A STRUCTURED CONTEXT FOR MATTER, ENERGY, SPACE, TIME, AND PSI PHENOMENA ABSTRACT
Professor Osborne Reynolds, F.R.S. (1842-1912) was a British engineer afterwhom the fluid dynamics Reynolds number was named. He considered hismonograph, "The Submechanics of the Universe", (1, henceforth "SMU") publishedin 1903, to be his greatest achievement. It advances a theory of astructured, mechanical medium which accounts for all known physical phenomena.My analysis of it shows that it is compatible with relativity, quantum theoryand elementary particle theory. Although Reynolds' theory is all butforgotten today, similar theories are being proposed by some moderntheoretical physicists. Reynolds' theory provides a basis for long-rangeorder which eludes today's theorists.Current theory pictures empty space with independent particles zooming aroundin it. These particles interact via photons and fields. Reynolds' theorypictures a structured, quasi-crystalline medium, in which elementary particlesexist as DISLOCATIONS. The particles interact via vibrations and stresses inthe medium.Reynolds' medium is a universal matrix within which all things exist. It isanalogous to the East's "unseen ground of existence". In place ofindependence and chaos, Reynolds' theory provides dependency and order.Intellectual understanding of cosmic unity resonates with the experientialunity of self and makes whole what may have been disparate.In this paper, I briefly review Reynolds' theory and show that it allows forpossibilities beyond those of currently accepted theories. I will explain howthis theory can provide a physical basis for understanding psi phenomena.REVIEW OF OSBORNE REYNOLDS' SUBMECHANICS OF THE UNIVERSEINTRODUCTIONReynolds begins his magnum opus, "Submechanics of the Universe", as follows: "By this research it is shown that there is one, and only one, conceivable purely mechanical system capable of accounting for all the physical evidence, as we know it in the Universe. The system is neither more nor less than an arrangement, of indefinite extent, of uniform spherical grains generally in normal piling so close that the grains cannot change their neighbors, although continually in relative motion with each other; the grains being of changeless shape and size; thus constituting, to a first approximation, an elastic medium with six axes of elasticity symmetrically placed." (1, p. 1).Reynolds' popular lecture entitled, "On an Inversion of Ideas as To theStructure of the Universe" (2) contains a nonmathematical exposition of histheory. It is a good place for beginners to start.Let me tell you how I got started in this subject. In 1968 while employed asa research engineer at the Franklin Institute Research Laboratories inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, I invented a device which consisted of adilatant fluid enclosed and sealed in a rubber sack. At the time I had noidea what dilatancy was, so I asked some of my associates in the physicsdepartment, got the basic vocabulary and set off to the Franklin InstituteLibrary to do some research. This was the beginning of my education inrheology and the work of Osborne Reynolds.While researching the prior art in dilatancy, I was surprised and intrigued tofind, in a book on RHEOLOGY (3, p. 4), that Osborne Reynolds' had based anentire theory of the universe on a DILATANT medium. I continued to pursue myapplications and subsequently received a patent on a toy called the"Wackysack(R)" (4). Later, through the US Navy, I was granted a patent on animpact absorber based on the same principle (5).The rheologically dilatant suspension used in my patents has a critical shearrate which can be kinaesthetically perceived on handling it. Below a criticalshear rate it behaves as a liquid, above this rate it behaves as a solid.There seemed to be some analogy between this critical flow rate andrelativistic phenomena at the speed of light.As an amateur physicist, I was thus fascinated with Reynolds' SMU model andcontinued to study it and related topics over the past twenty years. I havewritten two papers on the topic. The first deals with the theory in relationto UFOs (6) and the second with a historical perspective on the theory (7).DILATANCY OF BEACH SAND, GROUND COFFEE, AND GRAVITYReynolds' first aether-related works (8 and 9) appeared 18 years beforepublication of his magnum opus. They describe a previously undiscoveredphenomenon; which Reynolds called "dilatancy".Dilatancy refers to the shear-induced expansion of a mass of solid particles.Reynolds' used dilatancy to explain the curious behavior of beach sand.Walking on the beach is easy on the wet sand near the water, but difficult indry sand. When walking on wet beach sand, each time a heel strikes thesurface, the area surrounding the impact appears to turn dry or white. Thisdry area appears to propagate from