PREFACE

For over a century, since Albert Einstein published his first paper on relativity in 1905, physicists have struggled to resolve fundamental differences between quantum theory and the continuum or field theory. The field approach must have no singularities; but the quantum approach has only singularities. Max Planck formulated quantum theory in 1900, and Einstein successfully applied it in 1905 to electromagnetic radiation, when he first proposed the photon unit.

Particle Physics, the inheritors of quantum theory, use a paradigm of ballistic matter in non-reactive flat space, that was originally fashioned using the Rutherford atomic model for the fixed nucleus and its orbiting electrons, which was patterned after the solar system. The laws of conservation of momentum and energy, and orbital dynamics do not translate well from the very large realm to the very small, resulting in necessary modifications such as de Broglie waves.

Relativity, the successor to field theory, has been repeatedly tested and proven using atomic clocks, accelerated particles, and star light aberration. But other than explanations involving passenger trains and observers as originally presented by Einstein, relativity lacks a working visualization model like the Rutherford atomic model, to explain interactions of matter at relativistic speeds approaching "c" the speed of light.

Very little is found in scientific literature regarding common ground from which both particle physics and relativity can be derived. All of theoretical physics suffers from the lack of a definitive visualization model to guide research. The majority of developments in theoretical physics are driven by purely mathematical concepts and extensions of current theory.

The most recent attempt at achieving common ground, that of String Theory, fell victim in this struggle and was reduced to so called Super Symmetry String Theory (or Super String Theory for short), being reinterpreted as super-short string segments embedded within the theoretical quark particles. Each miniaturized "super string" is supposed to have free ends whipping at the speed of light. Exactly where the required string tension comes from to support super high frequencies with unrestrained ends, and where the power comes from to sustain the oscillations, is not addressed. Also left unanswered is any relevance of whipping ends inside the theoretical sub-atomic quark, to the transmission of light in free space. Compactifying string theory within the unobserved quark particle effectively marginalized string theory and ended its threat to the status quo.

The following paper presents the outcome of thirty years personal reading, research, and rethinking to identify common ground for basic physical phenomena crossing both relativity and particle physics. Documented scientific findings and theories were studied back to their origins and methodology, test equipment, and guiding paradigms, to separate actual experimental results from perceived results, and to discern those effects introduced by the test apparatus itself.

The result of this search yielded one simple geometric shape and definition for space-time, as a co-equal participant in all physical interactions and phenomena, that ties together the realms of cosmology, chemistry, particle physics, and relativity. The Clopton Model takes a new approach from the ground up to describe how the universe operates. Every effort has been made to keep the paper as succinct as possible for the knowledgeable reader, because only the knowledgeable reader has any power to change the status quo. The Clopton Model works as a cohesive whole with elegant simplicity. I think you will be surprised to see how it all fits together.

I urge you to save a copy of this web site now; it may not be available for long.

Roland Weiss Clopton
July 2006

[Back to Top of Document] [To Table of Contents] [To Table of Figures] [To Table of Equations]

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Questions Left Unanswered by Physical Science

2. Introducing the Space-time Helix (STH)

3. The Meaning of E = mc²

4. Relativistic Time Dilation, Relativistic Mass Increase, and Lorentz-Einstein Contraction

5. Space-time and Dark Matter

6. Speed of Light

7. Where Does Mass Come From?

8. Where Does Charge Come From?

9. What Is a Proton and Electron?

10. What Is a Neutron and a Neutrino?

11. What Is a Photon?

12. What Is Electromagnetic Radiation?

13. What Is Electricity?

14. What is a Force?

15. Electrostatic Charge

16. Magnetism

17. Gravity

18. Inertia

19. Right Hand Rule

20. Unlimited Power by STH Coupling

21. Chemical Bonding

22. Power Source for the Universe

23. Conservation Laws

24. What Is Antimatter?

25. What Are Short-lived Particles?

26. Particle Spin

27. High Energy Particles and Cosmic Radiation

28. Avogadro抯 Number

29. Brownian Motion

30. Continuum ?Quantum Commonality

31. Big Bang and the Shape of the Universe

32. Background Radiation

33. Is the Expansion Rate of the Universe Accelerating?

34. Dark Energy

35. An Imminent Danger

36. Closing Comments

TABLE OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Schematic of Space-time Helix

Figure 2. Meaning of E = mc²

Figure 3. Folding of Space-time Helix

Figure 4. Relativistic Mass Increase

Figure 5. Electrostatic Charge

Figure 6. Large Magnetic Helix Found in the Orion Molecular Cloud

Figure 7. Double Helix Nebulae at the Center of the Milky Way Galaxy

TABLE OF EQUATIONS

Equation 1. Relativistic Time Dilation

Equation 2. Relativistic Mass Increase

Equation 3. Lorentz-Einstein Contraction (In Direction of Travel)

Equation 4. Radius of Atom Nucleus

Equation 5. Voltage Potential Between Capacitor Plates

Equation 6. Gravitational Attraction

Equation 7. Coulomb's Law

[Back to Top of Document]

1. Questions Left Unanswered by Physical Science [Back to TOC]

The following physical laws, constants, phenomena, and theories are all taught in terms of (1) how the subject is measured and calculated, (2) its scientific name and how it is classified, and (3) its numeric values. What is not being taught in each and every case are the big questions - WHY does it exist, and WHAT caused it to be this way? The following questions can all be answered by the Clopton Model.

?? WHY are proton and electron masses and charge the values they are?

?? WHY is the speed of light constant?

?? WHAT is the difference between long-lived particles (proton, neutron, and electron) and short-lived particles (all the remaining particles)?

