"If at first, an idea is not absurd, there is no hope for it."
-Albert Einstein-

   - Last updated June 15, 2008 -

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. The Big Bang
3. 3D Simulations
4. Matter and Gravity
   • Matter (updated June 15, 2008)
   • Gravity
   • Special Relativity
   • Particle Zoo
5. Anti-matter and Anti-gravity
6. Time Dilation
7. Forces
   • Gravitational Force
   • Nuclear Strong Force
   • Electromagnetic Force
   • Weak Nuclear Force
8. The Photon
9. Quantum Mechanics
10. Expanding Universe (added Feb. 22, 2006)
11. Time Lensing (no need for Dark Matter, added Oct. 10, 2006)
12. Constantly Evolving Constants (work in progress)
    A discussion on the constants of nature and how many of them are manifestations of one or more properties of ether.
13. Summary
14. Conclusion (updated Mar. 11, 2007)
15. Gravitational Wave Detectors (added Sept.  26, 2007)
16. SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) - (updated June 15, 2008)

• List of Figures
• Sample code used to create animations and simulations
• Links and references

1.

Introduction

For centuries physicists have been using mathematics to describe nature. This method has been extremely successful in calculating almost every phenomenon that exists. The unfortunate side effect though, is that we have been left with few visual images of the real world, especially when it comes to things like gravity and atomic particles.

'Quantum Mechanics' is the math that has been developed to describe the universe in terms of particles. This math has been so successful in the last few decades that we've been led to believe that the world really is made of little billiard balls floating around in empty space. Even electric and magnetic fields have been described in terms of particles. Physicists are even trying to explain gravity in terms of particles.

The greatest challenge facing physicists today is the fact that quantum mechanics and relativity are mutually exclusive theories - neither one can be used to explain or describe the other. The two theories cannot be united until a totally new picture is found that will satisfy both. String Theory is another relatively new theory that tries to describe everything in terms of vibrating strings. Although many advancements have been made, it has yet to prove that it is worthy of being a true 'Theory Of Everything'.

Unless we are given an actual visual description of the fundamental underlying structure of the universe, we will continue to use conventional mathematical models to describe reality. This article is that much needed visual description. But first we must go back in time to a point in our history where I believe we took the wrong turn.

Before the Michaelson-Morely experiment, physicists pictured a space that was filled with a light transparent substance they called ether. It was hoped that ether could be used to explain how electromagnetic forces and gravitational forces were transported through empty space. In 1887, Michaelson and Morely conducted an experiment to measure the earth's velocity through this ether. The experiment failed - no movement through ether could be detected. Physicists reasoned that if no movement could be detected, then ether did not exist. When Einstein published his 'Special Theory of Relativity' in 1905 (which showed that all motion is relative), the whole concept of ether was abandoned. Ether was replaced by the vacuum of empty space. And according to current theories, that empty space is filled with billiard balls of matter (or strings of matter).

Ether, with its various activities and structures, can still be used to describe the world as it is known today. The old model of ether failed because it proposed individual particles of matter existing in a separate sea of ether - the model was comprised of two substances: matter and ether. Any model made from two substances is doomed to failure. The universe must be made of only one substance - that substance is ether.

The new ether model, proposed in this article, replaces the vacuum of empty space with foamy ether. Conventional atomic particles (whatever they are) are replaced with distortions in the foamy ether. Now this is the key difference! There is no matter in ether - but rather, matter is ether and so is space. That's it: the entire universe as we know it is comprised of foamy ether. The rest of this article will describe in detail many physical phenomena using the new ether model (i.e. gravity, electromagnetism, strong force, Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, etc.). Rather than using mathematics, I have chosen to use visual images and simulations. This will allow you to see what each physical phenomena actually looks like. These are not diagrams or simulations that are mere representations or analogies of reality (as a bowling ball resting on a rubber sheet represents the curvature of space-time). They are pictures of the way the universe actually is at a fundamental level.

The greatest obstacle in learning this new theory is unlearning - you will have to throw out your preconceived visual images. To understand ether theory you must make a full transition - you cannot think in terms of particles in a vacuum, or particles and ether. Everything is made of foamy ether, and everything can be described by the structure of ether and/or an activity of ether. (Don't get too discouraged if it doesn't become clear immediately; it took me twenty years to give up particles).

To describe a world of ether I must start from the beginning.

2.

The Big Bang

When our universe was created during the Big Bang, a super compressed ball of ether began to expand. As it expanded, its density eventually reduced to the point where the ether turned to liquid. As the universe continued to expand, the liquid ether started to break up into a foam (see Figure 1). Current theories have the Big Bang exploding into individual particles (like protons and electrons) or strings. This is where ether theory differs. If you give the ether enough elasticity and stickiness, it will never actually break up, but continue to stretch like a huge expanding sponge. It is similar to a can of shaving lotion where a liquid under high pressure expands into a foam when released.