the point of impact like some sort offield. According to Reynolds (2), it is in many ways analogous to agravitational field.When a close-packed mass of sand is subjected to a deforming force, theparticles attempt to slide past one another. This results in an expansion ordilation of the deformed volume. The action of expansion or dilation can beunderstood by making two fists, holding them in front of you and placing theknuckles of one fist into the spaces between the knuckles of the other fist.Your knuckles should now be "geared" to each other with the open spaces(interstices) at a minimum. Now, if one set of knuckles is moved up or downrelative to the other, a point of maximum open "packing" is reached then thetop of one knuckle is directly on top of another. This represents the maximumexpansion or dilation of the volume containing the sheared "particles", i. e.,knuckles.In sand, for the sheared volume to expand, water must flow in to fill theinterstices. The sheared portion of sand underfoot therefore sucks water awayfrom the surrounding mass of wet sand and its surface turns white or dry.This gearing action is responsible for the strength of the sand and also forthe rigidity of bricks of coffee packaged in flexible plastic foil bags.Once the vacuum is broken, particles of coffee are no longer compressed orinterlocked and the brick becomes a floppy bag. Once the water is gone frombetween the sand grains, the once solid surface becomes a soft, leg-tiringtreadmill. Although dilatancy is the key element in the SMU theory, there ismore to it than dilatancy.DETAILED EXPLANATION OF REYNOLDS' THEORYReynolds' medium is granular, composed of uniform, independent, sphericalgrains much smaller than subatomic particles and filling the entire universe.In fact, it is the universe.In matter-free space the grains are hexagonally arrayed and almost touching(close-packed). Because they cannot normally exchange neighbors, they form aquasicrystalline matrix. The grains are in relative, vibratory, gas-likemotion; but with a mean free path many orders of magnitude smaller than thediameter of the grains (unlike a gas).This jostling of the grains against one another produces a very high pressurein the medium. Because of the gearing of the grains and the pressure, themedium supports transverse disturbances (light waves) whose local propagationrate depends on the local pressure and strains in the medium.Reynolds says matter is strained regions of misalignment of the grains or"singular surfaces", "negative inequalities", or simply, "holes". Elementaryparticles are stable, dynamic configurations of holes; of places where theaether grains are missing from the quasicrystalline matrix.Matter, then, moves by means of displacement; much as a bubble moves upward byan equal amount of liquid being displaced downward. For holes to move throughthe medium, aether grains must move in the opposite direction.Disturbances are propagated by the aether grains instantaneously transferringtheir momentum by means of perfectly elastic collisions among them. It mustbe emphasized that the hypothetical aether grains are idealized and must notbe thought of as ordinary matter.The presence of holes in granular medium causes a reduction in the localaether pressure. This reduction in pressure corresponds to gravitational andinertial effects of matter. It is an inward, centrally acting strain gradientin the medium. Two pieces of matter move toward each other because the aetherbetween them tends to move away at right angles from a line connecting them.Said differently, matter tends to move toward regions of lower aether pressuredue to the higher pressure of the surrounding aether.In explaining gravitation with the SMU model, Reynolds writes (1, p. 3): "Efforts, proportional to the inverse square of the distance, to cause two negative inequalities to approach are the result of those components of the dilatation (taken at first approximation only) which are caused by the variation of those components of the inward strain which cause curvature in the normal piling of the medium. The other components of the strain being parallel, distortions which satisfy the condition of geometrical similarity do not affect the effort. If the grains were indefinitely small, there would be no effort. Thus the diameter of a grain is the parameter of the effort; and multiplying this diameter by the curvature of the medium (underlining by B.R.) and again by the mean pressure of the medium the product measures the intensity of the effort. The dilation diminishes as the centers of the negative inequalities approach, and work is done BY THE PRESSURE IN THE MEDIUM, outside the singular surfaces, to bring the negative inequalities together. The efforts to cause the negative inequalities to approach correspond, exactly, to gravitation, if matter represents negative