?? WHAT does the Rutherford atomic model, based on orbital dynamics of planets, have to do with electron shells in the atom? Planets orbit in the solar system by constantly falling toward the sun. But chemical bonding and de Broglie waves bleed energy from the electrons, so that the material universe should have long ago vanished.

?? WHAT is the power source for the universe at a sub-atomic level, where fusion and fission are not a factor? Can simple inertia of sub-atomic particles, or stored thermal energy, be expected to keep the particles in motion after 14 billion years? The universe has cooled to three degrees Kelvin (-454^oF); that抯 cold, so where is the energy coming from to sustain sub-atomic motion?

?? WHY do we treat the sub-atomic realm as though it is endowed with properties of perpetual motion that are disallowed on a larger scale?

?? WHY is there a strong nuclear force, weak nuclear force, gravity (warped space-time), and electromagnetic force?

?? WHAT is dark matter and dark energy?

?? WHY does the universe appear to be accelerating in its rate of expansion?

?? WHY is there a right-hand rule affecting gyroscopic precession, magnetic field rotation, and particle spin?

?? WHY does Avogadro抯 number exist, defining the number of atoms or molecules in a mole weight of any element or compound?

?? WHAT is electromagnetism, and WHY do magnetic lines of force appear to exist?

?? WHY do the strengths of a gravitational field and an electric field both diminish with distance according to the product of their masses or charges divided by the square of the distance between them; YET, electric voltage potential between the plates of a charged capacitor increases as the amount of separation between the plates increases? See Equation 5, and Equation 6, and Equation 7.

?? WHAT is a zero-rest mass particle (e.g., photon) and WHY can it exist only at the speed of light?

?? WHAT causes relativistic time dilation, relativistic mass increase, and the Lorentz-Einstein contraction?

?? WHAT is the vehicle for single, double, and triple chemical covalent bonding?

?? WHAT caused the Big Bang?

?? WHY do mature galaxies and stellar bodies exhibit rotation, usually in the plane of the ecliptic, whether as a pin wheel shaped star field, or as planets orbiting a star, or as star pairs orbiting each other?

?? WHY is rotation such an inherent part of the universe at all levels?

?? WHAT exactly is E = mc², and WHY have we not developed a physical interpretation of this fundamental equation?

2. Introducing the Space-time Helix (STH) [Back to TOC]

Space-time is defined in this paper as an invisible, underlying matrix woven from a double helix having one atomic diameter cross-section and infinite length, always traveling at the speed of light "c" along its axis. It is the power source and regulator of the entire universe. Space-time helix interactions are described throughout the remainder of this paper under topical headings.

I call this invisible double helix the Space-time Helix (STH) because it defines the limits and dimensions of space by its ubiquitous presence and extension. It marks time at the most fundamental level by its resulting crest-to-crest sine wave spacing (wavelength), while traveling at c; and the term "helix" incorporates its cork-screw shape. The STH produces all known rotational phenomena without actually rotating. A travelling helix gives the appearance of rotation without actually rotating, yet it can induce rotation in an intersecting plane of detection through which it slides. We tend to think of a helix in terms of the Archimedes' screw in which a rotating screw lifts water; the screw turns and the water doesn't. The STH works in the opposite manner; the STH doesn't rotate but it causes rotation of the electrons and nucleons formed by two intersecting space-time helices. If the STH were forced to rotate, it would soon twist into a hopeless knot.

As long as the double helix travels longitudinally at speed c in a balanced state without lateral displacement or vibration, it remains hidden and does not intrude into our reality. Once the STH is disturbed laterally or longitudinally, by being struck or forced out of balance, it is capable of producing all known vibrational frequency particles, both short-lived and long-lived. The STH is the hidden power source for all that exists and occurs in the universe. The STH is described as follows -

-- The Space-time helix can be illustrated by a ball of twisted yarn or by a twisted ribbon of crepe paper with unequal edges (see Figure 1).

-- The inner helix has "positive proto-charge" and "proto-mass" capable of producing a proton when physically coupled with the inner helix of another intersecting Space-time helix. Such coupling occurred one time only during the opening one (1) second of the Big Bang event, creating instantly all the protons in the universe. The sudden appearance of unbalanced, unbridled positive charge in the ultra-dense compacted universe, which began smaller than a single pea, provided the mutually repulsive force needed to explode the disassociated hydrogen H+ nuclei into the ever expanding, cooling universe we know today.

-- The inner helix normally has an orbital diameter roughly equal to the nuclear diameter of a hydrogen H nucleus; but the inner radius of gyration can be momentarily displaced and expanded in its travels at c by a width ranging up to the nuclear diameter of the heaviest possible element.

-- The outer helix has "negative proto-charge" and "proto-mass" capable of producing an electron when physically coupled with the outer helix of another intersecting Space-time helix. The coupling of two inner helices and two outer helices at a junction point or pair node produces a hydrogen H atom, with an orbital proton and an orbital electron. According to the literature, electron coupling first occurred 300,000 years after the Big Bang, when the rapidly expanding chaotic H+ plasma cooled to the point that the two outer helices of node-paired Space-time helices could capture each other as they whipped around the proton-node already formed by the intersecting inner helices.

-- The outer helix has an orbital diameter in free space roughly equal to the single electron orbital diameter of a hydrogen H electron shell. The outer orbital diameter can be momentarily displaced and expanded in its travels at c by a width ranging up to the outer electron shell diameter of the heaviest possible element. The outer helix is somewhat elastic and can assume a higher or lower orbital diameter as it speeds through an intersecting atom-node. An imbalance between the radii of gyration of a coupled proton and electron, at the atom node, may contribute to chemical valence states, and provide some basis for chemical bonding along the longitudinal axis of either paired helix (see Figure 1 and Figure 2).

