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ETHER DENIAL, MOTION-INDUCED CLOCK SLOWING & THE BIG ETHER BLOB REVOLUTION

by Jim Hodges

'The human understanding, when it has once adopted an opinion, draws all things else to support and agree with it. And though there be a great number and weight of instances to be found on the other side, yet these it either neglects and despises in order that by this great and pernicious predetermination, the authority of its former conclusions may remain inviolate.' Francis Bacon

INTRODUCTION

In the above quotation 'the articulator of the ethos of Western science', Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626), rails against intellectual conservatism. But one shouldn't complain too much about clinging to what seems of value in past intellectual achievements, otherwise the naked ape could be afflicted with a false and unnecessary scientific revolution every time there is an minor anomaly found in the prevailing orthodoxy. However, there is cause for complaint when, as in the current circumstance, there are 'a great number and weight of instances' to be found in favour of the ether, yet the scientific establishment 'neglects and despises' these for the purpose of upholding its eighty eight year old contention that the ether does not exist.

Indeed, it will be shown in this paper that the denial of ether has now become so extreme and irrational that it has reached the stage of collective psychosis. It will be further shown that a simple mechanical model of motion-induced clock slowing, based on the airspeed modulated reduction of the frequency of two spinning/orbiting ultrasound emitters, provides compelling evidence (by analogy) for the existence of an amazing multi-purpose static electromagnetic medium which permeates the universe.

And yet, dear reader, do I hear you protest that 'whatever the short term blunders, modern science is evidence-based and therefore self-correcting. The four hundred year old tradition of Western science, with its encouragement of new discoveries and the use of the checks and balances of the peer review process, makes certain that truth will out!' Well yes, the rhetoric of institutional science is admirable, but my riposte is that no naked ape institution, free of disinterested independent oversight, has ever been able to resist internal corruption in the long term.

For three centuries, spanning Kepler's First Law (1605) and Poincare's Ether Theory (1905), Western science did have a good run but went spectacularly off the rails in 1919, and for the current practitioners of the foundational sciences the Bacon thesis especially applies - naked ape physicists and cosmologists have reverted to type and now believe what they want to believe, regardless of the evidence!

PART 1: THE PSYCHOPATHOLOGY OF ETHER DENIAL

1.1 THE NAKED APE HAS FORM

To understand the aetiology of 'ether-denial psychopathology', we must first study relevant case histories where the naked ape has exhibited serious symptoms of a similar character. In fact, history shows the naked ape has been extremely prone to lapses of cognition in natural philosophy, and in particular the naked ape has proven time and time again to be an idiot ape in the field of physics and cosmology.

Consider the saga of the acceptance of a round Earth. When the hairy ape evolved into nakedness it was natural that it should have adopted the belief, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, that the Earth was as it seemed - flat on the macro scale.

But when in Ancient Egypt it became common to travel long distances to and fro along the Nile, it also became possible to observe and record the positions of the Sun and stars at two widely separated points, north and south. It was then that the startling discoveries were made that when one travelled from Alexandria to Syene, the noon summer Sun ascended to a position vertically overhead, and at night new constellations became visible on the southern horizon.

These two discoveries implied, at the very least, that the Earth is domed rather than flat, but it was not until Ancient Greek geometers got to hear about these facts that Eratosthenes came to the conclusion that the Earth is round. However this idea was contrary to local religious belief, so poor Eratosthenes was banished from his Greek city state. Later, the Imperial Roman Empire did adopt a round Earth. This was because astrology was very important to the Ancient Romans, and a spherical Earth, enclosed by concentric crystal shells (containing the planets) and an outer celestial sphere, were all vital for making accurate horoscopes.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, when Europe was transformed into Christendom, a great leap backward occurred when the cosmography of the Old Testament became inviolate in the eyes of the Holy See, and once again it was held that the Earth was flat (with four corners). Eventually however, naked ape greed came to the fore, and the idea of a round Earth became thinkable again as European sailing vessels set out across the Atlantic Ocean in search of a short cut to the China and the East Indies etc (looking for silk, spices and gold).

Consider also Christendom's later determination to assert that the Earth is still and at the centre of the universe. Unlike the then Church-endorsed Ptolemaic model, an Earth spinning on a tilted axis and orbiting the Sun provided uniquely simple explanations for the seasonal variations of the elevation of the noonday Sun, and for the night observer being able to see all 360 degrees of the locally visible constellations parading in front of him in the course of each year. Despite this, poor Giordano Bruno was burnt at the stake by the Holy See for advocating the Copernican model, and Galileo was threatened likewise, with a view to crushing the Sun-centred cosmography.

Eventually, however, it became very much in the interests of the self-styled 'Enlightenment' naked apes to adopt the heliocentric system, because it turned out that its concomitant (Newtonian) laws of gravitation and motion had tremendous utility in military and industrial technology. One notes however that Ecclesiastic naked apes held out against a spinning Earth until 1840, and refused to acknowledge error in their treatment of Galileo until 1992!

1.2 THE KNOWN KNOWNS ABOUT CLOCK SLOWING

We now come to a case of ether denial which has been ongoing for the last forty three years, and just now has reached the acute phase. In this example of ether-denial psychopathology there has been a wilful misinterpretation of the phenomenon of motion-induced clock slowing.

As at 2007, over six billion naked apes live in a technologically based society in which there is increasing reliance on the Earth-satellite based 'Global Positioning System' for navigation, and to get the system to work the GPS engineers assume that clocks run slow due to motion with respect to an Earth centred frame. By contrast, the engineers in charge of the tracking and mid-course corrections of interplanetary space probes have found that they have to assume that clocks run slow due to motion with respect to a Sun centred frame.

