A collection of essays
by Bruce DePalma
The Secret of the Faraday Disc
"Primary causes are unknown to us; but are subject to simple and
constant laws, which may be discovered by observation, the study of
them being the object of natural philosophy." - Fourier
The Faraday disc is a magnetized wheel. A wheel is an intrinsically
self-defining object. It becomes itself only when rotating. The properties
of the wheel are determined by the experiments which involve it. The
statement: "wheels within wheels" is the philosophical interpretation.
Through the Faraday Disc we can connect the forces of magnetism and
electricity to the inertial properties of space and time.
An interesting problem is the inertial frame sense of the Earth moving
through space. The Laws of Inertia govern the material objects resting
on the surface of the earth. But what of the space surrounding the Earth.
Would it be the electric, magnetic, or gravitational field which stabilized
the inertial frame or can we posit an inertial field of matter. It is
clear that the properties of phenomena occurring within matter are conveyed
to the space surrounding without matter.
Because of the confusion and ambiguity created by Einstein's "Principle
of Equivalence", inertia and gravitational forces have been linked.
The search for a purely inertial field has been proscribed.
If a field exists around matter which conveys the inertial condition
of that matter to the surrounding space then the general principle would
be: a transport mechanism exists which serves to communicate the internal
condition of matter to the surrounding space. Let us call the inertial
condition conveyed to surrounding space by matter the od field.
The od field of matter can be manipulated through rotation, creating
the anisotropic inertial effects observed in rotating gyroscopes. Forced
precession of the rotating gyroscope creates such a strong interaction
with the local inertial, od, field that the precessing gyro can be said
to "lock in space" with respect to the local inertial frame. The motion
of a mass point in the rotor of a precessing gyroscope is unique and
is known as streptoid, (Gk. twisting), and is not a combination of rotation
and translation which are supposed to describe all mechanical motions.
Trinics, the calculus of three dimensional motion is in its infancy.
The inventor of this calculus is John Sohn Wolfe, now deceased, and
his book is: Neo-Principia Mathematica, as yet unpublished.
It is now recognized there are three classes of motion, i.e. translation,
rotation, and streptation. Streptation includes precession, nutation,
and higher orders of three dimensional motion. In order to extend the
science of mechanics the following experiments are suggested:
1) F = MA is not obeyed by an object in streptation. What are the
laws of force for such an object?
2) Momentum is not conserved in an elastic collision of an object
undergoing streptation with a non-moving control. What are the laws
of elastic collisions of streptating objects?
3) What are the laws of inertia for a streptating object. Would the
idea of variable inertia including positive and negative values be appropriate?
4) The idea of an od field that could alter the mechanical and inertial
properties of material objects is not part of the knowledge of contemporary
mechanics. Should it be, or should the ideas of mechanics end at the
surface of all mechanical objects?
The limits of scientific conception which emerged in the 19th century
can be expressed in the "action at a distance" and wave propagation
hypotheses requiring some sort of spatial medium or ether. Twentieth
century particle physics and the hypothesis of the neutrino opened the
way to a conceptualization of space filled with a sea of particles.
A space filled with a sea of particles interpenetrating matter and possessing
a relaxation time such that the internal condition of matter was impressed
on them and was thus conveyed to the surrounding space could be the
mechanism for a transport process wherein the internal condition of
matter; electric, magnetic, gravitational, heat, charge, radioactivity,
inertial et al. was conveyed to the surrounding space.
I call the particle whose condition is an impression or memory of
its passage through matter, a Psion. Thus the basic condition of empty
space is a Psion field. Radiation laws of emissivity vs. temperature
and intensity drop off with distance, i.e. 1/r, 1/r2, and 1/r3 dependencies
are related to the relaxation time of the impression created on the
particles by their passage through matter. One could assume these particles,
Psions, travel at the speed of light. The term Psion is meant to imply
an atom of consciousness which retains an impression of the internal
condition of matter through which it has passed.