-- The STH travels at c along its path throughout the universe in a dynamically balanced state, so that the radii of gyration of the inner and outer helix members are inversely proportional to their proto masses, which themselves are proportional to the relative masses of the proton and electron, that being 1836.1 m(proton) :1 m(electron). By extrapolating from the orbital frequency of a single electron in the hydrogen H atom, given as 6.6 million gigahertz, we can determine that the wave length of the STH at this present point of universe expansion is about 4.54 x 10^-6 cm.

Figure 1. Schematic of Space-time Helix [Back to TOF] [Click Here To Enlarge]

3. The Meaning of E = mc² [Back to TOC]

Einstein抯 famous equation is so fundamental as to be considered a law, and it has been proven over and over, yet it has had no physical representation. In the Clopton Model, E = mc² is simply the cross product of two node-paired space-time helices traveling at velocity c, that is E = m * c * c (see Figure 2). All other descriptive unit-factors cancel out in the units of measure for energy. The balanced STH does not intrude into our reality under normal conditions until it acquires a traveling photon distortion and thereby reveals the speed of light, or until it crosses an atom node where it manifests itself through oscillation as mass and charge.

The product (c * c) represents the available energy of a single proton and electron pair, or a neutron. Mass m is representative of the number of protons and neutrons (pair nodes) available in a given system. The total energy in the system is therefore the fundamental STH-derived energy of each proton and electron pair, or neutron in a system multiplied by the number of pair nodes in the system. Two space-time helices coupled at a pair node (atom) will produce inner and outer ellipses that oscillate in unison like an oscilloscope pattern of two input sine wave forms. The instantaneous area of the inner ellipse relates to the available energy of the pair node as a squared function. The averaged value of the oscillating area is therefore related to c squared.

Figure 2. Meaning of E = mc² [Back to TOF] [Click Here To Enlarge]

4. Relativistic Time Dilation, Relativistic Mass Increase, and Lorentz-Einstein Contraction [Back to TOC]

Relativistic time dilation, relativistic mass increase, and the Lorentz-Einstein contraction have all remained a mystery, even though proven by physical experiments using atomic clocks and accelerated sub-atomic particles. In the Clopton Model there is no mystery to these relativistic phenomena because they are a natural consequence of the Space-time helix. These three phenomena provided a major clue that an underlying matrix or grid composed of the STH must exist, common to both relativity and the quantum world of particulate matter.

Time is nothing more than fixed periodicity established at the most primal level. The basic time standard of the entire material universe, shared by every atom, is the rotational frequency of its constituent electrons, and the corresponding rotational frequency of its nucleons that are paired to its electrons by the STH structure. Time renormalizes at every proton and neutron in the universe because an STH imposes its rotational frequency on an intersecting node-paired STH, which in turn is forced to the same rotational frequency by the STH it intersects. That is why the universe, other than for spectral red shift or spectral blue shift does not appear to radically depart from a common time base.

Matter has a clocking frequency just as a computer processor does. In a computer processor, one flop of a bit from 0 to 1 or 1 to 0 can occur at each clock pulse on a channel. Home computers work in the megahertz range. The universe presently operates at 6.6 million gigahertz, the rotational frequency of the hydrogen H single electron orbital. The literature states that the photon is the messenger of the electric force. At each clock pulse in the universe, an electron can be bumped to higher or lower energy state in an atom by receiving a photon or ejecting a photon along an STH. The transfer of photons to and from atoms along the STH constitutes the flow of electricity, and may be a part of chemical bonding. All atomic and chemical reactions are tied to the basic clocking frequency of the space-time helix.

Relativistic time dilation occurs when a pair node (atom) is accelerated to speeds approaching the speed of light c. At higher speeds the two space-time helices are drawn into a narrow "V" trailing the atom, but each STH continues to course through the atom from a lagging position toward the leading position. If one STH is oriented by direction of flow opposite to the direction of travel of the atom, this opposing STH folds to trail the atom, for the simple folk reason that it is impossible to push a rope (see Figure 3). A rope can only be pulled because it is flexible, just like the STH. The rope, in this case the STH opposing the direction of travel, folds as the atom drags it along. In normal space-time, time can flow only one direction, unless the STH is stiffened by an intense magnetic field (see "What is Antimatter?).

As the speed of the atom approaches c, both helices become more aligned in the direction of travel. If it were possible to move an atom at speed c, the two helices would become essentially overlaid and could be treated as a single helix with uniform rotation. Rotation speed of the electron depends upon the differential between the speed of the pair node (atom) through space, and the speed of the STH which always travels at speed c. As the differential decreases, the apparent rotational speed of the electron slows (see Figure 4). At speed c, the speed of the atom and electron would match the speed of the STH, so the STH could no longer force the electron to rotate; time for the atom and electron would stop, and the electron would become a stationary node riding the STH. An atom cannot be pushed to speed c, because of relativistic mass increase which prevents the atom from reaching speed c. The same behavior would be true for nucleons in the atom. The given formula for relativistic time dilation is shown in Equation 1, which relates the motion of one observer to another without benefit of an underlying matrix common to both observers. The Clopton Model provides an inertial frame of reference travelling at speed c that is common to both observers.

