A New Look towards the Principles of Motion, by Arindam Banerjee. Section 4 - The Nature of Explosion

[Arindam Banerjee]

A New Look towards the Principles of Motion

A book by Arindam Banerjee, for fresh and keen young minds, introducing new physics for superior technology and better understanding of the universe's workings

Section 4

The Nature of Explosion

How light is formed

In this section we discuss the nature of explosion. The modern theory following the law of conservation of mass and energy, is that wherever the law of conservation of energy fails to provide any satisfactory explanation for the generation of energy, mass has to totally annihilated to form as much energy e as is available from the equation e = mcc; where m is the mass totally annihilated for the purpose, and c is the speed of light. This equation explained the enormous energies generated when fast radioactive reactions instead of the normal chemical reactions involved in conventional explosives were used in the creation of atomic and hydrogen nuclear bombs. So while it is difficult to think how exactly there is total annihilation of mass when we light a match, or a firecracker, the equation e=mcc has it that in processes as these, some mass must be lost.

Once again, we search for an alternative explanation for the phenomenon of the explosion. Before that, we need to understand the modern theory about the atom, and the nature of light or radiation, and heat. For every explosion is about the quick release of light and heat.

The atom, or the smallest component of mass, is composed of a central nucleus of positive charge, around which exist clouds of negatively charged electrons (an electron is the lightest of matter, having 1/1840 times the mass of a proton) in different layers, or energy levels. When the atom is subjected to some external influence (like collision with other atoms, or the presence of an electric or magnetic field, or nuclear particles such as electrons or neutrons) then the equilibrium situation for the atom is changed. What is held now is that some of the electrons, as a result of such excitation, jump to a higher energy level, thus causing an imbalance situation. In this process, though, it absorbs some energy of impact. When it regains the original balance situation (meaning that the electrons in the high energy shells are returned to the low energy shells) a photon is emitted. This photon is currently considered to be a particle associated with a certain amount of energy, and it also behaves like an electromagnetic wave. Light is a stream of photons, which behaves like particles with discrete packets of energy (quanta) sometimes, and as a wave at other times. It has a dual nature, thus.

Now consider the above phenomenon for the perspective of gain or loss of energy, relative to the reference frame of the excited atom. The atom gains energy from the external source when excited, thus diminishing the energy of the exciting source. If it gets some energy, say if some light falls upon it, it may just wobble a little. If struck hard with some other atoms (like say a hammer upon nail- atoms) then it wobbles a lot more. If hit with some high energy particle, the atom’s nucleus may break up with great force.



Photograph of a baseball struck by a bat, by Harold E Edgerton, Massachussetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.

The electron microscope shows the individual atom as a blob, rather like a baseball. The above photograph shows the impact of a bat upon a baseball. Note how in the above picture the baseball gets squeezed under the impact: enormous forces of acceleration are being applied to it over a very short time, and thus its shape gets distorted. Similarly, when an atom is “hit” by some external influence, that is what may well be expected to happen – its electronic shell gets all twisted. If the atom is hit very hard, it may lose an electron. In such a case, the atom gets a net positive charge (becomes an ion) and whatever matter got the extra electronic acquires a negative charge. This is the basics of electrostatics – rubbing materials such as glass and silk together, thus making collisions between atoms in glass and silk to happen, to result in a flow of charge away from one material to the other. Sparking happens when the bodies containing opposite charges are joined electrically (short circuited). These forces of the charges leaving one body, and coming to the other, are very great and impact upon the atoms of such bodies considerably.

Under certain steady conditions, the atom does not have a net charge associated with it. As we have seen, it does get a net positive charge when it loses an atom – and it has a net negative charge when it manages to hang on to an extra electron. There is an intermediate state between the ionic state and stable state – it is the state when the electron climbs to a higher energy level state, after the atom gets excited by some external influence. In such a state an atom becomes an electric dipole. (An electric dipole is constituted of two equal and opposite charges separated by a fixed distance.) The positive charge in the nucleus forms one end, and the centre of the negative charge of the electronic cloud (now not centered on the centre of the atom, as was the case earlier) forms the other end.

