The Law of Conservation Of Energy: A Long Stride on a Wrong Path Part I Development of Mechanics

PREFACE

Extracts

...Perpetual motion is the voice of general mankind; therefore it is no surprise that people from all the walks of life have given their thought to obtain perpetual motion.

Einstein, whose relativity theory exposed limitations of Newtonian mechanics, once spoke of the laws of thermodynamics as the only scientific principles he had real confidence would remain unaltered as science continued to progress.[i] What are the implications of the first two of these laws for the study of origins?

...if your theory is found to be against the second law of thermodynamics I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest humiliation. (Sir Arthur Eddington)

In the words of Ramananda the law of conservation of energy is a case of long strides on the wrong road. As saint Augustine used to say :magni gressus praeter viam

Ramananda sometimes expresses extreme resentment over the law of conservation of energy which has its root in Aristotelian materialism.

Deva Ramananda feels that this 'impoverished and empty' principle fails to account for 'the wonder and mystery of universe, it fails to appreciate human self with its spiritual values, with its creativity, and with its uniqueness for each of us.' He criticizes this principle for allowing no real scope for creation.

...Of all the laws of science that have been invented, there is none more derogatory to the Almighty, more unedifying to man, more repugnant to reason, and more contradictory in itself, than this putative law called law of conservation of energy. Too absurd for belief, too impossible to convince, and too inconsistent for practice, it renders the heart languorous, or produces only anti perpetual motionists, atheists and fanatics.

The law of conservation of energy and perpetual motion, as they stand in science in flagrant contradiction are like dark and light; fear and hope. Remember our Lord Jesus Christ said: we are the light of the world, and we should let our light so shine before men, that they may see our good works, and glorify our Father which is in heaven.

Physics which rejects perpetual motion is the study of nothing; it is founded on nothing; it rests on no principles; it proceeds by no authorities; it has no data; it can demonstrate nothing; and it admits of no conclusion. Energy cannot be studied as a science, without perpetual motion, true principles which science discards without much thought and upon which it is founded; and as this is a absurd situation, physics is therefore the study of nothing.

[i] Wysong, R.L., The Creation-Evolution Controversy (East Lansing, MI: Inquiry Press, 1976).

All history writers on the law of conservation of energy have intentionally avoided even the mention of genuine perpetual motionist like Edward Somerset and Orffyreus, their masterly invention of perpetual motion. It is impossible to deny the merits of their works but knowing physicist’s utter inability to cope with truth of perpetual motion, they have wisely passed them by in silence. Helmholtz, it is true, in his “On the Correlation and Conservation of Forces”, has mentioned automata and their inventors, but with what care he evades mentioning even the names of distinguished perpetual motion inventors! He even forgot to mention Orffyreus, his own country fellowman. He passes over the work with a haste and sophistry that indicates how fully conscious he was of his own weakness and the strength of the opposite idea of perpetual motion.

Perpetual motion yield simple, rational, and for the most part easily verifiable explanations on the fundamental nature of energy.

To expose superstition, the ignorance and credulity on which law of conservation thrives, and to ameliorate the condition of the human race by providing free energy from the perpetual motion, is the ardent desire of a perpetual motionist who has a philanthropic mind.

A perpetual motionist is prone to accuse pure physicist as being impractical, a dreamer who spins intricate patterns out of the web of his imagination, who builds theories that have little in common with the practical affairs of life. Undoubtedly, they have inherited this tradition from Greek philosophers who hated manual labour. In fact whole Greek philosophy is forerunner of science and it has contaminated to a great extent certain fundamental concepts, laws and theories of science. Law of conservation stands supreme among them. Of what utility these so called laws have if they fail to conform to truth? Why are they spoiling minds of younger generation? In fact, students need to be compensated for the mental exertion in learning these putative laws and for the loss of their zeal to invent perpetual motion machine in the same manner Euclid decided to give a coin to the slaves who would learn his theory. The story is told of Euclid that a youth who had come to him for instruction, after having learned the first proposition, asked: "But what am I to get out of this?" and Euclid for reply commanded a slave to give him a coin, since he needs must have a gain for all that he learned.

This volume deals with the history of development of law of conservation of energy and its criticism in light of perpetual motion machine. The critical analysis presented on the law of conservation of energy is based on extensive evidence and experiments with perpetual motion. The book provides a good insight to researchers, planners and students of perpetual motion. I have adopted the historical method, and have attempted to trace origin and the development of law of conservation of energy from the speculations of the early Greek philosophers to the development of mechanics, electromagnetism and thermodynamics largely in 17th and 18th century in Europe. Later, quantum mechanics, relativity and other cosmological theories have been discussed in light of law of conservation of energy and perpetual motion. I believe that this method of treatment follows a natural order, and is important not only as possessing an educational value but also as corresponding to the logical development of the idea and principles involved. I have avoided going after mathematical details in making of law of conservation of energy. This book presents you history of perpetual motion and law of conservation of energy and critically examines the work of a generation of the scientist who has done harm to perpetual motion. Perpetual motion renders entire development of mechanics into comics.

I owe special debt to E. Mach, scientific philosopher of the 19th century, for his “History of Law of Conservation Of Energy”, great. E. Mach wrote: “Let us not cease to grasp the guiding hand of history. History has made all history after all, and we can make our own”

CONTENTS

i Preface

ii Acknowledgements

1 INTRODUCTION

Genesis of Idea

Mystery of Death Still Haunts Common Man, Scientists and Philosophers

2 SEEING THE ROOTS OF LAW OF CONSERVATION OF ENERGY IN RELIGION

Seeing the Roots in Tribal Religion

Tribal Religion

How Did Man Come To Develop Concept Of Soul That Survives Even After Death?