Figure 1

I find this view more attractive, because everything in the universe is still connected, as apposed to a view where individual particles or strings are blown into a flat empty space where the connection is lost.

So where's the matter? Once again, we need to give ether the appropriate properties. Because the ether was in an extremely turbulent and coiled-up state when it was still a liquid, it expanded into a foam with a many countless kinks or knots in it. Try to imagine it behaving more like a spiraled clock spring being pulled apart, rather than a rubber band being stretched. When a clock spring is released, it tends to curl back up into its natural state, as opposed to an elastic band that would just shrink in size while still retaining its shape. So each kink or knot in ether is an atomic particle (or matter), and the foamy ether between particles is what conventional theory calls space.

Now this ether has been stretching for some 15 billion years, so you can imagine that it is strung pretty tightly. So tightly, as a matter of fact, that if you could pluck it, the wave created would travel at 299,792 km/sec (the speed of light). This explains why the speed of light is in fact a fixed number. And the speed of light is the same wherever you are, because the tension on the foamy ether is the same in all locations of the universe (more on that later).

Since the stretched ether is trying to restore itself to its original curled up state, it is natural for the kinks and knots to have a tendency of clustering together. This is how atoms such as hydrogen were formed in the early stages of the Big Bang. These clusters continued to form larger clusters (i.e. molecules) that finally created a universe that we see today.

3.

3D Simulations

In order explain ether theory, I had to find an appropriate 3D simulation software application that enabled me to construct a realistic representation of foamy ether. I wanted to create simulations that would demonstrate the various structures and activities of ether. I managed to find a 3D software package, with a built in java like scripting language, that allowed me to manipulate objects accordingly. This allowed me to create animations that demonstrate various physical phenomena (i.e. gravity, electromagnetic waves, etc.). This way, no knowledge of mathematics is required on the part of the reader. Everything is explained by using still pictures or simulations.

Once I became proficient at using the software, I was pleasantly surprised at how easily it could be modeled to simulate real life. This gave me great confidence in the foamy ether model.

To make a 3D model of foamy ether, I created a 3D array of spheres (or nodes). These nodes are connected together with neighboring nodes by a spring and damper pair to form an array of bubbles (see Figure 2). These springs are stretched to mimic the property of stretched foamy ether. I then had to set the outer nodes as stationary, otherwise the whole model would collapse. My working model was much larger (about 60X60X60, the maximum array size the RAM in my computer could accommodate).

The size of a bubble is determined by the distance between nodes, one Planck Length, or 1.616 X 10^-35 meters. (This is no coincidence - more on that later). 

Figure 2

After creating a 60X60X60 array, I found that it was too cluttered, which made it impossible to see its centre. Fortunately, the software allowed me to make portions of the array invisible. That enabled me to create a two dimensional slice of the 3D array (just like an MRI provides a series of two dimensional image slices of the human body). This is shown below. In Figure 3a, the springs and nodes are visible. In Figure 3b, only the springs are visible. I also colored every fourth set of springs green to make simulations more clear.

Figure 3a	Figure 3b

4.

Matter and Gravity

Matter

To simulate a particle of matter, using my ether model, I merely had to bring a group of neighboring nodes together. Figure 4a shows 21 nodes clustered together to form a particle. You can see that the surrounding ether becomes stretched and distorted as a result of this. (I will later explain how this distortion can be used to explain gravity.) To demonstrate how this distortion is created, I built a simulation to show a particle forming in empty space. I colored the nodes in red to show which ones will be used to form the particle. And because of the curled-up sticky nature of foamy ether, once these nodes touch each other, the surface tension prevents them from separating.

Particle (Figure 4a)

Of course, the act of a particle forming does not actually happen in nature. I only created the animation to show the ether in a clustered, or un-clustered state. These clusters (particles) were already in existence at moment of the big bang. Figure 4b is a simulation of what a small region of space would look like during the big bang if there were no particles. Figure 4c shows a similar animation that includes particles.

Figure 4b	Figure 4c

Now that I have a created a particle in foamy ether, let's see what it will look like when it moves. I created two animations: one of a fast moving particle and one of a slow moving particle. The fast moving particle gives you the illusion that something is actually moving across the screen. But when viewing the slow animation, it becomes apparent that it is only the distortion in ether that is actually moving. If you watch the slow animation carefully, you will notice that the ether itself does not actually get dragged along with the particle (I colored every 5th vertical set of springs green to make this more apparent). The particle pulls in the three neighboring nodes from its right side, and then releases three of the nodes from its left side. That allows only the distortion to move, not the ether.

