The Transmission of Gravity
Since the early 1980’s images constructed from data obtained by the technology of electron microscopy have provided a visual confirmation of the ultimate, natural division of matter. But, while this is acceptable empirical proof of the existence of atoms and of their structural arrangements in solid matter, these images show no sign of the motion, or of the separation of atoms in macroscopic matter that is a core assumption of current atomic theory. Instead these images give a clear impression of an ‘apparent continuousness‘ *(1) of atoms, as in the image below, courtesy of IBM Almaden.
Figure 1
The historical origins of this concept of the separation of atoms by a volume of ’empty space’ go back to Greek philosophers of around 2500 years ago, who invented the vacuum in order to be able to explain the fluidity of air and water with their oddly shaped atoms.
This concept was dismissed by Aristotle whose four elements model was accepted until 1644 when Torricelli was generally assumed to have created a perfect vacuum in his experiments with mercury, which contradicted the then generally accepted Aristotelian wisdom that this state was not possible in any circumstance. It can be no coincidence therefore that three years later, in 1647, Gassendi resurrected Democritus’ ‘kinetic’ atomic theory, which was dependent on its ‘existence’.
When Torricelli’s apparatus was later shown by Pascal to be an indicator of atmospheric pressure, this “supported the belief that the atmosphere is only a thin layer surrounding the earth, and that outer space is empty” *(2). This belief of space as essentially a vacuum perpetuated until the mid 1900’s – “Half a century ago, most people visualised our planet as a solitary sphere traveling in a cold, dark vacuum of space around the Sun.” *(3)
Of course Torricelli’s ‘vacuum’ was not a perfect one, but contained mercury vapour ‘boiled’ off in the low pressure created by the weight of the column of liquid mercury, however if one Googles images of barometers, virtually all indicate, without qualification, that the space above the mercury is a vacuum.
The possibility of the existence of the state of a perfect vacuum was contested, particularly in the 19th century by proponents of a zero-inertia medium occupying space that allowed the transmission of wave formations such as that of light, but this concept of a ‘luminiferous aether’ was finally put to ‘a scientific‘ rest by Einstein who pronounced it superfluous. And, in his first paper on Special Relativity, he assumed, as did many scientists at this time, that above a finite Earth atmosphere that extended only 80-100 Km altitude, ‘space’ was essentially a perfect vacuum.
Kinetic atomic theory was refined and developed by such people as Bernoulli through to Clerk Maxwell and on into the 20th century, to a general acceptance that was strongly influenced by Einstein’s 1905 paper on kinetic theory and the phenomenon of Brownian Motion.
Thus in the first half of the last century scientists generally believed that outer space was essentially a perfect vacuum, and that this vacuum permeated down into the atmosphere and separated atomic matter in all states. Accordingly the two fundamental theories of modern physics, relativity and quantum, were originally formulated on the basis of the existence of a perfect vacuum in these circumstances.
The concept of space as a vacuum persisted until the manned exploration of near space after which it emerged that ‘The NASA Space Shuttle at 250- 300 Km altitudes ‘in space’ was found to be in air, with the same proportions of oxygen and nitrogen as at sea level, at a concentration of 1 billion atoms per cc compared to 3 x 10[19] per cc at sea level. Thus in no sense could it be called a vacuum.
The sun too has an atmosphere, and because the sun accounts for more than nine tenths of the total mass of the solar system, its atmosphere is much larger than that of any planet. The solar atmosphere extends far beyond the orbit of the earth, and at 80,000 Km our atmosphere merges imperceptibly with that of the sun.’ *(4)
Further it has been estimated that ‘In certain regions of outer space — there are (approximately 5 atoms) per cubic centimetre.’ *(5) and it is now clear that there is a consistent distribution of matter, at varying densities and pressures, throughout the universe.
Thus it is realised that outer space is not a perfect vacuum, and it is now generally accepted that a perfect vacuum ‘is a philosophical concept with no physical reality’, and further that in macroscopic matter ‘the space between molecules is not a perfect vacuum’ *(6).
But it is accepted by applied scientists and technicians that a vacuum cannot be isolated in the laboratory, which given its defined hypothetical qualities of non-interaction with matter is inexplicable.
