Trafford Publishing: Physics book by Dave Broyles: What Is Energy?

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Physics book by Dave Broyles: What Is Energy?

by Dave Broyles

129 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #01-0175; ISBN 1-55212-775-3; US$25.00, C$37.00, EUR24.10, £16.70

Highly critical critique of the undefined concept of energy and of very basic but unverifiable assumptions underlying physical theory.

Table of Contents and Summary of Arguments

CHAPTER ONE: WHAT IS ENERGY? 1
Energy isn't something we think about. It is instead a pattern of thought that determines how we think. As such, it is intuitively understood but undefined.

A. DEFINING BY INTUITION 2
We understand what energy is because we see examples of it around us. However, intuitive understandings do not provide us with a sound basis for critical thought.

B. ORIGIN OF THE TERM 4
Modern usage of the term "energy" originated in the early 1800s in England during the Industrial Revolution.Term referred to work done by mechanical power rather than human muscle.

C.T HE FIRST ENERGY CRISIS 5
After having experienced rapid growth during the 12th and 13th centuries, Western Europe's economic growth reached resource imposed limits in wood supply and water power.

D. THE STEAM ENGINE 6
Steam engine developed as a technology to pump water from mines. Period of steam engine improvement corresponded with development of industrial infrastructure.

E. DEVELOPMENT OF THERMODYNAMICS 7
Thermodynamics began as a discipline for engineers concerned with steam engine efficiency. Theory of steam engine patterned after man's understanding of the water wheel.

F. THERMODYNAMICS RETREATS INTO MERE ACCOUNTING 8
Realization that the steam engine wasn't just another water wheel should have led to search for the principle by which radiant heat is transformed to mechanical power, but did not.

G. ENTROPY 10
Theory took a grim turn as entropy predicted that man's exploitation of energy could only contribute to the degradation of a universe that was already degrading.

H. THE CONTEMPORARY PROBLEM 11
Inability of thermodynamics to explain why events happen suggests that we may experience a major paradigm shift.Later in this book, chapters three through five propose such as shift

CHAPTER TWO: CREATION MYTH IN PHYSICAL THEORY 14
Understanding the underlying creation mythology is vital to understanding the epistemology of the physical sciences. We can (and do) profess belief in Darwinian evolution, while functioning more in accordance with scriptural creation myth. Biblical creation myth emphasizes the importance of divine law, while evolution emphasizes adaptation.

A. THE NATURE OF CREATION MYTH 16
Creation myth, Darwinian included, tell man who he is and how he can hope to learn. Shift from biblical to Darwinian creation myth should have radically redefined the nature of science.

B. CREATION MYTH AND SCIENTIFIC EPISTEMOLOGY 18
Creationism survives as an underlying element in scientific epistemology, leading to false optimism regarding the truth of theories, and to conceptual inflexibility.

C. CREATIONIST ARTICLES OF FAITH 19
God rules the universe by law rather than by caprice. Created in the image of God, both man and language retain divine potentials, despite their fall and fragmentation.

D. CREATIONISM AND NATURAL LAW 20
Patterned after scriptural law governing man and society, natural law limited man's adaptability because it was predictive rather than prescriptive, leaving no freedom of choice.

E. MAN CREATED IN THE DIVINE IMAGE 22
Scheme of creation and the fall of man suggested that man had a great unrealized potential. In science, it is assumed that cultural history is therefore unimportant because the goal of science is to transcend culture.

F. TRANSCENDING CULTURE 24
Scientific textbook is a pre-Darwinian literary form that gives little attention to culture. This inattention is because of the belief that discovery can be independent of culture.

G. THE NATURE AND IMPORTANCE OF LANGUAGE 25
Myth of the creation of language implicit in biblical creation myth, followed by the subsequent fragmentation of language at the Tower of Babel, supported both extremes of optimism and pessimism about the potentials of man's language.

H. ENERGY AS LINGUISTIC STRATEGY 27
Reuse of the ancient term "energy" escaped vernacular connotations, suggesting transcendence. Because the word suggests something that transcends culture, it is necessary to continually redefine energy rather than discarding the term.

