Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
The new full colour E-BOOKS are now available. These are ideal for
teachers, general readers, and specialists alike. Go here for further
details.
Plasma Cosmology
This web site aims to provide an introduction to the emerging Plasma "A new scientific truth
Universe paradigm, and to explore some of the many profound does not triumph by
implications. convincing its
opponents and making
Mainstream science, for the most part, looks on the universe as them see the light, but
electrically neutral and purely mechanical; a place where the weak rather because its
force of gravity holds fort. Plasma Cosmology, by contrast, opponents eventually
acknowledges the electrodynamic nature of the universe. Gravity and die, and a new
inertia are NOT the only forces at work. generation grows up
that is familiar with it."
The history of science, of course, is fraught with controversy, and it Max Planck
is important to bear in mind that the situation today is little different.
What is Plasma?
Plasma is the fourth state of matter. It differs from solids, liquids and
gases in so far as it's atoms are divided into free-floating 'negative'
electrons and 'positive' ions (an atom which has lost its electron/s). It
is sometimes referred to as an ionized gas.
Students are generally taught about only three states of matter, and
when Plasma does get a mention, little importance is assigned. Not
only should plasma be added to the list, but the order should be
reversed to put it in first place. The reasons for this will become
clear.
Where is it?
These structures derive from the fact that a charged particle flow (or
current) produces a ring of magnetic fields around itself, 'pinching'
plasma into multi-filamentary strands, as can be seen on both cosmic
and more localised scales. Pictured right is a novelty plasma-lamp
typical of those available on the high street.
Mainstream misconceptions
While conventional astronomy maps magnetism, electric currents are Men occasionally
excluded on the mistaken basis that they are of no significance in stumble over the truth,
space. but most of them pick
themselves up and
Working from the inertia of this prior belief, astrophysicists have a carry on as if nothing
tendency to talk in euphemisms. 'Electron rains' and 'clouds of ever happened."
ionized gas' are just two examples. From a conservative perspective Winston Churchill
these terms might seem easier to grasp than the behaviour of more
ethereal plasma, but they are, nonetheless, obfuscations. In reality we
are talking about electrodynamic phenomena.
These models are consistent with reality. Big Bang cosmology, by Were Sherlock Holmes
contrast, fails to adequately account for the 'clumpiness' and a Cosmologist, he
filamentary structures that we observe. might have said 'It's
Filamentary my Dear
Plasma cosmology does NOT rely on abstract mathematical Watson.'
modelling or an increasing array of exotic hypotheticals like Dark
Matter and Dark Energy!
Blogs and more
You can now view the Thunderbolts video at Google Video. If this
link doesn't work, go to Google Video and try a search for
Thunderbolts.
Birkeland was amongst the first to speculate that the Northern Lights
were charged particles ejected from the Sun, captured by the Earth's
magnetic field, and directed towards the polar atmosphere. To prove
this theory, Birkeland performed his famous 'Terella' experiment,
where he artificially created the aurora in the laboratory. His theories
were initially laughed at, and it is only now in the space age that
measurements from satellites are proving Birkeland correct.
Sydney Chapman (1888-1970) was regarded as a leader in the field "Gravitational systems
of interplanetary magnetospheric physics for a while after the death are the 'ashes' of prior
of Birkeland. He took an approach very similar to that of Big electrical systems."
Bangers, relying heavily on mathematical models, and refused to Hannes Alfven
even discuss many of Birkeland's ideas. According to his models,
currents were confined to a sphere that extended little beyond the
Earth. He failed to recognise the complex three dimensional
relationship between the Earth's magnetosphere and the currents
flowing from the Sun. He proposed, in contradistinction to
Birkeland's ideas, that currents were restricted to the ionosphere, and
that the Earth moved through a vacuum. He was wrong.
Langmuir (1881-1957) was the first to use the term 'Plasma' in 1927,
borrowing it from Blood Plasma to describe the almost life-like and
self-organising behaviours of a plasma when in the presence of
electrical currents and magnetic fields.
While many of Alfven's theories are now well known, like those of
Birkeland, the cosmological implications of his work also remain to
be fully recognised. Ironically, some have put this down to the very
simplicity of many of these ideas.