In this paper ‘Creating a Vacuum’ at https://romunpress.co.nz/romunnose/fundamentals-of-physics-part-4/, I suggest that this state of a vacuum, and thus of any inter-atomic and sub-atomic ‘vacuum filling’ media, is an impossibility universally.
But the postulates of kinetic theory remain in place as the basis of current atomic theory, in that atoms and molecules of macroscopic matter are in eternal motion in a non-material volume of ’empty space’, and that the force of pressure is a result of their high velocity collisions.
It is significant however that when the assumptions on which the theory of discontinuous matter is based are listed today, this predominant volumetric component is not defined, and is only indirectly referred to, as for a gas ‘the total volume of (atomic matter) is negligible compared to the volume of the container‘. It can therefore only be described in terms of the characteristics that, by definition, it does not possess, which are that it cannot inhibit the kinetic motion of atomic matter within it and thus cannot, of itself, exert any force upon matter.
Clerk Maxwell’s 1859 Laws of Distribution of Velocities was the first statistical law of physics and since then the kinetic atomic theory of gases has been utilised as means of determining, albeit approximately and within a limited range, the variations of pressure, volume and temperature in gases.
When technological advances later provided the means, for example to subject gases to pressures sufficient to convert them to the liquid state, successive modifications, such as the Van der Waals Equations of State, were necessary to adapt it to phenomena that in some cases flatly contradicted the original postulates. And it is significant to note that it has not been possible to formulate statistical laws that can be applied to the liquid and solid states of matter.
Apart from the variations of pressure and volume in gases, collision theory has not been successful in providing comprehensible, conceptual explanations for the atomic interactions that generate, or influence, other natural phenomena in this state, such as thermal conductivity, diffusion and convection. This latter example is confirmed by the complete absence of any description, in any standard textbook on physics, old or new, advanced or otherwise, of the causal atomic/molecular interactions that result in this fundamentally important thermal transport.
But there is one phenomenon that is patently inexplicable in these terms, and this is the transfer of oxygen from the air into the blood during human and mammalian respiration.
The atmosphere consists mainly of nitrogen and oxygen in the ratios of about 78% and 21% respectively, and the time taken for the process of inhalation to exhalation in humans is generally between 1 and 3 seconds, dependent on the rate of physical exertion. In this period around one third of the proportion of oxygen in the air that is that is drawn into the lungs is absorbed. The transfer takes place in the millions of tiny, balloon like, alveolar sacs, the internal surfaces of which (the alveolar membranes), are covered with a liquid surfactant into which oxygen dissolves, and from which it passes through the membrane and attaches to the hemoglobin in the blood.
As the diffusion of atomic matter in gases is observed to be a relatively slow process, for a third of the available oxygen to be absorbed in a short period (of less than a second under a high level of physical exertion), it is necessary for the vast majority of the oxygen molecules that come into contact with the surfactant to be absorbed, and, in order that a level of pressure is maintained on the internal surfaces of the alveoli, it is also necessary that most of the nitrogen molecules are not.
The atomic masses of oxygen and nitrogen are only marginally different at 16 and 14, and kinetic theory suggests that their average kinetic velocities are proportional, (which means that they often are traveling at similar velocities) and that ‘collisions with the walls of a container are assumed to be instantaneous and elastic’.
As it is at the surface of the surfactant where both oxygen is absorbed and a pressure is maintained, it is inconceivable that an oxygen molecule can be identified and accepted in an instantaneous, high velocity collision with this surface, while in the same time a majority of the nitrogen molecules in collisions are identified and repulsed.
So while collision theory cannot by any means explain the fundamentally important, physiological phenomenon of the absorption of oxygen in the process of human respiration, the relatively obscure Brownian Motion is generally accepted as being a manifestation of the effects of the collisions of molecules with minute particles of matter (such as pollen grains) and a visual proof of the kinetic motion of atoms. Successive experiments (with e.g ‘molecular beam’ apparati) have been carried out since 1859 attempting to prove the theory of a kinetic motion of atoms, but none of these (which were both set up and analysed on the basis of the assumptions of the theory) can be said to provide an unequivocal proof of an inherent and eternal motion of individual atoms.
The perfect vacuum of the early 1900’s has today been ‘reclassified’ into a zero-inertia medium ‘that is not a vacuum’, and which is essentially a resurrection of the 19th century aether rejected as ‘superfluous’ by Einstein.
