Aspden-Hearld · Source catalogue

A 2-page printout of a web essay hosted on aetherometry.com (the Akronos/Labofex site; the page header shows a print date of 6/11/2019, while the essay itself is signed 30 October 2005). Aspden argues that plasma physics relies on an unresolved 19th-century ambiguity in the law of force between two moving point charges. Maxwell (Treatise, 3rd ed.) noted that closed-circuit experiments fix the force between current elements only up to an undetermined term, which in vector form is proportional to (v.r)v' ee'/r^3, and Maxwell chose a coefficient of +1. Aspden says the better choice is a minus sign with an extra mass-ratio factor: -(ee'/r^3)(m'/m)(v.r)v', where m and m' are the masses of the two charges. For a heavy ion interacting with a light electron this term gives a net, unbalanced linear force along the line of ion motion that, he argues, pumps energy into heavy ions, so ions in a plasma gain far more kinetic energy than electrons. He cites as support: ion cathode-reaction forces in cold-cathode discharges (Kobel, Phys. Rev. 36, 1636, 1930), wire-rupture and exploding-arc experiments of P. and P.N. Graneau (Phys. Lett. 97A 253, 1983; Appl. Phys. Lett. 46 468, 1985), J. Reece Roth's bumpy-torus result of ions hotter than electrons (IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. PS-6, 1978), and Sethian, Hammer and Wharton's report of electron-ion energy transfer 1000x faster than classical (Phys. Rev. Lett. 40, 451, 1978). He ties this to the solar-corona temperature puzzle (corona about 1,000,000 K vs photosphere about 6,000 K, ratio quoted as 'of the order of 160'), asserts the sun is not powered by fusion, and says the extra energy is supplied by the aether ('quantum underworld'). He notes that only Paulo and Alexandra Correa picked up his 1969 Journal of the Franklin Institute paper (287, 179), citing it in US patents 5,416,391, 5,449,989 and 5,502,354 for their plasma-discharge 'anomalous energy' apparatus, and mentions his own 1996 report 'Power from Space: The Correa Invention'. The essay closes with a polemic against academic publishing and funding. No equations are derived and no data are shown; all experimental support is by citation. The cited papers themselves were not available and were not read.

Key claims

• The force between two moving point charges contains a term -(ee'/r^3)(m'/m)(v.r)v' (rather than Maxwell's +(ee'/r^3)(v.r)v'), which integrates to zero for closed circuits but is nonzero for isolated charges.
• Under this law, heavy positive ions in a plasma gain on average far more kinetic energy than electrons, so ion and electron temperatures need not equalise.
• Anomalous ion energy gains reported in cold-cathode discharges, bumpy-torus plasmas and relativistic-electron-beam-heated plasmas are explained by this extra electrodynamic term.
• The million-degree solar corona (versus a 6,000 K photosphere) is explained by the same unequal energy partition rather than by conventional heating.
• The sun is not powered by nuclear fusion.
• The Correa plasma-discharge apparatus draws excess energy from the aether, consistent with the modified electrodynamic law.

Relevance: The shortest statement of Aspden's plasma/over-unity argument, connecting his modified electrodynamics (also in Physics Unified) to the Correa 'Power from Space' devices. It supplies the checkable literature citations (Kobel, Graneau, Roth, Sethian et al.).

Mainstream conflict: Standard electrodynamics (Lorentz force plus Maxwell's equations) is accepted as correct for isolated charges, and a velocity-dependent force of this form would violate Newton's third law and momentum and energy conservation for the charges alone; Aspden attributes the balance to the aether. Mainstream plasma physics explains coronal heating via magnetic reconnection, waves and non-equipartition collisionless effects rather than a modified force law, and explains solar power by hydrogen fusion (supported by neutrino detection). Source of this statement: [memory] high confidence.

