1985g

The following is a paper by H. Aspden published in Speculations in Science and Technology v. 8, pp. 283-289 (1985).

THE MAXWELL-FECHNER HYPOTHESIS AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO EINSTEIN'S THEORY

Abstract: Einstein's theory of relativity is challenged on the basis of Fechner's hypothesis, as discussed in Maxwell's treatise in connection with the Neumann Potential. The hypothesis is shown to be rooted in quantum-electrodynamics and is correlated with E=Mc2 and the increase in mass and lifetime with speed. The null result of the Michelson-Morley experiment is similarly explained in terms of charge pair creation and annihilation in the vacuum itself. An analogy is demonstrated between the electrodynamic interaction and gravitation and the primary results of Einstein's General Theory are shown to be amenable to alternative explanation.

Commentary: By 1984 the author, then at the University of Southampton, had conducted an experiment which had shown that it was essential to distinguish between electrons and nucleons in respect of their electrodynamic interaction. The author realized that electrons were leptons, and so were active in charge pair creation and annihilation processes, whereas nucleons, apart from isolated hydrogen nuclei, were part of a shell-structured system that could behave differently owing to the coupling with the aether lattice.

From this it was seen that the Fechner hypothesis warranted attention. It was a route to the Neumann potential, the derivation of which was still eluding the author. However, the merits of the Fechner hypothesis warranted study owing to the classical relativistic argument implicit in the hypothesis. This was exploited by the author in the struggle to revive interest in challenging Newton's third law of motion, the key to energy transfer as between the vacuum and matter and, of course, as concerned the author's law of electrodynamics, as discussed in earlier work.