Despite the institutional misconceptions about the physics of this situation, there are certain agreed facts about the slowing of clocks, shared by engineers, astronomers, academic relativists and dissident physicists alike. From experience with the global navigation satellite system, and with the tracking of interplanetary space probes, all agree that atomic clocks run faster when they are at a higher gravitational potential in the Sun/Earth system, and run slower due to their motion from the spinning of the Earth about its axis, and from the orbiting of the Earth around the Sun.

The first thing to know about this is that an atomic clock at sea level at a point on the Equator, will run slower than an identical clock 18 km above the North Pole (suspended under a balloon) at the same gravitational potential as the first clock. The reduction in the rate of the Equatorial clock's radio time signals, as received by the Polar clock, is by half the square of the ratio of the Equatorial spin speed to the out-and-return speed of light in a vacuum (299,800 km/sec), as measured by the Polar clock in a reference frame which is centred on the North Pole and which is non-rotating with respect to the fixed stars.

The second thing to know is that the clock above the Terrestrial North Pole will run slower than a clock (in a hovering ion rocket) located at equi-gravitational potential high above the north pole of the Sun. The reduction in the rate of the Terrestrial Polar clock's radio time signals, as received by the Solar Polar clock, is by half the square of the ratio of the Earth orbital speed to the out-and-return speed of light (still 299,800 km/sec), as measured by the Solar Polar clock in a reference frame which is centred on the Solar Polar clock and which is non-rotating with respect to the fixed stars.

Using the two agreed facts to make logically rigorous inferences, scientific method speaks loudly, nay bellows out an explanation based on ether. However the subject of this section of the paper is the irrationality and the deceit of the ether deniers, so it behoves us to now focus on the self-incriminating documentation of their deranged thought processes and duplicitous behaviour.

1.3 THE REDHEAD / TURNER & HILL RED HERRINGS

The ether deniers don't merit the name, but love being called 'scientists'. They are therefore in need of compliant pseudo-epistemologists to support their wilful ignorance. One such is a fellow ether denier called Redhead, a 'history-and-philosophy of science' academic who is noteworthy for stating that 'in modern physics a good explanation is one that subsumes many disparate empirical regularities under the deductive closure of a unified set of theoretical principles.'

Based on deduction rather than induction, this 'back-to-front' travesty of true science has an all-too-ready explanation for the two agreed facts. Since the mathematical 'law' defining the slowing of the Terrestrial Equatorial clock relative to the Terrestrial Polar clock is identical to the 'law' which defines the slowing of the Terrestrial Polar clock relative to the Solar Polar clock, the ether deniers jump to the conclusion that this is a manifestation of the 'relativity principle', and no further explanation is necessary.

Although the ether deniers have now established complete intellectual hegemony in favour of the universal application of the relativity principle, they are annoyed that young people persist in asking whether clock slowing could be due to absolute motion, rather than relative motion? To deal with these enquiries, and to show that 'the relativity principle has passed every experimental test', the relativists have included the 'Turner & Hill experiment' [1] in university text books.

The Turner & Hill experiment was carried out in 1964 to (ostensibly) determine whether the reduction of the frequency of the radiation of a gamma ray source, located on the rim of a rapidly spinning disk and observed by an accurate 'Mossbauer' detector at the centre, is affected by the laboratory's motion relative to the 'distant matter of the universe'. This 'spinning-Mossbauer' investigation showed that the reduction in the observed frequency of the gamma rays, by half the square of the ratio of the spin speed of the source to the speed of light, remained constant to a high order of accuracy.

Turner & Hill stated that this absence of fluctuation ruled out the possibility that the motion-induced slowing of the gamma ray source was affected by its spin speed being additive and subtractive to the speed of the laboratory with respect to the rest of the universe. Turner & Hill were not entitled to make any such statement, as shall be seen, and they were being disingenuous in implying that their experiment ruled out the possibility of ether drift.

1.4 RUDERFER - THE FALLIBLE BUT HONEST SCIENTIST

What students are not told is that the Turner & Hill experiment is a garbled version of a 1960 investigation by Ruderfer [2], who was seeking to discover fluctuations in gamma ray frequency which might indicate motion of an electromagnetic medium across the plane of the spinning disk, causing cyclic Doppler-type changes in the transit times of the gamma rays crossing that disk. Initially Ruderfer put it out that his results were negative for ether drift, but 14 months later he published an errata [3] which stated that mathematical analysis had shown that if an ether wind were blowing across the plane of the spinning disk, one would expect that Doppler fluctuations in the frequency of the gamma radiation detected at the centre of the disk would be compensated by equal and opposite fluctuations in the emitted frequency of the gamma rays, caused by the effect of variations in the ether speed of the source.

What Ruderfer's experiment had stumbled on was that there could be a static electromagnetic medium at rest with respect to the rest of the universe. And it could be that any motion with respect to that medium affects the gamma ray source, and the central Mossbauer detector, by slowing down the rate of process of each by half the square of the ratio of each one's absolute ether speed to the absolute speed of propagation of light. If such were the case, it would follow (as a mathematical necessity) that irrespective of the direction and speed of ether drift of the lab, the central detector of the spinning disk would always observe a steady slowing of the gamma radiation frequency by half the square of the ratio of the spin speed of the source to the out-and-return speed of light, as measured by the detector in a reference frame which is non-rotating with respect to the fixed stars.

