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This is chapter four from Book Three - Electromagnetism of Behind Light's Illusion.

Four - RADIO

 
He who understands the Principle of Vibration
has grasped the sceptre of power.

                                          Old Writer
 

The explanation of induced voltage in chapter three was detailed enough for a first look at the phenomenon we call radio, but here we must see much finer detail, going back into what electricity really is, the way it is measured, and what these measurements really mean. In taking this look, we will see analogies between electricity and two other phenomena which have similar equations: liquid flow in pipes, and flute theory.

When electricity flows within a wire, we have electrons moving along a space that is confined in two dimensions to help promote movement in a third. The same is true of water molecules in a pipe or air molecules in a flute barrel. The flow, in the case of water in a pipe, can be measured in gallons per minute. This is not a measure of velocity, but of volume passing in a particular span of time. The gallon is a means of representing many water molecules easily. Were we to speak of water molecules rather than gallons, the number of them would be too great for our convenience.

When we speak of electrons moving in a wire, we measure them in terms of current, which is opposite in direction to electron flow (due to lack of knowledge when the convention was made). However, we will correct that here by calling the measured electron flow by the name "electron current" or "Ie," because current is usually represented with the letter "I." We do not want to mention "Ie" in terms of individual electrons because the number of them is too great for convenient calculations. So we use the coulomb which is often defined as a quantity of charge equal to 6.242x1018 electrons, with an electron being defined as an electrical charge. 1018 is 10 to the 18th power (1 with 18 zeros behind it).

So the coulomb is like the gallon because it is a more convenient way to measure large quantities of small things. But when speaking in electrical terms, there is a more convenient way to show the equivalent of gallons per minute. We use a term called the "ampere." One coulomb per second is the flow rate of one ampere. Amperes are often abbreviated as "amps." Electrical current, "I", is measured in amps and here "Ie" will also be given in amps.

When working with electricity, we have a term called "conductance" which is shown as "g." This is the ease with which electrons can flow through something. There is another term which represents the quality of a particular material to act as a conductor. It is usually given the symbol of a Greek letter, but I can't do this here, so I will call it "L."

If water were flowing through a pipe made of PVC plastic, there would be very little turbulence in the flow, and the quality of the material in regard to flow would be very high. We could say that the "L" of the pipe is very high. If water were flowing through a steel pipe lined inside with porous insulation, the turbulence in the flow would be great and the quality of the material in regard to flow would be low. We could say the "L" of the pipe is very low.

When speaking of electricity, a material such as copper has a high "L" while a material such as aluminum has a lower "L". Apparently, the "turbulence" generated by electron flow in copper is less than that generated by electron flow in aluminum.

Turbulence along the porous insulation of the pipe is caused by movement of the water molecules in and out of the pores. This movement is in the form of acceleration which uses energy. So more energy is necessary to move a given volume of water through the lined pipe than through the plastic pipe.

A pipe with a larger inside cross-sectional area will accommodate greater flow than a pipe with a smaller inside cross-sectional area if the same force is applied in each case. The same is true of wire. A wire with a larger cross-sectional area will accommodate greater flow than a wire with a smaller cross-sectional area.

A longer pipe has more molecules to be pushed or pulled than a shorter pipe. So the total inertia of all of its molecules is greater than the total inertia of all the molecules in a shorter pipe. And wire with electron flow is the same. The longer the wire, the greater the inertia of the electrons in it.

This leads to the equation for electrical conductance in which "A" is the cross-sectional area of the wire and "l" is the length of the wire:

g = L(A/l).

In a wire, conductance is the opposite of resistance, R. So R is the reciprocal of "g", and "p" is the reciprocal of "L":

R=p(l/A).

So far we have been thinking in terms of direct current in a wire. This is when we have a constant voltage to push and pull the electrons within the wire, and a constant electron flow rate. But now let us see what happens with alternating current which is the base of our electrical power, our telephone conversations, and our nether-based transmissions such as radio.

In a wire where AC is used, there is constant change of rate of electron flow. This means that the energy loss due to inertia is large. Every time the current changes from one direction to the other, there is a wire-length of inertia, in the form of electrons, to be overcome. The direction of electron flow changes at the rate of the AC frequency, "f", times two. This is analogous to the way a flute works, where the flute barrel encloses a column of air in which the molecules are constantly accelerated according to the musical frequency being played times two.

In a long wire, the wave nature of the AC overcomes some of the effects of this inertia. Otherwise, the length of the wire would play an extremely dominant role in the resistance. By having the electricity move as a wave, the wire is effectively broken into shorter lengths, overcoming the stacking of the many electrons in its total length.

Electron current, Ie, given in coulombs per second is "Q/t" where "Q" is coulombs and "t" is time in seconds. "R" is very much like mass in that it is a form of inertia. The volt is the unit of electromotive force. But this is not the same as force in the formula "F = ma."

When the languages for various scientific disciplines were invented, each group of specialists did its own thing, in ignorance of what was actually happening (we are always ignorant in light of truths not yet discovered), and in ignorance of the happenings in other fields of science. This has resulted in at least eight different systems of units. The "practical" system for electricity, which we have been using, has its own language which is not the same as the "energetical" system which is what most mechanical engineers and high school physics teachers use. In this chapter, when differentiating between these two systems, PS will be used to designate units or equations of the practical system and ES will be used to designate those of the energetical system.