This makes ether theory inherently 'background independent', because the particles (distortions) move like solitons through the foamy ether. And the geometry of the ether is very dynamic as well because the distortion around the particle automatically adjusts whenever the particle moves.

Notice, also, that the particle jumps or jerks from one group of nodes to the next instead of moving smoothly (this is no coincidence). This jumping from one node to the next explains why a particle can only move in quantum steps - one ether node (or bubble) at a time. Remember that I earlier defined the distance between neighboring nodes as one Planck Length. Thus, quantum mechanics is already built-in to ether theory due to its foamy nature.

Now let's look at an animation that shows a two particle collision - like the collisions that happen in particle accelerators. Again, I created two animations: one of a particle collision at high speed, and one of a particle collision in slow motion. Both animations show a small particle coming in from the right and colliding with a larger particle. The impact causes the large particle to be broken into two smaller particles, which go shooting off to the right side of the window. Once again, you can see that no ether gets dragged along; only the distortions move.

Gravity

You may have noticed when viewing the particle forming simulation, that as soon as the nodes collapsed to form a particle, the ether immediately started to rush inward. This inward flow of ether is what causes gravity. To be more precise, it is an accelerating inward flow of ether that causes gravity. I have created two more simulations that illustrate this a little more clearly: one shows ether rushing in from a distance and the other is a close-up of ether rushing in. This inflow is caused by the ether trying to return to its original curled-up state. Notice the inflow does not actually increase the size or mass of the particle as the ether gets pulled in. The flow is only noticeable at some distance from the surface of the particle. Imagine two people standing a few meters apart, each holding onto one end of a stretched bungee cord. A third person is standing in the middle. The person on the right starts walking towards the person on the left, thereby causing the bungee cord to contract. The person in the middle will see the bungee cord moving from right to left. This bungee cord movement is analogous to the ether flowing in from the right side of the window from the close-up of ether rushing in simulation.

This ether inflow can also be demonstrated on much larger objects, such as the planet earth. Figure 5 is a static illustration of a small funnel shaped section of the ether flowing in towards earth simulation. Of course this is happening around the entire planet's surface in all three dimensions, but I'm showing just a portion of it to make it easier to see. I calculated the speed of this downward flow of ether to be equal to 11.2 km/sec. at the surface of the Earth. This was done by calculating the final impact velocity of an object starting at an almost infinite distance away. By coincidence, the escape velocity from the Earth also happens to be 11.2 km/sec. This is no surprise though, since you are basically playing the scenarios in reverse. I'll talk about this in more detail in section 6 (Time Dilation).

This accelerating inflow can also be used to explain the equivalence of gravitational mass and inertial mass. If you are traveling in a spacecraft and decide to accelerate, you are accelerating through space (foamy ether). When you are standing on the surface of a planet, ether is accelerating through you.

Figure 5

Special Relativity

Before ether, I could not visualize how a particle actually gained mass as its relative velocity increased. Where does this matter come from? The classical view of matter shows it as being made of some substance. So where does this extra substance come from when a particle gains mass? The famous formula E=mc² describes the relationship between mass and energy, it does not provide an actual picture of what is happening.

Since, in ether theory, both matter and energy are just different ways that ether is distorted, it is easy to explain how this happens.  As you increase the velocity of a particle, you flatten it according to the Lorentz-FitzGerald contraction. This adds to the further distortion/stress in the ether already made by the particle. Since there is now a greater total distortion, there is more total energy, hence more mass. Ether Theory states that Energy = Ether Distortion. And of course ether distortion comes in many forms.

If you realize that particles are distortions in ether, you can understand why the speed limit of matter is equal to the speed of light. Because a cluster/knot in ether is just another distortion (like a wave), it stands to reason that a knot in ether cannot travel any faster than a wave. ANY distortion in ether can only propagate at a certain speed, regardless of  the type of distortion - the same rule applies to gravity waves.

The Theory of Relativity does not explain why the speed limit is equal to the speed of light, or why a particle gains mass; it only makes mathematical calculations on the changes that take place as matter speeds up. Since, waves and particles are both distortions in ether, it is no surprise that the speed limit is the same.

Particle Zoo

So far, I have only provided samples of simple spherical clusters to represent particles. Because of the curled-up nature of ether, it is unlikely that this spherical structure would be found in nature. A more likely configuration for the ether cluster to assume would be that of a knot. This supposition is supported by the fact that particle physicists have given all particles a property called spin. Spin implies that classical particles are not perfect symmetrical spheres, but have some asymmetric features - the particle does not look the same from all directions. Ether can describe this spin property quite easily. For example, an 'up quark' may be an ether cluster tied in the shape of a right handed 'slipknot', and a 'down quark' may be a left handed 'slipknot'. A 'strange quark' may be in the shape of a 'half hitch' knot - and so on. These ether knots would look different depending on the direction you are viewing them from since knots are three dimensional, asymmetrical objects.

