Theory Of Gravitation And Related Phenomena

Excerpt from A Theory of Gravitation, and Related Phenomena In explaining the phenomena of inertia, electric currents, magnetism, chemical affinity, and radiant energy, the above alternative assumptions concerning the character of the distortion lead to essentially similar lines of reasoning, but the treatment on the assumption of radial distortion is very much simpler. For this reason it is used here. In the case of static electricity only the assumption of circular distortion, opposite in direction in the two kinds of electric elements, will explain the facts. The extension of the theory to static electricity is left for future treatment. It must be remembered, however, that the development of the theory on the basis of radial distortion differs only in detail, not in principle, from that on the basis of circular distortion. The Atom. - The atom is assumed to consist, at least in part, of a Saturnian system of electrons in rapid orbital motion. It will be shown that such orbital motion, with the assumptions here made, would give rise to a pressure in the ether such as Newton showed would account for gravitation. Physicists are agreed that the phenomena of inertia, the electric current, magnetism, and possibly also chemical affinity are probably related to each other in such manner that when we find the explanation of one of them this explanation will also throw light on the others. It will be seen in what follows that the theory of gravitation here presented appears also to offer suggestions as to the nature of these other forces, as well as a possible explanation of them. Inertia. Let c, Fig. Ia, be an electron stationary in the ether. At a certain undetermined distance from the center of this electron (equal to what we may call its radius) we may assume a maximum radial distortion of the ether, and we may regard the spherical shell at this distance as the surface of the electron. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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Includes bibliographical references (p. [397]-410) and index.

Le Sage's theory of gravitation is a kinetic theory of gravity originally proposed by Nicolas Fatio de Duillier in 1690 and later by Georges-Louis Le Sage in 1748. The theory proposed a mechanical explanation for Newton's gravitational force in terms of streams of tiny unseen particles (which Le Sage called ultra-mundane corpuscles) impacting all material objects from all directions.

The Feynman Lectures on Gravitation are based on notes prepared during a course on gravitational physics that Richard Feynman taught at Caltech during the 1962-63 academic year. For several years prior to these lectures, Feynman thought long and hard about the fundamental problems in gravitational physics, yet he published very little. These lectures represent a useful record of his viewpoints and some of his insights into gravity and its application to cosmology, superstars, wormholes, and gravitational waves at that particular time. The lectures also contain a number of fascinating digressions and asides on the foundations of physics and other issues.Characteristically, Feynman took an untraditional non-geometric approach to gravitation and general relativity based on the underlying quantum aspects of gravity. Hence, these lectures contain a unique pedagogical account of the development of Einstein's general theory of relativity as the inevitable result of the demand for a self-consistent theory of a massless spin-2 field (the graviton) coupled to the energy-momentum tensor of matter. This approach also demonstrates the intimate and fundamental connection between gauge invariance and the principle of equivalence.

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