Space Contains a Medium That Facilitates The Transfer of Energy

 THE MEDIUM IN SPACE AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF ENERGY

The object of this paper is to support the idea that space contains a medium which acts very much as all the mediums we commonly observe.  Many commonplace observations in physics can be better explained if we assume that space contains a medium.  The makeup of that medium is not discussed.

                                                                        I. Preface

The Ability to Detect Characteristics of a Medium in Space;

The Constant Velocity of Waves in a Uniform Medium

Picture a bell which issues sound waves in the form of a sphere.  These waves move in a 1/r2 pattern at a constant speed.  An observer occupying a small portion of that expanding sphere and moving toward or away from the bell would experience an increased or decreased frequency.  But the rest of the sphere continues to move at the constant speed of which air is capable of transmitting energy, i.e., the wave, and in the 1/r2 pattern and the presence or absence of an observer is irrelevant to the wave’s velocity.  This example serves to illustrate the difference between the constant velocity of energy transfer, both speed and direction, and the energy density observed by a moving detector in that medium.  A moving emitter in a  medium has the very same effect.

But this example is inapplicable to direct detection of the velocity of energy transfer in the medium in space.  In the case of the bell example there is an observer outside the medium who can observe the  constant velocity of the wave and the energy density modifications of an observer moving in the medium from which a medium can be detected.  No such observer is possible in the case of the medium contained in space since everything, including our possible outside observer, is within the proposed medium.  An observer within the medium does not have sufficient information to form an adequate reference point in order to make the needed determinations just as the observer in the bell example cannot judge the speed of the wave in the medium emanating from the source.  The only manner in which the observer in the case of the bell can accurately judge the speed of the wave emanating from the source is by reference to an object on land, i.e., outside of the medium.  But without a reference point outside the medium the observer has no way of measuring its speed in the medium by measuring the waves it observes because the observer never knows whether it is moving or the medium is moving or the emitter is moving (or all three) and the effect any of the movements has on wave frequency.  And if the observer does not know its speed with respect to the source of the waves it observes, it cannot use the wave frequency it observes to determine the velocity of waves that the source emits in the medium.

The hallmark of any medium is the transfer of energy at a constant velocity no matter the movement of the emitting source.  And when the emitter and the observer are both within the same medium and no measurements from outside the medium are possible then there is no direct way that this essential characteristic of the medium can accurately be determined so as to demonstrate that there is, in fact, a medium.  Therefore the remainder of this paper argues by analogy from commonplace mediums in which measurements outside of the medium are available such as water or air on earth.

   One further preliminary point.  As referred to above, the movement of the emitter creating the wave does not cause velocity of the energy transfer in a medium to change.  Once the emitter excites the medium the emitter can no longer affect the velocity of the energy promulgated and it is solely the quality of the medium’s constituency which produces the constant speed and 1/r2 direction.  Any emitter embedded in the medium produces this result.  The emitter does not influence the velocity of the energy it sets forth; that is solely the province of the medium and its makeup.

                                                                                    II.

                       Waves and the Formation of Wave Frequency as Evidence of a Medium

The formation and existence of waves in space or in fluids we can observe such as air or water in and of itself supports the speculation that space contains a medium.

The root question relating to the creation of waves is why does an almost continuous transfer of energy by movement of a boat on water for example or, as proposed, a photon in space create a discontinuous energy transfer we call a wave.  And by what mechanism does a continuous transfer of energy from a moving particle create a discontinuous distribution of energy in the form of a wave.  In essence the wave is formed because the particle creating the wave in the medium moves more slowly than the speed at which the medium transfers that energy away from the exciting particle.

The medium sets the velocity of energy distribution no matter the speed of the particle or source.  The particle cannot move in excess of the distribution velocity of energy permitted by the medium; there is a  limit.  If a particle or a photon moves through a medium in continuous fashion it transfers energy to the medium but that energy moves away from the particle in a speed in excess of the speed of the particle itself.  This in turn forms a medium transferring energy followed by a part of the medium which transfers no energy.  This is what we detect as a wave.  No matter the rate at which the moving particle transfers energy into the medium, since the medium propagates energy at a faster speed, a wave is necessitated.

