The existence of magnetism has been known since ancient times through the presence of deposits of magnetite, a naturally occurring iron oxide that possesses magnetic properties, similarly the phenomena of static electricity was also known in ancient times from the fact that amber when rubbed on a piece of fur could attract things to itself.

magnetitie

The similarities between static electricity and magnetism, like poles attract, opposite poles repel, had also been noted.

amber

However, it was not till the mid nineteenth century that the connection between electricity and magnetism became apparent. It was James Clerk Maxwell who eventually unified electricity and magnetism into the electromagnetic field.

Today it is axiomatic that every form of magnetism whether that caused by a current being established in a wire or, the field around an electromagnet, or the magnetism in a permanent magnet or a piece of magnetite, have all been created because a current of electricity has passed through them. Yet the causative factors behind magnetism, remain vague.

Magnetism mainly manifests itself in metals. Modern physics reasons that because it has been established that a moving or accelerating charge gives rise to an electromagnetic field that there must be three causative factors for the existence of magnetism:

  • It is known that electrons are charged particles that orbit around the nucleus, thus it follows that all atoms generate magnetic fields. In some metals the fields generated in this manner line up and these metals are magnetic, in others they cancel each other out, these metals do not exhibit magnetism.
  • The electron as it obits round the nucleus, spins on its axis and this spin gives rise to magnetism.
  • The nucleus itself is spinning and this might also give rise to magnetism.

Yet although the above explanations of how magnetic fields are generated in both permanent magnets and in temporary electromagnets might seem to make sense, yet they are vaguely unsatisfactory. For instance the whole of the wave/particle duality came about as an explanation of why electrons do not radiate as they orbit the nucleus. Does it make sense, then to suddenly resurrect this explanation of magnetic fields when it is needed, conveniently ignoring the implications of what this might mean in terms of related phenomenon? This is especially so when one thinks of Max Born’s statement when referring to the ‘spin’ of electrons : “One should not imagine that there is anything in the nature of matter actually rotating……” : ‘ The Restless Universe’ by Max Born 1956.

rest

Gestalt Aether Theory holds that magnetic (electromagnetic ) fields around a wire carrying a current are caused by free electrons within the conductor emitting and immediately re-absorbing ‘conduction photons’ having a wave-length of $latex 1.2 x 10^{-6}m$. These photons exit the conductor and then immediately reenter it to be absorbed by the same or another electron, in keeping with Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle $latex \Delta e \Delta t \geq \frac {\hbar}{2}$ which states that if an action takes place fast enough in this case in around $latex 10^{-15}$ secs. then the Laws of Conservation of momentum and energy can be bypassed. The virtual photons of the virtual photon field (aether) then line up in the direction of the propagation of the real photon as it exits and enters the conductor giving rise to the typical lines of force evident around a conductor carrying a current. Thus according to Gestalt Aether Theory, the phenomenon of magnetism is merely the manifestation of the ’virtual photon field’ or aether . How does this account for the phenomenon of permanent magnets?

In order to understand the Gestalt Aether Theory of the phenomenon of permanent magnetism it is necessary to understand a little about the structure of metals, in particular the crystalline lattice structure of metals. The atomic arrangement within a crystal is called crystal structure, this equates with a periodic arrangement of points in space about which these atoms are located, this is known as a space lattice.

crystals

A space lattice is defined as an infinite array of points in three dimensions in which every point has surroundings identical to every other point in the array. A space lattice can be defined by referring to a unit cell. The unit cell is the smallest unit which when repeated in space indefinitely, generates the space lattice.

crystallattice

There are only 14 distinguishable ways of generating points in three dimensional space. these 14 spaces lattices are known as Baravais lattices, they belong to seven crystal systems. The seven crystal structures are :

  • Cubic
  • Tetragonal
  • Orthorhombic
  • Monoclinic
  • Triclinic
  • Trigonal
  • Hexagonal

The use of x-rays for investigation of crystals has led to a great understanding of the structure of these crystalline structures since the x-ray wavelength is similar to the size of the crystalline sides. It has been found that most metals prefer a simple cubic structure since it is the strongest and most stable structure. Here things become very interesting, for instance it is found that the property of electrical conduction is almost wholly dependent on the kind of crystalline lattice structure found in the metal. For instance all of the three top conductors in metal, namely silver, copper and aluminium have the same crystalline structure, namely a face centered cube, see picture below.