One notes that Ruderfer was ignorant of the speed and direction of the hypothetical ether drift of his lab, but it is now well established from observations of the cosmic background microwave radiation, that the absolute speed of his laboratory was 370 km/s in the direction of the constellation Leo plus or minus the spin speed of his lab around the Earth's axis, and plus or minus the orbital speed of the Earth around the Sun. One should also note that the just stated information is currently much neglected and despised by the ether deniers, although they are open about a corollary - that the ('peculiar') motion of the Milky Way is 600 km/s with respect to the rest of the universe!

1.5 THE 'HORROR' OF NATURE AS COSMIC CONSPIRACY

Ruderfer's experiment and his errata were of great significance in the history of modern physics because of their psychological impact on the ether deniers. Previously, the Michelson & Morley ether drift experiment had been successfully portrayed as 'negative' rather than 'null' because the proposed compensating factor, Fitzgerald contraction, was a theoretical construct. However, in the case of the Ruderfer experiment, the ether deniers were shocked to find that the experiment provided proof of the existence of the compensating factor in the observed frequency reduction, making it indubitably a null ether drift experiment.

Since the motion-induced frequency reduction of the gamma ray source is by a steady 'half the square of the ratio of the disk spin speed to the speed of propagation of the gamma rays', and since this is exactly the amount required to give the same result, irrespective of whether the disk is at ether rest, or is orientated edgewise (or at right angles) to a hypothetical ether drift, this constituted prima facie evidence for something for which the ether deniers have a particular fear and loathing - 'laws of nature which conspire to conceal the effect of ether drift'. It should therefore be no surprise that Ruderfer's experiment, and his errata, have been the subject of studious neglect by the relativists, whereas Turner & Hill's plagiarized and mangled version of Ruderfer's experiment has been given much prominence.

Despite the glaring professional malfeasance of the ether deniers, as revealed in the spinning-Mossbauer affair, they think it has all been in a good cause of 'protecting the young from speculating about metaphysically unsound unseen entities, and things which go bump in the night'. The final line of defence the relativists have for their anti-etherist obsession is that 'there is no experiment, or suggested experiment, which can detect ether drift, and it therefore follows that the equivalence of relatively moving reference frames cannot be challenged'. But even this defence falls away when one considers a sonic model of the ether.

PART 2 : A SONIC MODEL OF THE ELECTROMAGNETIC MEDIUM

2.1 SETTING UP THE EARTH / SUN CLOCK MODEL

To subject the premises of the ether deniers to critical scrutiny we must now return to consideration of the two agreed facts, viz. 1) the slowing of the Equatorial clock due to spinning of the Earth, and 2) the slowing of the Terrestrial Polar clock due to the orbiting of the Earth around the Sun.

Ruderfer showed that his experiment was null for ether drift using mathematical analysis, but in this section of the paper the Sun-Earth system is modelled mechanically to show that it is indeed physically possible for the electromagnetic medium to conceal its own existence. In this sonic model the electromagnetic medium is simulated by stationary air, maintained at 15 degrees centigrade in an Airbus A380 airliner hangar.

Within the hangar there is a working not-to-scale model of the Sun/Earth system, with the Earth represented by an electrically powered 400 mm diameter disk which spins at six revolutions per minute on a vertical spindle. This 'Terrestrial' disk is in turn mounted on the circumference of an electrically powered 50 m diameter 'Earth orbit' platform which rotates at one rpm, with the 'Sun' represented by its central axle.
This Sun/Earth model is fitted with three miniature quartz crystal clocks whose rates are modulated by their airspeed, as a way of simulating the hypothetical influence of ether speed on the rates of atomic clocks. The first clock, the model 'Equatorial' clock, is equipped with a speaker which emits 'time' signals of 100,000 Hz ultra sound, but the rate of this clock, and the frequency of the sound signals from its speaker, are reduced as a function of the airspeed of the clock divided by the speed of sound (ie the Mach number).

The second clock, the model 'Terrestrial Polar' clock, is equipped with a speaker emitting 90,000 Hz time signals, and this clock is also equipped with a microphone. The rate of this clock, the frequency of sound signals from its speaker, the period between sound waves measured by its microphone, and the 6.0 rpm spin speed of the 'Terrestrial' disk are reduced as a function of second clock's Mach number. The third clock, the model 'Solar Polar' clock, is equipped with a microphone only, and the rate of this clock, the period between sound waves measured by its microphone, and the 1.0 rpm rotation speed of the 'Earth orbit' platform are reduced as a function of the third clock's Mach number.

Finally, the 50 m diameter 'Earth orbit' platform is mounted on an airliner ground tug with a set straight-line speed of five m/s, in order to simulate the absolute speed of the Sun/Earth system with respect to the rest of the universe. And to represent the opaque 2.7 degree Kelvin plasma sphere surrounding the Earth/Sun system, four fixed-frequency 80,000 Hz ultrasound speakers are fitted to the inside surfaces of the walls and doors of the hangar.

For heuristic purposes the investigation of the Earth/Sun model is carried out in three phases. In Phase One the only motion allowed is the spinning of the 'Terrestrial' disk. In Phase Two there is in addition the rotation of the 'Earth orbit' platform, and in Phase Three the linear motion of the Earth/Sun model with respect to the hangar is added. Note that the testing is carried in 'short bursts' of rotary and linear motion, to avoid the apparatus imparting motion to the stationary air by viscous drag.

2.2 MODELLING EQUATORIAL CLOCK-SLOWING

As a preliminary, all motion of the Earth/Sun model is arrested and the air in the hangar is allowed to settle for at least five minutes. Phase one of the experiment then begins by spinning up the 'Terrestrial Equatorial' clock/speaker around the 'Terrestrial Polar' clock/microphone to six rpm for one complete revolution. But before examining the results it would be helpful to one's understanding to look at some additional details of the apparatus design.

