Preface to the lecture, 1

582

 

Boscovich and the respiration of the Earth

 

 

 

Fig. 28.6 A:       The curvature of the Earth in the 

gravitational 

field of the sun 

 

Fig. 28.6 B:       Force of attraction and reduction of the 

distance L 

as the mutual field influence of two masses. 

:     Repetition of part 1, chapter 6.7

 

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Objectivity versus relativity _____________________________________________ 583

 

28.6 Boscovich and the respiration of the Earth

 

Who has got a good idea, fast will find that some other scientist had the same idea already 

before, and for his part possibly already had to make the same experience. If in spite of 

that the track fast loses in history, it as a rule is because of the insufficient citing and the 

vanity of the discoverers, who in reality only are rediscoverers of a much older 

knowledge.

 

The dependence of the length measures on the field (eq. 28.18) in the mathematical form 

of the derivation however should still be quite new. But the physical consequence already 

was described by the Jesuit priest Roger Joseph Boscovich from Dalmatia in 1755

. He 

was Professor for mathematics and theology in Rome and spoke about the world on the 

one hand being deformable, similar to rubber, but on the other hand we aren't able to 

perceive this, since our body is made of the same material and follows all changes. ,,We in 

an absolute way can recognize neither the place, nor distances or orders of magnitude", 

writes Boscovich in his book about space and time and writes how these are perceived by 

us

. He suspects that the Earth unobservable for man ,,is respiring".

 

Actually a terrestrial observer at daytime is situated closer to the sun than in the night. He 

by day is exposed to a slightly stronger field and as a result correspondingly smaller. He 

himself and all objects in his neighbourhood are subject to an identical fluctuation of size, 

so that this ,,respiration" of the Earth cannot be detected. It can be detected neither with a 

tape measure nor with an optical measurement and still is present in reality. Only from a 

neutral standpoint we can succeed to recognize the actually existing curvature of space 

(fig. 28.6 A).

 

An example is the duration of the sunshine at the equator, which is longer than can be 

expected from the spherical form of the Earth. This reveals, how the Earth is bending 

towards the sun (see also chapter 6.7).

 

A further example is the influence of the field on the orbital velocity of the Earth 

measured in meters per second. Here also the meter at daytime is smaller than in the night, 

for which reason the Earth is moving slower on the side turned towards the sun, like a 

track vehicle, which drives a turn, if the chain at the inside runs slower than on the 

outside. If the Earth describes an orbit around the sun. then this circumstance has to do 

nothing at all with centrifugal force or with a force of attraction of the sun. The circular 

motion simply and solely is a result of the field influence of the sun

.

 

The force idea proves to be a pure auxiliary description. In the context of Newtonian 

mechanics the force plays a central role. Without question it is a very efficient and 

subjective perceptible description, which still isn't able to reproduce the physical reality in 

an objective manner. What keeps the planets into their orbit is only the field of the sun, 

which we call gravitational field and not some force! But of which kind is the gravitation 

and the field, which causes masses to come closer together and following our subjective 

observation attract each other (fig. 28.6 B)?

 

:     O.  E.   Rossler:   Endophysics,  the World  as  an  Interface,  World  Scientific 

Publishing Co. 1998, Kap. 10, S. 87-112, mit Ubersetzungen aus :

 

:    R. J. Boscovich: De spatio et tempore, ut a nobis cognoscuntur, 1755.

 

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584

 

Derivation of the gravitation

 

The length measure (the distance L between the spheres)

 

is determined by the field strength: 

 

(28.18)

 

A.  Charged mass points (electrons, positrons, ions,...): 

 

B.  Uncharged mass points (neutrons, atoms, ...): 

 

Fig. 28.7:      Observation of a mutual force of attraction 

because of 

the effect of the fields on the distance measure. 

:     Repetition of part 1, chapters 6.7 - 6.9  and part 2, chapters 10.4 and 15.2

 

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Objectivity versus relativity _____________________________________________ 585

 

28.7 Derivation of the gravitation

 

In fig. 28.6B the relation between the field influence and the observed force of attraction 

of two mass bodies is represented. If I in my mind for instance "switch on" the field lines 

of both bodies, which are placed at distance L, then the fields according to equation 28.18 

reduce the measure L and optically come each other closer. With increasing proximity the 

field line density increases, so that L further decreases. We observe a mutual attraction, 

which lets both bodies move towards each other.

 

In fig. 28.7A the two bodies carry an electric charge. For different polarity the field lines 

as is well-known run from the positive pole to the negative pole, to bundle up there. As a 

matter of principle also here an attraction can be expected, which is called electromagnetic 

interaction. For the reason of the bundling up of the field lines this effect however will 

turn out to be considerably stronger. Hence the electromagnetic interaction is for many 

powers of ten more powerful than the gravitation.

 

Furthermore there also can occur repulsion, if in the case of like charge the field lines are 

bent aside and between the two bodies an area is formed, where the field tends towards 

zero and the distance measure L (according to eq. 28.18) as a result towards infinity. The 

electromagnetic interaction theoretically indeed reaches to infinity. Responsible are the 

open field lines arising from a charged body.

 

Now every charged body in addition has a mass, with which it takes part in the 

gravitation. Let's remember the comparison of the derivations. The Maxwell theory 

teaches us that in the static case E- and H-field are decoupled, because each time the other 

field disappears. Even if as a result of the unipolar induction for every open field line the 

other one is taken to be standing perpendicular to the open field line, then this other line 

just wraps around the open field line and forms a closed-loop field line. In that way it 

can't be influenced anymore from the outside and can be neglected, so goes the doctrine, 

which is drawn from the Maxwell theory (fig. 27.5).

 

This is a fatal error in reasoning! The equation 28.19 naturally is valid for open field lines 

in the same manner as for closed ones. These fields also lead to an observable force of 

attraction. If of course exactly those fields are neglected, which are responsible for the 

gravitation, then we need not wonder, if we don't understand the gravitation and the 

nature of this interaction!

 

The influence of the closed field lines responsible for the gravitation is due to the missing 

bundling up of the lines correspondingly weak. Secondly these can't exist a force of 

repulsion due to the missing ability to influence closed field lines from the outside and 

third it can be recorded that all charged bodies also have a mass. All three statements of 

the field lines model perfectly cover the physical reality.

 

Fig. 28.7 B shows uncharged bodies, for which both the field lines of the E-field and of 

the perpendicular to them arranged H-field are closed-loop. Such bodies, like e.g. neutrons 

or whole atoms without charge behave electrically neutral to the outside, but have a mass 

for the reason of the closed field lines, whereby the field lines of the H-field dominate 

those of the E-field

.

 

:     Repetition of K. Meyl: EMEC part 1, chap. 6.8 + 6.9, part 2 chap. 15.1

 

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