Separation of Lanthanides/ Lanthanides and Actinides
Pathological physics
1. Pathological Physics:
Tales from “The Box”
Dr. David Dixon
Dept. of Physics
California Polytechnic State
University
The Forum at Poly
(June 1, 2012)
3. Why “Pathological”?
• Pathology (n.)
1. The scientific study of the nature of disease
and its causes, processes, development, and
consequences.
2. A departure or deviation from a normal
condition.
Learning through failure.
4. The Dunning-Kruger Effect
“Ignorance begets confidence.”
Cognitive bias in which people perform poorly on a
task, but lack the ability to properly evaluate their
performance.
Incompetent people fail to gauge their own
incompetence, and thus fail to make attempts at self-
improvement.
Poor students overestimate their performance,
good students underestimate theirs.
5. The Primary Colors of Cranks
“outsider scientists”
1. Crazy
2. Naïve
3. Stubborn
17. An example of “concept mixing”
“Electricity is found in three forms to my knowledge. Raw
electric charge as ‘Lightning’, as it is found in ‘light’, and it is
found to be Magnetic Flux. All travel at the same speed
normally at the speed of light. This gives them a common
denominator.
Not unlike the stages of water in that you have ice, water,
and steam from the same unit.”
“It is a known fact that permanent magnets lose their
strength over a period of time, thus dispelling the
perpetual motion theory.
The loss will probably end up being in the half life method,
and the carbon atom.”
19. Meet Bob
• This American Life episode #293,
• “A Little Bit of Knowledge”
Segment title: “Sucker mc2”
by Robert Andrew Powell
E = mc2
Guaranteed!
20. theories of everything
• “The Universal Physics Theory” (531 pages)
• “The New Gravity” (189 pages)
• “The Grand Unified Theory of Physics” (137 pages)
• “The Universe” (54 pages)
21. self-aggrandizement
“SSC (Superconducting SuperCollider) is now officially dead.
There is a good reason for its death. With my Final Theory of
Everything, there is no need for a SSC to find the answers for
Ultimate Reality. After a long and intense campaign, the
support for SSC for physics community drops to zero. My Final
Theory of Everything triumphs.”
prequark.org
26. “deriving” fundamental constants
The fine-structure constant
α = ke2/ħc ≈ 1/137.036 ≈ 0.00729735
“The New Gravity”: everything in the universe is
accelerating at au = 2.8 Å/s2
and au(1.0 sec)2c2 = 0.00702
“As can be seen, the differences are close enough to
give serious consideration to the more simple
form…”
27. “deriving” fundamental constants
“The Universal Physics Theory”
Everything in the universe is made of tiny
particles called brutinos
mass: 10-66 kg
diameter: 10-35 m
density: 1085 per cm3
mean free path: 10-15 m
They form the “ether gas” with a classical
Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution.
28. “deriving” fundamental constants
= 0.00729348
α ≈ 0.00729735
“We thus suspected that the square root of this number might
be the velocity coupling ratio for the electromagnetic field.”
29. Here’s Bob again…
Simple!
time is a velocity mass times speed
(mathematically) (no big deal)
30. convenient redefinitions
“Fundamental Thermodynamics at the Micro Level”
“In my discussion of particle thermodynamics I will treat temperature as
energy density expressed in joules… And entropy will be a dimensionless
number which is the ratio of two lengths and it is therefore a geometrical
parameter.”
“It is specifically required that no distortion or misrepresentation of the
parameter of time will be permissible. Thus, in this study it is strictly
forbidden to use…the major portion of the Special Theory of Relativity”
31. convenient redefinitions
“The New Gravity”
“The whole argument to be made for the New Gravity is simply that
Mass is herein being redefined, in that, whereas a body’s Inertial
and gravitational mass have always been classically represented to
mean their TOTAL mass… we instead proclaim a body’s Gravitational
Mass to be only the body’s Column-Mass:”
mc = (density) (mean radius) (1 m2)
For earth: mc = (5520 kg/m3)(6371000 m)(1 m2)
= 3.5 x 1010 kg
Note that mcau = 9.8 N (!!!!)
“That Force pulling on each kilogram of mass resting upon the Earth’s surface is
due to the equivalent Outside Force constantly pushing the Earth through space”
(at the speed of light, by the way)
32. convenient redefinitions
• “The New Gravity”, p. 29
Regarding units:
“We needn’t put labels on everything and can, if
we wish, do without them as long as we make
clear what we are saying.”
33. What’s the deal with engineers?
Common in fringe science communities:
• Creationists (“Salem Hypothesis”)
• Conspiracy theorists
• Apocalyptic cults
• Cranks
34. Can they be reasoned with?
No.
Bob meets a physicist:
After the meeting:
35. …so why bother?
Teaching physics = correcting misconceptions about
the natural world before they become permanent
Crank theories are advanced (terminal) cases of
misconception, can be used to show conceptual
dead-ends, and how to back out of them.
→Immunization against bad ideas.
Learning Through Failure
38. Science vs. Pseudoscience course
• Formal/informal fallacies
• Case studies in self-deception
• Developing skills of self-assessment and -criticism
• attitudes towards knowledge
39. Further Reading
physicsonthefringe.com
Natural Philosophy Alliance
worldnpa.org
40. Epilogue: Who are these guys?
The Grand Unified
The New Gravity
Theory of Physics
Joseph M. Brown
Kenneth G. Salem Ph.D. in Engineering, Purdue
Inventor of the Ken-Lite flashlight “brutino” theory first published at
McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing)
Taught at Mississippi State
University for 20+ years
41. Fundamental Thermodynamics From his obituary:
at the Micro Level
“John then returned to Roanoke, VA, where he
undertook an organized study program and a
rigorous exercise program. After 17 years, he
had jogged 17,000 miles and published five
books on basic particle physics, technical books
that questioned some generally accepted
scientific theories. “
And the last words on
John Frank Johnson
M.S. in Electrical Engineering, Bob (Berenz)
University of Pennsylvania
Vice President of ITT Avionics
President of ITT Electro-Optical
Products
Corporate VP of ITT
Retired in 1982, Died 2004
42. Thanks to The Box’s caretakers:
Bob Dickerson
John Mottman
Rich Saenz
Matt Moelter
Tom Gutierrez
