Revised Theory of Transient Mass Fluctuations
Several publications during the last 10 years by Woodward and colleagues have: (1) indicated a theory based on special relativity, that predicted transient mass fluctuations; (2) cited specific embodiments where a net average force would be present; (3) suggested a few ways that this theory might be tested in the laboratory; and (4) reported such test results incorporating these embodiments, which are interpreted to support theory (1) to (3) above. In this paper we show that: (1) the average force predicted by Woodward's theory occurred only because of a neglected term in a product derivative, and that when the neglected term is correctly returned, the average force identically vanishes; (2) this vanishment of the average force occurs for arbitrary forcing functions, not just the sinusoidal one considered by Woodward; (3) the transient mass fluctuation, predicted by Woodward, was developed in a theory which neglected local gravitational forces which are several dozen orders of magnitude greater; (4) additionally considering the dominant local gravitational forces produces a vastly smaller transient mass fluctuation; (5) several inconsistencies between Woodward's referents and the development of his wave equation lead to a formulation that does not follow from the antecedents even in the absence of the demonstrations (1) to (4) above; (6) there is an alternate interpretation of the Woodward/Mahood experiments that can entirely explain the findings in terms of force contributions due to time varying thermal expansion, without invoking any general relativistic effects; and (7) a laboratory demonstration of the alternate interpretation produced 100 times the Woodward effect without resort to non-Newtonian explanations.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Department of Energy (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 788523
- Report Number(s):
- P01-111404; TRN: US200203%%119
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 37th AIAA, ASME, SAE, ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference, Salt Lake City, UT (US), 07/30/2001--07/31/2001; Other Information: PBD: 4 Sep 2001
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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