mass."Reynolds then shows the calculation which results in the model's correctprediction of gravitational force at the surface of the earth, concluding: "The inversion is thus complete. Matter is an absence of mass, and the effort to bring the negative inequalities together is also an effort on the mass (aether grain mass, that is, B.R.) to recede. And since the actions are those of positive pressure there is no attraction involved; the efforts being the result of the virtual diminution of the pressure inwards."As underlined above, Reynolds spoke of gravitational curvature of space morethan a decade before Einstein's general theory of relativity was published.HOW MATTER MOVES FREELY THROUGH REYNOLDS' MEDIUM AND VICE VERSAReynolds' theory differs greatly from aether theories based on the solid-elastic continuum model. Two requirements for the solid-elastic medium are: 1) to be stiff enough to transmit the extremely high frequency vibrations of light on the one hand, yet 2) diaphanous enough to permit the unhindered movement of the heavenly bodies.According to Reynolds' his SMU model avoids these paradoxical requirements (1,p. 250): "The difficulties in conceiving the free motion of the ether through matter do not present themselves in the analysis of the properties of the granular medium as now accomplished. This follows from the analysis which has been effected in this and the previous section." "... Whence it follows that the singular surfaces which correspond to matter are free to move in any direction through the medium without resistance, and vice versa the medium is free to move in any direction through the singular surfaces without resistance. And that the waves corresponding to those of light are instituted and absorbed by the singular surfaces only. So that after institution at the place where the singular surfaces are, the motion of the waves depends solely on the mean motion of the medium, and the rate of propagation is equal in all directions until they again come to singular surfaces. Thus all paradox is removed and the explanation of aberration is established on the basis of the absence of any appreciable resistance to the medium in passing through matter." Thus besides the explanations by definite analysis of: the potential energy, the propagation of transverse waves of light, the apparent absence of any rate of degradation of light, the lack of evidence of normal waves, the gravitation of matter, electricity, which explanations render the purely mechanical substructure of the universe indefinitely probable, we have by further analyses obtained ..."Reynolds' theory is compatible with both relativity and quantum theories. Itis an aether which was not demolished by the Michelson-Morley (M-M)experimental results. It is true that M-M results disproved some aethertheories; but far from being disproven, I have actually been able to show thatthe mechanism whereby relativistic phenomena occur is inherent in the verystructure and dynamics of Reynolds' medium itself (6 and 7).MODERN PHYSICS AND REYNOLDS' THEORYSome modern theoretical physicists, notably Bohm (10), de Broglie and Vigier(11) and Hiley (12), have postulated the existence of a subquantic medium,which according to Bohm's early interpretation, is surprisingly similar toReynolds' quasicrystalline dilatant medium. Both theories envision astructured matrix with a graininess much finer than the smallest subatomicparticle.In Bohm's subquantic medium, elementary particles are analogous todislocations and disclinations in a crystalline matrix. That is, there are asufficient number of different types of dislocations and disclinations incrystals to account for the number of types of known elementary particles.The stress fields in the crystal are analogous to the electric, magnetic,nuclear, or gravitational forces exerted by the particle. The particle cannotexist without the stress fields nor the stress fields without the particle.Frank (13, pp. 131-134) has shown in a theoretical analysis that a Burgersscrew dislocation moving through a crystal experiences relativistic effects,which can be determined by substituting the transverse velocity of sound inthe crystal for the speed of light. Thus, there is a modern trend moving inthe direction of Reynolds' theory.Moving, propagating dislocations have much in common with the objects in JohnConway's game of Life. The objects in the game of Life are called "cellularautomata". It's not really a game, it's more a self-running demonstration orsimulation usually played out on the screens of personal computers. Certainrules are set up on a computer, an initial configuration is input, and theaction is begun on the playing field.Stable and oscillating immobile entities arise and some rarer moving entities,called gliders and boats also appear on the field as the configurationevolves. Certain