RESEARCH NOTES

© Harold Aspden, 2001

In this section of these Web pages I will be recording some thoughts on research topics which occur to me as I witness the rapidly evolving new energy scene. Some comments will be inspired by related scientific developments in physics generally, particularly where I see an aether connection. Also, this will be a way of addressing comments I receive on the subject of my Homepages.

01/01: The Fine-Structure Constant This note relates to the discovery that the fine-structure constant as applicable in very distant QSOs (quasar stellar objects) has been found to be about 1 part in 100,000 smaller than the value measured here on Earth. The author's aether theory has its basic foundations keyed to the theoretical derivation of the part per million level of precision for the value of this physical constant and so the author sees it as imperative to examine how his aether theory can explain this discrepancy. It is here shown that the aether model used is not found to be lacking in adapting to this discovery.

10/98: Geomagnetism: Shaky Ground but Solid Facts! This note came to mind after reading an item in The Times, U.K. newspaper, on December 16th, 1998. The report implies the discovery of new evidence showing that body Earth is solid right through to its central core. If that is so then the accepted explanation of geomagnetism is disproved and I can but remind readers of these web pages that my aether theory offers a comprehensive account of this phenomenon consistent with a solid Earth.

9/98: Inertia or Reaction? This note has been triggered by reading two items on pp. 7 and 9 of New Energy News, September 1998 issue. It is about the ongoing efforts of physicists to interpret what is observed concerning particles and photons in terms of fanciful theoretical physics, even though there exists in earlier published scientific papers a full and corresponding explanation, given that energy is conserved and that energy can find acommodation in the aether that permeates what we term the 'the vacuum'.

8/98: Impressions Concerning Gravity This note has been written because I have received two quite separate communications, one suggesting that a change of gravitational potential is manifested in space as electricity, meaning that the very existence of electric charge is nothing other than a gravitational phenomenon, which in turn is attributed to space-time curvature. The other claimed that the phenomenon of gravitation is attributable to the aether having a temperature, gravitational potential being proportional to that temperature. These ideas warrant comparison with my account of gravity. Hence this Note.

7/98: The Tau Particle This note was written in response to a challenge. The tau particle is a 'heavyweight' in the lepton family, just as the muon is a 'middleweight' and the electron a lepton of low mass. One of the greatest challenges in physics is that of understanding what determines the mass of the leptons, these being the active players in the world of quantum electrodynamics. I have claimed in my theory of gravitation that the seat of gravitational action is the heavyweight leptonic scene and gone one step beyond the present state of the art in particle physics by asserting that there exists a leptonic system that I have named the 'supergraviton', this being a cluster of leptons having a mass close to 102 atomic mass units. This note contributes to the evidence I am collecting in support of my case.

6/98: Electron-Positron Chaining This note presents a brief analysis of the physical basis of some energy values assigned to the electron-positron chains or strings that feature in the Essay 'What is the Neutrino?' in the Question section of these Web pages.

5/98: Neutrino Mass This note arises from having read a Science Briefing item by Nigel Hawkes, Science Editor of the British newspaper: The Times. The article was entitled 'Mountain tests allow scientists to put weight on the neutrino'. It appeared at p. 10 in the June 5, 1998 issue of that newspaper.

4/98: Maxwell's Equations This note was necessary in view of a feedback item received from Dave Gieskieng on June 3, who had performed the experiments reported in Lecture No. 10: Appendix. It is important to discuss the question of whether Maxwell's Equations as applied to wave propagation through space well removed from a radiating source are wholly valid. How can they set up magnetic fields by their wave oscillations? This is discussed.

3/98: Antiproton Mass I am writing this after reading a Science Briefing item by Nigel Hawkes, Science Editor of the British newspaper: The Times. The article was entitled 'It ain't heavy, it's a proton'. It appeared at p. 16 in the June 1, 1998 issue of that newspaper. This concerns a very important breakthrough in precision measurement. A question I put is whether one can now establish whether the electrostatic energy of interaction between electric charges exhibits mass or has no mass property. The answer should have bearing on the validity of Einstein's theory.