There is no mystery to this approach. Previous relativistic explanations of time dilation operated across so-called empty space in rejection of the passive luminiferous aether concept that was disproved by Michelson and Morley in 1887 (which results some still question). Attempts to understand and explain time dilation and relativistic effects were based solely on mathematical relationships, and failed to consider a dynamic aether moving at c, which the space-time helix represents. Previous passive aether theories served only to transmit light as a pressure wave; the STH not only carries light, but establishes all matter and all physical laws in the universe. That is why the aether could not be detected, because it is not passive; it forms the very instruments of detection which are also affected by relativistic motion.

Relativistic Time Dilation [Back to TOE]

D t_A = D t_B / sqrt (1- v_BA² / c² ) Equation 1

D t_A = Time differential as measured by observer A

D t_B = Time differential as measured by observer B

v_BA² = Square of the difference in velocity between observer A and observer B

Figure 3. Folding of Space-time Helix [Back to TOF] [Click Here To Enlarge]

Relativistic mass increase is linked to relativistic time dilation. At higher speeds the two space-time helices are drawn into a narrow "V" trailing the atom (see Figure 4). As the moving atom approaches speed c, the "V" narrows even more, so that the atom is physically dragging along both of the space-time helices.

It is entirely possible that the universe is made of only one STH string, wrapped countless times around the universe like a ball of yarn stretching and expanding as a shell (see Big Bang and the Shape of the Universe). As an accelerating atom approaches the speed of light and time slows for the atom, it becomes mechanically coupled to the space-time helix, so that the atom is actually attempting to drag the entire universe (see Relativistic Time Dilation, above). The formula for relativistic mass increase shows that the mass of any body becomes infinite at speed c, so matter can never be accelerated to the speed of light. The given formula for relativistic mass increase is shown in Equation 2.

Relativistic Mass Increase [Back to TOE]

m = m₀ / sqrt (1- v² / c² ) Equation 2

m = Mass at velocity v

m₀ = Mass at rest

v = Velocity of the mass

Figure 4. Relativistic Mass Increase [Back to TOF] [Click Here To Enlarge]

The Lorentz-Einstein Contraction shows that matter will become shorter in the direction of travel as its speed increases. This effect has its roots in how the STH behaves when displaced laterally at an atom node. The STH separation between the inner and outer helices widens as it crosses an atom node because the outer helix is displaced momentarily to become part of an electron in one of the electron shells, while the inner helix is held captive by the nucleus. If the STH is part of an electron in a higher orbital, the STH widens even more between the inner and outer helix members. The two members resume their laterally contracted positions by dynamic balancing as the STH speeds past the atom node; however, it takes some distance past the atom node for the STH to fully resume its balanced profile. The delay or lag causes the STH internal displacement to be stretched until it recovers a normal profile, so that the nucleon and the electron appear to be fuzzy points in space.

Under Relativistic Time Dilation, above, it was demonstrated that the two helices will be dragged along by the atom node so that their directions of flow at speed c will be engaging the atom node from the rear. The fuzzy zone of the inner and outer helix will extend forward from the leading side of the moving atom. As the atom node is pushed close to the speed of light, electron rotation slows relative to the atom, time dilation takes place for the atom, and the fuzzy zone in front of the atom becomes shorter. The net effect is that fuzzy atoms in a body become shorter in the leading direction of motion, but space-time helices approaching from the side are unaffected. The formula for Lorentz-Einstein contraction in the direction of travel of the atom is shown in Equation 3.

Relativistic mass increase and Lorentz-Einstein contraction effects depend only on the relativistic speed of the material body, not on the particular chemical composition or atomic weight of the elements involved. The Clopton Model provides that all matter and all space have fairly average STH density, as shown by Avogadro抯 Number, so the resultant physical and chemical characteristics of each element formed from the STH have little bearing on relativistic effects.

Lorentz-Einstein Contraction (In Direction of Travel) [Back to TOE]

D x_A = D x_B [sqrt (1- v_BA² / c² )] Equation 3

D x_A = Length of a rod measure in system A

D x_B = Length of a rod measure in system B

v_BA² = Square of the difference in velocity between observer A and observer B

5. Space-time and Dark Matter [Back to TOC]

The paradigm of flat space has been so powerful that even Albert Einstein described relativistic events in a setting of passive space-time. It took the author of this paper twenty years to overcome its grip. Breakthroughs take place when space-time is treated as co-equal with matter in a symbiotic relationship. That is what the space-time helix does. The space-time helix lacks inertia and charge repulsion, which matter supplies; but in turn, matter is created as a disturbance of the space-time helices. All aether theories failed because the sole function of the aether was to transmit light, not to also form matter. Light transmission is but one function of many in the space-time helix, which is the basis for all existence. Space is defined by the aggregate extension of all helices, whether expressed in Cartesian coordinates, polar coordinates, or in an azimuth system.

Time is more or less uniform across the universe, because it renormalizes at every proton and neutron in the universe. The renormalization process between two coupled helices is what strips photons (traveling displacements) off the STH. Each STH forces its coupled STH partner to resume a cleaner helical shape, thus ejecting photon distortions (see "What is a Photon?).

The presence of uncaptured hydrogen H atoms scattered throughout so-called empty space, makes it possible for us to see the universe. If photons traveled along a single STH from any given star to our retinas, we would see only a few specks of light with no detail, and the night sky would be very dark for us indeed. But starlight is transferred by renormalization from one STH to another at each H atom in space, scattering the star image for all to see. Since photons riding the STH have ballistic mass at speed c, some linear direction is maintained so that our view of the universe is not too distorted. The free hydrogen H atoms are referred to as cold dark matter because they do not themselves radiate photons, so they are invisible to our optical telescopes and radio telescopes. In addition, space-time helices do not maintain a perfectly balanced form at all times, so they also contribute to cold dark matter, along with hydrogen H atoms. As explained under the topic Where Does Charge Come From?, the balance point of null proto-charge and the balance point of null proto-mass in the cross section of the STH ribbon are not at the same point but offset, which may also contribute to dark energy and dark matter (see Figure 1). Ordinary matter that comprises stars and galaxies is less than five percent of all mass in the universe, and only ten percent of ordinary matter is visible to telescopes.