Banging sub atomic particles together and creating quarks or gluons, is not proof that these particles actually exist, but only that you can create/build new ether knots, or unwrap (stable) knots and cause them to make other smaller knots. Particle physicists are not creating new particles, but are instead tying new knots, or untying existing knots.

With research, the features/properties of quarks such as strangeness, color, up/down, spin, etc; may be used to describe the various features of knot types or categories (i.e. sheepshank, half hitch, etc.). When you accelerate particles (as in an atomic accelerator) you are adding kinetic energy to them by increasing the distortion/motion of ether. When these particles collide, the extra distortion of ether (in the form of motion) could be converted into matter by creating a new knot (particle). In this way, a virtually unlimited number of knots/particles could be created.

5.

Anti-matter and Anti-gravity

In the previous section, I showed a picture of matter formation; the ether was shown to rush in toward the particle. With anti-matter, the animation is simply run in reverse. The structure of the ether cluster is the same, except the ether is flowing in the opposite direction. This reverse flow of ether also gives rise to anti-gravity. So when we have an ether cluster/knot with an inward flow, we have matter and gravity; when we have an ether cluster with an outward flow, we have anti-matter and anti-gravity.

If you superimpose an animation of anti-matter on top of an animation of matter, the two ether flows will cancel each other out - which is basically what happens in the real world when matter meets anti-matter. The two are annihilated and gamma rays are produced as a result of their collision. I created an animation of a collision of matter and anti-matter to demonstrate what happens in Ether Theory. The two particles collide with such a strong impact that the stickiness of ether is no longer strong enough to keep the clusters intact. The particles uncluster themselves, and in so doing, create two gamma waves that shoot off in opposite directions. The two particles no longer exist because the ether distortion now takes the form of two gamma rays.

Now, there is finally a model where one can visualize matter and anti-matter annihilating into simple waves. Before Ether Theory, it was difficult to visualize what was going on in a matter anti-matter collision. You can see that the energy (or ether distortion) stored up in the two particles is transformed into ether distortion in the form of waves. And 'Ether Distortion' is conserved. Similar to conventional physics that states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, Ether Theory states that ether distortion cannot be created nor destroyed. The ether distortion just takes on a different shape or activity.

6.

Time Dilation

In Ether Theory, the 'flow of time' is synonymous with the 'flow of ether'. And the faster you travel through ether, or the faster ether flows through you, the more time dilation is noticed. Looking at the fast moving particle animation again, you can see the the ether cluster is moving through foamy ether. This causes time dilation to take effect as predicted in Special Relativity.

In section 4, I presented an animation that showed ether flowing in towards the earth. That ether is flowing in a downward direction at the surface of the Earth with a speed of 11.2 km/sec. One would expect that you would experience time dilation that is equal to someone traveling in a space ship at that speed. This, in fact, turns out to be the case! This, I believe, is a marvelous confirmation that matter causes an ether inflow to take place. Relativity Theory offers no explanation of why there are two separate causes of time dilation. Ether Theory explains this quite easily. When you are traveling through space, you experience time dilation; and when space (foamy ether) travels through you, like on the surface of a planet, you also experience time dilation.

This 'inflow' can also be used to explain the gravitational redshift that occurs when a photon leaves a large object such as the Earth or sun. When looking at the ether flowing towards the Earth animation, you will notice that the cells or bubbles of foamy ether are larger when farther away from the Earth, and become smaller as they approach the Earth's surface. A light wave starting from the Earth's surface will occupy (or traverse) a certain number of cells. When the wave reaches a point where it is farther away from the Earth, the wave still traverses the same number of ether cells, but because the cells are larger in size, so is the wave. The wave becomes stretched, thus appearing more red.

This stretching of ether can also be used to explain the redshift that occurs from galaxies that appear to be receding as a result of the expansion of the universe. If you stretch out a long elastic band and pluck one end of it, a wave will travel from that end to the other. But if you quickly stretch the elastic band while the wave is in transit, the wave will be longer in length when it reaches the other end because the elastic band is more stretched than when the wave first started out.

Ether theory works well in explaining these phenomena, since space-time is built in.

7.

Forces

Gravitational Force

As mentioned in section 4, gravitational force is caused by an accelerating inflow (or recoil) of ether. General Relativity describes this as a 'curvature of space-time', but I have never seen a book that was able to show this in an actual drawing. Ether Theory gives you actual, real visual images and simulations.

An atomic particle is like a stretched spiraled clock spring; it is trying to return to its natural coiled state. This constant pull (or recoil) is gravity. And the so called 'curvature' described in relativity, is actually the ether cells getting smaller in size as they approach a large object (such as a sun or black hole).