The PS equations for force, energy, and power do not equate to the ES equations for these things. The two are only vaguely similar. This is all right because each is used for its own kinds of calculations for which it is well suited. The table which follows shows this in detail.

a = acceleration
d = distance
E = energy
Ie = electron current
m = mass
P = power
R = resistance
t = time
V = volts

Quantity         PS                   ES


Force         V = Ie R         F = m a

Energy       E = Ie2 t     E = m a d

Power         P = Ie2R     P = m a d / t

The differences in the two systems become more apparent when we look at each equation in detail.   V = Ie R  is the first one.  "R" is essentially mass in the sense that it has the quality of inertia. "Ie" is "Q/t".   This means V=m(Q/t), which is not the same as F = ma.

This means

E = Ie2 R t = m (Q2/t)

which is not   E = m a d.

And P = Ie2 R = m (Q/t)2

which is not P = m a d / t.

The foregoing PS equations are for DC, direct current. They are valid for AC (alternating current) as well, when used at a point in time. But AC is electron flow moving past a point in a conductor. When current is measured at a point in time, it does not take into account what really happens in one second with AC.

The AC current is changing direction at twice its frequency in one second of time, which means that each electron flows past a point on a conductor more times than just once in a second. In fact, each flows past at twice the frequency in one second. So, when working with AC, the actual "Q/t" is proportional to "2f" where "f" is the frequency. Electrons pass a given point on the conductor twice for every cycle. So for AC, electrical energy and power are both proportional to "(Q/t)2" which is proportional to frequency squared. In the ES equations dealing with energy and power, both are proportional only to frequency. This difference in the two systems will become important when working with light.

Telephone wires use AC. Before the advent of pulse code modulation (a redundant, coded, time-stacking system), the telephone companies used frequency stacking to compress many conversations into one set of wires. This meant that several "carrier" frequencies were used, each two of which were separated by at least 4,000 cycles (Hertz). The part of the human voice normally heard is from about 32 to 4,000 cycles per second. So at the top of each carrier frequency, there was room to "stack on" a telephone conversation.

"Carrier frequency" is a term used because a telephone conversation was "carried" on top of this frequency. The carrier wave was added beneath the telephone conversation at the sender's home, and it "carried" the conversation along a wire. At the receiver's home, the carrier wave was subtracted from the total to retain only the conversation for the ear of the listener.

Radio systems used by the telephone companies also used frequency stacking with the nether acting in the same role played by the wire. Private or network radio companies used one carrier frequency per station, and the few AM radio stations that remain still do.

The usual, time-tested, AM radio transmitting system has a tower that acts as a sending antenna. It is open at the top, which means it is not connected to anything at the top, and grounded at the bottom where the energy for the antenna is applied. The half-wavelength for the carrier frequency used is the most efficient theoretical length for the antenna, but in reality, the antenna must be just a little bit longer for resonance to occur.

The power source sends the first half-cycle of electron current up the antenna where the electrons are compressed in the extra length at the top. The compression of the electrons helps to power the second half-cycle when the electron current flows downward. As the electrons move down, an electron "vacuum" is created along the antenna length which helps to power the first half of the next cycle. And so it continues with each succeeding cycle.

At a point midway up the antenna, the electron flow waxes and wanes so that the surrounding inflowing nether is accelerated repeatedly from clockwise to counterclockwise and back again as the cycles continue. The acceleration moves outward at the speed of light to meet a vertical receiving antennae in which electrons are re-oriented and accelerated by the passing half-waves.

The sending antenna is vertical which means that the waves are polarized vertically. The nether acceleration moves outward in a plane perpendicular to the antenna, so that each ripple is like an outward-moving circle traveling at lightspeed. And the PS energy from the sending antenna is increased dramatically with frequency because it is proportional to frequency squared.

The vertical half-wave antenna is always best as a half-wave antenna. The wave itself moves at the speed of light. Regardless of the amount of energy used to propagate the wave, the antenna is still most efficient at the half-wave length and the wave still moves out at the speed of light. This implies that the speed of the electrons moving along the antenna is always the same regardless of the amount of energy supplied by the power source. So the added current whenever the energy is increased is not caused by any increase in electron acceleration, but by more electrons being accelerated. By the same token, the reduced current whenever the energy is decreased is not caused by any decrease in electron acceleration, but by less electrons being accelerated.

There is a loop type of receiving antenna which is used in aircraft to identify the direction of a signal source or by ground personnel to identify the direction of an unwanted transmission. Loop antennae in two different locations can pinpoint the location of such a transmission. The principle of the loop is for half of it to receive a part of a wave which causes electron flow downward while the other half of the loop is receiving a part of the wave which causes electron electron flow upward. This effect reverses twice with each cycle that passes.

For the loop antenna to work, the extended plane of the loop must be oriented so that the sending antenna's location passes through it. The rule of thumb is that if the hole in the "doughnut" is pointed at the sender, the antenna will receive nothing.

Ideally, the best dimension for the loop diameter is that of the radio half-wave. In practice, this is usually impractical because of the large size of the half-wave and the small size of the vehicle carrying the loop. So a much smaller loop must be used, and only a fraction of wave energy can be received.

Although there are many kinds of antennae, and other modulation systems, the simple AM half-wave and the loop types are best suited to explain the phenomenon we call radio.

The next little book of this series is on light. Although the radio half-wave is created by many electrons moving in unison in a wire, light normally is created by many electrons which are not moving in unison and are not in a wire. The math for radio is basically of the PS type, and the math for light is basically of the ES type. These differences cause one to forget that light, radio, and all the other electromagnetic half-waves are fundamentally the same - but they are.
 

Everything is made of a fundamental substance which in this series is called nether.
And all energy is motion within this fundamental substance.

(my words)

 

As Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan once said,

Everything is energy in motion.


 
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