An electric field is always associated with any dipole. So the unbalanced atom naturally forms an electric field. But there is always the tendency to regain the balance, to form the round baseball, so to say, after becoming so twisted after the impact. In the process of rebalance, the centers of the negative and positive charge once again become one – thus the electric field changes from whatever it was, to nothing, over a certain interval of time.

Now we know that a magnetic field is always associated with an electric field. And a changing electric field creates a changing magnetic field. And so on. When the electric field in the dipole changed to zero, it created a changing magnetic field in the space around it. This magnetic field created in its turn a changing electric field in the space around it… and so on, the electromagnetic disturbance proceeds in space as a wave. Now there are two aspects associated with any wave – its amplitude (or how powerful it is) and its frequency (how many times it completes a cycle per second). The amplitude in this case depended upon the strength of the original electric field of the electric dipole, and the frequency depended upon how long the original electric field lasted, which in turn depended upon the physical length of the dipole. What is usually described as a photon, or a particle of energy, can with this analysis be more described as a brief electromagnetic wave propagation resulting from a briefly-lasting electric dipole. When the frequency of radiation falls into the visible range of frequencies, this radiation is known to us as light.

Thus does the light from the Sun happen, when opposing atoms hit each other, excite each other thus, converting the kinetic energies generated freely as discussed earlier into light and other electromagnetic radiation… since there are so many such atoms, we do get such a lot of light!


The propagation of Heat

Heat is propagated from a high temperature source, to a lower temperature sink, through one, two or all the three processes of conduction, convection and radiation. We have been talking about radiation, just earlier. The Sun’s energy is conveyed to the rest of the Universe through radiation. There has to be a temperature difference for heat to flow. Temperature is thus, a measure of the hotness of a body. It is related to how much the atoms or molecules in the body move – the slower they move, the lower the temperature, and also, lower the frequency of the radiation. There is thus a direct relationship between the temperature of a body, and the frequency of electromagnetic radiation corresponding to that temperature.

Radiant energy reaches us, by passing through ether. We shall talk more about the ether in the next section. The ether is the medium through which the electromagnetic wave progresses, just as sound passes through the medium of air. Similar to the molecules of air vibrating with the passage of sound waves through them, according to the frequency of the sound; the elements of ether also vibrate with the passage of radiation through them, according to the frequency of the electromagnetic wave travelling through the ether. Vibration of one element of ether, sets off vibration in the adjacent element of ether, and so on.

This disturbance, also called wave motion, propagates at a very high speed – it is, in fact, what is now known and also measured as the speed of light. James Maxwell also computed it mathematically, in terms of the theoretical velocity of the electromagnetic wave in free space, from the travelling wave equation derived from his own laws of electromagnetism. The speed of light, as measured from experiment, is the same as the value found from a relationship between two fundamental physical constants in physics, that constituted the velocity of electromagnetic wave propagation in vacuum. It is the square root of the division of magnetic permeability by the electrical permittivity, in free space. This is the proof that light travels in free space as an electromagnetic wave.

When light or any other form radiation (in the infra-red or ultra-violet range) falls upon us, we feel warm. Infra-red radiation heats us from within, as these long wavelength and low frequency waves penetrate deeper. Ultra-violet radiation has the greater impact upon our skin. The radiation, when it touches our skin, makes the skin molecules shake, since the ether contained within the molecules is shaking. It is this shaking, that constitutes the transfer of energy from the medium of the electromagnetic wave, to the kinetic energy of the skin particles, leading to the sensation of warmth. In its turn, this heated skin will also set off another round of radiation.

Conduction processes propagate heat through solid materials. This is a direct process – in solids the atoms are fixed in position with respect to each other, so when one atom is shaking (as a result of the higher temperature formed by say the impact of radiation) it sets the atom next to it shaking, which in turn sets the atom next to it shaking, and so on, till the entire solid shakes equally well – meaning it has reached a constant temperature.

Convection processes happen in liquids and gases. This process is much like conduction in solids; however, gases and liquids are fluid, so in convection processes currents are formed. The high temperature currents go in the direction of cooler areas, heating them up, and in that process becoming cool. These processes are often cyclic. If we heat water in a beaker, using a burner, then the water at the bottom gets heated first. This hot water rises to the top, becoming cool and thus heavier (hot water is less dense than cool water). It will start to sink towards the bottom, usually as part of a cold current going the other way with respect to the warm current rising upwards. When it reaches at or near the bottom of the beaker, it gets heated and forms once again part of the upward-moving warm-water current.