Bohm was the plasma theoretician and cosmologist who discovered "The universe is an
the instabilities and resistivity of magnetized plasmas that now bear unending
his name. transformation in flux
whose previous states
we are not privileged
There are many others who probably should be mentioned, but this
to know." David Bohm
web site aims only to serve as an introduction to the emerging
paradigm.
d Bohm
Summation
Both Hannes Alfven and Irving Langmuir won Nobel Laureates for “I have no trouble
their work, and Kristian Birkeland probably would have done had he publishing in Soviet
lived long enough. It seems unfortunate, therefore, that their work in astrophysical journals,
cosmology, and the implications of their work in this field, remain but my work is
largely unrecognised. Alfven's criticism of the Big Bang, it has to be unacceptable to the
said, certainly rankled with some of the powers that be. American
astrophysical
journals.” Hannes
Alfvén
There are a number of reasons for this mistaken attitude, and it "Facts do not cease to
represents the the main point of demarcation between Plasma and exist because they are
Big Bang cosmologies. Some time back there was a fork in the road, ignored." Aldous
and mainstream cosmology took the road marked gravity only which Huxley
lead to a strange place dominated by abstract math. Unfortunately it
is now proving almost impossible to turn this behemoth around!
The situation changed briefly in the late 1800s and early 1900s when
electromganetism was thought the most likely route to a better
understanding of space. Indeed, the scientific press was awash with
such speculation at the time. However, something happened, and it
became taboo to discuss EM in space. Albert Einstein, for example,
did not so much as mention EM in his Relativity theories, and his
mathematical theories effectively removed the concept of the aether.
"Never attribute to
Magnetic Reconnection and Frozen-in Magnetic Fields malice that which can
These erroneous concepts are probably the biggest source of be adequately
confusion in mainstream circles. Ironically, the concept of Frozen-in explained by stupidity,
Magnetic Fields was first proposed by Hannes Alfven, but he quickly but don't rule out
realised his mistake, and explained the error. Unfortunately, he was malice." Heinlein's
surprised to find that the error persisted, and later in life he wished Razor
he had spent more time correcting the misconception.
Psychology:
Belief is known to have a profound affect on perception. Witness the
fact that euphemisms are employed to conform to the inertia of prior
belief. The mainstream prefers to talk in terms of ion storms and
electron rains rather than acknowledging the existence of electrical
phenomena in space. See the technical section for explanations of
some common misconceptions. So many astronomical phenomena
scream 'Electricity', but sophistry is all too often employed to
interpret them within the existing paradigm.
Math
While GR is amenable to math -- if we allow for the fact that so
many space probes have suffered inexplicable crashes and
anomalous accelerations -- the situation with electrodynamics is less
simple. How would we go about measuring the voltage of the earth,
for example, when voltage is a relative figure? Would we measure
the voltage in relation to The Sun or The Moon? And how could we
do this? Running a cable between any two planets presents technical
difficulties, whereas problems with GR calculations are simply
plugged with exotic hypotheticals!
The real issue is that the relationship between magnetic fields and
electric currents is being overlooked, and this is a critical omission
Plasma Physics
"Plasma physics started along two parallel lines. One of them was
the hundred-year-old investigation into what was called 'electric
discharges in gases'. To a high degree, this approach was
experimental and phenomenological, and only very slowly did it
reach some degree of theoretical sophistication. Most theoretical
physicists looked down on this field which was complicated and
awkward. The plasma exhibited striations, double layers, and an
assortment of oscillations and instabilities. The electron temperature
was often found to be one or two orders of magnitude larger than the
gas temperature, with the ion temperature intermediate.
"In short, it was a field which was not well suited for mathematically
elegant theories. The other approach came from the highly developed
kinetic theory of ordinary gases. It was thought that, with a limited
amount of work, this field could be extended to include ionized
gases. The theories were mathematically elegant and claimed to
derive all of the properties of a plasma from first principles. In reality
this was not true. Because of the complexity of the problem, a
number of approximations were necessary which were not always
appropriate. The theories had very little contact with experimental
physics: all awkward and complicated phenomena observed in the
laboratory were simply neglected... Theories about plasmas, at the
time called ionized gases, were developed without any contact with
laboratory plasma work. In spite of this -- or perhaps because of this
-- belief in the theories was so strong that they were applied directly
to space. One of the results was the Chapman-Ferraro theory (for a
review see Akasofu and Chapman, 1972) which became accepted to
such an extent that Birkeland's approach was almost completely
forgotten. For thirty or forty years, Birkland's results were often
ignored in textbooks and surveys, and all attempts to revive and
develop them were neglected.