The Faraday Disc
The Faraday Disc [reference 1] is generally thought to be a two piece
machine consisting of a conducting disc rotating proximate to the north
or south pole of an axially suspended fixed magnet. It can be said that
this invention was in part suggested by the earlier work of Arago and
Barlow. The truly unique invention made December 26, 1831 consisted
of the discovery that the magnet and disc could be cemented together,
rotated jointly, and the same voltage could be obtained by sliding contacts
touching the centre and edge of the conducting disc as was obtained
when the magnet was fixed and the disc rotated alone.
Ideas of flux line cutting and induced voltages were brought forward
to explain the mechanism of voltage generation in the rotating disc
but when these were applied to the two situations of disc rotating independently
or together with the magnet, they lead to contradictory interpretations.
The true discovery of Faraday was that relative motion was not necessary
for the generation of electricity. If rare earth or superconducting
magnets had been available in the days of Faraday and Maxwell the one-piece
homopolar machine might have become an article of commerce. Comparisons
of the energy efficiency of this construction with two-piece Faraday
or induction machines would have been made. The future we now live in
would have been energized by the one-piece machine and the mechanical
equivalent of heat would no longer square with the electrical equivalent
of heat. What this would mean in terms of contemporary theories can
only be guessed at.
Because the Faraday discovery, now known as the N-machine Space Power
Generator is not perfect, it will never be possible to reduce the drag
of such a machine to zero in the production of an arbitrarily large
quantity of electrical power. The reason drag is intrinsic is because
the same space whose polarization elicits electrical power also contains
the inertial frame reference for the machine.
Experiments [ref. 2] performed by the author have directly demonstrated
the dragging of a purely mechanical rotating reference frame against
a fixed one.
The force relationship existing between magnetized objects directly
illustrates the interaction of separate inertial frames linked magnetically.
It is possible to infer N-machine drag will be reduced in outer space
remote from the inertial influence of the sun and planets.
In the Faraday disc experiment the instrumentality of evocation of
the magnetic field partakes in the inertial frame-sense. Yet the magnet
does not partake in any reaction torque. The output torque of the disc
is referenced to the local inertial frame. Thus the magnet only connects
the generated torque to the local inertial frame.
This suggests that if the magnet were to rotate with the disc the
torque output of the machine would be with respect to the rotating inertial
frame of the magnet, although there would still be no net torque reaction
of the disc against the attached rotating magnet.
In the Faraday disc, the torque is relative to the reference frame
of the instrumentality which is the evocateur of the magnetic field.
Unlike the repulsion of the hysteresis or eddy current drag machines,
the generator drag of a Faraday disc must be an intrinsic drag manifestation
of the precipitation of electricity. Consequently allowing the magnet
to rotate with the disc will increase the electrical power output by
not letting the drag appear twice. Once with respect of the electrical
power generation drag - akin to the locking in space of the precessing
inertial gyroscope and twice by the coupling of such drag to the inertial
plane of the Earth via the instrumentality of the magnet. If the magnet
rotates then the inertial reference is no longer to the Earth but to
the rotating reference frame of the magnet.
In the Faraday disc, part of the drag arises from the intrinsic drag
of electron collection relative to the local frame, what I call non-reactive
drag. The balance of the drag derives from direct, action-reaction,
drag of the rotating polarized member against the Earth reference frame
coupled through the instrumentality of the magnet.
In the two piece machines, (either induction or Homopolar), the reactive
drag coupling is accentuated by the proximity of the mass of the stator.
This cannot be changed in the induction machines but the one-piece Homopolar
geometry avoids excessive stator drag by eliminating the stator. What
remains is the reactive rotor coupling to local space without the presence
of ferrous matter, to which the rotor magnetic field could couple, and
the intrinsic electron collection drag referenced to the local space
reference frame.
The principle of equivalence exhorts the equivalency of gravitational
and inertial forces, but gravitation is not a relative force, i.e. it
exists independently of relative motion. Although the voltages derived
from homo-polar and induction machines may be equal, the drags resulting
from the processes are unequal.
