein. (Not good. rad)
("...matter... merely appears as a particular form of energy." How can matter be a form of a measurement of the ability to do work, as by work done?! It is evident to me that Einstein as well as many others have changed, ignored, or forgotten the definition of Energy! RAD)
"Recapitulating, we may say that according to the general theory of relativity space is endowed with physical qualities; in this sense, therefore, there exists an ether. According to the general theory of relativity space without ether is unthinkable; for in such space there not only would be no propagation of light, but also no possibility of existence for standards of space and time ( measuring -rods and clocks), nor therefore any space-time intervals in the physical sense." Sidelights On Relativity, by Albert Einstein.
" It is in fact perfectly possible to conceive of ethers which are in agreement with relativity, so long as we avoid defining an absolute frame of reference. Even according to Einstein, the relativistic theory of gravitation introduces a new type of ether. Another ether, of a very different kind, is contained in the interpretation of Dirac's equations, and the quantum theory of fields gives important physical properties to a 'vacuum' containing virtual particles' and affected fluctuations." Quanta: J. Andrade e Silva & G. Lochak ( ? RAD)
"Mach did indeed try to avoid the necessity of postulating an imperceptible real entity, by substituting in mechanics a mean velocity with respect to the totality of masses in the world for acceleration with respect to absolute space. But inertial resistance with respect to the relative acceleration of distant masses presupposes direct action at a distance. Since the modern physicist does not consider himself entitled to assume that, this view brings him back to the ether, which has to act as the medium of inertial action. This conception of the ether to which Mach's approach leads, differs in important respects from that of Newton, Fresnel and Lorentz. Mach's ether not only conditions the behavior of the inert masses but is also conditioned, by its state, by them. (FYI RAD)
"Mach's notion finds its full development in the ether of the general theory of relativity. According to this theory the mechanical properties of the space-time continuum in the neighborhood of separate space-time points are different and conjointly conditioned by matter existing outside the region in question. This spatio-temporal variability of the relations of scales and clocks to each other, or the knowledge that 'empty space' is, physically speaking, neither homogeneous nor isotropic, which compels us to describe its state by means of ten functions, the gravitational potentials guv, has no doubt finally disposed of the notion that space is physically empty. But this has also once more given the ether notion a definite content__ though one very different from that of the ether of the mechanical wave-theory of light. The ether of the general theory of relativity is a medium which is itself free of all mechanical and kinematics (and electro-magnetic) happenings." Einstein's Essays in Science, Albert Einstein. (FYI RAD)
"How is it possible that a black hole appears to emit particles when we know that nothing can escape from within its event horizon? The answer, quantum theory tells us, is that the particles do not come from within the black hole, but from the 'empty' space just outside the black hole's event horizon! We can understand this in the following way: What we think of as 'empty' space cannot be completely empty because that would mean that all the fields, such as the gravitational and electromagnetic fields, would have to be exactly zero. ...These particles are virtual particles..." A Brief History of Time; Stephen W. Hawking (The particles might be something else... RAD)
"It was only in the mid-nineteenth century that a new, revolutionary concept was introduced into the history of physics, and it had a profound effect upon Newtonian mechanics. This was the concept of the field, which altered the whole outlook about space. According to the new ideas, space was no longer something simple, empty and inert, containing bodies which simple happened to be in a state of movement; it became something with physical properties of its own. These properties could be modified by the presence of material bodies, and conversely, the behavior of the bodies could be modified by the sort of space in which they were contained. These physical fields, which are just as real as matter itself, have become more and more important. They have invaded optics, following Maxwell; gravitation, with Einstein; and the theory of the atom, with de Broglie. But they were originally born from studies of electricity and magnetism, thanks to the work of Michael Faraday." Quanta: J. Andrade e Silva & G. Lochak (I think fields are just value patterns of existing phenomena... RAD)
"If you take a census of what is present in a volume of high-grade space 'empty' space far away from any galaxy, and then discount all the expected things like a few atoms and plenty of particle of light passing through in all directions, something else remains. You cannot detect it in any ordinary way, but one of the strongest theories of modern physics insists that it is there__ a surreptitious hint of everything that energy is capable of creating. The existence of ghostly particles predicted by the quantum theory has been confirmed by small effects on the 'tuning' of atoms. (I have a bit of difficulty with creating things... RAD)
Hawking realised that the intense curvature of space just at the edge of a black hole could convert some of these ghostly particles into durable particles of matter and light. It was 1974 that he announced that black holes were capable of exploding." Einstein's Universe; Nigel Calder (Ghostly... ? RAD)
Energy creates; Dark Energy; virtual particles; (§"virtual: appears to be real but is not"... Dictionary); ...And, Scientists, proffer very negative attitudes about metaphysics!? Isn't there a word for this type of contradiction...? Hum?