I. THE IMPACT OF DARWIN 29
By challenging the epistemological faith of the physical sciences, evolution inevitably raised largely ignored questions about the authority of the physical sciences.

J. EVOLUTION AND CREATIVITY 31
Mental basis of paradigm creation is primitive, giving paradigms great power over our minds. Goals of paradigm creation are preservation and continuity, not real change.

K. OF AGRICULTURE AND THE GODS 34
Both agriculture and the early gods emerged as products of play, not as responses to necessity. Early art led to the creation of man's second world, the world of symbolism.

L. HISTORIOGRAPHY OF THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION 35
There exists an eternal tension between the usual pursuits of normative science, which works within accepted paradigms,and creative challenge to the authority of accepted paradigms.

M. THE FUNCTION OF HISTORIOGRAPHY 38
Historiographies, that of science included, are developed to support institutional claims. Biblical creationism and Darwinian evolution suggest different historiographic patterns.

N. THE CHALLENGE 39
Most important question concerns the transformations back and forth between photons and mechanical power. Chapter three proposes an answer to this question, an answer that necessarily involves reinterpreting Einsteinian relativity.

CHAPTER THREE: DOES FIELD ASSIGN QUALITITIES TO OTHERWISE EMPTY POINTS IN SPACE? 41
Contemporary physical theory makes one key assumption that is not necessary and that, by its own definition,cannot be verified: We assume that field, gravitational and electromagnetic, attractive or repulsive, functions by assigning qualities to otherwise empty points in space. Bodies experience field because they experience the qualities of the points they occupy. Because we attribute the qualities of field to empty space, and because there is no absolute perspective to which one can orient a three dimensional coordinate system, we cannot possibly prove this assumption. This assumption then leads to another statement, the Lorentz transformation that is the basis of Einsteinian relativity. If one discards our present assumption regarding the nature of field, then one can reinterpret the meaning of relative inertial motion, which is the basis of Einsteinian relativity. The result is a new theory in which space plays no role at all. All fundamental relationships are defined in terms of a single dimension, and in which transit from one inertial perspective to another inertial perspective produces transformation. The fundamental equations for both matter and energy can be derived from this relationship, which means that matter and energy are merely two manifestations of the same relationship. This principle of transformation explains transformations back and forth between photon energy and mechanical power. The principle also suggests a new theory of light to replace the particle/wave theory.

A. NEED TO CONCEPTUALLY UNIFY PHYSICAL THEORY 43
The inverse squared law of field strength applies equally to both gravitational and electromagnetic fields. We have never been able to derive both inverse squared laws from the same statement.

B. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 44
Despite Einstein's rejection of both Newton's absolute space and the aethereal hypothesis, he retained Maxwell's equations, which were based upon aether.

C. TESTING THE FIELD QUALITIES OF POINTS IN SPACE 47
It is impossible to test for qualities of points in space. The very nature of contemporary field theory renders itself impossible to prove.

D. WHAT CAN BE MATHEMATICALLY DEFINED 49
Fundamental, two particle relationships can be defined in terms of attractive and/or repulsive information flowing back and forth between two particles. Although this hypothesis is no more readily subject to proof than existing field theory, it does facilitate development of a simpler and more inclusive physical theory.

E. THE MEANING OF THE BIG BANG 51
If information flows between particles, and if this flow is the basis of all experience, then the origin of this relationship was the Big Bang. We can only experience that which originated at the Big Bang with us.

F. THERMODYNAMIC TRANSFORMATIONS 52
Any unit of information that transits from a particle in one inertial perspective to a particle in another inertial perspective must alter the mutual velocity of the sending and receiving particles. This explains the inverse squared law of gravitational and electromagnetic field strength and the transformation of radiant heat to mechanical power in the steam engine.

G. THE IMPLICATIONS OF COMPOUNDING 53
Because of their enormous rate of compounding, individual transformational events that appear too small to have any practical significance are, in fact, significant.

H. DERIVING THE FORMULA FOR KINETIC ENERGY 55
Classical formula for kinetic energy is derivable from the same principle of transformation as is the inverse squared law of field strength, meaning that the formulas for matter and energy are manifestations of a unifying principle.