Copper is an insulator for the recombination of male-female energies.
i.e. internal resistance = zero, with perfect insulation. I had always
been taught that although the voltage in a magnetically linked circuit
was Blv the current which could be drawn was limited by the series resistance
of the circuit. Since the voltage developed across the terminals of
moving wire arises from space why should the current being drawn be
limited by the internal resistance of the wire connecting the terminals?
The situation resolves itself when we regard what is developed across
the terminals of the moving magnetically linked wire as a male-female
polarization and that recombination of the developed potentials is resisted
by the insulating action of the copper or silver "conductor".
The reason copper and silver are good conductors is because they
resist the recombination of the male-female polarizations and can conduct
these polarizations to the point where they are merged to recombine
in some socially useful manner.
The electrical metals are useful because they can be used to convey
the electrical potentialities from point to point while at the same
time they insulate them from recombination, the state of neutralization
ultimately resulting in heat.
The simplest machine for the mechanical extraction of electrical
potentials is a rotating, magnetized, electrically conducting spiral.
For simplicity the voltage pickoff points are indicated as brushes.
In practice both contacts are liquid metal in a symmetrical circumferential
arrangement where the current flow is wholly radial into and out of
the machine. Since it has not been noted that electrical solenoids or
coils commence to rotate when energized, it is clear that application
of voltage to the sliding contacts will not cause the machine to commence
rotation.
On the other hand if the conducting spiral is caused to rotate at
high speed and an electrical load is connected between the terminals
of the rotating spiral a voltage is quickly developed. This effect can
be initiated by a small "inducer" coil or permanent magnet brought in
proximity to the rotating spiral. The flux from this magnet initiates
the current buildup in the rotating spiral. For short term experiments
currents of 25-50 Kilo-amperes can be developed in a load of sufficiently
low resistance.
What is important about this experiment is its non-reciprocity, i.e.
the rotating spiral can produce voltage and power when energized but
a spiral conductor is not known to rotate when a current is caused to
flow in it.
What force or influence governs the local reference frame? When the
precessing gyroscope locks in space because of its streptoid (twisting)
motion does it lock into the space through which the Earth is moving
at 5 miles/second, or does it lock into the local (Earth) frame, but
why?
The magnetic field produced by current flow through the spiral is
a distortion of the local space. Thus we can say the magnetic field
links the rotating frame of the spiral with local space.
The characteristic of a rotating inertial frame (generated by a rotating
real mechanical object) is an inertial anisotropy such that for axial
measurements the inertia increases but for radial motions the inertial
mass decreases. This distortion of inertial isotropy existing in the
space around a rotating object is called an od field. Although the magnetic
field links the local inertial frame the space of the local frame is
distorted and modified by the inertially anisotropic od field created
by the rotation of a real mechanical object. The result of this is to
reduce the dragging action of an electrically polarized rotating spiral
for motions in the plane of rotation. Since the plane of the spiral
is the rotational plane it can be expected that there would be a reduction
in drag of such a machine in comparison with an induction machine producing
the same amount of power. A fact borne out by experiment.
It is clear from this that the space of the local inertial frame
can be distorted magnetically and odically. The inertial anisotropy
of the od field reduces the reaction forces generated by the extraction
of electrical current from the rotating conducting spiral. If inertial
dragging can be eliminated in this way, then the remaining drag must
be due to the creation of the condition of precipitation of the male-female
polarities and their resistance to depolarizing effects, i.e. electrical
loading.
In such machines it is easy to compensate magnetic field distortion
through current withdrawal by a proximate fixed compensation disc wherein
the output current is caused to flow in the opposite direction. Thus
polarization created in the rotating spiral can be made independent
of the flow of current since no magnetic field disturbance is noted
in the compensated machine with the withdrawal of current. Under these
conditions can it be said that polarization (male-female) alone can
invoke the flow of electrical current and that the magnetic field itself
results from male-female recombination within conductors?
What is precipitated is quantized electrical charge with the evolution
of heat - substances give off heat when they crystallize, and the recombination
of the polarities with the evolution of heat.
Whether it be the generation of the polarities or the merging of
the polarities, heat is evolved in both processes. In the cosmic cycle
of generation, preservation and destruction, heat is evolved in generation
and destruction and equilibrium is saved in preservation.