The chemical explosion

Having covered the basics of heat and light, we are now in a position to discuss the nature of the explosion. We will not go into any technical detail – this is not about making bombs! We will dwell on the theoretical principles, with a view to show how with our new equation linking mass and energy, all explosions follow the same basic physical process. There is thus no need to assume, as is currently being done, any total annihilation of mass.

To recapitulate, our formula for energy that is generated when a mss M is imparted the velocity v cumulating along N successive inertial frames of reference, and where k is an efficiency factor is:
Energy created (EC) = 0.5*M*N*(N – k)*v^2.

The main idea behind any chemical explosion is to turn a solid into a gas very rapidly, through the process known as combustion. When we strike a match, the solid chemical matter on the match head reacts with the oxygen in the air, to create a flame, or gas so hot that it gives out light. Note how this striking is so important. The striking distorts the shape of the electronic clouds around the sulphur or phosphorus (these are the elements which react comparatively easily with oxygen) atoms on the match-head; thus some electrons in the extreme positions are grabbed by the oxygen atoms; a new compound, a gas is formed; thus solid matter is lost from the match-head; this matter becomes a gas at very high local pressure as soon as it is created; this gas expands outwards and also along the surface of the match head; these high pressure gas atoms colliding upon the surrounding solid atoms distort their; the process thus repeats till a high pressure region is formed over the match-head. The temperature rises on the carbon in the tinder because of this, through conduction and also radiation. Till the carbon atoms vibrate so much that their electrons unite with the oxygen in the air, to form the gas carbon dioxide. The process thus continues steadily – we now have a lighted match!

Now how is our equation for mass and energy related to this process? When the mass in the match-head was solid, its velocity was zero. As soon as it became gas, it took on a high net velocity, away from its rest position, and in all directions. From 0v to some V, or Nv, where V=Nv, thus, a system of velocity layers was formed (remember our travelator analogy) in a space very near to the surface. And the mass is now travelling from the 0v to the Nv layer. Beyond Nv, the velocity of the masses thus gasified will drop, so they are out of interest. The adjacent solid atoms, all behave this way – and as they press out, these layers collide against each other, all the way from the v to the Nv layers. They have to collide, as they all press outwards so collision is inevitable. Thus, the free energy that is generated from the progression of the mass from the 0v to the Nv layers, is converted into heat energy.

We now consider the way an ancient cannon worked. It was a metal tube, closed at one end with just a small hole. Gunpowder (a mixture of carbon, sulphur and potassium nitrate) was thrust down the tube. Then the projectile (a stone at the very beginning stages, then later a round mass of metal) was pushed in. The gunpowder was ignited through the small hole, using a lighted fuse. There would be an explosion, and the metal tube would experience a strong reaction. Soon it was found out that if the length of the metal tube (the barrel) was made longer, and the projectile made to fit the barrel size more closely, the projectile (or bullet) would go further and faster. Modern guns are based upon just this principle – the major differences from their ancestors are that the gunpowder and the projectile are now integrated into one unit; the loading and firing mechanisms are far more sophisticated for higher firing rates; and the barrel is usually machined to give the projectile a spin, in order to improve the range and accuracy.

The way gunpowder works, is different to the way that fire burns. Fire as we have seen works on the outer surface of whatever is burning, as it has to come into contact with the atmospheric oxygen. In gunpowder, the oxygen needed for the burning is present as a solid, in the nitrate. Thus almost the whole mass of solid (a small solid residue is left) becomes gas in a very short period of time. This high pressure gas pushes the projectile out of the barrel, at high speed.

Ignition of the gunpowder essentially means that the atoms of carbon, sulphur and oxygen present in the solid get “hit”; they are distorted; the electrons leave the respective elements to become high pressure gas; this in turns sets off the other atoms likewise. What was happening only along the surface, for our lighted match, is now happening in the entire volume. Again, the solid mass m at zero velocity takes on a very high velocity Nv, and N layers are formed as a consequence, while the mass m traverses through these layers, thus gaining free energy. Masses at Nv that oppose each other, as they have to, create the heat which in turn sets off the masses that are still solid. So we have a very high pressure, high temperature gas, that must expand. If there is no direction given to this expansion, there will be a loud bang and flash, like a firecracker. However, not much damage will be done, if this explosion happens in free space.