Therefore the fact that energy is distributed in space in the form of waves supports the idea that space is inhabited by a medium.  And the faster the movement of the particle caused by a greater energy input to the particle, the greater the wave frequency which further supports the premise of the paper.                                                            

III.

                                                              Bending of Light

                                                                                                                                                                                                      Changes in the characteristics of a medium result in changes in the energy distribution patterns.   For example, we observe this in the process of diffraction when light waves pass from air to water or air to glass.  Based on the premise that a mass noticeably modifies the medium contained in space in the vicinity of the mass in which it is found then it is proposed that a light wave passing in that changed medium would have a changed velocity.  This is observed as the bending of light by a massive object such as a star and lensing observed in a light wave passing a gravity field.  Also, a change in speed from one medium to another produces a frequency shift and contributes to a frequency change such as a shift toward the red end of the spectrum in a gravity field.  For example, as a wave passes into a medium which permits a faster speed for the wave, the frequency lowers.  This medium induced change in velocity supports the presence of a medium in space.

                                                                                 IV.

                          Light’s Constant Velocity is Indirect Evidence of the Medium in Space

When the medium is excited by the moving particle a wave is formed and its velocity is fixed by the medium and its velocity is independent of the movement of the emitter or the observer.

It is proposed that when an emitter sends forth a photon, the photon’s movement through the medium creates a wave and that wave moves at a constant speed and spreads in the usual 1/r2 pattern characteristic of any medium.  The constant velocity aspect irrespective of movement of emitter or observer is neither confirmed nor disputed by the Michelson-Morley experiments.  That is so because this type of experiment is based on frequency observation, i.e., energy density.  For extended discussion see the accompanying paper “Analysis of the Michelson-Morley Experiment.”

     The constant speed of the light wave and the 1/r2 direction is the result of the propagation, i.e., transfer of energy, in a uniform medium into which energy is induced.  So by analogy to commonplace mediums which we are able to observe directly from outside the medium, light waves appear to follow the same pattern which in turn supports the proposition that space contains a medium.                                                         

                                                                                      V.

                                                                  The Double Slit Analysis

The Double Slit (Young) Experiment can be given a reasonable explanation if it is assumed space contains a propagating medium.  As energy is emitted from a light source a photon causes a wave to be formed which propagates according to the medium’s characteristics.  A steel ball traveling in deep water is an apt visual; the ball’s movement creates a wave in the medium of water just as it is proposed that a photon (or any other mass for that matter) creates a wave in the medium in which the mass moves.  The wave so created by the photon goes through the two slits and forms the typical interference wave pattern on the target wall.  If there is any observation of the process then the wave post slit is modified by the transfer of energy needed to cause detection and the wave pattern is destroyed.  Note that the particle, i.e., photon, may or may not hit the target wall, but, as discussed below since it is proposed that most of the energy in the photon/wave system is contained in the wave, the impingement of the photon on the wall is overwhelmed by the energy transferred by the wave.  Note that all moving masses no matter the size and not just photons display the same wavelike producing behavior at an appropriate scale.  But why is it so that objects more massive than photons or electrons propelled through this experiment show a particle pattern on the target wall?

The answer lies, as suggested above, in the energy distribution among the exciting mass and the wave created in the medium.  For an object of negligible mass, such as a photon, most of the energy in the system composed of the photon and the wave is contained in the wave.  For a more massive object more energy is held in the object and relatively little in the wave.  For a more massive object the interference caused by the vastly less energetic wave is not easily detected and the particle pattern predominates.

It is proposed that light is a two part phenomenon in which energy is transferred in part through a medium in space by a wave and in part by the particle which creates the wave. Nothing suggested takes from the quantization developed assuming a curved space-time or any of the other highly developed mathematics used to quantify physical phenomena used by physicists.  This paper is presented only to suggest another manner of viewing our universe and to suggest space is inhabited by a medium and it is this medium which serves in one way to transfer energy from one part of space to another.