Scanned 212-page book (PDF page = printed page + 7). No text layer; all 212 pages OCR'd with Tesseract (424,689 characters). Aspden's thesis: space is a structured vacuum ('aether') of charged lattice particles in an opposite-sign continuum, which defines a preferred electromagnetic frame (the 'E-frame', with the 'C-frame' the cosmic rest frame); relativity's formulae are reproduced without Einstein's postulates. Ch.1 (pp.7-36, deep-read) derives a 'complete law of electrodynamics', eq. (14): F = (qQ/r^3){(V.r)v - (M/m)(v.r)V - (v.V)r}. The deep read found this equals the textbook low-speed Lorentz (Biot-Savart) force plus one extra term, -(M/m)(v.r)V; the algebra from eqs (1)-(3) to (14) is correct, but the direction of two forces is chosen rather than derived, the extra force P does work and so breaks the energy balance it was built on, and Newton's third law is assumed then dropped (the imbalance is assigned to the 'electromagnetic frame'). Trouton-Noble (1903) is cited as favouring Maxwell's 'third law' (the equal-mass case of eq. 14) over Lorentz's law for isolated charges; the deep read notes eq. (14) itself would predict a much larger Trouton-Noble effect for a real capacitor (ion mass much larger than electron mass) unless the frame moves with the Earth. The book quotes Sethian, Hammer and Wharton (1978) on a 10^3 anomaly in electron-ion energy transfer and notes their own unjustified suggestion that it may be the ion/electron mass ratio (about 1836; an order-of-magnitude match). Ch.1-2 then argue gravity is the same Neumann-potential electrodynamics for like charges moving in parallel (strength (v/c)^2 of Coulomb), and that retardation of interaction energy multiplies Newtonian gravity by 1 + 3(v/c)^2, giving eq. (36), identical to the General Relativity orbit equation, said to reproduce Mercury's perihelion advance without relativity and to complete Gerber (1898). The deep read shows the book never computes 43 arcsec per century (GR value recomputed as 42.98) and that the coefficient is fixed by a chain of unforced choices (inner energy profile n = 1, root-mean-square distance, round trip, increase rather than decrease of G), the decisive one justified in the text by agreement with GR; the stated convergence rule would actually select n = 0. Gerber's 1917 republication was arranged by Gehrcke in an anti-Einstein priority campaign (the book omits this; [web] Wikipedia, Paul Gerber). Chapter 3 (digest only): discusses the 1977 U-2 microwave-background anisotropy (390 +/- 60 km/s) as 'aether drift detected', Lodge, Sagnac, Michelson-Morley, Michelson-Gale-Pearson, Townes maser, Champeney-Isaak-Khan, Silvertooth (null result reinterpreted), Kennedy-Thorndike, Ives-Stilwell, Jones/Airy (Fresnel drag derived from a lattice that sheds a counter-flow, u(1 - 1/n^2) = v), and proposes tests: a speed-dependent Rydberg constant R rising as 2 - (1 - v^2/c^2)^(1/2) against Snyder-Hall's 0.502 +/- 0.003 and Mandelberg-Witten's 0.498 +/- 0.025, and a ruby-laser repeat of Silvertooth. Muon lifetime extension is claimed to follow from energy rather than time dilation. Gyromagnetic anomaly k = 2 is traced to Sucksmith-Bates (1923). Chapters 4-6 (digest only): E = Mc^2 from a no-radiation condition for accelerated charge; Thomson electric inertia 2e^2/3a; Planck's