In a cannon, the blast from the high-pressure gas is directed in only one direction, because all other directions are closed. What is obvious is that the hot gas expands, pushing out the bullet. What is not quite so obvious is that from its initial solid state, the mass in the solid charge, on the average, keeps on accelerating with greater velocities, and given adequate gunpowder in the charge, reaches its maximum at the end of the barrel – thus imparting the maximum possible velocity to the projectile. In other words, for the solid mass m in the gas, there is progression from the 0v to the Nv stages, through layering stages, just like the travelator. Gaseous mass continuously emanating from the explosion process from the 0v stage, push the masses from 1v to 2v, 2v to 3v, and so on. When the drive goes off, this happening because all the explosive being used up to from the gas, this process stops. While it lasted, it collided against the only moving part, the bullet that is, and finally pushed the bullet out of the gun, using the free energy that had been created, from the traversal of the mass m from the 0v to the Nv layers, into the kinetic energy of the bullet.

In the ancient cannon, the cannon-ball would not quite fit the barrel diameter – there were gaps left. Thus not all the force of the charge was imparted to the cannon-ball, for a lot of the hot gas escaped from the gaps. So the cannon-ball would not go that far. A long barrel meant that the charge could push the cannon-ball within it for a longer while, and thus give it a greater acceleration with respect to a shorter barrel. The N factor for a long barrel gun was higher with respect to a short barrel gun, thus, and so more kinetic energy could be imparted to the bullet. The velocity and range for the projectile, was correspondingly increased.

The Nuclear Explosion

The nuclear explosion is a touchy subject, for obvious reasons. I have no access to any classified material upon this subject, nor intend to have access to any. The matter is especially closed for the hydrogen (fusion) bomb. The brief introduction to the nuclear explosion that follows below, comes from my understanding of the material presented in the standard text books of atomic physics.

The majority view is that an atom’s nucleus is composed of a very dense mass of positively charged protons and neutrons. How these positive charged protons stick together was a mystery, till the concept of a “strong force” was invented for an explanation. According to this theory, there is a “strong force” that manifests itself over very small distances, like the diameter of a nucleus. It is this strong force that overcomes the electrostatic forces of repulsion, and keeps the nucleus intact.

Most nuclei remain stable. However, for large nuclei, this is not necessarily the case. Radium and Uranium nuclei, for instance, break up into smaller nuclei, and in that process they give out energy, in the form of alpha, beta and gamma rays. This is usually a natural process, and is called radio-activity. Alpha rays consist of fast moving particles that are effectively helium nuclei – that is, two protons and two neutrons. They have the least energy. Beta rays are fast-moving electrons. Gamma rays are very powerful, very high frequency electromagnetic radiation. They have the most disastrous effect upon health. After breaking up this way, the two components of the nucleus (the alpha ray particle and the remainder of the original nucleus) move apart with great speed. A new element is formed, with the remainder of the original nucleus, from such mutation.

Let us investigate how gamma rays are formed. Earlier we had found out how light is formed – through the distortion of the atom from external impact, thereby forming an electric dipole, as in the distorted state the centers of negative and positive charges do not coincide. As we know, the nucleus (which is of size much smaller than the atom) has to split to emit a gamma ray. What is now happening is that the high positive charge is making its way through the electrons in the cloud around the original nucleus - nearly absorbing them with its positive attraction, and certainly going very near them. We are talking about very small distances now, of the order of dimensions of the nucleus. And the strong forces now involved are much stronger than the electrostatic forces. Thus the electric dipoles (positive nucleus, negative electron) now formed, when the nucleus is broken into moving charges, will be much smaller and far more powerful than those that produced visible light. These dipoles, that vanish also very rapidly, create the gamma rays (also described as very high-energy photons).

It was obvious that certain materials gave off energy of their own accord. It was also obvious that if these materials are enriched, then they would give off more energy per unit mass per time unit. As this process of enrichment would continue, this energy per unit mass per time would grow, till we have an explosion. This, roughly, is the principle of the atomic bomb.

