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Jack and the Electromagnetic Bean Stalk

07/20/08

The Beanstalk, Seen Jack?
The Beanstalk, Seen Jack?
Credit: Ken Childress

It seems that we are being fed fairy stories by our friends in the astronomical community. How much longer will we permit the exclusion of electric currents from the discussion of the cosmos, when their byproducts, magnetic fields, are found so ubiquitously throughout space?

In a prior thunderblog, a simplified case for cosmic electrodynamics was made. That commentary straightforwardly cited several references that made clear the link between electric currents and magnetic fields, the latter being byproducts of the former. It also noted that magnetic fields have been observed ubiquitously throughout the known universe, thus implying that the former MUST also by definition be present.

The case for consideration of electric currents is made all the clearer by concrete examples of astronomers confounded by magnetic fields and their implications, as well as their failure to properly trace their genesis to electric currents.

A recent news release relates astronomers’ shock and awe at the fact that galaxies assumed to be quite young and from the "early universe" display strong magnetic fields like those of "normal" galaxies today.

By analyzing light coming from distant galaxies at a time early in the universe's history, astronomers were able to show that these galaxies developed magnetic fields much sooner than expected. The finding may force scientists to rethink their understanding of how magnetic fields form inside galaxies.

It seems that astronomers have recognized that there is a problem with the theory of galactic magnetic fields. That’s the first step in resolving the issue. The next question is how they will resolve the issue. Unfortunately, the current ideas seem less than satisfactory.

Scientists think galactic magnetic fields start from tiny magnetic seeds, perhaps created inside stars or quasars, and are then amplified over time as the turbulent movement of galactic gas, stirred up by stellar explosions, and the galaxy's rotation cause the magnetic fields to grow. This standard picture, however, can only account for strong magnetic fields that build up slowly over time. The new finding means scientists must come up with an improved explanation for how magnetic fields build up inside galaxies in the young universe such as those Miniati and his team observed.

It seems astronomers are trying to sell us some magical "magnetic seeds" that somehow grow over time (they’re not sure how), much like the magic beanstalk in the famous children’s fairytale Jack and the Beanstalk. As though magnetic fields are somehow self-sufficient and independent of the motion of charged particles in electric currents, be they in orbits around atomic nuclei, in wires or in macroscopic conductors such as space plasmas.

Might not a more sensible solution be to recognize that, according to definition, only electric currents give rise to magnetic fields (as noted in the prior entry referenced above)? It seems that all of the sciences except astronomy and cosmology recognize and apply this concept routinely.

Once the intimate relationship between electric currents and their byproduct magnetic fields is tacitly acknowledged in those areas of research, perhaps what has up until now been "mysterious" and "magical" will become a predictable consequence of cosmic electrodynamics. It should be possible to trace magnetic fields back to their source electric currents.

Wikipedia states the issue succinctly in its article on electric current:

Electric current produces a magnetic field. The magnetic field can be visualized as a pattern of circular field lines surrounding the [conductor].

Electric current can be directly measured with a galvanometer, but this method involves breaking the circuit, which is sometimes inconvenient. Current can also be measured without breaking the circuit by detecting the magnetic field associated with the current.
[Emphasis added]

It bears repeating that electric currents produce magnetic fields.

Likewise, sometimes breaking a circuit to insert a measuring device or getting a galvanometer to the circuit (when the circuit may be of galactic proportions) is inconvenient. When it is inconvenient to measure the current directly, it can be measured indirectly by measuring the associated magnetic fields. This is how it’s done in the lab, and this is how it should be done in space as well.

The World Health Organization also states the following about the relationship between electric currents and magnetic fields:

... Magnetic fields are created when electric current flows: the greater the current, the stronger the magnetic field. An electric field will exist even when there is no current flowing. If current does flow, the strength of the magnetic field will vary with power consumption but the electric field strength will be constant.
(Extract from Electromagnetic fields published by the WHO Regional Office for Europe in 1999 (Local authorities, health and environment briefing pamphlet series; 32).

To again reiterate the important point here: Magnetic fields are created when electric currents flow and the magnetic field strengths are a function of electric current strength. Weak currents produce weak fields; strong currents produce strong fields.

Where we see magnetic fields, with this new understanding in mind, it should be possible to estimate and possibly map the associated electric currents that produced them. The need for mysterious magically growing "magnetic seeds" falls away in the face of an understanding that magnetic fields are derived solely from electric currents.

Will this allow us to reverse-engineer Mother Nature’s blueprints? It bears the potential to get us one step closer, if astronomers are willing to hear an alternate retelling of their cherished stories.

Some day future generations may well say:

"… and finally astronomers, plasma physicists and electrical engineers put their differences aside and engaged in a scientific dialogue. From that day forward, the world of science lived happily ever after!

The End."

Michael Gmirkin

 

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Michael Gmirkin
Michael Gmirkin is a technology enthusiast with a keen interest in exploring the electrical nature of the universe.

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