2/98: Electron Spin? Schism or NIH? This note was prompted by having read an article by Robert Metthews, a Science Correspondent for a British newspaper, who wrote under the title 'Take a Spin' in the February 28, 1998 issue of New Scientist'.

1/98: Renewable Energy: A Topic for Debate This Note was prompted by an E-Mail message dated January 30, 1998 sent to me by Anje Anderson, introduced by the words: "I am a cross-examination debater at Ellison High School." Here I record a few of my thoughts on that subject.

15/97: Marinov: A Note for the Record The suicide of Stefan Marinov revealed his depression at the failure of his efforts to interest the scientific community in his work on electrodynamics and the violation of the laws of energy conservation. I seek here to reawaken interest in the electrodynamic theme and recall to memory my own contacts with Stefan Marinov.

14/97: Cincinatti Disclosure This Research Note shows why it is that titanium and copper are created in the process developed by the Cincinatti Group for deactivating radioactive thorium in an electrolytic cell which converts thorium into these base metals in an hour even though its half-life is commensurate with the age of the universe.

13/97: E=2Mc:squared? This Research Note is written to provide feedback to someone who has, for about 30 years now, followed developments of this author's aether theory. It is written because that person, Peter McNeall, has suggested that the theory implies a formula E=2Mc2 instead of the usual E=Mc2, the reason being that the author, those 30 and more years ago, saw need to halve the mass of the aether lattice particles to account for their inertial reaction as part of the aether system. The response provided in this Research Note explains more fully the justification for that mass-halving assumption, but E=Mc2 remains the governing mass-energy relationship.

12/97: Flywheels & Anti-Gravity Some years ago a Scotsman named Sandy Kidd attracted attention by demonstrating a machine involving spinning flywheels which lost weight. This attracted media attention and led to an Australian entrepreneur taking Sandy Kidd under his wing to develop the invention. The highlight of that venture was the eventual verification of that weight loss when a machine was tested by independent researchers in a recognized test laboratory. Even so, onward commercial development was not without its problems and the backers could not go forward with something that was essentially a scientific curiosity best studied in a university environment. Now, several years on Ron Thompson a Scottish journalist who told the story in a book about the Kidd invention has stirred interest in the subject. This Research Note addresses that issue.

11/97: End of Science? Every so often THE TIMES newspaper (London, England) contains a science report by writer Nigel Hawkes. We go up and down in being informed, first that discoveries are being made enhancing the exotic theories built on the Einstein and Dirac foundations and secondly that evidence contrary to those theories is emerging. Readers are buffetted between these two extremes and are supposed to marvel as they suffer from a kind of cyclic state of confusion. This Research Note gives vent to my feelings in reacting to an item published on May 5th, 1997. On the one hand we are led to believe that fundamental science is now virtually at its zenith, with nothing more to be learned, and, well, did you know that space can be chopped up into 'slices'? It is all very wonderful and essential if we are to make sense of what we already know. Read this Research Note and begin your enlightenment!

10/97: Cosmological Dilemma? One of the most surprising features of cosmology is the way in which scientists presume to understand how stars are created. They are now greatly puzzled by the problem of planets being created too close to their parent star. A star and its planet is like mother and child. They can dance around in near-circular orbits and cosmologists have fun just watching their performance. But how are those stars and planets born in the first place? Where, one may ask, is the father - the third but essential element in this happy picture? The 'father' is, of course, not to be seen. He is out there in space working away to sustain this cycle of Creation. His handiwork is to be seen also in the great energy machine which we can even study in our laboratories, but he must not be ignored! If you give him the name 'God' then that shows at least that you know he is out there somewhere, but if you give him 'form' then you are into the study of the 'aether'. This Research Note takes note of a topical theme, a discovery reported by THE TIMES (London newspaper of April 26, 1997), and explains where to begin in connecting the aether with the creation of stars and planets.