Isaac Newton wrote over 300 years ago : –
“That one body may act upon another at a distance through a vacuum, without the mediation of anything else, by which their action and force may be conveyed from one to another, is to me so great an absurdity, that I believe that no man, who has in philosophical matters a competent faculty of thinking, can ever fall into it.”
In other words it is not possible, either conceptually or mathematically, to describe how a force is transmitted between two masses of any dimension through a perfect vacuum, or alternatively through any hypothetical medium that has a characteristic of zero-inertia.
Yet this is what the theory of discontinuous matter, by default, suggests must be possible. The theory states that in solid matter the individual atoms are vibrating in a fixed volume of space (in a lattice formation) and can only exert a positive force on adjacent atoms by means of random (near) collisions, and further that the ‘interactions between molecules are negligible‘ and ‘gravitational forces can be ignored’ *(7).
However it is observed that the gravitational force generated by any massive body is exerted consistently in all directions from its centre of mass/gravity, and it is also observed that the force exerted is proportional to the total mass of the body. Since the total mass of the body is the sum total of the masses of all the atoms of which it is composed, and, as gravity is a function of mass, then the total gravitational force exerted by the massive body can only be the sum of the individual gravitational forces of these atoms.
Therefore it follows that, for the observed transmission of this sum force of gravitation to be effected externally, there can be no other conclusion drawn than that each atom must exert, in all directions from its centre, a gravitational force upon each of the adjacent atoms, and that the force exerted externally is the cumulative total of the individual forces generated by each of the component atoms.
Clearly if gravitational forces are being transmitted from atom to atom then, in these circumstances any individual, random motion could not be sustained indefinitely. Also, if such a motion of atoms in a volume of empty space existed, then STM probes (which pass slowly back and forth over the atoms on the surface of the target materials) would obviously not produce the typical, distinctly hemispherical images generally available. This is highlighted by the images of platinum atoms shown in Figure 1 earlier, where there is no sign of any separation, but rather the existence of clearly defined borders with adjacent atoms.
Issac Newton suggested that atoms are not in constant motion and discontinuous but are ‘static’ and continuous, and that the force of pressure is a result of atoms ‘pressing’ on surrounding atoms. In this model pressure variations are due to the atoms expanding or contracting with absorption or emission of thermal energy.
This concept can be tested on the problem of respiration discussed earlier, where in the fully homogeneous mixture of atmospheric gases one in five of atoms is oxygen, and where this proportion will always be in close contact with the surfactant of the alveoli during inhalation. In such circumstances it is far easier to accept that the different chemical characteristics of the reactant element oxygen (vis a vis the inert nitrogen) could be recognised, so that the observed percentage could be absorbed in a minimum period of around half a second that would be available at a high level of physical exertion.
Returning to gravitation, the atoms of a ‘kinetic’ gas can only exert a repulsive force by means of high velocity collisions with other atoms as in the case of the single atom depicted in Figure 2A below (8) between two metal rod ends. But, as the force of gravitation is transmitted through gases, and if atoms cannot transmit this attractive force (as represented by the arrows) then it must pass through the intervening zero-inertia, non-material ’empty space’, but this, as discussed, is not by any means possible.
However if Newton’s concept is applied to this situation, and it is reasonably assumed that atoms, having mass, exert a attractive force in all directions in accordance with his law of universal gravitation, it can be seen that this force can be transmitted between the two bodies via intervening static atoms, as shown in Figure 2B where the (idealised) single gas atom shown has a optimal radius of 12 times (representing a volume of about 1500 times) that of the atoms of the metal. This atom is subjected to all of the attractive forces of the adjacent atoms at the surfaces of both bodies, and, being strongly attracted to both masses, is the medium for the transmission of attractive forces between them.
If static atoms exert a gravitational force in all directions on adjacent atoms then the observed expansion of macroscopic matter with the absorption of thermal energy can only be caused by an expansion of their individual fields of influence (and of their centres to greater separations) in opposition to this attractive force.
A static atom would therefore exert both an attractive gravitational force and a force of resistance to incursion into its field of influence by the fields of adjacent atoms. In other words, acting at the outer peripheries of its matter/energy field, each atom is repulsing the fields of the adjacent atoms and thereby also exerting a force of pressure in all directions.
