Excal
16th January 2006 - 02:02 AM
A real good book for you, or any of us, is "Road to Reality" by Roger Penrose. Nothing can top it for this project, in my opinion.
He starts with math, but explaining math, if you can imagine. This guy, sitting at the top of the physics and mathematics world, writes this 1100 page tome for people who want to, but have found no way to effectively gain an understanding and appreciation for the mathematical view of physics. It's great.
As for electrical, magnetic and gravitational subjects, I think we should start with what's wrong with current ideas; that is, look for contradictions. For instance, the electrical theory of matter, contradicts the theory of electricity, so it should give us some clues as to how not to think about these things. The charged electron that coexists with the oppositely charged proton, for instance, in the nuclear theory of the atom, is not easily removed from it, as indicated by the ionization energy required to separate it from the atom. Yet, the same electron is easily moved through a conductor by a small difference of potential.
The current of electrons flowing through the conductor easily passes through the spaces between the atoms of the crystal, but cannot escape into the completely free space of the surrounding environment. Something is really mysterious about all this.
Then there is Catt's anomaly. This should really give us pause, because it ties right in with the same model of the electron that causes the grief described above. Ivor Catt has challenged the entire intellectual community to explain how a charge can travel to the end of a transmission line (segment of a capacitor) at the speed of light. Of course, it can't and everyone knows it, yet the charge is there as soon as the pulse gets there. So, where does it come from? (see:
http://www.electromagnetism.demon.co.uk/catanoi.htm)
The top dogs just ignore him, hoping that he will just go away, but his challenge is something tailor made for a project like this. However, we need to understand that the mishmash of current ideas have led modern science to a "period of utter confusion," in the words of David Gross. Therefore, this is the prime indication that "something fundament is missing" and that all indications are that it has to do with the nature of space and time. So, maybe this thread is premature, if it is thought of as a place to discuss new theories of electrical and magnetic phenomena.
We should use it to gather the failures of current theory (no pun intended).
Excal