Roots of Law of Conservation Of Energy

In Oriental Views on Soul, Doctrine of Emanation and Absorption

Law of Conservation of Soul

Transfer of Concepts from Religion to Science

3 THE LAW OF CONSERVATION OF MATTER

Roots in Philosophy

Lavoisier Advocates Constancy of Matter

Heydweiller and Landolt’s Experiment

Skepticism about Validity of Conservation of Mass

E=MC2

Continuation Creation of Matter

4 ROOTS OF LAW OF CONSERVATION OF ENERGY IN GREEK PHILOSOPHY

Greek Thought

Parmenides (late 6th- early 5th century B C)

Leucippus (500-440 B C)

Empedocles (495-435 BC)

Democritus of Abdera (460-370 B C)

Democritos on Gravity

Aristotle (384- 322 BC)

Epicurus (341-270 BC)

Aristarchus of Samos (b c 320, -250)

Archimedes (b c 287- 212)

Hipparchus (190 -135 BC)

Titus Lucretius (95-55 B C)

Diogene Laertius

5 ORIGINS OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY IN MIDDLE AGES

Dynamics & Mechanics

Ancient Indian Doctrines of Motion

Vaisasika Sutra

Middle Ages

Roger Bacon (1214 -1294)

Thomism

J. Burdian (1297-1358)

6 DEVELOPMENT OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY DURING RENNAISANCE

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452- 1519)

Da Vinci on Force

Friction

Da Vinci on Perpetual Motion

Self Moving Car

Copernicus (1473-1543)

Nicole Tartaglia (1500-1557)

Giambattista Benedetti (1530-1590)

Giordano Bruno (1548-1600)

Dr. William Gilbert (1544-1603)

Stevenus of Brugs (1548-1620)

Stevinus on Impossibility of Perpetual Motion

Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

Johanna Kepler (1571-1630)

7 GALILEO GALILEI (1564-1642)

His Telescope

Nature as Mathematical Order

Galileo’s Physics De motu

Principle of Virtual Velocities

Galileo’s Studies on Pendulum

Galileo on Perpetual Motion

Galileo on Gravity

Free Fall

Concept of Force and Motion

Law of Inertia

His Experiments with Inclined Plane

“Galileo’s Flight Of Fancy -- Perpetual Motion”

Galileo’s Experiment in Hydrostatics

Galileo on Projectile Motion

8 LAW OFCONSERVATION OF ENERGY IN PROGRESS

Martin Mersenne (1588-1648)

Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

His Contributions in Mechanics

Descartes: His World Machine

Hobbes

Henry More 1614-87

Robert Boyle (1627-1691)

Robert Boyle On The Self-Motion Of Planet:

Robert Boyle’s Skepticism on Law of Conservation Of Energy

Royal Society

Sir David Brewster

9 ALCHEMIST JEHOVAH SANCTUS UNUS, ISAAC NEWTON (1642-1727)

Fall of Apple and His Law of

Universal Gravitation

Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica

AXIOMS, OR Laws of Motion

Law I, Law II, Law III

Corollary I., Corollary Ii., Corollary Iii., Corollary Iv., Corollary V, Corollary Vi.

Newton on the Nature and Causes of Gravity

Gravity as a Repulsive Force

Newton and His Method:

Emphasis on Mathematics

Experiment and Observation

as an Empirical Aspect

Non Fingo Hypothesis:

I Do Not Frame Hypothesis

Newton’s Rules of Reasoning

Controversy with Hook

Newton’s Activity Principle

Newton and Christianity: God and Religion

Newton and his Disputes with Leibniz

on Priority of Calculus

Leibniz-Clarke Correspondence

Determinism

Atoms

Space and Time

Controversy of Vacuum

Newton’s Personal Nature

Criticism of Fundamental Concepts

of Newton’s Philosophy

Refutation of law of Inertia

Inertia

Euler ridicules Colden

Action At A Distance

Final Criticism

10 OTHER SCIENTISTS ON LAW OF CONSERVATION OF ENERGY

Robert Hook

Christian Huygens (1629-1695)

HYPOTHESES

PROPOSITION IV Rejects Perpetual Motion

Huygens on Impact

John Wallis

Torricelli

Pascal

Gottfried Wilhelm Von Leibniz (1646-1716)

John Bernoulli (1667-1748)

Alembert, d’ Jean le Rond (1717-1783)

Lezare Nicholas Carnot (1753-1823)

Thomas Young

Frederick Engel (1820-1885)

11 DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTROMAGNETISM

Magnesia Stone

Picard Petrus Peregrinus

William Gilbert of Cholcester

William Barlow

Athanasius (1601-80)

Books on Properties of Magnets

Rene Descartes

Henry Bond’s book:“The Longitude Found” and Peter Black’s book “The Longitude Not Found”

The Academy del Cemento

Cabeus Describes Electric Repulsion

Guericke

Works of Stefan Gray (1696-1736),

Charles du Fuy (1698-1739), and

E, George Von Kleist Peter Von Musschenbrack

Frankline

Charles Coloumb (1736-1806)

Animal Magnetism

Franz Mesmer (1734-1815)

Luigi Galvini (1737-1798)

Volta (1745-1827)

Humhary Davy

George Simon Ohm (1787-1854)

Investigations into the Nature of Light

Hans Christian Oesterd (1777-1851)

Henry Mary Ampere (1775-1836)

Thomas Johann Seeback (1770-18 31)

Jean Peltier (1785-1845)

Henrich Lenz (1804-1865)

Michael Faraday (1791-1867)

James Clark Maxwell

12 CRITICISM AND CONCLUSIONS

ABOUT LAW OF CONSERVATION

OF ENERGY

Notes and Reference

EEC Series of Books

About the Author