If one of the masses depicted above is now removed the effect upon this single atom can be examined as per the diagrams below, and at this point we need to consider the repulsive forces of the force field as well.
In Figure 3A the repulsive forces are depicted as being equal in all directions, but the strong attractive forces of the atoms of the rod end will force the gas atom’s nucleus into a closer proximity as in Figure 3B.
In the proximity of the nucleus both the attractive and the repulsive forces increase proportionately in the direction of the rod end and, as the force field will resist a reduction in volume without emitting energy, these forces will tend to distort the outer force field in the manner shown.
If another atom is placed alongside the first as shown in Figure 3C then clearly the (relatively weaker) attraction of the nucleus of this atom to the first and to the rod end, will tend to distort both its and the second atom’s force field as shown, and further distort the field of the first in the directions X and Y.
The addition of more atoms in line will have a similar and progressively diminishing effect on all the atoms concerned and so if the second rod is replaced and the gap is widened to allow seven atoms of gas to intercede the configuration will be as in Fig 4 below. The result is that the outer force fields of all the intermediary atoms are distorted to varying degrees by the variations in the forces experienced by the two rods pulling each one in two directions, the central atom A will experience an equal attraction from both rod ends, which means that this atom is itself exerting an attractive force on both rod ends, which of course will also apply to all the other intervening atoms.
The nucleus (or the centre of mass/gravity) of this central atom A in the figure below, is experiencing an equal attraction from atoms B and C, and the net effect of the greater gravitational attraction of both rod ends on the nuclei of these two atoms is to pull the centres away from atom A. This translates into forces acting on the outer periphery of atom A’s energy field at the intersection between it and atoms B and C, which is in effect pulling the outer perimeter of the field away from atom A’s nucleus in the direction of B and C, as indicated by the dashed arrows, and accordingly tending to elongate the field in these directions.
This introduction of other adjacent atoms into this arrangement introduces another factor as indicated in the diagram below.
The combined attractive forces of both rods acting on the nuclei of atoms Y and Z adjacent to atom A, indicated by the dashed arrows, introduce an additional force of pressure acting in the overall direction shown by the intersecting arrows pointing vertically downwards.
This force results in an increase in the repulsive forces acting on atom A from this direction and, together with the gravitational forces described above, adds to the tendency to elongate this atom laterally. This atom is therefore in a state of disequilibrium with adjacent atoms due to the gravitational forces of attraction of the rod ends, and will be attempting to regain equilibrium.
The effect of this is to produce pressure differentials as outlined below, where the distortion of the atomic force fields leads to the formation of pressure gradients as indicated by the dashed lines.
Extending this concept again with two larger massive bodies in Figure 8 below it is clear that their combined attractive forces acting on atom D are less than those on atoms B and C, which forces are less than those acting on atom A. While the massive bodies remain in this position, all the gas atoms in this area will be maintained in a state of non-equilibrium with the surrounding atoms outside the area of influence.
Also, whilst the forces acting on A tend to pull this directly towards both faces of the massive bodies, the forces acting on C tend to pull it at the angles as indicated, which forces combine to produce a force acting in the direction of A at the centre, and the same will apply to atoms further out (Atom D). It will be obvious that the combination of all these forces will produce pressure gradients similar to those in the diagram below.
All matter attracts other matter according to Newton’s laws and therefore all solid matter, being of greater density than the surrounding gaseous matter, will attract the atoms of these gases, so that denser layers will form near to the surfaces of the solid, which density will progressively reduce in proportion to separation from it, in the same manner as the gases of the earth’s atmosphere.
Thus an area of relative low pressure (shaded) is created in the space between the two rod ends and the atoms within this area are being decompressed relative to those under a compressive force in the near vicinity of the surface, as well as in comparison with those laterally some distance away. This enhances the gravitational forces of attraction transmitted via the intervening atoms, in inducing a motion of the rod ends towards each other, in other words a lower pressure is maintained here that would have the effect of pulling them into a closer association.
It is important to note here that atoms in the low-pressure area will be subject to decompressive forces while those in contact with the metal and in its vicinity will be under relative compression and that these atoms, as a result of these forces, will accordingly be attempting either to absorb or emit energy from and to their adjacent atoms.