"The approach which Alfven suggested must ignore the elegant and
simplistic ordinary gases theory as the electromagnetic forces within
a plasma dominate."
Synchrotron Radiation
In 1950, Alfven, together with his colleagues Herlofson and "In the end The
Keipenheuer, was the first to identify nonthermal radiation from Universe will have its
astronomical sources. It is produced by fast-moving electrons in the say." Sir Fred Hoyle
presence of magnetic fields, and its importance cannot be
underestimated in astrophysics as most of the radiation recorded by
radio telescopes derives from this mechanism.
At the time this was a remarkable suggestion, given that plasma and
magnetic fields were thought to have little, if anything, to do in a
cosmos filled with 'island universes' (galaxies). It has provided
additional evidence for the existence of extensive magnetic fields,
and indicates that enormous amounts of energy may be converted,
stored, and released by cosmic plasma.
Growing numbers of scientists are questioning the hero worship of “What we call mass
Einstein, not least because the Michelson-Morley experiment did would seem to be
NOT give a null result. Mainstream science, however, claims that the nothing but an
'null' result disproves the existence of an æther. appearance, and all
inertia to be of
“... Lorentz, in order to justify his transformation equations, saw the electromagnetic
necessity of postulating a physical effect of interaction between origin.” Henri
moving matter and æther, to give the mathematics meaning. Physics Poincaré, Science and
still had de jure authority over mathematics: it was Einstein, who had Method
no qualms about abolishing the æther and still retaining light waves
whose properties were expressed by formulae that were meaningless
without it, who was the first to discard physics altogether and
propose a wholly mathematical theory...” Herbert Dingle, Science at
the Cross-Roads.
Technical overview I
The Earth's magnetic field acts much like a protective cocoon. Over
and around this field flows the solar wind, the dilute but persistent
stream of plasma (protons, electrons and other ions) emitted by The
Sun. This flow of plasma, with its associated electromagnetic fields,
distorts The Earth's own field, compressing it on the dayside and
stretching it on the night side. The resulting field is called the
magnetosphere.
Because the sun is seen to emit roughly equal quantities of ions and
electrons, the solar wind is considered electrically neutral in
mainstream circles. This is wrong. In reality it is a huge bipolar
electric current, and the terms solar wind and solar radiation result
from the fact that the mainstream refuses to acknowledge electricity
in space.
Magnetospheres
Magnetotails
Birkeland currents
Z-pinches
The bulk of the filaments are invisible from a distance, much like the
Birkeland currents that circle the Earth are invisible from its surface,
with the exception of auroral discharges.
Doubleness
Double Layers
Plasma sheathes were discovered by Langmuir in his laboratory, and "In the beginning was
are now called double layers. the Plasma." Hannes
Alfven
DLs refer to one of the most important properties of any electrical
plasma -- its ability to form electrically isolated sections or cells.
Because Plasma is an outstanding conductor and cannot sustain a
high electric field, it self-organizes to form a protective sheath
(Double Layer) across which most of the electric field is
concentrated and where most of the electrical energy is stored (They
can act very much like capacitors).
The myth of 'frozen-in magnetic fields' still raises its head in the "Never attribute to
mainstream now and again, despite Alfven disposing of it many malice that which can
years ago. For years it was assumed that plasmas were perfect be adequately
conductors and, as such, a magnetic field in any plasma would have explained by stupidity,
to be 'frozen' inside it. but don't rule out
malice." Heinlein's
The basic technical reason for this arose from one of Maxwell's Razor
equations. It was thought that if all plasmas are ideal conductors they
cannot have electric fields (voltage differences, inside them), and
that any magnetic fields inside a plasma must therefore be 'frozen',
that is unable to move or change in any way.
'Magnetic reconnection'
Power generation
Because plasmas are good, but not perfect, conductors, they are "In order to understand
similar to wires in their ability to carry electrical current. It is well the phenomena in a
known that if any conductor cuts through a magnetic field, a current certain plasma region,
will flow in that conductor. This is how electrical generators and it is necessary to map
alternators work. not only the magnetic
but also the electric
If there is any relative motion between a cosmic plasma, say in the field and the electric
arm of a galaxy, and a magnetic field in that same location, currents currents." Hannes
will flow in the plasma. These currents will, in turn, produce their Alfven
own magnetic fields.
Scaling Plasmas
Plasma simulations
Peratt Instabilities
Magnetohydrodynamics
Technical overview II
Bruce identified cosmic jets, solar flares, magnetic fields and high
temperatures in space as electrical discharge phenomena.