6. Speed of Light [Back to TOC]

The speed of light is considered a constant at 299,792,458 meters per second or 186,282.4 miles per second. The very fact that the speed of light is a constant demands a system that both establishes and regulates the speed of light to keep it constant. The uniform speed of light is a direct product and attribute of the space-time helix. The space-time helices wrap the entire universe, but owing to the expansion rate of the universe and its increasing circumference, light cannot be expected to circumnavigate the universe since the Big Bang occurred.

The electron in a hydrogen H atom orbits the nucleus at 1/137 of the speed of light. Depending on which orbital shell an electron is located in, an electron orbits the nucleus at speeds ranging from under 1% to 10% of the speed of light.

7. Where Does Mass Come From? [Back to TOC]

Mass materializes seemingly from nothingness by the coupling of two space-time helices. So long as each STH travels unimpeded across the universe, its proto-mass and proto-charge do not appear. Everything we know and perceive of the hidden sub-atomic world comes to us in a limited number of ways -

-- By Photons across the whole spectrum of electromagnetic radiation (light, microwave, infrared, radio frequency, etc.).

-- By Charge, either as static charge or as part of the photon.

-- By Inertia, which derives from mass.

-- By Gravity, which derives from mass following the least path through curved space-time.

-- By Magnetism, that like gravity, seeks the least path through curved space-time, but with one-way flow yielding magnetic poles.

-- By Rotation and Spin and the Right Hand Rule), which derive from the space-time helix directly.

All of these manifestations of the sub-atomic world derive from the space-time helix, but NOT when the STH is traveling across space unimpeded. If undisturbed, the inner and outer members of the helix are kept in dynamic balance. The inner and outer members of the STH have unequal radii of gyration, inversely proportional to their proto-mass properties (the same proportion as the relationship between the mass of the proton and electron). Anything that causes the radii of gyration of either the inner or outer helix to be deflected from its path will cause that member to appear as localized mass at the region of distortion. The other STH member will try to compensate and correct the offset as part of dynamic balancing, but if it is unable to do so because it is constrained (for example, within a nucleus), then mass intrudes into our realm as a pair of atomic particles (a proton and an electron). Once the STH speeds past the pair node or nucleus, dynamic balancing reasserts itself and the STH disappears into the invisible realm once again.

8. Where Does Charge Come From? [Back to TOC]

Charge also materializes from nothingness by the coupling of two space-time helices, or by displacement of the lighter outer STH member. The inner member of the STH has positive proto-charge and the outer member of the STH has negative proto-charge. The same dynamic balancing principles apply to the STH as outlined in the preceding section (see Where Does Mass Come From?), but with one major exception. The inner and outer members carry equal and opposite proto-charge, but their unequal radii of gyration are inversely proportional to their respective proto-masses. The unequal proto-masses travel in a dynamically balanced state, so their 憁oments of inertia?are normally equal. This radius offset results in the outer negative STH member having a grossly exaggerated sine wave orbit compared to the inner positive member (see Figure 1). The point of neutral proto-charge is offset from the point of neutral proto-mass (center of gyration). That in turn might cause the outer STH member to be detectable as an electrical sine wave of 6.6 million Gigahertz, or 4.54 x 10^-6 cm wavelength (see What is Electromagnetic Radiation?). The STH also provides the framework to understand why all elementary charges are limited to the values of +1, 0, and -1 equivalent electron charge.

9. What Is a Proton and Electron? [Back to TOC]

When two space-time helices are pair coupled at an atom, a proton and electron appear having charge and mass. The two intersecting space-time helices are locked together and play each other like a violin string and bow, so the proton and electron oscillations are self-sustaining. Both intersecting STH inner members contribute ?the charge and ?the mass of the proton; and the outer members contribute ?the charge and ?the mass of the electron. Not only are the electrons orbital in nature as originally theorized, but the heavy nucleons are also orbital in nature, having a very small orbital diameter. The internal interlocking orbits within the nucleus may contribute to the strong nuclear force that binds the nucleons together in defiance of repulsive charge. The electron is generally treated as a point charge having no size and no structure, yet it has a definite mass and behaves as though it is spinning. The classic radius of the electron charge is 1.4 x 10^-13 cm, which is 100,000 times smaller than the radius of the atom. The approximate diameter of an electron field is 10^-8 cm. The wave nature of the electron is a function of the STH, and may include microwave frequencies imposed on the outer helix by cosmic background radiation (see Background Radiation). The electron has no tendency to spiral inward and decay, because the "point" electron is actually formed by two crossed, infinitely long, space-time helices that sustain its motion and orbit.

The proton is the backbone and anchor of the universe. All protons were formed in the first one (1) second of the Big Bang. The proton has a half-life of 1 x 10³² years, which is to say that protons don抰 decay, not since the universe began roughly 14 billion years ago. Protons will last the lifetime of the universe if we don抰 interfere. The electron also is not expected to decay. According to the literature, electron coupling first occurred 300,000 years after the Big Bang, when the rapidly expanding chaotic H+ plasma cooled to the point that the two outer helices of node-paired space-time helices could capture each other as they whipped around the proton-node already formed by the intersecting inner helices.

