2.3    NEW INTERPRETATIONS FOR OLD EXPERIMENTS

I)                   Kaufmann experiment

We will consider here an experiment that was made in some years before to the development Relativity Theory. It is the Kaufmann Experiment.

In this experiment a beam of electrons traveling in the x direction is simultaneously subjected to the action of a Uniform Electric Field producing a deviation in the y direction and a Uniform Magnetic Field producing a deviation in the z direction perpendicular to the first. A parallel photographic plate, perpendicular to the x direction, records an impression of the rays and allows a direct measurement of y and z.

It can be demonstrated that if we consider the classical formulas for the fields E and B the following relations are valid:

y = eEa/mv²

z = eHb/mv

where e and m are the charge and the mass of the electrons, and a and b are correction constants for the apparatus.

Then a parabola is expected to be seen in the photography.

But this doesn’t happen. The curve observed by Kaufmann was different.

And here is where a bad interpretation of the experiment happened. It was proposed that the mass of the electrons should vary with velocity to obtain the Kaufmann´s curve and then the Lorentz Transforms came into place.

It is proposed in this text that actually the Electric and Magnetic Fields are affected by the factor s = (1 – v²/c²)^1/2.

The same kinematics result is obtained but with constant mass.

II)                The strong magnet experiment

Section 2.2 mentions another better known experiment of the same kind. It is the action of a strong Uniform Magnetic Field acting on a beam of electrons. Since the Magnetic Force is always perpendicular to the velocity of the electrons and it is constant a circular path is followed by them.

The radius of the path is dependent on the velocity of the electrons. Precise experiments show that with Classical Physics there is a difference between the theoretical calculated radius and the experimentally obtained one. The difference could be “perfectly” explained if the factor s = (1 – v²/c²)^1/2 is introduced for the electron mass variation. The following equation that relates the Magnetic Force and the Centripetal Force is obtained:

qvb = (m₀/s) v²/r

The theories of this text interprets that the factor s simply belongs to the other side of the equation:

sqvb = m₀ v²/r

It is proposed in this text that actually the Magnetic Field is affected by the factor s. The same kinematics behavior is predicted with no mass variation needed.

The Magnetic Force must be:

F_B = sqv×B