Matter and Ether Theories

Excerpts

• Matter and Ether Theories

  If an observer lived in two dimensional space filled with ether and confined by two parallel and adjacent surfaces, and if through a hole in one of these surfaces fresh ether were squirted into this space, the variations of pressure thereby produced might give the impression of a hard impenetrable body.

• Matter and Ether Theories

  The tendency of the particles forming a ring to maintain their annular connection may be illustrated by placing such a box on one side of a room in a direct line with the flame of a lighted candle on the other side.

• Matter and Ether Theories

  A body by itself in space would receive on an average as many blows on one side as on another, and therefore would have no tendency to move.

• Matter and Ether Theories

  It is essential to the theory that the atom shall have a mass but shall not have dimensions.

• Matter and Ether Theories

  This is true as far as it goes, but it is not more unreasonable than to attribute all the fundamental properties of matter to the atoms themselves, as is done by many writers.

• Matter and Ether Theories

  Sir William Thomson gave the number of vibrations per second of a sodium ring as probably being greater than $10^{14}$.

• Matter and Ether Theories

  I should sum up the effect of this discussion on gravity on the relative probabilities of the hypotheses as to the constitution of matter enumerated above, by saying that it does not enable us to discriminate between them.

• Matter and Ether Theories

  Thus, if the disturbance is represented by the swinging of a pendulum in a resisting medium, it might be supposed that the atoms were formed at the points of maximum amplitude, and we should expect that the atoms successively thrown off would form a series having the properties of its successive members connected by a regular periodic law.

• Matter and Ether Theories

  I should say rather that we have obtained an analogy which is sufficiently like the truth to suggest new discoveries. Such analogies are often the precursors of laws, so that it is not unreasonable to hope that ere long our knowledge of this border-land of chemistry and physics may be more definite, and thus that molecular physics may be brought within the domain of mathematics.

• Matter and Ether Theories

  just as two clocks whose rates are nearly the same tend to go at the same rate if their cases are connected.

• Matter and Ether Theories

  The objection to this is that no explanation is offered as to what has become of the excluded molecules.

• Matter and Ether Theories

  Thus it would seem that a cubic inch of gas at ordinary pressure and temperature contains about $3 \times 10^{20}$ molecules, all similar and equal, and each molecule has a volume of about $1/(3 \times 10^{25})$th of a cubic inch;

• Matter and Ether Theories

  and probably the size of a molecule would be about the same as that of a fives-ball.

Equations

• Matter and Ether Theories

  =10^{12}

  The book fixes its meaning of 'billion' as ten to the twelfth power, following the English usage rather than the French.

Problems

No exercises in this chapter.