The Suppressed Electrodynamics of Ampère-Gauss-Weber (2001)

https://21sci-tech.com/articles/spring01/Electrodynamics.html

by kordlessagain • 4 years ago

23 9 4 years ago

piannucci• 4 years ago

There are a number of red flags here.

The author puts a lot of breathless energy into airing grievances and lodging accusations. I find I don't much care: I want to know whether they have identified an experimental, quantitative, or pedagogical problem to be solved. The crypto-gnosticism of allegedly-suppressed history has everything to do with a perception of injustice and nothing to do with physics.

Another red flag is the parenthetical structure of the diatribe. Rather than picking one point at a time and making it well, the author runs into the metaphorical theory-space blasting wildly in all directions. What does thermodynamics have to do with any of this? It seems to be mentioned at the beginning and the end mostly to imply that Clausius and Helmholtz have been involved in some kind of conspiracy to suppress history: an argument which this margin is, apparently, too small to contain.

A third red flag is the absence of quantitative, minimal test cases: worked-out homework problems with testable predictions. Einstein's gedanken-experiments have become an irreplaceable part of the pedagogy of special relativity precisely because they are such an effective tool in focusing the learner's attention on one mystery at a time. A teacher who tells you "this is simple, really, anyone can understand it!" may be overly enthusiastic or even wrong. But a teacher who tells you "this is complicated, nobody can understand it! See, here's a Gordian knot of inseparable ideas! Don't let anyone tell you they can understand this!" bears the burden of proof that the indicated concepts cannot be developed individually.

If we set aside the emotional power of an appeal to our sense of injustice, the remaining content of this piece doesn't stand on its own. Yeah, sure, lots of things happened in the 19th century that I don't know about. Lots of wrongs have never been righted. Other than a half-hearted implication that gravity and electromagnetism can be unified (remarkably without any mention of Kaluza or Klein), or that something is rotten in the state of thermodynamics, this piece adds nothing substantial to my understanding of the universe.

Sporktacular2• 4 years ago

This comment is superb. I wish I understood more about the physics to critique it, but the grievance in the tone just makes me wonder if there's any point in trying.

In the end, I have enough faith in physicists and science historians to incorporate such ideas, or reject them, based on the science or the history revealed in the article. The conspiracy nonsense adds nothing to that. So I'm happy with my 'self-imposed shackles' until I have reason to be otherwise.

colechristensen2• 4 years ago

Not to mention that quantum electrodynamics (QED) is extremely well understood and tested to ridiculous precision. We are certainly not missing anything that came up in 19th century physics and if we did the evidence would be strictly an experiment obviously contrary to theory. That doesn’t exist and no amount of hand waving about failed theories or alternate formulations of existing theory should convince anybody.

mikewarot• 4 years ago

It seems that QED theory has been repeatedly adjusted to fit measured data, or so claims this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaC_aKqjCXU

I've gone down the suppressed laws of physics rabbit hole myself in the past, and I don't care to repeat that trip.

Sporktacular2• 4 years ago

The site is a gem of pseudo-scientific conspiracy mongering, I mean, suppressed wisdom. See also: - The Mad, Mad, Mad World of Climatism, a review: https://21sci-tech.com/Articles_2013/Fall-Winter_2013/Books_... - How The Russellites Sabotage Science: https://21sci-tech.com/Articles_2013/Fall-Winter_2013/Greeni... - Are Nuclear Processes In Biology Unique? https://21sci-tech.com/Articles_2012/Spring-Summer_2012/06_N...

taxicabjesus• 4 years ago

Someone I respect said science became ossified - "rigid or fixed in attitude or position" - in 1845. A general description of the 3 suspects was provided.

Science keeps trying to fix itself, but the rigidity is persistent.

8bitsrule• 4 years ago

Many interesting bits about Ampere, Weber and Gauss [not Faraday] ... names often sprinkled about (in holy units) but little recalled. That fecund period when most of the fundamental discoveries were made (of nothing!) clearly needs to see more light.

It's a bit criminal that, in the hurry and push of modern college science curricula, there's so little notice of such history. Those giants' feet were firmly grounded.

_nalply• 4 years ago

About two decades ago I fell for an antigravity theory based on electrodynamics. The distance law is same for gravitic and electric fields (force is proportional to inverse distance squared). I found it an intriguing idea if gravity is something like an imbalance between the attracting and repulsing forces of electrodynamics.

I even asked my physics teacher about this and he just smiled and told me that he thinks this will lead to nowhere.

There are some fallacies which are hard to detect. One example is the Dissection Fallacy: https://mathworld.wolfram.com/DissectionFallacy.html

I never managed to understand the exact fallacy of the antigravity theory, however.

The Suppressed Electrodynamics of Ampère-Gauss-Weber (2001)

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