The net result of this will be an overall tendency for the transmission of thermal energy from the gas outside of the area of influence into the atoms within it, as indicated in figure 9 above. *(9)
Thus while the rods remain in place the forces of compression and of decompression continue to act upon the atoms of the intervening gases and the state of non-equilibrium in these gases will also remain.
Of course the effects of these various forces on the intervening gases between masses of this dimension are so minute that measuring them is not possible by means of current technology and, where other forces dominate, in particular here the strong gravitational field of the earth, these forces have no discernible effect, however the application of these combined forces for larger masses of celestial dimensions are of immense importance.
With respect to the problem of fluidity that concerned the ancient Greeks, if it is logically assumed that atoms having mass exert a gravitational force upon adjacent atoms in accordance with Newton’s laws, then it would be apparent that frictional forces resulting from the stronger gravitational and repulsive forces acting at the outer peripheries of the energy fields between atoms in the close confines of the solid state would progressively reduce with expansion. So that in the gaseous state these forces would be reduced to the extent that other external forces such as convection would be sufficient to move individual atoms into different positions and associations.
Celestial Gravitation
This concept can now be applied to larger bodies, such as the attraction between the earth and the moon, where the total force of mutual attraction needed to maintain it in its orbit around the earth is obviously enormous.
As discussed earlier, it is now accepted that the atmosphere of earth extends to and merges with that of the sun at about 80,000 km. Thus there is an ‘atmosphere’ occupying all the vast space between the orbit of the earth and the sun. By atmosphere in this context, I mean there is a continuity of matter in the form of gaseous atoms.
Of course the density of these gases is proportionate to their altitude from the sun and from the earth and accordingly their average density is significantly lower than gases at the earth’s surface.
Thus the sun and all the planets including the earth and the moon are connected by mutual atmosphere, which of course is mainly the sun’s atmosphere, with local gravitational variations or influences.
In this respect when it is said that the earth’s atmosphere extends to 80,000 km, what is meant is that the gravitational influence of the earth, in the direction of the sun, is the dominant force on the gaseous matter to this altitude, whereupon at a higher altitude the gravitational influence of the sun is then predominant.
Clearly the earth, in rotating on its axis and orbiting the sun, is moving through the suns atmosphere of gas, as it has always done, and this solar atmosphere has obviously had no serious effect on the earth’s atmosphere at the surface on which our lives depend. (e.g. Such as the historical concern that frictional forces could remove the earth’s atmosphere.)
So between the earth and the moon there are gases that vary in density with altitude from both bodies, and from the surface of the earth to the surface of the moon there is always a continuous volume of atoms that are directly affected by the gravitational attraction of both bodies. The density of this gaseous matter varies in line with the intensity of the gravitational forces exerted by the masses of both.
So it can be suggested that if a single atom of nitrogen positioned at the earth’s surface is heated directly or indirectly by the sun and is surrounded by gases that have not absorbed the same energy, it will expand and rise convectively and will ultimately arrive at a higher altitude where it is in a state of equilibrium with atoms of the same energy level and density.
To induce this atom to continue to rise it would need a continuing and progressive input of energy. Accordingly let us suppose that energy is applied to this atom, in order to allow it to expand and continue to rise naturally to, say, 300 km above the earth’s surface, then it is clear that it would need to absorb a considerable amount of energy to cause it to rise to this altitude. Thus it follows that the energy level per atom of the low pressure and low density gases that exist at this altitude is greater than that of the gases at the earth’s surface.
If again energy is supplied specifically to this atom so that it can progressively expand, it will move further and further from the earth towards the moon until the point of gravitational neutrality between the earth and the moon is reached, which point is also the point of lowest density of the intervening gaseous matter.
All this is not remarkable, as it is precisely this characteristic of gases that is used to raise hot air balloons to high altitudes.
On the other hand it is also clear that if this atom was physically moved further out into the space between the earth and the moon, subjecting it to lower pressures but without ‘artificially’ imparting thermal energy to it, expansion in these circumstances will only occur with an absorption of energy, which in these circumstances could only be supplied by the surrounding gaseous matter.