copper crystal

In the Face Centered Cubic structure, all positions in the cube lattice are packed with atoms, this means that there is an abundance of electrons present and that the valence electrons are only loosely attached enabling the presence of many free electrons within the conductor, this means that such metals have very large bandwidth and are very good conductors of electricity. Iron which has a Body Centered Cubic structure (see below) has only about one fortieth the conductivity of copper. It is also very susceptible to erosion by oxidation.

ironcrystal

The purity of the crystalline structure of the metal contributes greatly to the conductivity of the metal. For instance steel which is an alloy containing different amounts of manganese, molybdenum, chromium and nickel as well as carbon. Because of this the lattice structure is not even and the conductivity of metals such as stainless steel is poor.

steel

A study of the properties of the crystalline structures of metals also brings to light the information that the metals that are susceptible to permanent magnetism also possess similar crystalline structures to each other. For instance the ability of a metal to have more than one structure in its solid state is called polymorphism, if the change in structure is reversible it is known as allotropy. Iron, cobalt and nickel are all ferromagnetic and all possess the same crystalline structure, namely the Body Centered Cubic structure. All of these metals also demonstrate the property of allotropy. Thus it is possible to gain some idea of how these metals become magnetized. Several criteria have to be fulfilled. Permanent magnetism is only possible using direct current, the use of alternating current does not result in the formation of permanent magnets. Further this current has to flow continuously for a certain period of time in order for magnetization to take place. The substance to be magnetised has to be either iron, nickel or cobalt or an alloy containing one or more of these elements as for instance aluminium, nickel and cobalt to make Alnico permanent magnets. Here is what happens during the process of the creation of a permanent magnet, according to Gestalt Aether Theory. Once a difference of potential has been established across a conductor, free electrons within the conductor start to emit and absorb photons, resulting in lines of force forming around the conductor, each line of force contains the energy of a single ‘conduction photon’ or $latex 1.6.10^{-19}eV $ . It is important to mention here that the field around a wire carrying a DC current contains only near field elements, apart from extremely residual far fields. Far fields exist primarily around conductors carrying alternating current. In order to make a permanent magnet it is usual to use a solenoid coil, this gives rise to the magnetic field found around a bar magnet, depending upon the kind of field used in the magnetization process, it is possible to form permanent magnets having differently configured magnetic fields.

magneticfield

In metals that are good conductors and which possess a Face Centered Cubic structure, it has been noted that there are a great many free electrons, thus while these metals, copper, silver, aluminium make good conductors they are paramagnetic, or have extremely weakly magnetic properties. In these metals electricity is conducted through the emission and absorption of ‘conduction photons’ however since the photons are emitted and absorbed in an extremely chaotic manner an electron emitting a photon that another electron which has also emitted a photon absorbs and so on, it is not possible for the conduction of electricity to impose any lasting order on the emission and absorption process. In metals that are based on the Body Centered Cubic structure on the other hand, there are comparatively few free electrons, those that do exist are more or less bound to the atom. Hence in those metals that possess a Body Centered crystalline structure and which further exhibit the property of allotropy, it is thought that the conduction of electricity takes place by emission and absorption of ‘conduction photons’ by bound electrons in the outer orbits of atoms that in the normal course would randomly substitute valence electrons. When a current is established these electrons of the outer orbit are permanently assigned to emitting and absorbing ‘conduction photons’ resulting in the establishment of a flow of current. As the process continues the metals undergo polymorphism wherein the structure of the crystalline lattice of the metal itself undergoes change in order to produce the most efficient configuration for the emission and absorption of photons. Once this takes place the emission and absorption of ‘conduction photons’ takes place in repetitive cycles with the electron absorbing and emitting the same ’conduction photon’ for long periods of time. When the current is disconnected the photons continue to be absorbed and emitted in the same pattern giving rise to the distinctive lines of force that are found around permanent magnets.

colbar

Hence Gestalt Aether Theory states that permanent magnetism is identical in every way to electromagnetism, there is no difference! Permanent magnetism is exhibited by metals having a Body Centered Cubic crystalline lattice structure and also possess the property of allotropy. Because of this permanent magnets which are hit sharply or which are submitted to heat or electricity will lose their magnetism. It is also true that it is impossible to drill through a permanent magnet!