The 'Terrestrial Equatorial' speaker consists of a miniature ultra-sound emitter attached to a stalk located above the edge of the 400 mm disk. The 100 kHz frequency of this speaker is modulated by the co-located clock, whose rate is reducible by an electronic circuit which has an input from a miniature anemometer, also attached to the stalk. This arrangement ensures that there is a (small) reduction in the 100 kHz emission, by half the square of the ratio of the true airspeed of the stalk to the true speed of sound in the hangar (340.9 m/s).

The sound of the 'Terrestrial Equatorial' speaker is picked up by a miniature microphone mounted on the 'Polar' spindle of the 'Terrestrial' disk, and the frequency of this sound is measured by the spindle-mounted clock whose rate is reducible by an electronic circuit which has an input from an anemometer, also attached to the spindle. This arrangement ensures there is a reduction in the rate of the 'Terrestrial Polar' clock by half the square of the ratio of the true airspeed of the spindle to the true speed of sound in the hangar. (One should mention at this stage that the spindle clock also controls a co-located ultra-sound speaker of 90 kHz, to be used in Phase Two of the experiment.)

To recapitulate, in Phase One of the experiment the 'Earth orbit' platform is kept stationary in rotation and in translation, and the 'Terrestrial' disk is spun up to a speed of 6.0 rpm, as measured by the spindle-mounted 'Terrestrial Polar' clock. The spinning stalk-mounted 'Terrestrial Equatorial' clock/speaker is thereby immersed in a wind speed of 0.126 m/s. As expected the results showed the microphone on the 'Terrestrial Polar' spindle detects a reduction in the frequency of the sound emitted from the 'Terrestrial Equatorial' stalk by half the square of the ratio of the circular speed of the stalk to the out-and-return speed of sound, as measured by the 'Terrestrial Polar' spindle in a reference frame which is non-rotating with respect to the hangar, ie a steady reduction of 0.0068 Hz.

In Phase Two of the experiment the Terrestrial disk continues to spin at 6.0 rpm, as measured by the spindle-mounted 'Terrestrial Polar' clock, and the 'Earth orbit' platform is set rotating at 1.0 rpm, but kept stationary in translation. The spinning 'Terrestrial' spindle is thereby immersed in a wind speed of 2.618 m/s caused by the rotation of the platform. Note that the rate of the 'Terrestrial Polar' clock, at the centre of the rotating disk, is reduced by 0.0030 % by virtue of the wind speed caused by the rotation of the platform, and note also that the 6.0 rpm rate of spin of the disk is commanded to slow down by the same percentage. It is also interesting that the local out-and-return speed of sound, as measured by the reduced-rate 'Terrestrial Polar' clock, is the same numerical value (340.9 m/s) as it was before the platform began rotating.

Phase Two results confirm that the reduction of the frequency of the 100 kHz ultrasound from the 'Terrestrial Equatorial' stalk, as measured by the 'Terrestrial Polar' spindle, is by the same mathematical function as in Phase One, ie by 'half the square of the ratio of the circular speed of the stalk to the out-and-return speed of sound, as measured by the Terrestrial Polar clock in a reference frame which is non-rotating with respect to the hangar'. Indeed, the measured reduction in frequency is a steady 0.0068 Hz, the same as before the 'Earth orbit' platform was set in rotation.

2.3 CLOCK SLOWING NEGATES SIGNAL DELAY

One should pay particular attention that in Phase Two the frequency reduction, observed by the 'Terrestrial Polar² clock, remains steady. In the 2.618 m/s 'orbital' breeze induced by the rotation of the 'Earth orbit' platform, it might be expected that as the 'Terrestrial Equatorial' stalk rotates 180 degrees from downwind to upwind of the 'Terrestrial Polar' spindle, the frequency of the ultrasound from the stalk would be perceived by the spindle-mounted microphone to increase in frequency (because of the effect of reduced Doppler signal delay).

In effect, when the stalk is downwind of the 'Terrestrial Polar' spindle its sound waves are in a headwind and therefore take longer to travel though the air to get to the spindle, and when the stalk is upwind the sound waves are in a tail wind and therefore take a shorter time to get to the centre of the 'Terrestrial' disk. It would be expected that this 'half-spin' Doppler reduction in signal travel time would be perceived by the spindle microphone as a momentary increase in frequency. Note that the expected time of maximum perceived increase in frequency would occur as the stalk is abreast of the spindle-mounted 'Terrestrial Polar' microphone.

However, no such momentary increase in frequency is detected by the 'Terrestrial Polar' microphone. This is because as the 'Terrestrial Equatorial' stalk rotates through the same 180 degrees from downwind to upwind, the resultant addition of the breeze from the stalk's circular speed (0.126 m/s) to the breeze from the rotation of the platform (2.618 m/s), will cause the frequency of the ultrasound generated by the stalk electronics to be momentarily reduced by an extra amount, and this increased reduction in frequency would be at a maximum when the stalk is abreast of the central 'Terrestrial Polar' microphone.

As predicted by Ruderfer, the two effects, (i) cyclic increase in frequency due to Doppler, and (ii) cyclic decrease in frequency due to stalk windspeed, are at every instant exactly equal and opposite as received by the 'Terrestrial Polar' microphone, leading to the perception by this microphone of a constant frequency. Similarly, when the 'Terrestrial Equatorial' stalk rotates another 180 degrees from upwind to downwind, the Doppler signal delay effect (causing a momentary half-spin reduction in the frequency as received by the 'Terrestrial Polar' microphone) is exactly compensated by a real equal and opposite half-spin increase in frequency (generated by the 'Terrestrial Equatorial' speaker).