The effect of the moon’s gravitational forces acting on the earth is observed twice each day with oceanic tidal fluctuations, which are caused by the ocean surface being ‘pulled’ upwards in opposition to the earth’s gravity towards the moon and away from its normal position of the level governed by the earth’s gravitation alone. *(10)
These forces distort the entire atmosphere between the earth and the moon, resulting in ‘atmospheric’ tides in the atmospheres of both bodies, however the tides of the moon’s thin atmosphere, being subject to the greater attraction of the earth, are proportionately larger in dimension. Figure 10 indicates the distortions of arbitrary layers of the atmospheres surrounding the earth and the moon. *(11)
The mean radius of the orbit of the moon about the earth is 385,000 Km, the diameter of the earth is about 12,750 Km and that of the moon about 3475 Km. Figure 11 depicts the cone of the direct gravitational influence between the earth and the moon, and the point where lines drawn from opposing sides of each body intersect is about 200,000 km from the earth, while the volume of this cone is about 26 trillion cubic Km.
All the atoms within this cone are being pulled in both directions by the gravitational forces of the earth and the moon. These atoms are therefore experiencing the similar stresses to the central atom in Figures 4 and 5, and also effectively transmitting the attractive gravitational forces of the earth and the moon via the intermediary atoms. Thus the atoms here, like the atoms in the previous examples, are being stretched by the gravitational forces of both bodies acting to pull them in opposite directions.
The other factor which modifies this effect, as outlined earlier, are the lateral forces of gravitational attraction acting on the matter outside the direct cone of attraction between the earth and the moon, which these forces tend to modify the total volume under relative decompression as indicated below.
The arrow from point G shows the forces generated by the combined attractive forces of both bodies acting on the matter outside the direct cone of influence, which, combined with the same forces inside the cone, result in the pressure gradients, indicated by the dashed curves.
These pressure gradients give an indication of the total volume of the gases subjected to relative decompression within the area of mutual attraction represented by the shaded area.
However this situation is of course not static and the motion of the moon in its orbit about the earth brings in another factor.
Lunar Motion
The diameter of the moon subtends an angle of about 0.6º at the earth; its hourly movement in relation to the earth is about 0.5º of arc. Thus the diagram below shows the approximate hourly lateral movement of the moon as seen from the earth.
If we consider a cross sectional disk of the cone as described in Figure 11 above at a distance of 200,000 Km from the earth, the radius of this disk is 2678 kilometres and its area is 22.5 million square kilometres as shown below.
This disk therefore is displaced each hour and ten minutes by about one diameter and the cone at this point affects a completely new volume of the solar atmosphere every hour and ten minutes. So the moons motion is continually and progressively changing the gases that occupy the cone of gravitational influence and the atoms within it have only a limited period of time to absorb energy in order to restore a level of relative equilibrium.
However the only way that they can expand is by absorbing energy and the nearest source of energy is the adjacent atoms that are subjected to almost identical stress. For the atoms at the centre of this disk to attain a state of relative equilibrium thermal energy must be transferred atom to atom from outside the direct cone of influence, and as it is observed that the transmission of the force of pressure is considerably faster than the transmission of thermal energy, it is clear that the thermal diffusion of energy over this distance of more than 2600 kilometres would not occur within the time scale set by the moons orbital motion, even if ‘surplus’ energy were readily available.
If no expansion is possible, then, while the relatively weak forces of inter-atomic attraction and repulsion still play a role, other forces come into consideration.
The Force of Resistance to Decompression
Matter expands with absorption of heat and contracts with emission of heat, thus expansion of a volume of gaseous matter results in both a reduction in density and an absorption of energy, which means that the energy content of the gas per atom has increased. In other words, if a gas is induced to absorb energy, either by heating or by subjecting it to a lower pressure, its density decreases in proportion to the increase in energy content per atom, however in the latter instance if no external thermal energy is available for transfer into the gas expansion cannot occur, which effect can be described as the ‘force of resistance to decompression’.
There are machines in regular use today that compress gases to many hundreds of times atmospheric pressure, and more sophisticated machines can apply compressions of hundreds of thousands of times that of atmospheric pressure.
Normally the only external force that can oppose the expansion of an enclosed volume of gas is atmospheric pressure and clearly this relatively minuscule force can easily be overcome by a low powered machine, but it is an observed fact that the force required to expand a gas increases exponentially to the point where, in practice (for example in a cylinder/piston apparatus) the integrity of the weaker materials (usually those that are in the vicinity of the enclosed gas) of the apparatus fail, and it is clear that the external atmospheric pressure is not the main cause of such failures. As stated it is acknowledged that it is not by any means possible to create a perfect vacuum and the exponential increase in force necessary for expansion of a gas suggests that in a hypothetically perfect apparatus this force would increase to the infinite.