His new book, The Electric Sky, contains sensible science that can
be understood by both amateurs and experts alike. Published late
2006, it is the first substantial public exposition of the latest
developments that further challenge the current 'gravity only' system
of thinking. Order here.
The energy stored in a large bank of capacitors is concentrated into a Above. 3D view of a
tiny filamentary knot, shaped like a donut, and known as a plasmoid. cosmic plasma gun,
When plasmoid vortexes collapse, two intense plasma filaments are the M1 Pulsar.
fired along the axis.
Below. Looking down
Pictured above right is the view down the barrel of a plasma gun. the barrel, so to speak,
of Nebula NGC 6751.
The same process can be seen at the core of spiral galaxies and in
powerful stellar outbursts. Pictured right is Nebula NGC 6751.
Plasma phenomena, of course, are scalable over many orders of
magnitude. The compact energetic activity at the core of galaxies is
thus explained in simple electrical terms. In Plasma Cosmology there
is no need for mathematical abstraction. Who needs Black Holes?
Similar stars close to the core of our Milky Way galaxy have also
been observed.
Stephen Hawking has put forward a new thoery about black holes,
suggesting that they do not destroy everything that strays into their
path. The implications are profound for g. theory, and do not surprise
those who favour the plasma focus model.
The 'pinch effect' organises plasmas into filaments that act as 'power
cables'. These can attract and repel, and when close can spiral around
each other. At points of sufficiently strong interaction, the matter in
these cables will be stretched into arcs and/or bulges that can
generate the familiar forms of a spiral galaxy.
Cosmic Tornadoes
Most of these objects are many light years in length, and display the
classic signatures of Plasma/EM behaviour -- 'beading', spiralling,
and 'kink' or 'sawtooth' instabilities.
Shift happens!
From a conventional perspective, planets and stars are seen as tiny dots
of matter punctuating the vast 'emptiness' of space. In this dubious
model gravity and inertia dominate, albeit with a little magnetism
stirred into the equations now and again.
EM versus Gravity
Misconception #1
"Sure, the electric force is much stronger than gravity at the sub-atomic
level, but at the macrocosmic level gravity is incomparably more
powerful than electricity.”
Within the limited confines of our own backyard, the Solar System, "It is an
existing gravitational models seem to be holding-up. We have embarrassment that
succeeded in sending probes to neighbouring planets and, despite the the dominant forms
crashes and anomalous accelerations that have afflicted many space of matter in the
programs, the Huygens mission recently scored a spectacular success -- universe remain
landing on Titan, a moon of Saturn, despite unexpected atmospheric hypothetical." Jim
conditions. Peebles, Princeton
Cosmologist
It should be noted, however, that g models begin to break down when
we look further a field. Gravity, of course, is generally described as a
property of mass. The trouble is that we have not discovered enough
mass in our own galaxy, The Milky Way, to account for its fortunate "...past 90% it [Dark
tendency not to disintegrate. Matter] begins to
make observations
The existence of mysterious Dark Matter is hypothesised to account for irrelevant." Halton
this shortfall in mass, but it is yet to be discovered despite extensive Arp
searches. Its existence is only inferred on the basis that g models 'must
be' correct. The alternatives raise too many uncomfortable questions!
In 1996, in a joint venture between the US and Italy, a large spherical "In the beginning
satellite was deployed from the US space shuttle at the end of a was the Plasma."
conducting cable (tether) over 12 miles long. The idea was to let the Hannes Alfven
shuttle drag the tether across the Earth's magnetic field, producing one
part of a dynamo circuit. The return current, from the shuttle to the
payload, would flow via the Earth's ionosphere.
The deployment was almost complete when things went wrong. The
tether suddenly broke free, and it took some smart detective work to
discover the cause. The nature of the break suggested it was not caused
by excessive tension, but that a strong electric current had melted the
tether.
It is often said that there is no reason to believe that the universe knows "When Kepler found
about us, or that our solar system knows about the universe. In this his long-cherished
purely mechanistic view, contradictory evidence is generally explained belief did not agree
away as merely coincidental. with the most
precise observation,
See this article from www.astronomy.com he accepted the
Anomalies in CMB measurements seem to suggest that our solar system uncomfortable fact.
reacts to conditions outside it, which was not expected, but this situation He preferred the
is dismissed as ... coincidental. hard truth to his
dearest illusions; that
Plasma Cosmology promotes a more holistic view of the universe. This is the heart of
is a profound differentiation, and permits many theories previously science." Carl Sagan
excluded in a purely mechanistic gravity-dominated universe. Bodies
immersed in plasma are not isolated -- they are connected by circuits.