The heat of evolution of electrons is reflected in the spatial drag
of the primitive rotating spiral N machine. The balance of the drag
is contributed from the linkage of inertial frames through magnetism,
i.e. a polarized conducting disc is linked to the local space frame
through the spatial distortion of magnetism which can be accentuated
by the near presence of ferrous (paramagnetic) objects, magnetically
permeable structures - stators -, for magnetic flux path closing.
Mass is coupled to the local inertial frame through the mechanism
of inertia. Magnetic linkages to ferromagnetic stators contribute additional
drag.
The contributions from the different sources can be itemized thus:
1) heat of electronic creation of polarities.
(heat of evolution of electrons)
2) intrinsic spatial drag of a magnetized rotating
polarized conducting disc.
3) increase of intrinsic spatial drag through magnetic
interaction with a proximate ferromagnetic object,
i.e. a stator*.
* The stator presents a modification of the space in which the rotor
must operate. Under this condition the intrinsic drag would be greater
in comparison with free space.
In general, the primitive machine is the rotating magnetized spiral.
This is an antenna which reduces the spatial magnetized energy to a
form utilizable by mankind, i.e. the positive and negative polarities
of electricity. As with all antennas, field distortions introduced by
the close proximity of ferro-magnetised objects, stators, upset the
symmetry of energy withdrawal and interfere with the operation of the
antenna.
Higher orders of symmetry are employed in the cylinder machines.
The rotating magnetized spiral is in relation to the cosmical time energy
as the dipole antenna is to electromagnetism. Rotation and magnetism
are combined in a material object constructed from an element wherein
the recombination of the permitted polarities is minimal. That is the
N machine. We are definable by our thoughts and our thoughts have reached
the limit of resolution.
The heats of electronic precipitation and recombination cannot be
said to be equal since the difference between the two rates must account
for the presence of electrons in the Universe, while at the same time
the Universe is neither getting hotter or colder. Thus in most cases
one could safely say the heats of generation and recombination are equal.
Ohm's Law can be said to apply, but one cannot rule out the possibility
of a special condition, i.e. superconductivity, where different Laws
apply. For an N machine with a superconducting rotor is the heat of
electronic generation 0 or is a superconductor a special state of matter
with a zero heat of electronic generation and recombination. If there
is a connection between heat of electronic liberation and N machine
drag then a superconducting rotor should be tested in comparison with
a similar machine constructed of "normal", i.e. non-superconducting
materials.
The Secret of the Faraday Disc
All science consists of the elaboration of principles whose manipulation
attempts to describe the continuous palate of Nature. So when I speak
of the Faraday Disc I can look upon it as a powerful magical spell or
I think I can understand it in terms of the causality of logic. Does
understanding something remove the mystery?
The gyroscope is a totally mysterious object. Attempts to understand
it mathematically have failed to explain anomalous inertial and gravitational
behavior. Do we understand electricity? On deep examination electrical
laws can be shown to be inconsistent with Newton's Laws. We have a working
relationship with magnets and wires in electrical machines, is more
necessary?
It seems to me that thinking in the abstract, and the formation of
theories is helpful because the existence of these theories can posit
new experiments. In Reality anything can be done, but of all the things
which can be done, which are the significant experiments? And why are
they significant? The implicit circularity of logic closes it and brings
us back to significance in terms of the principles on which our theories
are based. So do we know anything except the defined concepts of relationships
between elementary experiments?
We accept a self-organizing principle in Nature which defines itself.
In terms of written memorabilia logic defines itself as a self-organizing
principle in Nature. If we leave the world of the printed page we enter
the realm of music and subtler vibrations not susceptible to logic.
Is that where our science ends? The tree becomes once more the tree
and the forest the forest. We do not get the world we think we want,
we get the world that is going to happen.
Bruce DePalma
References:
1) Faraday, Michael, Experimental Researches in Electricity. 3 vols.
London: Richard and John Edward Taylor, 1839-1855.
2) DePalma, Bruce, Pendulum Experiment Data (The Force Machine),
1975; available from DePalma Institute.