Nuclear Strong Force

I described earlier how the stickiness of ether keeps the nodes in a cluster together. This stickiness of ether is the nuclear strong force. This is what keeps atomic particles together.

Next time you are in the kitchen washing dishes, scoop up some lather in each hand. Gently bring the scoops of lather together; you will notice that they stick to each other. Now slowly pull them apart. The surface tension will try to keep the two scoops stuck together. That sticky force is the nuclear strong force. You can see that this force has a very short range; you only have to pull the two chunks of lather a small distance before the surface tension gives in, and breaks the lather in two.

Electromagnetic Force

So far, I have shown illustrations of particles that have symmetrical ether inflow patterns. This pattern represents a neutral particle. If you take the particle (ether cluster) and twist it or rotate it, as in Figure 6, you create a magnet and a charged particle.

Figure 6

That curved spiraled pattern you see around the particle is what causes a magnetic field to manifest. When you take foamy ether and bend it, you create a magnetic field. Figure 7 shows how the ether curves around a bar-magnet.

Figure 7

Figure 8 shows how the foamy ether spirals into the particle, causing the ether to bend. A section of ether is colored in red to illustrate this. You can see in the diagram that the bending increases as it gets closer to the particle. This explains why the magnetic field strength also increases as it approaches a particle. More ether bending results in a stronger magnetic field.

To figure out the direction of magnetic north, hold your right hand in such a way that your thumb is extended and your fingers follow the curvature of the ether (red line). Point your fingers in the direction of ether flow (towards the particle for matter, and away from the particle for anti-matter). Your thumb will point to the north. (For example, if Figure 8 is an anti-particle, your thumb should be pointing away from the drawing).

Figure 8

In Figure 9, the ether colored in red shows how the foamy ether becomes more compressed as it approaches the particle. As described earlier, a particle of matter has an inward flow of ether, so the ether's compression increases as it flows towards the particle. This manifests itself as a negative electric field. If you run the movie in reverse, you get a positively charged particle, with the ether decreasing its compression as it flows away from the particle.

So when you have ether bending and increasing its compression, you create a negative electric field. When the ether is bending and decreasing its compression, you have a positive electric field.

Figure 9

Ether Theory is a natural for explaining the strong correlation between the electric field and the magnetic field. Both the bending and compressing of ether happen together (and become more pronounced as you get closer to a particle).

Weak Nuclear Force

The weak force is caused by the vibrations in noisy ether shaking ether knots (particles) apart. So far, the images have shown foamy ether in a smooth and quiet state. In reality, ether is always in a vibrating mode (a remnant from the big bang). These natural vibrations in ether could (at times) be strong enough to cause particles to break up (i.e. Beta decay).

8.

The Photon

Figure 6 shows what a charged particle (electron) looks like when it is isolated and far away from other particles. But when a free floating electron approaches an atomic nucleus, a transformation takes place. Conventional theory states that the electron is in some kind of orbit around the nucleus. But Ether Theory states that the electron knot becomes stretched or smeared out across the nucleus. It actually wraps itself around the nucleus, similar to how you would wrap an elastic band around a rolled up map. And just as an elastic band can be wrapped around the map more than once, the electron can also be wrapped around the nucleus more than once. Each extra wrap represents a higher energy level, because the ether from the electron is stretched more tightly.

This explains why the so-called electron orbits only come in discrete levels. In the Bohr atomic model, electrons are only allowed to occupy certain orbits. When an electron jumps from a higher orbit to a lower one, it emits a photon. With Ether Theory, there are no orbits, just wraps of various quantities and shapes. And of course wraps only come in integer values. To help you visualize this, take a tennis ball and wrap an elastic band around it. That could represent a hydrogen atom. The tennis ball is the nucleus, and the elastic band is the electron. Now wrap the elastic band around the tennis ball two times. This is analogous to a conventional electron absorbing a photon and jumping to a higher orbit. Since the elastic band is now strung more tightly, it contains more energy. Imagine nudging one of the wraps so that it slips off the ball; the elastic band will immediately snap back into one wrap. In Ether Theory, this results in a photon being emitted because the unwrapping will cause a disturbance in the surrounding ether. And the energy that is lost by going from two wraps to one, is carried away by the photon.

To demonstrate this, I created a simulation of two particles exchanging a photon. I colored the nucleus of the particles in blue. The particle on the left has the electron shown in red which represents three wraps, and the particle on the right has the electron shown in yellow (wrapped one time). When the electron on the left unwinds a wrap, a disturbance (wave) is created in the surrounding ether (photon emission), which travels to the particle on the right. The ether disturbance hits the electron wrap, causing it to wrap one more time. So the electron on the left loses a wrap (from three to two), and the electron on the right gains a wrap (from one to two). More wraps makes the ether tighter, hence less stable, which causes it to unwrap and give off a photon. This is how energy is transferred from one atom to another. This unwrapping of ether also explains why light only comes in packets.

