FDT writes: Dan Solomon questions whether or not we can obtain energy by applying an electric field to the Dirac Sea, and rendering it into a negative energy state. (see post: Some new results concerning the vacuum in Dirac’s hole theory)
The 1932 Carl Anderson experiment, in conjunction with the famous equation E=mc² is said to have confirmed Dirac’s prediction of the existence of a virtual sea of electrons and positrons. Dirac used the mathematical concept of negative energy levels to make his prediction.
However, the definition of energy does not allow for the concept of a negative energy state.
Kinetic energy is simply defined, by integrating force with respect to distance between two limits, and observing that the result is the difference between an initial quantity and a final quantity 1/2mv², that we define as kinetic energy. When the force is irrotational we can do the same again using the vector field function for the force, and obtain the difference between an initial and a final quantity that we define as potential energy. If we combine these two derivations, we demonstrate that under the action of conservative forces, that the sum of kinetic energy and potential energy will remain unchanged. This is known as the law of conservation of energy.
It is highly unlikely that the results of the 1932 Carl Anderson experiment were actually confirming Dirac’s theory at all. The equation E=mc² can easily be shown to be a variation of Isaac Newton’s equation for the speed of sound. James Clerk-Maxwell used Newton’s speed of sound equation in part III of his 1861 paper ‘On Physical Lines of Force’ in order to show that light is an electromagnetic wave. See equation (132) at,
http://www.zpenergy.com/downloads/maxwell_oplf.pdf
Newton’s equation for the speed of sound is based on inter particle forces, and as such it should follow that the energy term in E=mc² refers to inter particle binding energy. This is a fact that has been shown quite conclusively by Dr. Menahem Simhony in Jerusalem. Dr. Simhony demonstrated that the Carl Anderson experiment has got an exact parallel involving liberating sodium and chloride ions from a salt crystal. When we read Dr. Simhony’s theory at,
http://web.archive.org/web/20040606235138/www.word1.co.il/physics/mass.htm
we should be left in no doubt that a very real sea of electrons and positrons exists, and that the gamma rays in the Carl Anderson experiment are merely liberating these electron positron pairs from some kind of bound state.
Dan Solomon discusses the Dirac model and then questions whether or not the vacuum state is the minimum energy state. Before we can answer that question, we need to first of all decide whether the Dirac Sea is a virtual sea as according to Dirac, or whether it is a very real sea of electrons and positrons. For the latter, we need to have a double helix stability mechanism. See,
Dan Solomon accepts the concept of negative energy levels and then sets out to show that an electric field applied to the ‘vacuum state’ will render the Dirac Sea into a negative energy state, and that hence, positive energy has necessarily been obtained elsewhere. The mathematics used by Dan Solomon is extremely complicated, and it is doubtful if it can possibly even make the physical predictions that it claims to make.
In actual fact, if we adopt the idea that a very real sea of positrons and electrons exists, in which the electrons and the positrons are bound together in pairs by the Coulomb force, then it follows that this sea will indeed contain an intrinsic kinetic energy and an intrinsic potential energy associated with the Keplerian orbits of these dipoles.
Extracting that energy is another problem altogether, but I don’t believe that the problem will be solved by mathematical equations. We must look to other examples of stored energy in nature. In all matters relating to chemical energy and the Coulomb force, it has been the tradition to discover a particular mixture of substances in which partner swapping occurs, resulting in a release of kinetic energy. For example if we have a solution of sulphuric acid, and we insert two interconnected electrodes into the solution, of which one electrode is made of copper, and the other electrode is made of zinc, then the hydrogen ions of the sulphuric acid will leave their sulphate partners in preference for the outer electrons of the copper electrode. Likewise, the sulphate ions will pair up with the positive zinc ions of the other electrode, and an electric current (kinetic energy) will flow in the connecting wire between the two electrodes.
Energy does indeed exist in the electron positron sea. But if we are to extract it, we need to discover whether it needs to be in the polarized state, the magnetized state, or the dynamic state, (see ‘The Four States of the Electric Sea’)
and which substances it needs to be mixed with in order to release this energy. It has been suggested recently by Aleatha that the magnetocaloric effect, which is a result of placing certain materials in the electric sea, while the sea is in the magnetized state, is caused by energy being extracted from the sea. Whether or not Aleatha is correct, it will certainly be with experiments along these lines that we will discover whether or not we can extract this energy. It will ultimately come down to trial and error, or most likely some accidental discovery.
Yours sincerely, David Tombe