2.4 MODELLING TERRESTRIAL POLAR CLOCK-SLOWING

Phase Two of the experiment, in which the 'Terrestrial' disk rotates at 6.0 rpm and the 'Earth orbit' platform rotates at 1.0 rpm (and has no translation) is completed with the receipt of the nominally 90 kHz ultra-sound from the 'Terrestrial Polar' speaker by the microphone at the centre of the 'Earth orbit' platform. Note that this 'Solar Polar' microphone, measures ultrasound frequencies using a co-located clock which as before has a rate which is reduced by half the square of the ratio of its true airspeed to the true speed of sound in the hangar (340.9 m/s).

The 90 kHz frequency of the ultrasonic speaker, located on the spindle at the centre of the 'Terrestrial' disk, is modulated by the previously mentioned spindle-mounted clock, which reduces in rate by half the square of the ratio of the spindle's true windspeed to the true speed of sound in the hangar (340.9 m/s). It follows that the effect of the 2.618 m/s 'orbital' speed of the 'Terrestrial Polar' spindle around the 'Solar' axle is to cause a reduction in the frequency of the 'Terrestrial Polar' ultrasound speaker by 2.654 Hz.

The 'Solar Polar' axle is in still air and therefore does not change in clock rate. As expected in this second part of Phase Two of the experiment, the 'Solar Polar' microphone at the centre of the 'Earth orbit' platform perceives the 'Terrestrial Polar' speaker to have reduced in frequency by half the square of the ratio of the orbital speed of the spindle to the out-and-return speed of sound, as measured by the 'Solar Polar' clock in a frame which is non-rotating with respect to the hangar (i.e. 2.654 Hz).

One notes that in Phase Two, both the 'Terrestrial Polar' clock measures the slowing of Terrestrial Equatorial' clock, and the 'Solar Polar' clock measures the slowing of the 'Terrestrial Polar' clock as having the same mathematical rate-reduction, i.e. 'half the square of the ratio of the rotational speed of the moving clock to the out-and-return speed of sound, as measured by the central clock in its respective non-rotating reference frame'.

2.5 MODELLING THE EARTH/SUN SYSTEM IN LINEAR MOTION

In Phase Three of the experiment, the insides of the front and rear doors and the left and right side walls of the hangar have the previously mentioned speakers emitting a fixed absolute frequency of 80 kHz. Also, the revolving 'Earth orbit' platform (and the attached 'Terrestrial' spinning disk), mounted on the aircraft tug, are driven at a steady speed of 5.0 m/s along the long axis of the hangar in the direction of the front door. In this part of the experiment one recalls that the 'Solar Polar' clock's rate is modulated by a co-located miniature anemometer and electronic control circuitry attached to the 'Solar' axle. The 5.0 m/s true windspeed of the 'Solar Polar' clock causes its rate to be reduced by half the square of the ratio of the translational speed to the speed of sound in the hangar (340.9 m/s). It follows that the 'Solar Polar' clock undergoes a reduction in rate of 0.0108%, and commands the 1.0 rpm rotation of the 'Earth orbit' platform to slow down by the same percentage.

The question now arises as to whether there is any change in the 'Terrestrial Equatorial' clock rate as perceived by the 'Terrestrial Polar' clock , or in the 'Terrestrial Polar' clock rate as perceived by the 'Solar Polar' clock. Well, there is a very complicated variation in the airspeeds, and therefore the rates of the three clocks, the two speakers, and the two microphones of the 'Earth/Sun' system, as the 'Terrestrial Equatorial' stalk spins around 'Terrestrial Polar' spindle, and the 'Terrestrial Polar' stalk rotates around the 'Solar Polar' axle, and as the system is blown through by a linear breeze of 5.0 km/s, so it might be expected there would be fluctuations in the results as compared to Phase 2.

However, it is found that even with the additional 5.0 m/s windspeed affecting the Doppler signal delays, the true frequencies of the 'Terrestrial Equatorial' and 'Terrestrial Polar' speakers, and the rates of rotation of the 'Terrestrial' and 'Earth orbit' disks, there is no difference in how the 'Terrestrial Polar' clock perceives the reduction of the rate of the 'Terrestrial Equatorial' clock (ie 0.0068 Hz), nor how the 'Solar Polar' clock perceives the reduction of the rate of the 'Terrestrial Polar' clock (ie 2.654 Hz). Which is to say, in both cases the perceived clock slowing is still by 'a steady half the square of the ratio of the rotational speed of the circularly moving clock to the out-and-return speed of sound, as measured by the central clock in a frame of reference which is non-rotating with respect to the hangar'.

As for the measurements of the frequency of the 80 kHz emitters on the left and right hangar walls by the 'Solar Polar' clock, it is found that there is an apparent increase in frequency of 8.606 Hz, and from this it can be inferred that the true rate of the axle quartz clock is 0.999,892 the rate at zero airspeed. Also, from the measurement by the axle clock of the Doppler frequency increase of the front hangar door emitter (1,182.18 Hz ), and the Doppler frequency reduction of the rear hangar door emitter (1,164.66 Hz), it is straight forward to confirm that the true speed of translation of the axle in the direction of the front hangar door is 5.0 m/s.

PART 3: THE THORNY PATH TO TRUTH

3.1 IMPLICATIONS OF THE SONIC MODEL

In Part 2 of this paper we have seen how Phase Three of the experiment with the mechanical model of atomic clocks in the Sun/Earth system, using still air and quartz clocks made to run slow as a function of their local airspeed, in all essential respects reproduces the behaviour of actual motion-induced clock slowing found in the Solar System. Even an ether denier, when confronted with this sonic model, would avoid attributing the slowing of the 'Terrestrial Equatorial' clock to its 'motion relative to the reference frame which is non-rotating with respect to Terrestrial Polar clock', and would similarly refuse to attribute the slowing of the 'Terrestrial Polar' clock to its 'motion relative to the reference frame which is non-rotating with respect to the Solar Polar clock'.

