Physics

Abstract

THE author of this work claims to have constructed a magnetic machine which was able to produce motion ‘similar to the motion of the solar and planetary bodies”. As the sun rotates, its field of radiation rotates with it, and this “solar sweep” is responsible for the forward motion of the earth in its orbit. Capt. Staples states on page 139 that, with reference to Kepler's Third Law, “the reason for the application of the power of the cube in association with the power of the square have [sic] remained obscure”. Apparently, however, this obscurity disappears with his electromagnetic interpretation, planetary motions falling into line with the laws relating to wave motion issuing from a radiant source. It is only necessary to point out that there is nothing obscure about Kepler's Third Law, which is very easily derived from the inverse square law. It may be added that the electromagnetic field of the planets appears to play an important part in their orbital motion, according to the author, but he makes no attempt in this book to apply his theory to other bodies of the solar system, such as meteor streams, comets, or oven the minor planets. Quantitative results on the motions of the satellites would have been useful to verify or disprove the theory, but the figures and explanations given on pp. 149–51 are too vague to be applied.

Cosmic Machinery in an Electro-Magnetic Universe

By Capt. H. A. Staples. Pp. vi + 224. (London: William Clowes and Sons, Ltd., 1939.) 12s. 6d.