Ether Theory can also explain the 'Pauli Exclusion Principle', which states that no two electrons can occupy the same state or orbit. Using the tennis ball analogy, you can see that no two elastic bands can occupy the same space. Similarly, no ether wraps can occupy the same space.

Figure 10 shows what an electromagnetic wave (or photon) looks like in foamy ether. The red line shows where maximum bending takes place; this is also where maximum magnetic field strength occurs. The yellow colored portion shows no bending taking place, therefore no magnetic field.

To figure out the direction of magnetic south, hold your left hand so that your palm is cupped over the red line in Figure 10. Extend your index finger to point to the direction of travel. Extend your thumb and it will be pointing south (away from the diagram in this example).

	Direction of travel
Figure 10

Figure 11 shows how ether distortion, in a traveling wave, causes electric fields to manifest. The ether cells colored in red show bending and compression taking place. Since these cells are increasing in compression, a negative electric field takes place. The blue cells indicate where the ether is decreasing its compression (larger cells); this is where a positive electric field takes place. The section in yellow indicates an area of minimum change in compression, therefore minimum electric field strength.

	Direction of travel
Figure 11

I have included additional simulations that demonstrate:

• A photon traveling through ether

• And a photon being emitted, where I colored a portion of ether in red to show the wave more clearly.

9.

Quantum Mechanics

Ether Theory would have predicted quantum behavior long before any quantum effects were noticed. Quantum Mechanics came into being because ether is foamy and noisy, and wants to return to its original curled up state. As was shown in Figure 2, the size of one cell (or bubble) in the foam is equal to one Planck Length (1.616 X 10^-35 meters). A particle (ether knot) can only travel through this foamy ether one cell at a time, as demonstrated in the slow moving particle animation. And of course, this jerky behavior is only noticeable when you make measurements at close to Planck lengths or Planck time intervals. When observations are made in scales that are much larger than the Planck scale, the cells in the foam are so tiny that no jerky behavior is noticed.

The Uncertainty Principle is a direct result of quantum jitter. I created two animations that show this; one of a small particle  and one of a large particle. Because the ether is noisy, it causes the foam and the particles to vibrate, thus making their location and size less defined. And when comparing the two particles, you can see that the quantum jitter is much more noticeable on the smaller particle.

To show how this quantum jitter affects moving particles, I recreated animations of the fast moving particle and the slow moving particle. You can see that the noisiness of the ether causes the path of the particle to be less defined.

Also, if the foamy ether is noisy enough, there will be the odd time were the foam can momentarily clump together, and form what conventional theory calls a virtual particle. These virtual particles can pop in an out of existence on a continuous basis. And the closer you get to viewing the foam at a Planck scale, the more noticeable these virtual particles will be.

Quantum jitter can also be applied to all the field forces: electromagnetic, gravitational, weak force and the strong force. Since all of these fields are some sort of distortion of foamy ether, the noisiness of the foam will cause the fields to be noisy as well. Even the flow of time itself is affected by quantum jitter. Not only does time flow by one Planck Time unit after another, but the noisy foam will cause the Plank Time to have some jitter as well. A Planck Time is defined as the time it takes light (ether wave) to travel from one end of an ether cell to the other. Since the noisiness of the ether is causing the foamy cells to randomly vary in size and shape, the Planck Length and Planck Time will also vary. In other words, Planck Length and Planck Time are relative.

Nonlocality

Quantum theory states that when two atomic particles interact they become entangled, so that they somehow remain connected, regardless of how distant they become. Quantum theory describes a pair of entangled photons or particles by a common wave function. When an event, such as a measurement, takes place on one of the entangled particles, the entire wave function collapses immediately. Ether theory may provide a mechanism for explaining how this quantum weirdness (entanglement) takes place.

I recall an experience I had as a young boy that can be used to explain nonlocality using foamy ether. The garage in our back yard happened to be underneath the power line that ran from a pole to the house. I was at the end that was attached to the house, while my adventurous brother climbed onto the roof of the garage and decided to hit the power line with a stick. I could immediately hear the cool sound that it made as the sound waves traveled down the wire (like the sound of photon torpedoes from Star Trek). A short while later came a disturbance (or wave) in the wire, caused by the impact. Since a longitudinal sound wave travels much faster in a steel cable (approx. 5100 m/s), than a transverse wave (maybe 10 m/s in the power line), I received an advanced, almost instantaneous, notice that a wave was coming.