Such an ether denier would readily admit that (a) all clock-slowing in the sonic model is, as per the experimental design, a function of the local airspeed of each clock. The ether denier would further admit that since (b) the (steady) slowing of the stalk clock, as observed by the spindle clock, is the same math function as the (steady) slowing of the spindle clock, as observed by the axle clock, this indicates that the phenomenon is an experimental-design artefact contingent on (a). However the ether denier would hasten to add that such a crude mechanical model wouldn't apply to the reality of clock-slowing in the Solar System, as this would imply the existence of a particularly spooky ether and a particularly spooky ether-maker!

Indeed, our ether denier would assert that acceptance of the validity of the sonic model would cast Western civilization headlong into 'a New Dark Age of pseudo-scientific mumbo jumbo'. According to our ether denier, a physics and cosmology based on ether would be 'so bizarre that not even the most fanciful science fiction writer would have had the temerity to afflict his readers with it'.

It is the naked ape's inconsistent attitude of 'rational appraisal of the sonic model' on the one hand, and 'irrational scepticism of the Earth/Sun ether motion induced clock slowing' on the other hand, which now requires us to return to the historical precedents, with a view to determining the intractability of the problem.

3.2 WE'VE COME THIS WAY BEFORE

Rather than religious opposition, it was naked ape 'failure of imagination and knee-jerk scepticism' which were the initial obstacles for acceptance of previous scientific and cosmological revolutions. In the case of the 'round Earth revolution', initial resistance was based on the common sense idea that it would be completely stupid to allow the possibility that direction 'down' could be anything but a fundamentally invariant property of Heaven and Earth. In particular, it would be ridiculous to believe that the direction of 'down' at Alexandria could be seven degrees different to the direction of 'down' at Syene!

Although Eratosthenes' logic may have held water on a small scale, say for what a scurrying ant on a marble orb would see in a darkened room lined with candles , it wouldn't necessarily apply on a large scale for Heaven and Earth as a whole, where perhaps an entirely new and non-logical set of rules governed the way things worked. And yet it was eventually accepted by Imperial Rome that the direction 'down' at Alexandria and at Syene, converged to a point 4000 miles beneath the Earth's surface, and that there had to be a spooky influence which somehow caused objects to fall towards this point.

Although a spherical Earth was a strain on the naked ape imagination, a change of shape from 'flat' to 'round' did not threaten more fundamental aspects of the Roman world view, regarding the the seeking of power, glory, prosperity and the favour the Gods. As for a finite round Earth being an inspiration to global conquest, the Imperial Romans were unenthusiastic. They had their hands full administering their Mediterranean empire, and anyhow they were fearful of the turbulent seas beyond the Pillars of Hercules.

In the case of the 'spinning-orbiting Earth revolution' initial resistance was based on the common sense idea that it would be completely stupid to allow the possibility that the Earth could be spinning and orbiting at speeds thousands of times faster than a racing chariot. In the first instance, there was no evidence in nature for the vibrations that would inevitably accompany such speed - not even the hint of a ripple on a pond on a windless day! In the second instance, it was utterly absurd to think that the high speed motion of such a large heavy object as the Earth could have sustained itself over the entire course of history in the absence of enormous shoves to keep the planet spinning on its axis and orbiting around the Sun.

Although Copernicus' arguments may have held water concerning an ant on a marble orb spinning and orbiting around a chandelier in a large room lined with candles, it wasn't necessarily the case for the Heaven and Earth as a whole, where perhaps an entirely new and non-logical set of rules governed the way things worked. And yet it was eventually accepted that a mysterious force called 'inertia' kept the Earth smoothly spinning and orbiting the Sun indefinitely at amazing speed.

The spinning/orbiting Earth was a strain on the naked ape imagination, but the change from a 'still' to a 'moving' Earth did not immediately threaten the world view of Christendom, regarding the central importance for all Christian naked apes to seek forgiveness for sin, to avoid eternal punishment in Hell, and to attain everlasting life in Heaven. However, over time the Copernican revolution did change the Christian world view, and 'God's laws of gravitation and motion ( as uncovered by Newton)', became 'Newton's laws of gravitation and motion (where God is an unnecessary hypothesis)'!

3.3 WHY WE ARE STUCK AGAIN

In the incipient revolution, concerning the slowing of clocks in ether motion, the initial resistance has been based on the common sense idea that it would be completely stupid to allow the possibility that the properties of the ether could be fine-tuned to affect light and matter so as to frustrate any attempt to directly measure the speed of ether drift. Apart from motion-induced clock slowing, it would be utterly absurd to think that many other natural phenomena, such as the refraction of light in a transparent fluid or solid, would be similarly fine-tuned to conceal the effect of ether drift.

Although the Ether Drift Club's arguments may hold water concerning a sonic model of the rate-slowing of spinning and orbiting airspeed-modulated quartz crystal clocks, the ether deniers ape their reactionary predecessors by claiming that 'the sonic model doesn't necessarily apply to phenomena so mysterious as TIME, or the nature of LIGHT'. But the strain on the credulity of the naked ape when contemplating the possible existence of the ether is dwarfed by an even bigger obstacle. For unlike the 'round Earth', or the 'moving Earth', the 'self concealing ether' is hugely disadvantaged by coming into immediate direct conflict with the currently prevailing world view.