This might seem like a "Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick
stupid question, but themselves up and carry on as if nothing ever happened." Winston
how come we don't all Churchill
get electrocuted if space
is so full of electricity?
This is actually a
common question, and
the answer is
straightforward.
Imagine a bird sitting
on a high powered
cable. That cable might
carry many thousands
of volts, but the bird is
safe providing that it
doesn't touch another
cable, or any other
object with an electrical
differential. The air
around the bird acts as
an insulator.
Why is space
considered electrically
neutral in mainstream
science?
See History II
A few words from "Gravitational systems are the 'ashes' of prior electrical systems."
Alfven seem Hannes Alfven
appropriate here. In
1986 he said:
There is so much we
don't understand about
plasma and electricity!
How can we hope to
build cosmological
models with it?
Isn't this just fringe “We have to learn again that science without contact with
science? experiments is an enterprise which is likely to go completely astray
into imaginary conjecture.” Hannes Alfvén
Emphatically NO! A
number of respected
scientists and electrical
engineers support most
of the ideas expressed
here. This web site is
simply a synthesis of
the basic principles. It
should also be borne in
mind that two of the
founding fathers,
Alfven and Langmuir,
won Nobel Laureates,
and Birkeland probably
would have done had
he lived long enough.
See History.
Can Plasma Cosmology "The universe is an unending transformation in flux whose previous
live with the Big Bang? states we are not privileged to know." David Bohm
Who needs Plasma "It is an embarrassment that the dominant forms of matter in the
Cosmology? universe remain hypothetical." Jim Peebles, Princeton Cosmologist
Gravitational models
work just fine!
Do not worry. If "Physics is mathematical not because we know so much about the
mathematics turns you physical world, but because we know so little." Bertrand Russell
on, there is plenty of it
in some of the more
technical pages that we
link to.
No. PC does not rest on "In the end The Universe will have its say." Sir Fred Hoyle
any ideas about
catastrophism, but it
does not preclude them,
and many plasma
physicists acknowledge
that our solar system
may have been more
electrically active in
recent millennia.
Electric Universe
supporters are generally
more sympathetic to
ideas relating to
Catastrophism.
Electric Universe "But hitherto I have not been able to discover the cause of those
supporters view gravity properties of gravity from phenomena, and I frame no hypotheses."
as an electrostatic Isaac Newton
dipolar force. It should
be noted that we don't
actually know what
gravity is -- it remains a
descriptive term for a
force that we know
very little about; a force
which is described
mathematically. It may
also be described as a
property of mass, of
course.
Research is being
carried out into the
potential existence of
gravity waves and
graviton particles, but it
has so far achieved
little if any success.
Also, see the
speculations page.
A lack of funding
doesn't help. Again, see
the Way Forward
This is a good question “The peer review system is satisfactory during quiescent times, but
in so far as it pretty not during a revolution in a discipline such as astrophysics, when the
well sums up the establishment seeks to preserve the status quo.” Hannes Alfvén
mainstream gripe with
the the electric star
model.
It is important to bear in
mind, however, that we
should base our models
on what we see, and not
on what we might
expect to see. Plasmas
exhibit many
behaviours not
expected or recognised,
let alone understood, in
mainstream
astronomy/astrophysics.
Check out double layers
and birkeland currents
in the technical section.
These provide some
clues as to what may be
going on.
Electrical engineers, it
seems, are better
qualified to recognise
and understand so many
astronomical
phenomena.
Significantly, Wal
Thornhill and Don
Scott point out that it
would be difficult to
detect low energy
electrons as they stream
towards The Sun.
Are UFOs
electromagnetically
driven?
Far from it. The point is "...no knowledge is complete or perfect." Carl Sagan
that the mainstream
thus far assigns little
importance to the role
of plasma and
electromagnetism on
cosmic scales. It is one
thing to contemplate
that space isn't the
vacuum once predicted,
but quite another to
acknowledge that
Plasma and its EM
interactions may play a
role in cosmical
structures, from planets
and stars to galaxies
and super-clusters. The
passive role of plasma
assumed by the
mainstream is wrong!