Given the base assumptions of current atomic theory, in that a predominate volume of ’empty space’ separates gaseous atomic matter, which space by definition cannot resist its own expansion, and further that the atoms within this ’empty space’ can only apply a positive force by means of random collisions, this phenomenon is inexplicable.
The Force of Resistance to the Vacuum State
With the concept of static atoms, if the vacuum state were possible, then the point where this would be most likely to occur is where the attractive and repulsive forces of the atom are the weakest, which would be at the intersection of the force fields of three (or more) atoms as shown as in Fig. 15A below. And if it were not possible then clearly the atoms would experience another force on their outer force fields that would have the effect as depicted by the arrows in Fig. 15B.
This would be an ‘external’ force that would tend to pull the field of each atom in the direction of the other two atoms, this force is the ‘Force of Resistance to the Vacuum State’. Such a force simply explains why the external force needed to progressively expand gases rises exponentially, and why the expansion of matter is not possible, in any circumstance, without the absorption of energy into the matter itself.
Relating this to the attraction between the earth and the moon, the central atom in the figure below represents any atom in the volume of gases separating them. This atom is being attracted in both directions and is therefore experiencing forces of attraction pulling it in both directions, the overall effect of which is expansive.
This state of disequilibrium can only be relieved either by the removal of the gravitational forces or alternatively by the absorption of energy into its field laterally from adjacent atoms. The only other hypothetical option is for them to move apart and create a vacuum state between them, but as this state is not possible the outer perimeters of the atoms are held together as indicated by the smaller arrows between atoms A, B and C, which force, ‘the force of resistance to the state of vacuum’, acts at the outer peripheries of the energy fields of the atoms and prevents their separation.
However in the period while this individual atom is under the direct gravitational influence of these two celestial bodies, as no ‘spare’ thermal energy is available to allow its expansion in these circumstances, it is therefore exerting reciprocally attractive forces precisely equivalent to those exerted upon it by the earth and by the moon. In other words it is exerting an immeasurably minute force of attraction on both the earth and the moon proportional to its own mass.
But it is the cumulative effect of the immense number of individual atomic gravitational forces acting atom to atom within the volume of over 20 trillion cubic kilometres of gas affected by the mutually attractive forces between the earth and the moon that must be considered. Clearly these cumulative and reciprocal forces acting on the earth and the moon can produce the centripetal force necessary to hold the mass of the moon in its orbit around the earth.
Thus Newton’s static model of atomic interactions can provide for a logical and sensible, and relatively simple, conceptual description of the transmission of the force of gravitation, the laws of which he formulated over 300 years ago.
(1) Taming the Atom’, Hans Christian Von Baeyer, Dover, 2000
(2) The History and Philosophy of Science’, LWH Hull, Longmans – Green, 1959, Page 157.
(3) ‘The Sun From Space’, Kenneth R Lang, Tufts University, 2000
(4) ‘Elements: Air – The Nature of Atmosphere and Climate’ Michael Allaby, Facts on File Inc. NY, 1992
(5) J D Cutnell, K W Johnson , Physics, 3rd Edition. New York: Wiley, 1995:441
(6) Wikipedia
(7) Various Advanced Physics Textbooks
(8) This and all subsequent diagrams, being restricted to two dimensions, cannot be, and are not intended to be, accurate depictions of the actual spacial relationships of atomic matter.
(9) In an environment where there is no external disturbance of the intervening gases, such a transfer of energy will ultimately ensue, thus reducing the attractive forces that are due to this effect and leaving only the gravitational forces, however in normal circumstances where there are more powerful external forces acting upon and disturbing the intervening gas, combined with the observed slow diffusion, or inter-atomic transfer, of thermal energy this imbalance will generally be sustained.
(10) The distortion of the surface of the sea in the middle of the oceans due to this effect is only a matter of a metre or so, but this relatively small effect is often magnified in coastal areas by features such as the English Channel, where a funnelling effect increases the magnitude of the tides experienced in this area by a considerable margin.
(11) The purpose of these diagrams is to demonstrate the principles involved, and they are not an accurate representation of actual pressure gradients, and other external influences are ignored.