As before it will eventually be accepted the universe is different from what had previously been thought. But to gain acceptance for the thesis that 'clocks run slow because of absolute motion, not relative motion' will involve a fierce ideological conflict against a global civilization whose dominant naked apes wield unprecedented institutional might. This is because victory for truth over falsehood will mean acceptance of a mysterious static supranatural ether which provides the infrastructure for all radiation, matter, fundamental forces and other physical phenomena. Also, in this new era the previously mentioned gravitation and inertia will become explicable (and manipulatable) for the first time.

The institutional power of the ether deniers is based, in the first instance, on their concept of science as (A) the superiority of a large number of disparate but useful quantitative mathematical formulae describing the various phenomena, vis a vis (B) the quest to find, in the first instance, an integrated theory of physics and cosmology in which all natural phenomena can be interlocked qualitatively into an coherent whole. A superficial investigation into the reason for this 'counter-intuitive' approach reveals a well founded belief that (B) would - shock and horror - throw open the scientific agenda to a 'mad, freaky, spooky ether theory of everything' which would put at nought the mathematical physics expertise of the alpha male naked ape academics currently running the scientific show.

Faced with media-augmented oracular pronouncements by academic apes about the 'fundamentally mathematical nature of things', and the firm dismissal of the 'quaint 19th century ether concept', it is tempting for the dissident physicist to declare that the ether cause is lost. But although the odds are colossally against success, one is honour bound to at least keep the prospective field of the battle under surveillance. Apart from anything, the dissident should have a realistic appreciation of just what he is up against, and prepare his mind to take advantage of any opportunity which should arise.

3.4 THE MOTHER OF ALL REVOLUTIONS

The naked ape is a selfish ape, and any revolution, whether it be (i) social, (ii) political, (iii) economic, (iv) technological, (v) scientific, (vi) cosmological or (vii) religious, is ipso facto strongly resisted by all naked apes with a vested interest in the status quo. For example, the Copernican revolution was the most subversive so far in naked ape history because its effects continue to reverberate, wreaking profound effects on all naked apes (for good and ill) in all seven categories mentioned.

The reason why the Copernican revolution was so profound was that it brought in its train Keplerian orbital mechanics, the physics of Newton, and later the 'Enlightenment' values of secular humanism. Thus the Copernican revolution has spawned a rationalist world view, where nature is governed by (randomly generated) mathematical laws as per Kepler, Newton, Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr etc. In this world view Western naked apes regard themselves as self made beings in a purposeless universe, where given enough time and sufficient progress in rocket propulsion technique they will eventually become lord and masters of the universe.

In this secular humanist world view Western naked apes arrogantly regard themselves at the pinnacle of a process of Darwinian biological evolution, resulting from a random process of natural selection and survival of the fittest. Also these Western naked apes, for historical reasons, believe in the separation of Church and State, and the separation of science and religion. In this set up scientists are expert in the domain of the physical universe, and ecclesiastics have authority in matters of a religious observance for their flock. But for an individual naked ape 'scientist' there need never be any conflict between his profession and his faith.

Come the ether revolution however, the above world view will undergo a profound change. All the mathematical 'laws of nature' will have to be replaced by qualitative and quantitative descriptions of the properties of the solid elastic 'Big Ether Blob', which is the physical universe. It will have to be recognized that the Big Ether Blob is an object made by a supernatural intelligence whose motivation is to get the universe to run without intervention, yet be amenable to intervention without detectable intrusion.

Come the ether revolution it will have to be recognized that the universe has a purpose for the being(s) who made it, and that since 'Holy Writ' has been manifestly inadequate in revealing the physical nature of the universe, it follows that it will take a long time to discover the exact nature of the supernatural dimension of the universe. One should also bear in mind that perhaps the 'Maker(s) Of The Big Ether Blob' (MOTBEB) has directly or indirectly intervened to cause the extinction of the dinosaurs, and may have similar plans for the naked ape before it 'escapes the Earth' by setting up a self sustaining space colony.

3.5 THE ARMIES OF THE ANCIEN REGIME

The Big Ether Blob (BEB) revolution is unlikely any time soon, if for no other reason that all vested interest groups that one can think of would suffer a short term adverse change of fortune should that revolution eventuate.

First, the BEB revolution will be a social revolution, because in the new etherist world view all sentient beings will be recognized as having the same source for their sentience, i.e. a Cosmic Mind associated with the BEB. In the light of this new scientific knowledge it will have to be recognized by naked ape society that at the very least it was unacceptable that over one billion naked apes went to bed hungry and thirsty every night in 2007, and that sixty thousand of these went to sleep mourning the death that day of a son or daughter due to preventable infectious disease or starvation. But Western naked apes would resist a BEB social revolution wherein they are forced to do whatever it takes to prevent such horrors ever happening again.

Second, the BEB revolution will be a political revolution, because in the new etherist world view it will have to be recognized that a system of government where all naked apes are given a secret ballot vote to choose their leaders (after a fair election campaign), is the surest way to tap into the benevolence and omniscience of the Cosmic Mind. But plutocratic Western naked apes would resist a BEB political revolution wherein they are forced to give up their addiction for money-manipilated sham-democracy.

Third, the BEB revolution will be an economic revolution, because in the new etherist world view it will have to be recognized that all naked apes are manifestations of the Cosmic Mind and have a right to exist in modest comfort, but not in absurdly wasteful profligacy. But Western middle-class naked apes would resist a BEB revolution wherein they would have to give up the concept of an unfettered market economy, and would have to give up the dream of becoming as rich as Bill Gates.

Fourth, the BEB revolution will be a technological revolution, because in the new etherist world view it would become appropriate to have a 'Manhattan project' in pursuit of the low-energy manipulation of local ether density gradient, with a view to creating antigravity for personal propulsion, space transport, and base load electricity generation. But business Western naked apes would resist a BEB technological revolution wherein they would have to forfeit profits based on conventionally fuelled cars, trains, planes, ships and power stations.