This same principle can be applied to the foamy ether model. I created an animation that demonstrates this. It shows two entangled photons, starting in the middle, then traveling away from each other in opposite directions. The yellow line highlights the path through the ether that keeps the two photons connected (entangled). When the left photon collapses on the photographic plate, a sound wave travels in the ether, which affects (or signals) the right photon (the red dot shooting off to the right represents this sound wave). I then made the right photon go red to indicate that it now 'knows' its partner has collapsed.

Once again, if you give foamy ether the appropriate properties, by making it extremely light and rigid, sound waves will travel through ether at an almost instantaneous speed. I know quantum theory claims this happens instantaneously, but I think it's limited to how fast the sound waves travel through ether (which may very well be only a fraction of a second to go from one side of the universe to the other).

In the past we were looking for a medium, like ether, to explain the transportation of electromagnetic waves through empty space; now we are looking for a medium that will communicate quantum entanglement. It seems that ether has an opportunity, once again, to offer a mechanism (or model) for describing physical phenomena.

10.

Expanding Universe

Added Feb. 22, 2006

To show what happens to photons as they travel great distances across the universe, I have created four simulations. I made an array of one hundred spheres (nodes) and joined them by springs and dampers to simulate foamy ether. (The behavior of this model is very similar to a long bungee cord). I then attached one end to a yellow ball (representing a distant star) and the other end to a blue ball (representing the Earth). If you flick one end of this bungee cord you cause a transverse wave to travel from one end to the other. This is very similar to what happens in foamy ether, as explained in Section 8.

The top half of Figure 12a shows a star emitting a photon. The wave travels through the ether until it eventually reaches the Earth (notice that its wavelength doesn't change). The bottom half of Figure 12a shows the same star emitting a photon in an expanding universe. To demonstrate this, I caused the the star and the Earth to slowly move apart, causing the bungee cord (foamy ether) to stretch. (The red and green dashed pattern on the bungee cord shows that the stretching is uniformly distributed along its full length). While the photon is in transit, the ether stretches, thereby causing the photon's wavelength to increase. This increase in wavelength is what cosmologists refer to as the redshift.

Because most distant galaxies exhibit a redshift, it has been concluded that the universe is expanding in all directions. And a galaxy that is further away shows more redshift because the photon has been in transit for a longer period of time while the ether stretched. In this instance, the Doppler effect is not causing the redshift. The galaxies are not moving through ether. They float along with the ether as it stretches. Nor are there any 'time dilation' effects, as stated in special relativity, since (again) the galaxies are not moving through ether.

Figure 12a Expansion

Notice, also, in Figure 12a, that the two photons reach the Earth at the same time, even though the bottom photon has a greater distance to travel. This is because the speed of light actually increases as the ether stretches. This also explains why space and time are so inextricably linked into what relativity calls 'space-time'. When you stretch space (foamy ether), you increase its tension so that the speed of light also increases.

Ether theory predicts that not all of this redshift is caused by the expansion of the universe. Part of the ether stretching is caused by ether inflow around large astronomical bodies (as explained in Section 4). Figure 12b illustrates how this inflow can also cause ether to stretch. I put a spoke-like pattern on the bottom star and on the Earth, and caused them to rotate to indicate that they are constantly pulling, or reeling in the ether (similar to how a tape measure reels in the tape when you let it go). By watching the red and green dashed pattern, you can see that the ether is indeed stretching. This causes both the photon's wavelength and its propagation speed to increase. The only affect that an observer on Earth notices is the redshift (which of course is indistinguishable from the redshift caused by expansion).

Figure 12b Inflow

Figure 12c shows what happens when both expansion and inflow occur. The star and the Earth are both reeling in the ether as they steadily move apart. This causes the ether to be stretched more quickly than from expansion alone, thus producing more redshift. This additional redshift from inflow, I believe, is what causes cosmologists to falsely conclude that the expansion rate of the universe is actually increasing. Since inflow accounts for some of the redshift, the universe is not expanding as rapidly as current theory suggests.

Figure 12c Expansion and Inflow

Of course, expansion with inflow is not the only possible scenario. At some point in time, our universe may stop expanding, leaving inflow as the only cause of ether stretching and redshift. When the universe starts collapsing, the ether inflow may still cause redshifting to take place, until the rate of collapse catches up to the the rate of inflow (see Figure 12d). Then distant galaxies will exhibit blueshifting as the ether starts shrinking.

Figure 12d Collapse and Inflow

11.

Time Lensing

When astronomers were measuring the rotational velocities of various galaxies, they noticed that all of the stars in that galaxy were orbiting at the same speed. This goes against Newton's laws of gravity, which states that objects farther from the center should orbit at slower speeds. This galaxy rotation problem is what led astrophysicists to invent dark matter. They reasoned that if all the visible matter wasn't enough to account for the orbital velocities, then there must be a galactic halo of hidden or 'dark matter' adding to the gravitational pull. To date, no dark matter has been detected.