All nuclei have equal average density, but the radius of a nucleus varies from element to element according to Equation 4, based on the number of nucleons in the atom. Nucleon density is a product of the space-time helix (see Avogadro抯 Number). The atom as a whole is electrically neutral, with equal numbers of protons and electrons. Most of the mass and all of the positive charge is in the nucleus. Little of the total mass, yet all of the identifiable negative charge is in the electron shells (other than electron and proton equivalent charges inside a neutron). All of these attributes of the atom derive from STH structure.

Radius of Atom Nucleus [Back to TOE]

r = 1.4 * (Atomic Mass Units of the element)^1/3 * 10^-13 Equation 4

10. What Is a Neutron and a Neutrino? [Back to TOC]

If the STH is deflected or becomes twisted at a pair node or atom nucleus, the outer and inner helical members are forced into near contact with each other in the same manner visually depicted by a spiral wrapped garden hose that has become folded and pinched at an oblique angle. The near union of the inner and outer STH members at the point of deflection yields a neutron, following the classic definition of the neutron as a paired proton and electron. The electron orbital suffers the greater distortion in neutron pairing. Because of its insignificant mass compared to the proton, the electron formed from the outer helices of two paired STH is forced off path and held within a neutron inside the nucleus of the atom.

The proton has positive unit-charge; the neutron has no net charge, but it has internal unit-charge both positive and negative from a constituent proton and electron pair coupled in the neutron. The neutron has a magnetic moment that is oriented opposite to the proton. The opposing magnetic orientation of a proton as compared to a neutron may indicate that a neutron is formed from an STH traveling in a direction opposite to that of a proton. Direction of travel would help to explain the production of a negative unit-charge antineutrino in neutron decay, to carry away excess mass and momentum; since the neutrino would be forced backward in time along the prevailing STH direction of travel, to appear as an antineutrino (see What Is Antimatter?).

A free neutron will decay with a half-life of about 10.3 minutes into a proton and electron and (negative unit-charge) electron antineutrino; but the neutron is stable if combined into a nucleus. Like a garden hose building up pressure behind a folded and pinched area, the STH seeks to straighten out a neutron node and return the STH to a proton and electron status, unless confined in a nucleus. Neutron placement in the elements of the periodic table may have to do with injection angles of the two helices that comprise each proton-electron pair in the atom (see Particle Spin). Multiplying the number of protons and neutrons by two gives the number of helices converging into each atomic nucleus. Depending on the atomic number of an element, the area around the atom may become rather crowded, leading to the electron filling sequence in orbital shells, and dictating the placement of neutrons in the periodic table. The neutron has a mass of 1839m_e, and the proton has a mass of 1836m_e. The difference between the mass of a neutron and a proton indicates that not only is an electron mass combined with a proton in the neutron, but binding energy equal to 2m_e is also present.

The neutrino is a particle created out of excess energy, and not a constituent of nuclei. The neutrino particle is used only to conserve angular momentum in nuclear reactions; it has zero charge, spin 1/2h (see Particle Spin), and zero-rest-mass (see What Is a Photon?). These characteristics identify the neutrino as a photon derivative of the STH. The neutrino is capable of describing a straight line completely through the earth with only one chance in 10¹² of being captured or colliding with another particle during its entire .04 second journey through the earth! Tests were conducted during 2006 at Fermilab in which a beam of neutrinos was passed 450 miles through the earth from Batavia, Illinois to an old iron mine in Soudan, Minnesota. A larger percentage of the beam was lost in transit than expected, leading some physicists to attribute the loss to "neutrino oscillation" and to conclude that the neutrino has a small mass, in contradiction to the principle of relativistic mass increase, which provides that only a zero-rest-mass particle can travel at the speed of light. The physicists' assumption is based on the paradigm of non-reactive flat space; their assumption can only chip away at the foundation of our understanding of relativity that is already under assault. The space-time helix allows that limited oscillation and vibration can occur in a zero-rest-mass particle, depending upon how dynamically balanced the photon is across the STH it is riding. Physicists haven't considered a speed of light carrier for the neutrino, because the Clopton Model is the first to present the STH as a dynamic source of all matter, and carrier of all forces and interactions at speed c.

11. What Is a Photon? [Back to TOC]

The photon is known as a zero-rest-mass particle. That is to say, the photon has energy and mass only so long as it travels at the speed of light. The photon can propagate across infinite distances without loss of intensity. If the photon drops below the speed of light, it sheds all its energy and ceases to exist. This property, known as zero-rest-mass, has long puzzled particle physicists, so it was accepted as yet another unexplained attribute of matter. In the Clopton Model, zero-rest-mass is a natural consequence of the space-time helix. A photon is simply a distortion wave, a super-imposed signal, applied to the STH like a hitch-hiker riding a train. The photon can only travel at the speed of the STH, the speed of light, and if the hitch-hiker gets forced off the train so to speak, its entire kinetic energy is expended against any object it hits.

The photon distortion can be applied to the outer member of an STH by electrical deflection of a magnetic dipole molecule, in which case it is called electromagnetic radiation, or an X-ray, or a radio wave, or light. We have many names for photons, depending on the frequency of the modulation applied to the STH. If the modulation is applied mechanically to the inner member of the STH, by nuclear reaction in a stellar event, we may call it high energy cosmic radiation, owing to the larger proto-mass of the inner helix and the greater potential for damage from photon impact. It has been demonstrated as a principle that the photon travels at the same speed as its associated electromagnetic wave.

