In his 1891 A.I.E.E. lecture at Columbia College, Nikola Tesla said in pertinent part (emphasis mine): "What is electricity, and what is magnetism? "...We are now confident that electric and magnetic phenomena are attributable to the ether, and we are perhaps justified in saying that the effects of static electricity are effects of ether in motion". "...we may speak of electricity or of an electric condition, state or effect". "...we must distinguish two such effects, opposite in character neutralizing each other". "...for in a medium of the properties of the ether, we cannot possibly exert a strain, or produce a displacement or motion of any kind, without causing in the surrounding medium an equivalent and opposite effect." "...its condition determines the positive and negative character." "We know that it acts like an incompressible fluid;" "...the electro-magnetic theory of light and all facts observed teach us that electric and ether phenomena are identical." "The puzzling behavior of the ether as a solid to waves of light and heat, and as a fluid to the motion of bodies through it, is certainly explained in the most natural and satisfactory manner by assuming it to be in motion, as Sir William Thomson has suggested." "Nor can anyone prove that there are transverse ether waves emitted from an alternate current machine; to such slow disturbances, the ether, if at rest, may behave as a true fluid."
Figure 16.04.05 - Nikola Tesla | Figure 16.04.06 - Lord Kelvin (Sir William Thomson) |
In his statements, Nikola Tesla was balancing the various arguments in preparation for his decision: "...Electricity, therefore, cannot be called ether in the broad sense of the term; but nothing would seem to stand in the way of calling electricity ether associated with matter, or bound ether; or, in other words, that the so-called static charge of the molecule is ether associated in some way with the molecule."
"...It cannot differ in density, ether being incompressible: it must, therefore, be under some strain or in motion, and the latter is the most probable." Nikola Tesla therefore believed in an ether which was in motion relative to earth, because the earth is in motion.
The thing which Nikola Tesla had realized, was that ether possesses electric charges which are deposited on or contained within atoms. In supporting the "dynamic" ether concept, he was supporting the "stationary ether" concept, since the "motion" he referred to was "apparent" motion of the ether perceived by an observer on earth, relative to a stationary ether.
The importance of cosmic motion to the electromagnetic effects of static charges was brought up by Nikola Tesla in his lecture: "About fifteen years ago, Professor Rowland demonstrated a most interesting and important fact, namely, that a static charge carried around produces the effects of an electric current." "...and conceiving the electrostatically charged molecules in motion, this experimental fact gives us a fair idea of magnetism. We can conceive lines or tubes of force which physically exist, being formed of rows of directed moving molecules; we can see that these lines must be closed, that they must tend to shorten and expand, etc. It likewise explains in a reasonable way, the most puzzling phenomenon of all, permanent magnetism, and, in general, has all the beauties of the Ampere theory without possessing the vital defect of the same, namely, the assumption of molecular currents. Without enlarging further upon the subject, I would say, that I look upon all electrostatic, current and magnetic phenomena as being due to electrostatic molecular forces."
In these statements, Nikola Tesla showed he was aware that any "stationary" locale on earth is actually in fantastic motion ("70,000 mph"). The electrostatic charges "carried around" are currents between atoms and the ether, which produce magnetism. The phenomena of 'permanent magnetism' or 'cosmically induced' magnetism are apparently due to electrostatic charges 'carried around' by cosmic motion, in the universal ether field.
Since no one can hold an atom or molecule perfectly still - because it is in fantastic motion - all atoms and molecules carry currents producing magnetic fields. Since a magnetic field is the product of a current, no one can produce a magnetic field without electricity, moving through or along a conductor, or as electrostatic charges in local or cosmic motion."