starting configurations called "glider guns" are immobileoscillators which every so many cycles shoot out a glider onto the field.Although much simpler, in some respect Conway's 2 dimensional objects areanalogous to elementary particles in Reynolds' aether. In both cases, from aset of relatively simple initial assumptions and generating rules, an entireuniverse is constructed.Le Corbeiller (14, p. 881) believes that, in light of the 32 possible crystalclasses and the 230 possible types of space arrangements of atoms in acrystal, "It may not be very long before we obtain deductive knowledge, on thebasis of some few fundamental assumptions, of the main features of thephysical universe."A proposal that one might deduce definable, mechanical structures forelementary particles on a subquantic scale should cause Heisenberg to spin inhis grave. Heisenberg's uncertainty principle sets limits to certain kinds ofknowledge. It is a fuzzy electron which is measured by photons. It is afuzzy airplane which is measured by radar pulses. For certain purposes anairplane is a "probability cloud" existing somewhere within a trumpet-shapedvolume of sky. However, this does not eliminate the fact that an airplane isa complex mechanical structure, about which the crude radar pulses can tell usvery little. Deductive approaches such as Reynolds' theory just might let usdetermine HOW AN ELECTRON IS BUILT OUT OF AETHER GRAINS.One of the advantages of Reynolds' theory is that it makes possiblevisualization of phenomena, which formerly were grasped mainly by mathematicalrelationships. "Don't try to picture it; the equation is the whole reality",is a point of view which promulgates mystery in physics. Reynolds' theory hasthe potential of demystifying physics and bringing to bear, once again, thatpowerful human faculty of visualization to the subject.In this theory, the pressure of the aether, the interlocking structure of theaether grains, and dilation effects resulting from strains in the medium arethe first order effects. The aether grains are the only truly 3 dimensionalobjects. All of the known physical phenomena are higher order effectsderiving from these first order effects. Reynolds' quasicrystalline,dilatant, subquantic medium can provide explanations for: 1. the mechanism of gravity, 2. the magnitudes of nuclear, electric/magnetic, and gravitational forces as a function of distance, 3. the constant velocity of light, 4. the Lorentz-Fitzgerald contraction, 5. time expansion, 6. increase in mass with velocity, 7. nonradiating orbits of electrons around the nucleus, 8. the Pauli exclusion principle, 9. mass-energy interconversion (pair production and electron- positron annihilation), 10. the equivalence of gravitational and inertial mass, and 11. the wave-particle duality of EM radiation.SPECULATIONS ON RELEVANCE OF REYNOLDS' THEORY TO PARAPSYCHOLOGYDouglas Stokes in his fine review article "Theoretical Parapsychology" (15)mentions resonance theories, Sheldrake's morphogenetic fields and Bohm'simplicate order as possible explanations for parapsychological phenomena.Helmholtz demonstrated electromagnetic resonance by building identical, openloops of wire and when these were in proper orientation to each other a sparkacross the gap in the sender also occurred in the receiver. In some mannerthe energy was transmitted across the space between them. We now know thatthe transverse waves of electromagnetic radiation traveling through space atthe speed of light are the basis for what Helmholtz observed.Are mental sparks transmitted from person to person? If so, what is thenature of these mental sparks? What is the medium across which this occurs?What might be resonating? The Ganzfeld phenomena, remote-viewing would appearto involve a much more complex sort of transmission than transverse EMradiation.Osborne Reynolds' longitudinal (or compression-rarefaction) waves are onecandidate. These travel at 2.4 times the speed of light, however theyinteract very little with matter and have a relatively limited range of a fewthousand meters.Another candidate for psi transmission lies in the structural properties ofReynolds' aether. Reynolds defines matter as regions of space within whichaether grains ARE MISSING from the normal packing. This produces an AETHERPRESSURE DIFFERENTIAL which, basically, is a gravitational field.This field produced by a physical object persists so long as that objectexists. The field extends indefinitely into space and its intensity falls offaccording to the square of the distance. Along with the amorphous, purelyquantitative gravitational field, it may be possible that objects produce astructured field containing more information than simply the amount of masscontained therein, which I will call "corporeal fields".Interactions of these corporeal fields extending into space might provide aphysical