09/97: The Pointless Electron Physicists have been asserting for many decades that the electron is a point charge, meaning that it has no body form. Now it has been reported that a breakthrough discovery is emerging - the electron seems no longer to be all crowded into that mysterious 'point'. Yet, it was common knowledge amongst scientists 100 years ago that the electron simply had to have a body form of radius somewhat above 10-13 cm. So said J. J. Thomson, the man who discovered the electron! Of course, in those days scientists did believe in the reality of an aether, but our 20th Century scientists think otherwise. They like the 'point' electron, but, sadly for them, Nature has something different to say on this subject. Read this Research Note and see how they might contrive to invent another particle - the preon - in order to salvage something from the impending wreckage!

08/97: The New Energy Spectrum This Research Note was written to mark a transition in this author's efforts in the New Energy field. It had been planned to publish a sequence of Energy Science Reports and make these available along with the author's books that remain unsold. However, with the growing importance of Internet as a means for disseminating scientific information, the author is now concentrating on these Web pages as the medium for such onward effort. The subjects planned for Reports No. 11 and 12 will now be incorporated in these Research Notes or in the Lectures. This Research Note 08/97 introduces those two topics but also draws attention to a U.S. patent granted to IBM, which provides experimental data showing how heat can be used to alter hydrogen gas pressure so as to generate electricity by affecting the magnetic state of a rare earth substance. Since no hydrogen is consumed in this process it warrants scrutiny as a heat-to-electricity converter with hidden scope for New Energy science.

07/97: Ionospheric Radiation The Research Note develops from the Schumann Resonance theme of Research Note 06/97. It is also connected with the cyclotron resonance theme of Research Note 03/97. It is shown that ionized oxygen and ozone in the ionosphere can respond to perturbing field effects to set up a Larmor precession which radiates weak fields at frequencies which could be deemed to be harmonics of the Schumann resonance frequency of 7.8 Hz. This argument is supported by the experimental observation that the apparent second harmonic of the Schumann resonance is stronger than the first harmonic. It is not normal for higher harmonics of a primary signal to exhibit more power than the fundamental component of that signal unless there is some secondary resonant response backed by other power input. The anomaly warrants comment and attention.

06/97: Brain waves and Alpha Rhythm We need to solve the mystery of why it is that your alpha rhythm, as measured by detectors sensitive to brain waves, has a frequency equal to that detected by the study of weak electric field oscillations in the atmosphere. We need to understand the physical causes of those weak field oscillations. Schumann resonance was deemed to be a phenomenon occurring as electromagnetic waves travel around the Earth in the concentric spherical cavity between the Earth's surface and the ionosphere, the round-the-Earth transit time being about one eighth of a second. This Research Note suggests that there is a secondary resonance effect owing to cyclotron resonance in the ionosphere excited on ionized ozone molecules (approximately 16 Hz) and on ionized oxygen molecules (approximately 24 Hz). These could have been erroneously interpreted as second and third harmonics of the 7.8 Hz Schumann resonance.

05/97: Magnetocaloric Motor Power This is a note prepared as briefing material in support of a U.S. Patent Application relating to a motor invention which the Patent Examiner regarded as breaching the Laws of Energy Conservation.

04/97: Hungarian Thunderballs This is a note concerning information supplied by Dr. Egely who reports on 'Hungarian Ball Lightning Observations' in some of which a million times more energy and electric charge appeared than could be accounted for by textbook physics.'

03/97: Power Lines and Health Physicists deny that cyclotron resonance attributable to the interaction of the Earth's magnetic field and the low frequency electric fields set up by overhead power lines can be a health hazard. This research note explains why they are wrong.

02/97: Thermoelectric Superconductors Learn how supergraviton resonance shows itself again and again in the thermoelectric superconductor. Heat converts into electricity, which is why there are warm superconductors!

01/97: Earthquakes and Geomagnetism Earthquakes can be triggered by aether spin sharing the Earth's rotation. As the spin axis of the Earth adjusts in the 25,765 year precession cycle, the aether has to precess as well. Its sporadic adjustments can affect EM wave propagation with possible radio or electromagnetic detection of the build-up of the conditions that prevail during the periods before an earthquake occurs.