Fifth, the BEB revolution will be a scientific revolution, because in the new etherist world view it will have to be recognized that the ether is the result of intelligent design, which is a fortiori the case because it has properties which automatically generate the biological evolution of species. But Western naked ape physicists and biologists would resist a BEB scientific revolution wherein they would have to give up the project of showing that 'God is an unnecessary hypothesis'.

Sixth, the BEB revolution will be a cosmological revolution, because in the new etherist world view it would have to be recognized that the dark matter and dark energy (which no one can find) are bleeding obvious manifestations of the existence of a solid ether blob undergoing long term oscillations of expansion and contraction. But Western naked ape cosmologists would resist a BEB cosmological revolution wherein they would have to give up models based on Hilbert's relativistic field equations.

Seventh, the BEB revolution will be a religious revolution, because in the new etherist world view it would have to be recognized that a distinction has to be made between MOTBEB, who did its work many cosmological cycles ago, and the Cosmic Mind, which is a work in progress and which is an integral part of the Big Ether Blob. But Western naked ape theologians would resist a BEB religious revolution wherein theological knowledge is brought into the realm of the ether theory of everything.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

It is beyond reasonable doubt that the EDC's sonic model of 'motion-induced clock slowing in the Solar System' demonstrates that there is a static electromagnetic medium which encompasses the universe. Secondly, on the balance of probabilities the electromagnetic medium was made by a supernatural, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent being (or beings), skilled in the art of ether blob design and construction, and the ether blob was set oscillating many trillions of years ago in great cosmological cycles.

Thirdly, it is likely that the BEB is inhabited by a Cosmic Mind which provides the machinery for the thoughts of conscious creatures, and is privy to those thoughts and experiences. One can speculate that the Cosmic Mind gets entertainment out of the antics of the various life forms on Earth, and in particular is amused by the saga of the naked ape.

In the broad sweep of naked ape history, one might conjecture that the Cosmic Mind is tasked by MOTBEB to intervene on occasion to heighten the dramatic possibilities. Thus it is plausible that the anti-ether Zeitgeist currently retarding naked ape progress is in part a supernatural artefact, setting the scene for a huge intellectual schemozzle when the Cosmic Mind throws a metaphorical switch to 'Zeitgeist-ether-neutral'.

It is hard to figure when this change in intellectual climate will come - it could be in ten centuries or it could be in ten years, and although the work of dissident physicists like Ives, Builder, Prokhovnik, Selleri, Bartocci and Hatch have been very important in keeping the dream alive, it might well be that some undeserving johnny-come-lately will get most of the credit for initiating the actual BEB revolution. Although post-revolutionary naked apes may be be fallible in acknowledging credit, it is comforting to know that the Cosmic Mind will know of and reward the efforts of all dissident physicists by means of personal satisfaction in the pursuit of a great cause.

I suggest the following scenario for the future: By 2138, after a further 131 years of the secular humanist world view working itself out to a horrific conclusion, naked apes will be afflicted by apparently insoluble crises, socially, politically, economically, technologically, scientifically, cosmologically and religiously. But 40 years previously a talented writer and dissident physicist had published a book spelling out a new etherist world view offering a solution to those crises.

This 'new Copernicus' will inspire a charismatic experimentalist who in 2138 will put on a series of public lectures using a balanced right angle lever to measure the speed of the lecture hall with respect to the rest of the universe. Twenty years later this 'new Galileo' will inspire a 'new Newton' to work out the qualitative and quantitative relationship between gravity, electric charge and magnetism, and with the consequent development of anti-gravity, the forces of reaction will be routed and the Big Ether Blob revolution will be well away.

Casting forward to 2338, the ether revolution will be judged by its fruits. Naked apes will have decided by democratic vote to leave the Earth and will have set about turning the planet into a nature park. The engine for this exodus will be lingering pre-revolutionary ethnic hatred, and post-revolutionary naked apes will show a preference for culturally and ethnically similar apes as they spread out into space, setting up numerous (predominantly) ethnically homogeneous colonies in orbit around the Sun.

In this new 'Federation of Independent Space Colonies of Utopitaria' (FISCU), naked apes will come to rejoice in their cultural and ethnic differences, and with Colonial economic parity, freedom of migration between Colonies won't jeopardize the equilibrium levels of multi-ethnicity. In accord with the etherist world view, the unique talents of each naked ape will be cherished by the Federation, and etherist social institutions will actualize those talents for the greater good of individual ape, Federation, Cosmic Mind and MOTBEB.


REFERENCES:

1. Ruderfer, Martin (1960) 'First-Order Ether Drift Experiment Using the Mossbauer Radiation', Physical Review Letters, Volume 5, Number 3, September 1, page 191-192.

2. Ruderfer, Martin (1961) 'Errata - First-Order Ether Drift Experiment Using the Mossbauer Radiation', Physical Review Letters, Volume 7, Number 9, November 1, page 361.

3. Turner, K.C. and Hill, H.A. (1964) 'New Experimental Limit on Velocity-Dependent Interactions of Clocks and Distant Matter', Volume 134, Number 1B, April 13, page B252 - B256.

THE AUTHOR:
Jim Hodges
Ether Drift Club
2 Gunyah Court
Kurunjang Victoria 3337
Australia
03 973 1225

THE PAPER WAS SUBMITTED TO:
Natural Philosophy Alliance
14th Annual Conference
May 21 - 25, 2007
University of Connecticut
Storrs Campus
United States of America