Much has been speculated on Tesla's theory of gravity, a theory that he only mentions but at no point does he reveal any detail, or... does he?
I have seen many attempts to reconstruct Tesla's theory of gravity, even one by a well informed Tesla biographer, but all of them are based on nothing or at best have a vague relation to a single statement that in a different context may have something to do with gravity. I have not seen a single attempt that would stop a jury from bursting into laughter. And since there seems to be nothing substantial to base a theory on, I have always refrained from such attempts.
Until now.
Because there is something substantial, something that I overlooked because I thought there was nothing there.
Let's go back to Tesla's ether theories that I discussed quite extensively in earlier posts. Empty space must be filled with a homogeneous fluid medium, generally referred to as the ether. There is no way around it, no matter how much this idea is hated by modern scientists, it has to be there.
Now according to Tesla, and to make matters worse for these modern scientists, submerged in this fluid there must be a gaseous medium, consisting of particles, that is the primary cause for electrical (and magnetic) effects. Tesla calls this second medium "the medium" so let's stick with that.
Thus we have the ether and the medium.
One electricity
Tesla states that it is illogical to assume the existence of two electricities (plus and minus) and says that positive and negative charge must be an effect caused by one single medium.
And this is where things get interesting, because the particles of the medium can not be positive or negative, but they can be both, a dipole just like a magnet. One side positive and one side negative.
Modern scientists have agreed that the vacuum can be polarized, but this implies the necessity of the medium consisting of such dipoles.
A medium like this would cause electric permittivity, known today as 'the permittivity of the vacuum' and denoted by ε0 (pronounced as "epsilon naught").
Enter the Primary Cosmic Rays
Now we combine this with another of Tesla's well described theories, namely that all stars (and the sun) emit some sort of particle rays that he refers to as primary cosmic rays. These particles are very small and travel at enormous velocities (50+ times the speed of light). Now suppose these are the same particles that constitute the medium, then an amazing picture begins to appear.
These rays travel through most matter unhindered, but sometimes they interact causing heat (as inside our planet), radio active decay or secondary rays (cosmic background radiation). Because of these interactions the travelling particles lose energy, both velocity and 'temperature'.
This means that (large) masses are surrounded by a denser and 'colder' medium.
And the fact that this medium differs means that the value of ε0 differs near (large) masses.
.... Yeah.... and?...
Well, for one this would cause the speed of light to be less near such masses and thus to bend light rays exactly as if they were attracted by some invisible force.
Also, an electric charge would see its coulomb field distorted because of this towards that mass (as if it were attracted). And because of that the charge feels a force generated by its own electric field pulling it toward that mass.
So to sum it up:
- a mass slows down particles of the medium causing a slightly denser 'cloud' around itself.
- this denser cloud deforms the electric field of a nearby charge.
- the deformed field pushes the charge towards the mass.
But gravity works on all matter, not just electrically charged matter.
True, but all matter consists of atoms with a positively charged nucleus and a negatively charged electron cloud. Thus all matter is attracted by mass, or so it appears on the outside.
So there you have it. A consistent and logical explanation for gravity based on the work of Nikola Tesla. Could this have been his "Dynamic Theory of Gravity"?
I think it stands a fair chance.
What say you?
This is not my 'invention'. A Russian (I believe) scientist by the name of Vessilin Petkov published articles on the idea that gravitational forces and inertia could be caused by variations in ε0.
Our theoretical scientist, Koen van Vlaenderen, came across his work and mentioned it to me.
I linked it to Tesla's theories.