Though photons are zero-rest-mass "particles", at the speed of light they possess tremendous energy. A simple demonstration of photon energy within visible light is the rapid speed of rotation applied to a Crooke's radiometer in bright sunlight by photon bombardment. A Crooke抯 radiometer consists of a 憌indmill?with vertical vanes blackened on one side only, which spins on a pivot point in a vacuum filled glass globe, when light photons (not wind) strike the black vanes.

The outer STH member, being 1/1836th the weight of the inner member, and 1836 times distant from the center of gyration, is very elastic and can be distorted longitudinally so that it can both precede or lag behind the heavier inner member. (The inner member, having heavier proto-mass, is the backbone of the STH.) Alternate compression and expansion longitudinally along the outer STH member produces a frequency modulated (FM) wave, the same kind used to broadcast stereo music. By creating a standing radio frequency wave along a directional broadcast antenna, the alternating compression and expansion of the electric wave can be transferred to any space-time helices passing near or comprising the atoms of the antenna. The overall electric charge of the affected STH along its longitudinal axis remains zero in a perfectly generated FM wave, but the outer STH member acquires a fine modulation that will ride the STH indefinitely as a series of FM photons until they act upon an atom in a receiving antenna to deflect or twist the axis of a receiving magnetic dipole atom in response to the modulation. The magnetic deflection of the receiving atom generates an electric current in the antenna which can then be reconstituted as FM music (see What is Electromagnetic Radiation?). FM photons have line of sight properties because they are not as large in diameter as amplitude modulated (AM) photons, and can more readily pass through intersecting pair nodes (atoms) along their path without shedding the FM distortion and being re-radiated.

The STH can also have charge applied at any point along its length to increase or decrease the local separation between the positive proto-charge and the negative proto-charge of the inner and outer STH members. The inner and outer STH members, in accepting the externally applied charge variations, then increase or decrease their internal spacing relative to each other in a balanced manner, so that their radii of gyration remain proportional, therefore mass does not suddenly appear along the STH path. Instead, the STH takes on a series of modulated bulges known as an amplitude-modulated (AM) wave. Because the STH diameter is alternately increased in an AM wave, its propagation distance is limited; the AM modulated STH will interact more readily with any matter in its path, whether air molecules or fog or rain. Any intersecting ungrounded molecule re-radiates the AM wave by absorbing the STH bulge then ejecting the newly acquired electrical charge in the form of a new AM bulge along another intersecting STH. Imperfect transfer to a new STH in a somewhat different direction causes signal scattering, static noise, and over the horizon skip because the electrically bulged STH is also highly reactive with the charged ionosphere. An AM broadcast antenna does not necessarily have to be directional because the electrical charge potential is transferred to the STH at a single point of intersection with constituent pair nodes (atoms) in the broadcast antenna.

AM wave reception occurs because the diameter modulated STH swells an orbital electron shell of an atom along the path of the STH. An electron is temporarily bumped to a higher orbital state in the atom, which drives the outer electron shells to a higher state as well. The higher electron shells resist the increased orbital diameter because they are under pressure from their own locally stretched STH members, so the higher shells try to squeeze the increased electrical potential (radius of gyration offset) back onto another departing STH. If the receiving atom is grounded as part of a metallic or conductive crystalline matrix, the ejected photon(s) travel from atom to atom in this same manner as electricity, because the photon is generally called the messenger of the electric force. If the photon frequency is high enough (visible light or X-ray), and the receiving antenna is made of a material that wants to shed charge readily, then the interaction is known as the photo-electric effect.

AM photons are limited to less than 30 megahertz, in the upper short wave band. Inductance and reactance in broadcast electric circuits limit charge transfer to less than 30 megahertz. Gigahertz frequencies are all FM modulated. Much of the tuning in gigahertz frequency microwave circuits is done with tuned cavities and strong magnets to establish rotary circulation patterns. Microwave circuits bear little resemblance to conventional electronic circuitry.

This author proposed thirty years ago in a first paper on this subject, that one possible test of the space-time helix would be to witness two separate but near simultaneous photon interactions in which one photon interaction precipitates the other, but without a discernable connection between the events. Such events have been repeatedly observed in bubble chamber photographs, and assigned to a particle called the "virtual photon." A virtual photon is nothing more than a zero-rest-mass distortion riding the STH, but the distortion displaces both the inner and outer helices proportionally so the STH stays in dynamic balance. When a photon riding an STH is balanced in its travel, no vibration occurs so there is no charge or mass to reveal its presence in a bubble chamber, until the balanced virtual photon strikes a particle in the chamber, becomes unbalanced, and reveals itself by ballistic tracks.

12. What is Electromagnetic Radiation? [Back to TOC]

To begin with, there is probably no such thing as "electromagnetic radiation." A photon travels as a zero-rest-mass charge distortion on the STH, either AM or FM in its wave form (see What is a Photon?). AM reception occurs primarily by transferring electric potential (i.e., charge, or helix separation) to the receiving atom, which swells the electron shells momentarily and starts an electric current flowing in the antenna. FM reception is cleaner in that the longitudinally modulated displacement of an FM wave along the STH will cause direct deflection of a magnetic dipole molecule. The magnetic twisting of the receiving dipole molecule rises and falls in synch with the FM modulation originally applied to the STH. Only proto-charge displacement (modulation of the outer STH helix) can ride an STH at speed c, either as AM or FM modulation. Many people mistake the commonly presented 3-axis plot, of electric field strength versus magnetic field strength with respect to time, assuming it to be a sketch of an electromagnetic sine wave. Such is absolutely not the case; the three axis plot is simply a graph of magnetic response to rising and falling electric charge in an AM receiver, plotted at 90 degrees to each other over time. So-called electromagnetic radiation travels in free space and through the atmosphere as AM or FM electrical modulations of the STH; magnetic deflection is an added response that occurs in the receiving antenna.

