Posting #31:- The Matter of "Dark Matter"

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"Great spirits have always encountered violent oppositions from mediocre minds." - A. Einstein

There have been many postings about the mysterious "Dark Matter" which is alleged to constitute 90 to 95% of the mass(energy) content of the Universe. The presence of this "Dark Matter" is indicated by the observed gravitational behavior of galaxies and clusters of galaxies. A large effort is apparently underway to detect this "Dark Matter" and to determine its nature. In all of the discussions there seems to be little attention to the 3 - 3.5 degree K background radiation known for decades to be present. If one examined the energy represented by this radiation, he finds that it is 10 to 20 times the energy represented by the mass of conventional matter. Obviously, however, there is no need to pay attention to this radiation because, as everyone knows, electromagnetic radiation does not possess inertial or gravitational mass.

Since everyone "knows" that electromagnetic radiation does not possess inertial or gravitational mass, it behooves us to examine the validity of that belief. It has long been known that electromagnetic radiation transports momentum as witnessed by the pressure of Solar radiation which causes comets to have "tails". In addition, mainstream physicists have discussed the feasibility of using "light sails" for the propulsion of long distance space ships. Mainstream physics tells us that the momentum transported by a photon is identical to the momentum which would be transported by a material particle of the same total energy (rest mass plus kinetic energy). - I know that the rest mass of a material particle traveling at the velocity of light must be zero. But lets not quibble, divide that zero by the zero represented by the Lorentz Transformation for mass and the inertial mass of the material particle can have any value between the limits of +/- zero. Since momentum is equal to the product of inertial mass and velocity, and the momentum of a photon is given by its energy divided by the velocity of light, then dividing the equation which provides the momentum of a photon by C shows that the photon behaves as if its inertial mass were equal to its energy divided by the square of the velocity of light. Maybe photons do not possess inertial mass in spite of observation, but as far as the writer is concerned, if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, he is willing to accept that it is a duck. The inertial mass of photons meet this test and if the current state of physical knowledge teaches otherwise it is time for physicists to rethink the subject.

Since photons act as if they possess inertial mass traveling at the velocity of light, the background radiation of space must exert a pressure which acting to cause the Universe to attempt to expand. Let us examine whether those same photons possess a gravitational mass. This is best done by considering an ideal thought experiment along the lines of those used by Dr. Einstein. Consider a cold gravitational massive planet in intergalactic space (to eliminate spurious disturbances). Attached to opposite sides of this planet are columns each of which support an ideal retro reflector having 100% efficiency. A beam of photons is sent from one of the retroreflectors, is bent by the planet's gravitational field as required by General Relativity, and strikes the retroreflector on the other side of the planet. Because these are ideal retroreflectors, the photons are constrained to continuously travel bask and forth past the planets surface. It is a simple calculation (not involving relativity) to show that as a result of the gravitational "refraction" of the photon's path the process will cause a net force to be exerted on the retroreflectors in a direction which is "down" at the point where the photons pass the surface. If we are to accept that the "Laws of Conservation of Energy and Momentum" are valid, then there must be an upward pull on the planet equal to the downward push on the retroreflectors. If these two forces are not equal, the entire system could be used as a "space tug" in violation of Newton's Second Law and/or a source of limitless energy in violation of the First Law of Thermodynamics. The thought experiment is diagrammed below. Its validity does not depend upon relativistic considerations. This thought experiment shows that, if light is observed to be "refracted" by a gravitational field, that "refraction" must result not from the 'curvature" of space but from a gravitational force. The magnitude of that force must result from the photons having a "gravitational mass" equal to twice their inertial mass. For a more detained discussion see paragraphs 8.8 and 8.9 of "The Einstein Hoax".

When one combines the effects of the gravitational and inertial "masses" the photons which are observed to propagate through our Universe one finds that the inertial mass tends to act as a gas to expand the Universe while the gravitational mass acts like any other gravitational mass and acts to contract the Universe. The size of the Universe at any one time is determined primarily by the balance between these two effects. Once the "big bang" state had been reached, the pressure of photons acted to produce the observed expansion which will go on forever. All of these conclusions are derived and discussed in "The Einssteinhoax Website".

The source material for this posting may be found in "The Einstein Hoax" (1997) ; "Gravity" (1987) ; and "Corrections to Special Relativity" (1997). EVERYTHING WHICH WE ACCEPT AS TRUE MUST BE CONSISTENT WITH EVERYTHING ELSE WE HAVE ACCEPTED AS TRUE, IT MUST BE CONSISTENT WITH ALL OBSERVATIONS, AND IT MUST BE MATHEMATICALLY VIABLE. PRESENT TEACHINGS DO NOT ALWAYS MEET THIS REQUIREMENT. THE WORLD IS ENTITLED TO A HIGHER STANDARD OF WORKMANSHIP FROM THOSE IT HAS GRANTED WORLD CLASS STATUS.

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