Tesla's Dynamic Theory of Gravity and MHD method of Spacial Electropulsion brought a cosmic crowning achievement to the works of Faraday, Wm. Thomson, J. J. Thomson, and Hall. [Summation of Tesla's Dynamic Theory of Gravity; An excerpt from: Occult Ether Physics by William R. Lyne]
"Now, I must tell you of a strange experience which bore fruit in my later life. We had a cold snap observed even drier than before. People walking in the snow left a luminous trail. As I stroked Macak's back, it became a sheet of light and my hand produced a shower of sparks. My father remarked, this is nothing but electricity, the same thing you see on the trees in a storm. My mother seemed alarmed. Stop playing with the cat, she said, he might start a fire. I was thinking abstractly. Is nature a cat? If so, who strokes its back? It can only be God, I concluded. I can not exaggerate the effect of this marvelous sight on my childish imagination. Day after day I asked myself what is electricity and found no answer. Eighty years have gone by since and I still ask the same question, unable to answer it." [Nikola Tesla - Lord of Lightning]
“The superstitious belief of the ancients, if it existed at all, can therefore not be taken as a reliable proof of their ignorance, but just how much they knew about electricity can only be conjectured. A curious fact is that the ray or torpedo fish, was used by them in electro-therapy. Some old coins show twin stars, or sparks, such as might be produced by a galvanic battery. The records, though scanty, are of a nature to fill us with conviction that a few initiated, at least, had a deeper knowledge of amber-phenomena. To mention one, Moses was undoubtedly a practical and skillful electrician far in advance of his time. The Bible describes precisely and minutely arrangements constituting a machine in which electricity was generated by friction of air against silk curtains and stored in a box constructed like a condenser. It is very plausible to assume that the sons of Aaron were killed by a high tension discharge and that the vestal fires of the Romans were electrical. The belt drive must have been known to engineers of that epoch and it is difficult to see how the abundant evolution of static electricity could have escaped their notice.” [Nikola Tesla, “THE WONDER WORLD TO BE CREATED BY ELECTRICITY.” Manufacturer’s Record, September 9, 1915.]
"It was clear to me many years ago that a new and better source of power had to be discovered to meet the ever increasing demands of mankind. In a lecture delivered before the American Institute of Electrical Engineers at Columbia University May 20, 1891, I said: “We are whirling through endless space with inconceivable speed, all around us everything is spinning, everything is moving, everywhere is energy. There must be some way of availing ourselves of this energy more directly. Then, with the light obtained from the medium, with the power derived from it, with every form of energy obtained without effort, from the store forever inexhaustible, humanity will advance with giant strides.”
"I have thought and worked with this object in view unremittingly and am glad to say that I have sufficient theoretical and experimental evidence to fill me with hope, not to say confidence, that my efforts of years will be rewarded and that we shall have at our disposal a new source of power, superior even to the hydro-electric, which may be obtained by means of simple apparatus everywhere and in almost constant and unlimited amount.“ [Nikola Tesla, “Our Future Motive Power.” Everyday Science & Mechanics. December, 1931. Pg. 230-236.]
See Also
Bearden on Tesla and EM Source Charge
compressive electric force
Desire
electric action
electric current
electric cyclone
electric division
electric effect
electric motion
electric pressure
electric process
electric pulsation
electric recording
electric thinking
electric universe of motion
electric wave
electric
electrical compression
electrical-compression
electrical-depolarization
Electricity
Figure 16.04.05 and Figure 16.04.06 - Nikola Tesla and Lord Kelvin
Magnetism
Nikola Tesla
Part 16 - Electricity and Magnetism
Scalar electromagnetics
Scalar Potential
Scalar
Tesla - Electricity from Space
Tesla messages
Tesla shield
What Electricity Is - Bloomfield Moore
What Electricity Is - Keely
What Electricity Is - Pond
What Electricity Is - Russell
What Electricity Is - Schlosser
What Electricity Is - Steiner
What electricity is - Stranges
13.06 - Triple Currents of Electricity
14.35 - Teslas 3 6 and 9
16.04 - Nikola Tesla describing what electricity is
16.07 - Electricity is a Polar Exchange
16.10 - Positive Electricity
16.16 - Negative Electricity - Russell
16.17 - Negative Electricity - Tesla
16.29 - Triple Currents of Electricity
7B.21 - Electricity