Vortex

“ One held that a vortex, without any essential change in its nature or behavior, would keep on growing bigger until, uniting with the other vortices of the planet, it had converted all the mass of the world into energy. ”

“ We may imitate such a vortex by drawing the bowl of a spoon quickly through a cup of water. But in a limitless medium the vortex whirl must always be a closed ring, which may take the simple form of a hoop or circle, or which may be indefinitely contorted, looped, or, so to speak, knotted. Whether simple or contorted, this endless chain of whirling matter (the particles revolving about the axis of the loop as the particles of a string revolve when the string is rolled between the fingers) must, in a frictionless medium, retain its form and whirl on with undiminished speed forever. ”

“ What we call a vortex is a quantity of matter, whose detached parts move all in the same direction, but allowed at the same time to have some little movements peculiar to themselves, provided they still pursue the general course. A vortex of wind, for instance, is a vast number of little particles of air, turning all together in a circular direction, and involving whatever comes in their way. ”

“ This intermittent or irregular action was in his opinion to be explained by the theory that a vortex was intermittently developed in the substance. As it begins the small bodies are attracted, when it ceases they remain stationary, but when it is renewed “and there emanates from the stone a material analogous to the magnetic emanation” then the bodies are repulsed. ”

“ But even a vortex is a vortex in something. You cant have a whirlpool without water; and you cant have a vortex without gas, or molecules or atoms or ions or electrons or something, not nothing. ”

“ When, on the other hand, all the planets conspire at the same side to force the sun out from the mechanical centre of the system, the surface is too distant to be acted on by the central vortex, and the lateral vortices are also thrown clear of the sun’s surface, on account of the greater velocity of the parts of the vortex, in sweeping past the body of the sun. ”

“ It is true that a vortex ring at any given instant has a definite momentum and a definite energy, but to show that bodies built up of vortex rings would have such momentum and energy as we know them to have is, in the present state of the theory, a very difficult task. ”

“ The vortex theory assumes, therefore, that the universe consists of one uniform primary substance, a fluid which fills all space, and that what we call matter consists of portions of this fluid which have become [34] animated with vortex motion. The innumerable atoms which form molecules, and through molecules all the diversified forms of matter of the material universe, are therefore simply so many vortex rings, each perfectly limited, distinct, and indestructible, both as to its form, mass, and mode of motion. They cannot change or disappear, nor can they be formed spontaneously. ”

“ At the lower portion of the vortex the air whirls inward and upward with increasing velocity,396 while above, it whirls outward and upward, with waning velocity, thus moving in a double-spiral path shaped like a cord wound on an hourglass. In the constricted part, or neutral plane of the vortex, the air moves neither outward nor inward, but spirals straight upward. ”

“ Supposing, now, that we adopt provisionally the vortex theory,—the great power of which is well shown by the consideration just mentioned,—we must not forget that it is absolutely essential to the indestructibleness of the material atom that the universal fluid in which it has an existence as a vortex-ring should be entirely destitute of friction. ”

“ The paper also deals with the motion of solids in the fluid and the analogous motions of vortex-rings and their attraction by ordinary matter. These can be studied with vortex-rings in air produced by the apparatus described above. Such a ring made to pass the re-entrant corner of a wall—the edge of a window recess, for example—will appear to be attracted. A large sphere such as a large terrestrial globe serves also very well as an attracting body. ”

“ Therefore in order to continue a vortex in the same state of motion, some active principle is required, from which the globe may receive continually the same quantity of motion which it is always communicating to the matter of the vortex. Without such a principle it will undoubtedly come to pass that the globe and the inward parts of the vortex, being always propagating their motion to the outward parts, and not receiving any new motion, will gradually move slower and slower, and at last be carried round no longer. ”

“ When a body is heated, and the vortex atoms are rushing about, their mutual collisions originate vibrations in themselves which, when they are free, have a definite period, or periods, depending upon the nature of each vortex atom. ”

“ It becomes evident, then, that a vortex which develops in the lower levels, from any set of causes, must lift its head into a rapidly flowing stream of air, and this necessarily will tend to break down the intruding head by stripping off portions of it and detaching the upper portions of the vortex from the lower portions. ”

“ Of the two explanations of the genesis of the vortex continuations offered here and in Chap. IV., it is not necessary that either should be in error. The previous explanation also opens out a possibility that must not be lost sight of as bearing on the phenomenon now under discussion. ”

“ That wight died, of course—they almost always do—and the vortex, instead of being destroyed, was simply broken up into an indefinite number of widely-scattered new vortices. And one of these bits of furious, uncontrolled energy, resembling more nearly a handful of material rived from a sun than anything else with which ordinary man is familiar, darted toward and crashed downward to earth through Neal Cloud's new house. ”

“ If we displace the globe, so as to remove it far from the centre of the vessel, and impart the same motion, the vortex I will be found at E, and the direction of the current will be contrary to the direction of the fluid in the vessel. ”

“ Every vortex represents twins. Never singles or triplets, always twins. And the cycle is so long that the full span of our data isn’t enough to even validate a wild guess at it. Now, Joan, you baby expert, just what kind of an infant would be just comfortably warm and cosy in the middle of a loose atomic vortex? Feed that one to Margie, chum, and let’s see what she does with it. ”

“ It is probable that it is the relation between the size of the vortex rollers and that of the body that determines the point at which the discontinuous form of flow begins. Thus for velocities less than a certain minimum in any given fluid the value of will be so great that there is no room for the vortex to form; at a higher velocity it seems likely that a single vortex may be generated, which will follow in the wake of the body, as in § 104, and it will only be at velocities in excess of this that the vortices will detach themselves in accordance with the régime contemplated. ”

