The Fourth Rational Physics Conference will be held in Acapulco on February 22. According to the schedule, Bill Gaede will be presenting his theory about "The Rope Model of Light." We know from his 2010 paper on the subject that he will "begin by ASSUMING that a physical medium underlies the phenomenon known as 'light" and that this entity takes on the configuration of a rope."
So, it seems time to suggest some questions that his audience can ask which will make it clear that his assumptions are not necessarily true. Here are some suggested questions:
1. What are the "ropes" in your hypothesis made of?
2. What experiments can scientists perform to confirm the existence of these "ropes"?
3. If there are at least ten quadrillion vigintillion "ropes" connected to every atom in the universe, as would be true if every atom in the universe is connected by a "rope" to every other atom, why don't any of those "ropes" show up in scanning, tunneling electron microscope images of individual atoms?
4. How do you explain the fact that numerous experiments show that light waves move up and down, not in the spiral pattern your theory requires?
5. Light waves and radio waves are the same thing, just with different distances between waves (different frequencies). A radio wave can be as small as 1 millimeter from crest to crest and as large as 100 kilometers (68 miles) from crest to crest. How does the "rope" between two atoms get longer or shorter to accommodate the different number of twists?
6. If light and gravity "ropes" connect every atom in the universe to every other atom, why does light pass through glass but not through steel?
7. If light and gravity are carried by the same intertwined "rope," why does a dark object like a brown dwarf produce very intense gravity but no light?
8. Are you saying that if I build a flashlight, turn it on and shine it on the wall, the light from the atoms in the flashlight were already connected to the atoms in the wall and have been since the beginning of time?
9. If I walk through a beam of light, how does the gravity threads in the "rope" remain connected to the rest of the atoms in the universe while the light thread switches from atoms on the wall to atoms in my shirt?
10. Scientists have the ability to fire one photon at a time from a photon gun to a detector. How is this possible if the photon is a "rope" that is already connected to the detector?
I'll think about adding some more or exchanging the questions above with better questions as I think of them. Meanwhile, I'm open to suggestions.
2. What experiments can scientists perform to confirm the existence of these "ropes"?
3. If there are at least ten quadrillion vigintillion "ropes" connected to every atom in the universe, as would be true if every atom in the universe is connected by a "rope" to every other atom, why don't any of those "ropes" show up in scanning, tunneling electron microscope images of individual atoms?
4. How do you explain the fact that numerous experiments show that light waves move up and down, not in the spiral pattern your theory requires?
5. Light waves and radio waves are the same thing, just with different distances between waves (different frequencies). A radio wave can be as small as 1 millimeter from crest to crest and as large as 100 kilometers (68 miles) from crest to crest. How does the "rope" between two atoms get longer or shorter to accommodate the different number of twists?
6. If light and gravity "ropes" connect every atom in the universe to every other atom, why does light pass through glass but not through steel?
7. If light and gravity are carried by the same intertwined "rope," why does a dark object like a brown dwarf produce very intense gravity but no light?
8. Are you saying that if I build a flashlight, turn it on and shine it on the wall, the light from the atoms in the flashlight were already connected to the atoms in the wall and have been since the beginning of time?
9. If I walk through a beam of light, how does the gravity threads in the "rope" remain connected to the rest of the atoms in the universe while the light thread switches from atoms on the wall to atoms in my shirt?
10. Scientists have the ability to fire one photon at a time from a photon gun to a detector. How is this possible if the photon is a "rope" that is already connected to the detector?
I'll think about adding some more or exchanging the questions above with better questions as I think of them. Meanwhile, I'm open to suggestions.
I assume Bill Gaede explains somewhere why all those "ropes" connecting every atom to every other atom do not get all tangled up and bring the universe to a halt. But I can't find his explanation anywhere.
ReplyDeleteIf all the atoms in the fan blades of a table fan are connected by "ropes" to every other atom in the universe, why don't all those "ropes" get chopped to bits by the metal wires covering the fan? And why don't the wires cause all the ropes to get tangled up?
Inquiring minds want to know.
It would be another good question to ask Mr. Gaede at the conference in Acapulco.
I suspect that RSMists believe the ropes pass through the "space between atoms." However, in a solid object like a table fan THERE IS NO SPACE BETWEEN ATOMS.