2013/04/20 by Eliahu Cohen, Cohen, Eliahu, Paz Beniamini +7
Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #General Physics (physics.gen-ph) #Quantum and Classical Electrodynamics #Quantum chaos and dynamical systems #Scientific Research and Discoveries
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1304.5598
openalex publication_date 2013/04/20 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
An experiment is proposed which can distinguish between two approaches to the reality of the electric field, and whether it has mechanical properties such as mass and stress. A charged pendulum swings within the field of a much larger charge. The two fields manifest the familiar apparent curvature of their field-lines, "bent" so as not to cross each other. If this phenomenon is real, the pendulum's center of mass must be proportionately shifted according to its lines' curvature. This prediction has no precise counterpart in the conventional interpretation, where this curvature is a mere superposition of the two fields' crossing lines. This empirical distinction, meriting test in itself, further bears on several unresolved issues in classical, quantum and relativistic electromagnetism.