basis for some classes of psi phenomena. Such "transcorporealresonances" might produce subliminal or liminal experiences on a physical,tactile, body sensation level. It is not easy for many (especially the malesin our culture) to be aware of, to be sensitive to, bodily sensations and"feelings". Individual differences in corporeal sensitivity could account fordifferences in psychic abilities.The information in a corporeal field might be more than simply the physicalconfiguration of a human body; it could include thoughts, sensations,feelings, and mental images. Perhaps Jung's archetypes are modes oftranscorporeal resonances and the universal unconscious is a name for thiscorporeal field information being shared via Reynolds quasicrystalline aether.I want to emphasize the difference between the above view and that of oneperson sending "thought waves" to another. The corporeal fields of all of usexist throughout the aether. Our corporeal fields in this room are coexistingand interpenetrating via the structured aether.Our bodies are the major source of these informational fields. Our bodies areseparated by skin, clothing and air from other bodies in this room but we areintimately connected via the aether which provides the medium within which ourbodies (and the rest of the universe) exists. Subtle features of the fieldcould enable resonances or interactions among them which would be detectableat the source. So, I am talking about corporeal fields exchangingconfigurational information rather than transmission of messages throughmodulated electromagnetic radiation.THE FUTURE OF PHYSICS AND REYNOLDS' THEORYThe first three decades of the twentieth century were rich with theoreticaladvances in physics. Since that time, technology has developed the practicalapplications of these new theories. It seems that the lands charted by thesetheories have all been explored and cultivated. There remain few new vistas.Reynolds' theory offers a new perspective, a revitalized vision of thephysical world, a new mastery over the physical universe. It allows for thepossibility of: 1. signal propagation at 2.4 times the speed of light, 2. control of gravity or levitation of physical objects, 3. control of the inertia or mass of physical objects, 4. control of the rate of passage of time within a volume of space, 5. control of the local metric of space, 6. a space drive not requiring the expulsion of reaction mass, 7. an inexhaustible source of energy, and 8. a physical basis for understanding psi phenomena.Considerable theoretical and applied research will be necessary to realize anyof these possibilities. But just knowing that they exist will be enough toinfuse new vitality into not only our physics; but also our entirecivilization. Osborne Reynolds' quasicrystalline dilatant aether theory is aparadigm upon which a new physics for the third millennium may be built.METAPHYSICAL IMPLICATIONS: A PERSONAL PHILOSOPHYReynolds' interlocking aether grains provide a basis for long range order andstructure in the universe. Macroscopic structure in past theories was basedon molecular configurations and arose from the electromagnetic interactionsamong atoms by means of photon interchanges between electron orbitals.With the SMU these interactions themselves are based on a structured medium.Structure is no longer an accident, but is innate in the very ground ofexistence. Instead of an amorphous empty space we have a highly structuredmatrix of high energy and high information content. Instead of particleshaving an independent existence, we have a total embedment andinterrelatedness.The medium is inside of and outside of all things. The medium is all things.Without it, nothing exists. All matter exists as dislocations in astructured, mechanical medium. All interactions between matter occur throughvibrations and stresses in this structured medium. Suddenly, with Reynolds'Theory, we have a cozier universe.For me, finding such an explanatory paradigm has changed my life. I'mbasically a simple person. I like to be able to visualize things. This is whya mechanical medium appeals to me. When I say mechanical, it is important tokeep in mind that although Reynolds' medium allows for the existence ofmatter, it itself is not ordinary matter. It has negative mass, perfectelasticity and other characteristics that everyday matter does not possess.Perhaps lifeforms have found ways of using this structured medium to enhancetheir survival potential.ATMAN IS BRAHMAN, BRAHMAN IS ATMANThis means: "The individual spirit is the universal spirit, the universalspirit is the individual spirit." What this means to me on a more personallevel is that there is a unity behind the diversity of experience, theconnectedness of all things, is given substance with Reynolds subquantic,interstellar medium.The metaphysical implication of Osborne