An alternative theory (called MOND) has been developed that tries to explain the galaxy rotation problem as well. It proposes an adjustment to Newton's laws of gravity. This theory has not been accepted by astrophysicists because it does not agree with general relativity and because it has no physical basis (the formulas are adjusted to agree with observation without any explanation).

Ether inflow, as discussed in section 4, can explain the galaxy rotation problem without the need for dark matter. Most of the mass of a galaxy is located in its central bulge. This causes the gravitational pull to be the greatest in the center, which thereby causes the ether inflow to be the greatest there as well. Because the ether is flowing inward at a much greater velocity at the galactic center, any light leaving that location will be pulled back more than light coming from the edge of the galaxy (where ether inflow is less). This will cause light leaving the galaxy to be delayed more from the center than from the edge. Consequently, light from the centre of a galaxy will arrive at earth later than the light from its edge. Figure 13 demonstrates this. The two light waves leaving the galaxy arrive on earth at different times (blue line on the right represents earth).

Figure 13 Time Lensing

 
Because the light waves arrive at different times, an observer on earth sees various parts of the galaxy at different times of its life. The closer to the center of the galaxy we look, the further back in time we see. The Andromeda galaxy (for example) is approximately 2.5 million light years from earth. The light we see from the edge of the galaxy started its journey 2.5 million years ago. Light from the center of the galaxy, however,  started its journey more than 2.5 million years ago (maybe 2.8 million years ago).

Hence we are not getting a 'snapshot' of the entire galaxy at one particular point in time. The closer to the center we look, the further into the past we look. I call this effect 'Time Lensing'. Since we see the center of the galaxy when it was younger (and less massive), we see it rotating more slowly. Consequently, the stars on the outer edge appear to be orbiting more quickly than they should.

Because each galaxy has its own unique shape and size, there will not be a 'one formula fits all' type of explanation (like MOND). Each galaxy will have a unique time lens that is determined by features such as its shape (i.e. spiral, globular cluster, disk), mass distribution and viewing angle.

12.

Constantly Evolving Constants

13.

Summary

Below are two tables that summarize the structures and activities of ether that have been presented. Table 1 lists the various structures and activities of ether, and Table 2 matches these with forces and particles described by conventional theory. All forms of matter and energy are a result of distorted ether. Wherever we find distorted ether, we find energy. Whether it be a wave, a knot, a wrap or a twist. Energy = Ether Distortion. Now you can understand why energy can neither be created nor destroyed; the distortion will just transform into another type of structure.

Table 1

Table 2

14.

Conclusion

In this article, I have demonstrated that Ether Theory equates to the 'Theory Of Everything'. Every physical phenomena, including those mentioned in relativity and quantum mechanics, can be described and explained quite easily. The entire universe is made of foamy ether. There is no reason to believe that the Big Bang caused particles or strings to be blown into space. The initial seed did not break up, but rather expanded into a tightly stretched foam to give us the universe that we have today.

Foamy ether, I believe, is what David Bohm was describing when he referred to the wholeness, or the implicate order. As the universe (foamy ether) expands, its wholeness is retained; nothing becomes separated or fragmented. The knots or kinks in the ether, describe the 'implicate order' that is manifested as particles.

There are many mathematical theories, but none of them provide clear, visual images. Each has its place in making numerous calculations and predictions. However, I believe that creating simulations that are based on visual models, such as foamy ether, is the best way to move forward. This takes the guesswork out of deciding which math to use, and provides a foundation, or framework, on which to build an actual model of the universe.

The mathematics of certain current theories may be applied to ether theory. Portions of String Theory may be useful in describing ether knots instead of strings. Preon Theory holds promise, because it describes space as a topology that can be knotted or braided to form fundamental constituents of particles described in the standard model (i.e. electrons, protons, or neutrons). The tools in this theory could be used to describe knots or braids of ether.

Further development of the foamy ether software model is required to provide more accurate simulations of structures that exist in nature (i.e. electrons, protons, quarks, gluons). My next challenge is to fine tune the ether model by tweaking existing properties such as spring tension, and adding new properties like surface tension. Adding surface tension is required to simulate the strong nuclear force.

Of course, no new theory should be seriously considered unless an experiment is available that will provide for some form of validation. To meet this requirement, I have devised an experiment that will measure the inflow of ether at the earth's surface. A unique design for a gravitational wave detector has been developed. Not only will this device validate ether inflow, but it will also serve as an instrument for detecting gravitational waves. Unlike other gravitational wave detectors that measure distortions in space, this device measures variations in time dilation.

The theory of foamy ether, combined with applicable parts of existing theories, provides a strong visual model, which can be validated by a gravitational wave detector, should be considered as a viable Theory Of Everything.