law, the Heisenberg uncertainty relation, spin h/4pi and the Schroedinger equation from a rotating 'photon unit' in the lattice; an electron g-factor series g = 1 + alpha/2pi - 0.32735 (alpha/2pi)^2 (QED coefficient quoted for comparison), and a lattice-sum constant r/d = 0.302874 (computer check by Eagles and Burton, 1972). Alpha is obtained as 108 pi (8/1843)^(1/6) = 137.035915 (eq. 157), with 1843 an odd integer chosen by energy minimisation; lattice particle mass 0.0408 electron masses. Chapters 6-7 (digest only): graviton mass 5062.75 to 5063 electron masses (2.587 GeV) from muon-pair decay patterns; G = 6.67e-8 cgs from the graviton mass (eq. 163, 0.0004 correction); psi resonances 3.095 and 3.684 GeV and five radiative thresholds 3551, 3503, 3455, 3415, 3340 MeV 'exactly' matched; companion states 2.260 GeV (Fermilab, August 1976) and 3.772 GeV; the book itself notes a 2.60 GeV report in 1977 failed independent confirmation. Chapter 7-8 (digest only; OCR lines checked by QE) claims precise matches: deuteron binding energy 2.22464 MeV (measured 2.22464(4)); neutron beta-decay electron energy 1.531173 electron masses (measured 1.53116(8)); proton mass ratio 1836.15232 (eq. 168; measured then 1836.15152(70)); charged pion 273.1262 (measured 273.1266(39)); muon 206.7688 (measured 206.76859(29)); muon g-factor 1.001165884 (measured 1.001165895(27)); proton magnetic moment 2.792846 nuclear magnetons (measured 2.7928456) using a form factor of 0.8; muon lifetime 2.1973 microseconds (measured 2.197134(77)) with a relativistic lifetime extension explained by time spent in a point-charge state; neutral pion 134.959 MeV; quark energies 330.6 and 336.9 MeV matched to MacGregor's fit. Each uses several chosen inputs (the 2-alpha factor, k, model choices A-D, form factor 0.8, the graviton mass); none was audited, and the number of free choices is the central question. Chapter 9 (digest only): planet/Sun mass ratio from eq. 213 (Jupiter 1/764 with k = 2 against 1/745 observed; Moon/Earth 1/83 with k = 1 against 1/81, the k switch being explained by space-domain boundaries); densities rho_0 of 257, 248 and 288 g/cc; Earth's magnetic moment 7.86e25 against 8.06e25 cgs (needs a boundary about 100-200 km up); geomagnetic reversals at space-domain boundary crossings with a 700,000-year period, fossil extinctions, a reversal about 12,000 years ago, Steiner's 60-70 Myr and 274 Myr periodicities; cosmic background T = 2.6 K near Earth from gravitational potential 9.49e12 cgs and lattice mass 0.0408 m_e (the exponent 2.7e-13 was confirmed on a page image; OCR shows 10^-18 or 10^-15); light deflection and clock experiments (Hafele-Keating, Pound-Rebka) explained by lattice kinetic energy; ball lightning as rotating vacuum (8e9 J/m^3 against 2-5e9 J/m^3 observed), Tunguska, tornadoes, Zinsser's 1975 anomalous torque, earthquake lights. Aspden's own history: 1960 first statement (lattice particle 3.7e-29 g), 1966 second edition (2.587 GeV G-frame particle). Appendix I (charge in a self-gravitating electron-proton gas, sigma^2 = G rho^2, Q = -sqrt(G) m M), II (solar-system angular momentum about 3.2e50 g cm^2/s), III (alpha revised to 137.035953 for lattice motion at 390 km/s [read: OCR line 9692]; the digest of p.211 says this 'matches experimental precision').