I. HISTORY OF THE CONCEPT OF FIELD 57
Assigning qualities to points, either occupied or empty, stated that the essence of field was independent of our experiencing of it, a statement that the inverse squared law as derived from the principle of qualitative transformation denies.

J. DERIVING THE INVERSE SQUARED LAW 62
Inverse squared law as derived from the principle of qualitative transformation claims that it is the relative movement itself that produces the change in experienced field strength.

K. PREDICTING THE PHOTON 66
The photon is merely our way of experiencing transformational changes in field intensity, meaning that field and radiation as concepts are inseparable from each other.

L. PRINCIPLE OF PHOTON EMISSION 67
Photons are experienced because the conservation of momentum applies to gravitational transformations, but not to electromagnetic transformations.

M. PHOTON FREQUENCY 70
Experienced photon frequencies are a function of the electron's rate of orbital rotation around its nucleus at the time when the electron jumps from one shell to the next. This should explain spectra and the photoelectric effect.

N. THE PATH A PHOTON TRAVELS 72
The photon is a transformation experienced as a wavelike change in the intensity of the electromagnetic information that travels along single dimensional lines from particle to particle.

O. THE POSITION OF LIGHT SOURCES 74
We always experience light as coming from the present relative position of the emitter. This is because we can never say that the position of any emitting or receiving particle has shifted.

P. INVERSE SQUARED LAW OF THE INTENSITY OF RECEIVED LIGHT 75
This is merely another manifestation of the inverse squared law of field strength, meaning that changes in distance from the emitter alter the intensity of individual photons, not the quantity of photons.

Q. OPTICS AT EXTREMELY LOW LIGHT INTENSITIES 76
Probability waves of quantum are unnecessary because the strength of a single photon can be subdivided without limit.

R. THE CONSTANT VELOCITY OF LIGHT EN VACUO 77
Light assumes its velocity relative to the last body or medium with which it interacts, meaning that we cannot interact with light without re-establishing its velocity as relative to our own perspective.

S. THE THEORY OF REFRACTION 79
The theory of refraction must recognize that light travels at the same velocity from particle to particle within solids and gases as it does in empty space because all particle-to-particle distances are empty.

T. DERIVING ELECTRICITY 79
Electricity must exist for the same reason that light must exist. Therefore, the theories of optics and electricity should ultimately merge.

U. PHYSICS AND ENGINEERING 80
The concerns of physics are primarily epistemological,whereas those of engineering are more practical. We need to codify and acknowledge all assumptions that we make in structuring out theory.

CHAPTER FOUR: VIOLATING ENTROPY 81
We owe it to ourselves to rebel against entropy, and to systematically violate entropy by all means that we can.This effort must involve a carefully disciplined effort to better understand ourselves as humans, for in this quest it is we rather than the universe who are the adversaries. Pursuing this quest, we must catalogue and attempt to develop all means by which it might be possible to violate entropy, however unlikely or impractical these means might initially seem.

A. STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME ENTROPY 82
All efforts to overcome entropy must seek to harness the absolute, undifferentiated temperature of the environment. Strategies can involve optically concentrating ambient radiation, converting it into electricity, or transforming it into mechanical power.

B. OPTICAL DIFFERENTIATION 84
Passive optical differentiation seeks to create temperature differences from undifferentiated ambient temperatures by optically biasing the flow of ambient radiation, which naturally flows in all directions.

C. PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS 86
Any silicon diode is also a photovoltaic cell. Theory explains why diodes favor current flow in one direction only, but does not explain how this transforms electromagnetic radiation into direct current.

D. HOW MECHANICAL REFRIGERATION VIOLATES ENTROPY 88
Refrigeration violates entropy because its real principle involves dual, opposing transformations rather than pumping that would be analogous to purely mechanical processes.

E. THEORY OF THE FAN 89
Any fan that accelerates the movement of air relative to its environment increases linear distances between molecules, thereby transforming ambient heat to mechanical power.

F. THEORY OF RESILIENT SOLIDS 92
Imperfect resilience results from the imbalance between two opposing transformations that take place simultaneously within the deformed solid.

G. AUTOMOTIVE TRACTION 93
There are two kinds of traction,involving imperfect and superperfect resilience respectively. Superperfection merely reverses the sequence of events involved in imperfection. Although we presently attempt to use only imperfect traction, it should be possible to develop superperfect traction as a feasible technology. If this happens,then tires will become a source of mechanical power.