Reynolds' subquantic medium is that itis a universal matrix within which all things exist, out of which all thingsappear or emerge and into which all things dissolve or fade away. To use Bohmand Peat's terminology (16) it is the ultimate implicate order from which theexplicate order unfolds.The words "mother", "mater", "matrix", "hugging", "oneness", "enfoldment","embedment" I see as descriptive of Osborne Reynolds' medium and the universe.A Universal Matrix can be considered the Universal Mater or Mother. I see afundamental relationship between the East's "unseen ground of existence" andReynolds' medium, which provides the implicate order, the "activeintelligence", the subtle guidance which is necessary to explain hithertounexplained physical phenomena.As we move through the experience of life, from embedment in the womb, toembedment in the family, to embedment in the larger world of school and work,it is conceptually satisfying to see everything within which all this tookplace as itself embedded in the universal, subquantic, interstellar medium.This understanding at the highest theoretical, intellectual level of agraspable, visualizable grand unifying theory of everything has provided mewith a ... not really faith ... how can I put it, has set my mind to rest.The subjective experience of oneness, of me, as the unifying principle of mypersonal universe has a theoretical correlate in Reynolds' medium as theunifying principle of the physical universe. It now all makes sense, itcoheres, it is aesthetically satisfying.Our physical bodies are conceived, born, grow, age, die and disperse. Each ofus is a physical entity --- yet there is more than just these bodies. Thereis awareness, sensitivity to people and the world around us. There is thestruggle for understanding of ourselves and our universe, the ultimaterefinement of the struggle for survival, which I see as our springboard toimmortality.
REFERENCES 1. Reynolds, 0., Papers on Mechanical and Physical Subjects, Vol. III, The Sub-Mechanics of the Universe, Cambridge: at the University Press, 1903. 2. Reynolds, 0., On an Inversion of Ideas as to the Structure of the Universe (The Rede Lecture, June 10, 1902), Cambridge: at the University Press, 1903. 3. Blair, G. W. S., A Survey of General and Applied Rheology, Pitman Publishing Corp, 1944. 4. Rosenberg, B. L., Amusement Device Employing Dilatant Suspension Filler, U.S. Patent 3,601,923 granted 31 Aug. 1971, filed 7 Oct. 1968. 5. Rosenberg, B. L., Non Linear Energy Absorption System U.S. Patent No. 3,833,952, Granted 10 Sept 1974, filed 18 Jan 1973, assigned to the U.S.A. as represented by the Secretary of the Navy. 6. Rosenberg, B. L., UFOs, Osborne Reynolds and the One Wind: A New Look at an Old Theory, Submitted as an entry in the Cutty Sark scientific paper competition to promote understanding of the UFO phenomenon, Atlantic City, NJ, June 1979. 7. Rosenberg, B. L., Osborne Reynolds' Submechanics of the Universe: A Bridge between Classical and Modern Physics, Submitted to the Joint Anglo-American Conference on the History of Science, Manchester, England, July 1988. 8. Reynolds, O. "Experiments Showing Dilatancy, A Property of Granular Material, Possibly Connected with Gravitation". Proceedings of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, Read February 12, 1886, Reprinted in Papers on Mechanical and Physical Subjects, Reprinted from Various Transactions and Journals, Vol. II: 1881 - 1900, Cambridge: at the University Press, 1901. 9. Reynolds, 0., "On the Dilatancy of Media Composed of Rigid Particles in Contact, With Experimental Illustrations", Philosophical Mag., 20 (S5), 469-481, Dec. 1885.10. Bohm, D. J., "Problems in the Basic Concepts of Physics", Satyendranath Bose 70th Birthday Commemoration Volume, Part II, Kalipada Mukherjee at Eka Press, Calcutta, 1966.11. de Broglie, L. and Vigier, J. P., Introduction to the Vigier Theory of Elementary Particles, Elsevier Publishing Co., 1963.12. Hiley, B. J., "A Note on Discreteness, Phase Space and Cohomology Theory", in Quantum Theory and Beyond: Essays and Discussions Arising from a Colloquium, Ted Bastian, Ed., Cambridge: at the University Press, 1971.13. Frank, F. C., "On the Equations of Motion of Crystal Dislocations", in The Proceedings of the Physical Society, Sec. A, from Jan. 1949 to Dec. 1949, Vol. 62.14. Le Corbeiller, P. "Crystals and the Future of Physics", in The World of Mathematics, Volume Two, pp. 871-881, James R. Newman, ed., Simon and Schuster, New York, 1956.15. Stokes, D. M. "Theoretical Parapsychology" in Advances In Parapsychological Research, pp. 77-189, Stanley Krippner, ed., McFarland and Company, 1987.16. Bohm, D. and Peat, F. D., Science, Order, and Creativity, Bantam Books, November, 1987.------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
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