Key claims

• The force between moving point charges is F = (qQ/r^3){(V.r)v - (M/m)(v.r)V - (v.V)r}, which equals the Lorentz (Biot-Savart) force plus the single extra term -(M/m)(v.r)V and is the unique law consistent with energy conservation and closed-circuit data.
• For like charges moving mutually parallel with equal masses this law gives an inverse-square attraction of relative strength (v/c)^2 times the Coulomb repulsion, providing the electrodynamic basis of gravitation.
• The Trouton-Noble null result (1903) supports Maxwell's 'third law' (equal-mass case of the book's law) over the Lorentz law for isolated charges.
• Retardation of interaction energy multiplies Newtonian gravity by 1 + 3(v/c)^2, giving the General Relativity orbit equation (eq. 36) and Mercury's perihelion advance without general relativity.
• Gravitation arises from gravitons in the vacuum lattice of mass about 5063 electron masses (2.587 GeV), and G follows from this mass and the electron charge-to-mass ratio, giving 6.67e-8 cgs.
• Space is a structured vacuum defining a preferred electromagnetic frame (E-frame carried with local matter, C-frame cosmic), consistent with Michelson-Morley, Sagnac, Michelson-Gale-Pearson, Fresnel drag and Silvertooth results, and with the 1977 U-2 anisotropy of 390 +/- 60 km/s.
• Spectral shifts of moving atoms and muon lifetime extension arise from energy relations in the aether, not time dilation; a Rydberg-constant test at v/c near 1 distinguishes the two.
• The fine structure constant equals 108 pi (8/1843)^(1/6) = 137.035915 (eq. 157), and 137.035953 after the Appendix III correction for lattice motion at 390 km/s, with 1843 fixed by minimising electric potential energy.
• The proton-electron mass ratio is 1836.15232 (eq. 168), deuteron binding energy 2.22464 MeV, neutron decay energy 1.531173 electron masses, pion 273.1262, muon 206.7688, proton magnetic moment 2.792846 nuclear magnetons and muon lifetime 2.1973 microseconds, all derived from lattice geometry and the graviton mass.
• The electron g-factor, the Planck law E = h nu and the Schroedinger equation can be derived from rotation of a lattice 'photon unit'.
• A 2.587 GeV graviton and companion states at 2.260 and 3.772 GeV exist and explain the psi resonances at 3.095 and 3.684 GeV and five radiative decay thresholds.
• The 2.7 K cosmic background is a local lattice temperature set by gravitational potential (2.6 K near Earth), not a Big Bang relic.
• Planet/Sun mass ratios (Jupiter 1/764, Moon/Earth 1/83), Earth's magnetic moment (7.86e25 cgs) and a 700,000-year geomagnetic reversal period follow from rotating vacuum domains.
• Ball lightning, tornadoes and Tunguska are manifestations of rotating vacuum, with ball-lightning energy density 8e9 J/m^3 predicted against 2-5e9 observed.

Relevance: Aspden's main theoretical work (successor to 'Physics without Einstein', 1969). It supplies the modified force law used in the plasma essay and is the source of the project's numerical claims that the reader can check (alpha, mass ratios, G, 2.7 K, Mercury's perihelion). The deep read shows the whole mass-ratio novelty is one term added to the Lorentz force, and that the perihelion 'derivation' is tuned to the known GR result. The unaudited particle-mass matches (Ch.7-8) are the book's strongest-looking evidence and the key open item for later steps.

Mainstream conflict: Rejects special relativity's postulates and general relativity as foundational, reinstates an aether with a preferred frame, replaces the Lorentz force and Maxwell theory for isolated charges (special relativity predicts the Trouton-Noble null result; von Laue 1911-12 [memory, high]), derives rather than assumes quantum mechanics, asserts a 2.587 GeV graviton (no such particle found), and denies the Big Bang origin of the microwave background (COBE FIRAS: near-perfect 2.725 K blackbody). Alpha: the book's 137.035915 (and the Appendix III 137.035953) differ from the modern CODATA value of about 137.035999 by 0.6 and 0.34 parts per million, thousands of standard uncertainties [calc; QE: about 2,100 standard uncertainties for 137.035953]. Against the 1980 value 137.035963(15) the revised 137.035953 is only 0.7 sigma, so the formula was not in strain until later measurements. Mainstream gravitational physics gives 42.98 arcsec per century for Mercury from General Relativity [calc], and models of the Gerber kind fail on light deflection (Roseveare) [web: Wikipedia, Paul Gerber]. Modern constants: [memory] high; Lorentz-invariance and CMB statements: [memory] high.