Experiment showing magnetic fields have mass

The Forces of Nature by Kelland Terry, Ph.D.
I like to tell people that I was spawned in the Virgin River that runs through Rockville because that is where I spent much of my youth during the hot summers. The river ran fairly cold since it came from the mountains around us, which made the sand along its bank mighty enticing. We would chase each other in a game of tag in the river, and then when the cold water chilled our bones, we ran to the bank and covered ourselves with warm sand. It was a luxury that rivals any cell phone or any other modern gadget.

Back then I had no thoughts of magnetism, and no reason to conjure up what bonds might form between the south pole and north pole of a magnet. Do the bonds have physical properties? Now, more than 65 years later, I was faced with the exciting prospect of demonstrating that a magnetic field increases the curvature of a spinning table tennis ball in flight.

A Robo-Pong was used to eject the balls between the north pole and south pole of the three electromagnets we built as explained in the previous blog. A Robo-Pong can be adjusted to either give clockwise or counterclockwise spin to the balls. The experiment was set up in our sun room where there is adequate space to do the experiment. My wife, who is a faculty member at UNR, helped record where the balls struck the target. By the way, I was able to show there is no attraction between the plastic balls and a magnet by attaching a thread to a ball and then suspending it next to the poles of the electromagnet with the electricity turned on. There is no hint of any attraction between the plastic ball and either the north or south pole of the magnets.

One trial consisted of approximately 75 balls that were shot through the three electromagnets with the electricity on and a magnetic field in place, then another 75were shot with the electricity turned off and no magnetic field in place. The data was placed in the computer and averages were calculated.

Altogether 13 trails were made, involving more than a thousand balls. In some cases trials were done with balls curving left and in other cases trials were done with balls curving right. The iron cores showed very little tendency to get warm when the electricity was on, but for good measure, I sometimes shot the controls first and in other trials I shot the experimental first (electricity on).

Now for the results: No matter how I designed the experiment, the balls curved more when the magnetic field was turned on. They curved more left when given counterclockwise spin and more right when given clockwise spin. There was never any overlap between the controls and experimental values. Conclusion: Spinning table tennis balls curve more when shot between the north pole and south pole of a magnet because they encounter a magnetic field that has mass. When the balls spin against the elastic strings (magnons), it causes them to curve more. Wow! This is truly amazing. I believe the magnetic field is composed of elastic strings that have mass. This is wonderful confirmation for my experiments that show spinning table tennis balls in flight curve in a complete vacuum. You can read this experiment in its entirety at my web site, just click on chapter 31. Till then, be safe and in good health. Kelland—www.vestheory.com