The concept is “critical mass” in the atomic bomb is also important – it is the minimum mass of radioactive material which has to be present, for the success of a “chain reaction”. A chain reaction happens when the disintegrating nucleus strikes other radioactive nuclei, causing them to disintegrate and set off other nuclei disintegrating in turn, very rapidly. One tries one’s best to avoid a chain reaction in a nuclear power plant! What is required, there, is to slow down or accelerate the rate of disintegration, using moderating techniques.

The critical mass in the atomic bomb is formed when separate masses of enriched radioactive material, separated physically, are made to join into a single unit of mass, using conventional charges. Once the critical mass is formed, chain reaction starts, and the atom bomb explodes.

Let us now see with our new equation for mass and energy, what is really happening. Unlike the chemical explosion, in a nuclear explosion we are dealing not with the kinetics of atoms, but with the kinetics of the nuclear particles. In other respects, the analysis is similar. Much greater velocities are now involved, which means that the v value is far higher here. As before, some mass (the nucleus) was at rest – then suddenly it took on a velocity. It hit other masses, and set them moving if they did not also disintegrate. The moving and rest masses were hit by other moving masses, all originating from the centre of the mass. Thus from 0v a very high value of Nv was formed, very high free energies were obtained, and at up to Nv velocities the masses collided with each other, to produce enormous heat energies.

Till the nuclear reactions finish, at very great speed the radioactive mass expand outwards, making all the non-radioactive masses it encounters accelerate, and those masses in turn keeps on accelerating masses initially at rest, outwards – all with incredible power and speed. The explosion itself is nuclear in nature; the blast is so great because this explosion is so powerful. While the N value in a nuclear explosion may roughly be of the same order as that it is in a chemical explosion, for the same amount of mass to be exploded, the value of v is much higher in a nuclear explosion. Our formula shows that when k is less than 1 (meaning the critical level has not been reached) the bomb is safe.

The hydrogen bomb is said to be an atomic bomb using heavy water, that contain the deuterium isotope. A deuterium isotope has an additional neutron in its nucleus. It is thought that the enormous temperature generated by the fission bomb, cause the deuterium isotopes to join and become helium nuclei. And it is this fusion process, that generates so much more energy than even the atom bomb. As a result of this theory, much manpower effort, high technology and money has already been spent, for over fifty years, to develop steady power supply systems from nuclear fusion, as a forward development from the existing practice of generating power from the nuclear fission. That was supposed to be the ideal way to solve the world’s energy problems, as the deuterium isotope was to be found in unlimited supply in the oceans. However, all the attempts to generate more power than what was put in, have so far failed. In short, generating fusion power has been a very expensive failure.

It is tempting to wonder why this is so. For one thing, the allure of fusion rises because it seems to be the way the sun and the stars are generating their energy. Hydrogen and Helium have been found in the Sun, so it is assumed that the Helium in the Sun has been caused by the fusion of Hydrogen in the Sun’s extremely hot core, that causes the fusion of hydrogen into helium – with such loss of mass that accounts for all the solar energy. But we have seen that with our new equation for mass and energy, there need be no such assumption. Further, our theory allows for a cold core, that will support the superconductivity conditions required for the circulation of a large steady current that creates the magnetic field.

So could it be that there is actually no process like fusion ever taking place – that fusion is a wrong explanation? The extraordinary energy of the Hydrogen Bomb could arise with the heavy water being used as a amplifier of the fission bomb. The N value, then, effectively goes up! What may be likely is that the deuterium nuclei in the heavy water - a necessary component of the hydrogen bomb as it is supposed to fuse into helium - when bombarded by the exploding fission components of the atom bomb that has to be exploded first to create the high temperatures need for fusion, take up very high speeds and thus act like an extension of the fissionable components. In other words, they effectively add up upon, or amplify upon as a catalyst, the radioactive material already present in the bomb.

Conclusion to Section Four

In this section we show how our new formula linking the energy generation with the associated mass, using kinetic principles, can be used to explain the phenomena of fire, chemical explosions and nuclear explosions. It is no longer necessary to assume that some mass always has to be lost to explain the generation of energy. In Appendix A, we will closely investigate the extraordinary analytical bungle which led to the derivation of the famous equation e=mcc; and along with it, the sanctification of the wrong thought processes underlying the theories of special relativity.