“ For the centrifugal force of the vortex at 2,300,000 miles from the centre of the sun, is equal to gravity at the surface of the earth, and taking the mean centrifugal force of the whole vortex as one-millionth of this last force ”

“ If we suppose the enclosure rigid and the fluid elastic, the change of pressure due to the vortices on the boundary walls depends upon the law of elasticity, and is not a function of the magnitude or energy of the vortex system alone. ”

“ It causes like kinds of matter to come together with like, gold to gold, wood to wood, water to water, and so on. It is to be noted, therefore, that the action of the Nous is apparently confined to the first movement. It acts only at the one central point, and every subsequent movement is caused by the vortex itself, which draws in more and more of the surrounding matter into itself. First are separated out the warm, dry, and light particles, and these form the aether or upper air. ”

“ But to convince you, exactly what is the knot?"
"Variability," snapped the older man. "To be effective, the charge of explosive at the moment of impact must match, within very close limits, the activity of the vortex itself. ”

“ Again, how could these innumerable vortex rings be formed out of the ether without disturbing the uniformity and continuity of the medium, which are essential for the propagation of the light-waves through it? And how could the motions requisite to form the vortex rings be impressed on them de novo consistently with the principle of the conservation of energy? Energy can no more be created out of nothing than matter, by any process known in nature or conceivable by the human intellect ”

“ In investigating the question now before us, we shall first take the case of an ethereal vortex without any reference to the ponderable bodies which it contains, considering the ether to possess only inertia. If there be a vortex around the sun, it is of finite extent; for if the ether be co-extensive with space, and the stars likewise suns with surrounding vortices, the solar vortex cannot be infinite. That there is an activity in the heavens which the mere law of attraction is incompetent to account for, is an admitted fact. ”

“ The motion at any instant of every part of the fluid, single vortex tube is knotted on itself, it can never become untied. (6.) The motion at any instant of every part of the fluid, including the vortex rings themselves, may be accurately represented by conceiving an electric current to occupy the place of each vortex ring, the strength of the current being proportional to that of the ring. The magnetic force at any point of space will then represent in direction and magnitude the velocity of the fluid at the corresponding point of the fluid. ”

“ The continual influx of cosmical matter into the heart of the vortex in ever-varying quantities, and speedily dispersed along the central plane, according to its density, must necessarily give rise to another phenomenon to which we have not yet alluded. ”

“ But there are other modifying causes which have an influence in fixing the precise position of equilibrium of a planet. Each planet of the system possessing rotation, is surrounded by an ethereal vortex, and each vortex has its own radial stream, the force of which in opposing the radial stream of the sun, depends on the diameter and density of the planet, on the velocity of rotation, on the inclination of its axis, and on the density of the ether at each particular vortex ”

“ It will now be perceived that the fluid of the vortex, which we shall still term ether, is neither more nor less than the electric fluid,—the mighty energising principle of space,—the source of motion,—the cause of magnetism, galvanism, light, heat, gravity, of the aurora, the lightning, the zodiacal light, of the tails and nebulosities of comets, of the great currents of our atmosphere, of the samiel, the hurricane, and the earthquake. It will be perceived that we treat it as any other fluid, in relation to its law of motion and condensation. ”

“ The circulation being always zero round a small plane curve passing through the axis of spin in vortical motion, it follows conversely that a vortex filament is composed always of the same fluid particles; and since the circulation round a cross-section of a vortex filament is constant, not changing with the time, it follows from the previous kinematical theorem that αω is constant for all time, and the same for every cross-section of the vortex filament. ”

“ We must therefore conceive that the vortices and particles roll together without slipping; and that the interior strata of each vortex receive their proper velocities from the exterior stratum without slipping, that is, the angular velocity must be the same throughout each vortex.
The only process in which electro-magnetic energy is lost and transformed into heat, is in the passage of electricity from one molecule to another. In all other cases the energy of the vortices can only be diminished when an equivalent quantity of mechanical work is done by magnetic action. ”

“ If another globe should be swimming in the same vortex at a certain distance from its centre, and in the mean time by some force revolve constantly about an axis of a given inclination, the motion of this globe will drive the fluid round after the manner of a vortex ”

“ A medium of this kind, filled with molecular vortices having their axes parallel, differs from an ordinary fluid in having different pressures in different directions. If not prevented by properly arranged pressures, it would tend to expand laterally. In so doing, it would allow the diameter of each vortex to expand and its velocity to diminish in the same proportion. In order that a medium having these inequalities of pressure in different directions should be in equilibrium, certain conditions must be fulfilled, which we must investigate. ”

“ Every Sun has a Vortex round it, very different from those of Cartes. I am of Opinion then that every Sun is surrounded with a Whirl-pool or Vortex of Matter in a very swift Motion; tho’ not in the least like Cartes’s either in their Bulk, or manner of Motion. For Cartes makes his so large, as every one of them to touch all the others round them, in a flat Surface, just as you have seen the Bladders that [158] Boys blow up in Soap-suds do; and would have the whole Vortex to move round the same way. ”

“ Such a ring-vortex as this, once set going in a perfect fluid, in which no friction occurs, would go on for ever, if we suppose our fluid endowed with inertia. Our ring-vortex might be stretched, squeezed, even knotted by other similar vortices, but it could never be pierced by them, never destroyed, and would, in all its metamorphoses, retain some of its original characteristics, depending on the velocity of its particles and its magnitude. ”