Thread: Magnetic reconnection View Single Post
P: 78
What would Maxwell make of all this reconnection melarchy then? I dont think he would like his most fundamental properties of magnetism to be changed to account for this energy we observe being released. Surely there has to be a more likely explanation than one that changes something as well established as the laws of magnetism?

 The notion that magnetic field lines can be open ended is impossible to reconcile with Maxwell’s simple and universal equation and the vast body of experiments that led to it. At any instant of time, the net sum of all magnetic flux entering any closed surface A is zero. The closed surface can be of any size or shape. Therefore, there can be no beginning or end to a magnetic field anywhere. $$\nabla.B=0$$ or in integral form (Gauss’ law for magnetism) given by $$\oint\vec{B}.d\vec{A}=0$$ Whatever magnetic flux enters the closed surface also leaves it. There is no way to store magnetic flux inside the volume that is defined by the closed surface. Every magnetic field is a continuum, i.e., a vector field. Each of the infinite and uncountable points in this continuum has a magnitude and a direction that is associated with it. This continuum is not composed of (does not contain) a set of discrete lines. Lines are sometimes drawn on paper to describe the magnetic field (its direction and magnitude). However, the lines themselves do not actually exist in reality. They are simply a visualization device, i.e., a useful way to understand the properties of a vector field. The loci are always endless (closed) loops. There is only one “type of magnetic field line.” They are useful abstractions and nothing more.
Heres and animation of roughly what is claimed to be occuring in magnetic reconnection; http://sci.esa.int/science-e-media/i...tion-4_195.gif ( i dont think i can attatch it here for some reason? )

They are quite literally trying to claim that magnetic field lines make and break connection and thereby release energy. Magnetic fields do not do that. They only form as a full continuum and they can't make and break connections like electrical circuits. They are mistaken in their basis premise which is why Alfven himself ridiculed the idea. The worst part in my opinion is they keep trying to use MHD theory to support this idea, even though Alfven publicly rejected the idea.

The father of MHD theory claimed it was false. Now they turn right around and try to use MHD theory to support the idea using *uncontrolled* observations from space, and have not demonstrated this reconnection actually occuring in a lab.

Dont get me wrong, there obviously is a phenomenon that is creating the energy observed in the various experiments you provided me with Neried, I just dispute that it has anything to do with 'magnetic reconnection' as such. Once i see the actual data from experiments that clearly shows the magnetic field lines reconnecting, not the just the mathematics of the theory, i will reconsider my opinion. So far i have not.

http://members.cox.net/dascott3/IEEE...tt-Aug2007.pdf
 It has become widely accepted among astronomers that when more or less oppositely pointing field lines approach each other, they can abruptly “short circuit,” “merge,” or “reconnect.” In this reconnected configuration, the field lines are bent tightly like the elastic strings of a catapult. When the field lines suddenly straighten, they supposedly fling out plasma in opposite directions. The reason that they suddenly straighten is assumed to be the second term in the MHD pressure equation, i.e., ∇(p + B2/2μo) − (B∇)B/μ0 = 0. Alfvén addressed this point by noting that the second term is equivalent to the pinch effect that is caused by electric currents.
Maybe the process attributed to magnetic reconnection is infact a variant of the slightly more established Z-pinch or magnetic confinement techniques achieved in various other experiments.