"Do Virtual Photons Exist?"

The Aether was original conceived as a means of explaining "forces
acting at a distance" (i.e.- electric, magnetic, gravitation, et al). When
the idea of the classical Aether was abandoned early in the century, there
was a need to find another means of explaining these forces because, if it
were not possible to explain them by some other means then it would be
necessary to retain the Aether and the absolute reference frame it
represented. The elimination of that reference frame was an absolute
imperative of the political agenda of the academic community. Fortunately,
the advent of quantum theory allowed Dr. Feynmann to generate the idea that
these forces were produced by the exchange of "virtual particles". These
particles were so named because they popped into and out of existence for
periods of time that were so short that the rules of quantum physics insured
that their temporary existence did not violate the Law of Conservation of
Energy.

It is easy to understand how these particles could provide a force over
a distance. A "virtual particle" emitted from one point would absorb
momentum and travel ballistically to another where it would release that
momentum. The net result would be force acting between the points. The
situation is analogous to the effect observed when two athletes throw a
medicine ball back and forth to each other. Difficulty with the analogy is
that the throwing of the medicine ball can only produce a repulsive force;

it cannot produce an attractive force! The mathematics associated with the
force production by "virtual particles" particles, however, does allow for
the production of attractive forces, but, since no explanation as to how
this is possible is provided, one is left with the suspicion that this is
another example of a solution where an effect that is allowed by the
mathematics involved is being used outside of the constraints imposed by the
physical realities of the problem. These realities require a rather unusual
exchange of momentum to be involved. In order to produce the attractive
force, the "virtual photon" would have to be launched with a momentum
represented by a propagation direction away from its target, reverse its
momentum (direction of travel), go past its target and repeat the process so
as to acquire a momentum in the required direction as it struck the target
from behind. (If anyone can provide a different explanation I would like to
hear it.) Of course, if the "virtual photon" were propagating through a
medium, such as the Aether, there would be no conceptual problem, the
"virtual particle could make the necessary exchange of momentum with the
medium. (A boomerang returns to the thrower because it exchanges momentum
with a medium, air. But then, if the Aether were present we would have no
need to consider the existence of "virtual photons".

There is no need to resort to theoretical arguments, however. If
virtual photons produce electric and magnetic forces, they should be
observable. Consider a large electromagnet, such as is used in an MIR
machine. A recent news report described an unfortunate incident where a
steel oxygen bottle was not properly mounted to its wall bracket. The
magnetic field of the MIR pulled the bottle to the machine and killed a boy
who was being scanned. It is obvious that the room was filled with a large
and extremely powerful magnetic field. If "virtual photons" were present in
that room, they would have produced a level of electromagnetic interference
that would scream their presence. If electric and magnetic forces were
produced by "virtual photons", they would have to also effect any
electromagnetic detectors in their vicinity and one would expect that both
natural and man-made electric and magnetic fields would render
electromagnetic communication impossible.

An experiment is described in Chapter 4 of
http://einsteinhoax.com/hoax.htm "The Einstein Hoax" in which a strong
electric field is produced inside of an evacuated chamber and an antenna is
located between the electrodes. Using a radiation detector that covers the
entire spectrum would allow the detection of any spurious photons that acted
to produce the attractive force. Its a simple experiment and is one which
should be performed it science is to accept "virtual photons" as meaningful.

The source material for this posting may be found in
http://einsteinhoax.com/hoax.htm (1997); http://einsteinhoax.com/gravity.htm
(1987); and http://einsteinhoax.com/relcor.htm (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.

All of the Newsposts made by this site may be viewed at the
http://einsteinhoax.com/postinglog.htm.

Please make any response via E-mail as Newsgroups are not monitored on
a regular basis. Objective responses will be treated with the same courtesy
as they are presented. To prevent the wastage of time on both of our parts,
please do not raise objections that are not related to material that you
have read at the Website. This posting is merely a summary.

E-mail:- einsteinhoax@isp.com. If you wish a reply, be sure that your
mail reception is not blocked.

The material at the Website has been posted continuously for over 8
years. In that time THERE HAVE BEEN NO OBJECTIVE REBUTTALS OF ANY OF THE
MATERIAL PRESENTED. There have only been hand waving arguments by
individuals who have mindlessly accepted the prevailing wisdom without
questioning it. If anyone provides a significant rebuttal that cannot be
objectively answered, the material at the Website will be withdrawn.
Challenges to date have revealed only the responder's inadequacy with one
exception for which a correction was provided.