H. THE IMMOVEABLE EARTH 98
The presently accepted hypothesis that the vectoral forces our machines apply to the mass of the earth cancel, thus averting energy waste, cannot be correct. This is because we cannot in any way alter the earth's rotation.

I. ORBITAL MECHANICS AND TIDES 100
The tides and their accompanying distortion of the earth's shape may help to explain many geophysical phenomena, and cast doubt on the absolute conservation of energy.

J. ORBITAL MECHANICS AND THE SOLAR SYSTEM 101
Similar phenomena within our solar system can be explained using the same hypothesis as the tides, and cast further doubt on the absolute conservation of energy.

K. THE MEANING OF MANAGEMENT 102
The function of theory is to enable engineers to perceive possibilities that would otherwise escape their attention, oversights that doom us to continue in the same rut.

CHAPTER FIVE: RESONANT TRANSFORMATIONS 104
Transformational relationships involving a rotating body such as a nucleus can resonate much as a guitar string resonates at its resonant frequency. This rotation creates a set of equally spaced distances at which the body's relationship with electrons or other nuclei will resonate, producing field strengths at these distances that greatly exceed those predicted by the inverse squared law. This increase results in a set of interrelated phenomena,including increased nuclear mass and charge, radioactive half-lives, electron shells, and the spacing of nuclei in molecules and crystals.

A. RESONANCE ALTERS INVERSE SQUARED LAW 105
Resonance along single dimensional line of interaction increases experienced field strength to levels above that predicted by the inverse squared law.

B. THE PRIMACY OF ANGULAR RELATIONSHIPS 106
For our universe to be other than purely explosive or implosive, attraction must exceed repulsion. Angular relationships prevent implosion, enabling structure.

C. RETAINING ELEMENTS OF CLASSICAL PHYSICS 106
It will be necessary to retain inertial mass as a quality of particles, and probably necessary to acknowledge the existence of some locally absolute perspective that establishes the degree of angular momentum.

D. DEFINING THE ANGULAR PERSPECTIVE 108
All angular perspectives are defined with reference to that matter within reasonable proximity, whether it be other atoms or other stars. It is unlikely that we will be able to attribute angular perspectives entirely to informational interactions.

E. RESONANT TRANSFORMATIONS 111
Internal orbit of the nucleus will cause resonant increases in experienced mass and charge at certain distances from the nucleus.

F. ATOMIC MASS 112
Because of the existence of resonance, nuclei will be experienced as having greater mass and charge than the sum of their constituent particles.

G. ATOMIC HALF-LIVES 114
There is a correlation between the probabilistic nature of the resonance caused increase in atomic mass/charge and the probabilistic nature of radioactive half-lives, suggesting a common cause.

H. THE SIMPLE HYDROGEN ATOM 115
The single proton that constitutes the nucleus creates electron rings, suggesting that it is individual protons rather than the nucleus as a whole that create electron shells.

I. ELECTRON SHELLS 117
Because certain distances from the nucleus are resonant and other distances are not, resonance will produce a set of concentric shells that respectively allow and deny occupancy.

J. STANDING WAVES 119
The emissive nature of field creates standing waves that are structural in nature. These include the gravitational waves that Einstein predicted, although these waves are actually structural rather than emissive.

K. THE CLOUDLIKE BEHAVIOR OF ELECTRONS 122
Interactions between orbiting electrons and particles within the nucleus will cause electron orbits to precess. However, there may be a better explanation for the retention of distances between nuclei than such cloudlike behavior.

L. MOLECULAR AND CRYSTALLINE STRUCTURE 124
The same resonance that binds electrons to particular atoms by confining them to electron shells will also repel the nuclei of other atoms that get too close. Therefore, it is internuclear repulsion rather than electron clouds that keep otherwise attractive nuclei apart.

M. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ATOM 125
Atom is a manifestation of certain interactive principles that structure interparticulate interactions. Because these interactions are so stable and predictable, we experience them as structure. The future will emphasize the principles that give rise to this stability and predictability, rather than emphasizing structure itself.

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