The positive and negative elements of the electromagnetic wave are the result of the alternate expansion and compression (laterally AM, or longitudinally FM) of the proto-negative element (outer helix) of the space-time helix, which is proportionally quite distant from the central proto-positive core (inner helix) of the STH. This helps to explain why the most effective broadcast antenna is one that is tuned to a standing wave, to obtain maximum energy transfer in distorting the passing space-time helix.

13. What is Electricity? [Back to TOC]

The photon is indeed the messenger of the electric force (see What is a Photon?). A conductor is a crystalline structure or lattice work of closely spaced molecules or atoms sharing common bonds along a network or grid of constituent space-time helices. In free space the closest neighbor along a constituent STH might be a thousand miles or light years away, but in a good conductor material, the spacing of atoms sharing common helices is only a matter of centimeters. An AM modulated charge distortion rides the STH at the speed of light until it intersects an atom sharing the same STH in the antenna or conductor. The AM modulation may have been transferred from pair node to pair node in space or in the atmosphere many times before reaching a grounded receiver. The modulated charge in the STH is stripped from the helix by renormalization, and the energy potential transfers to the receiving molecule or atom by bumping its electron stack to a higher state. The electron orbitals are under pressure from their own constituent STH pairs coursing through the stack at the speed of light. The pressure on the stack from the newly arrived photon charge is quickly relieved by ejecting the upward displacement as a new photon traveling along a different intersecting STH. The displacement within the orbitals stack may rise to where the pressure is less, along the outer orbitals, before the excess electrostatic charge is ejected as a photon. That is why chemical reactions occur at the outer orbitals; not because electrons are jumping between the outer shells of atoms, but because combined electron stack pressure is least at the outer shells.

The photon has ballistic properties, so electricity will tend to flow one direction at a time in a conductor, and always from higher potential charge to lower charge. The speed of light in translucent materials and the speed of electricity in a conductor are both only slightly lower than the speed of light in free space, because the photon messengers are carried along by constituent space-time helices that form the conductor material. The amount by which light slows though translucent material, or electricity slows through a conductor, is determined by the cumulative lapse-time for atoms to strip off a photon, and then reapply the photon energy as a new photon on a different STH, or along the same STH, depending on ballistic inertia of the incoming photon. The speed of light through matter also depends on the spacing of pair nodes along the same STH in the material, as determined by its crystalline structure. In short, the final speed of propagation in a conductor is a product of the speed with which the atoms in the material can absorb photon energy into their electron stacks and eject new photons, and how often the process must be repeated along the conductor.

14. What is a Force? [Back to TOC]

There are four forces commonly recognized in particle physics: strong nuclear force, electromagnetic force, weak nuclear force, and gravitational force, in descending order of relative strength. To that list I would add gyroscopic force, as an expression of the right hand rule. The Clopton Model does not require boson particles to transmit force because the invisible STH acts directly on coupled matter. Force is the direct interaction of the space-time helix with long lived and short lived particles. The space-time helix is the answer to Einstein抯 concerns about "action at a distance." Specific forces will be discussed in the sections that follow.

15 Electrostatic Charge [Back to TOC]

Electrostatic charge potential, or static electricity, differs greatly in scale from the expression of electric charge within atomic particles and within photons, either AM or FM modulated. Static electricity is most commonly generated by mechanical means, whether by dragging shoes across a nylon carpet, or by rain drops pulling electrons from clouds to generate lightening, or by the spinning friction belt in a Van de Graf generator. In the Clopton Model, the outer negative proto-charge helix of the STH is mechanically restrained or pulled backward like a spring being compressed along a center shaft. The region of compression takes on a negative charge potential by the predominance of outer helix loops. The inner positive proto-charge helix, having far greater proto-mass, acts as a center shaft to direct the outer helix compression or restraint (see Figure 5). Wherever the inner helix has been exposed or given predominance by the outer helix being compressed elsewhere along the STH, that region of exposed inner helix takes on a positive charge.

Once the compression strain becomes too great along the STH, the electric differential overcomes the restraining condition, either by "grounding" or by "breakdown of dielectric," then the compressed STH outer helix slides back along the inner helix to resume its normally balanced state with the apparent release of electric energy. That is why electrostatic current flows from negative to positive polarity; the outer helix has greater freedom of movement longitudinally, to be compressed like a spring storing electrical potential, then to return suddenly to a normal balance condition. Since the STH travels at the speed of light and has infinite extension, the stretched STH electrostatic potential may span inches, or miles as in the case of lightening, or astronomical units as in the case of planets charged by the solar wind. This is also the reason that potential voltage between capacitor plates increases as the separation between the plates increases. So-called point charges follow an r² relationship for field strength depending on the number of charged STH lines connecting the two bodies (r being the distance between the point charges). But, moving capacitor plates outward actually stretches the shared outer helices and increases the charge potential as the plates move apart, dragging the outer helices along until the rising voltage potential breaks down the dielectric strength of the intervening medium (see Equation 5).

Voltage Potential Between Capacitor Plates [Back to TOE]

E = (V_a - V_b) / l = V_ab / l Equation 5

E = Electric intensity between capacitor plates

V_a,b = Electrical potential of plates A and B

l= Distance between plates A and B

Figure 5. Electrostatic Charge [Back to TOF] [Click Here To Enlarge]

16 Magnetism [Back to TOC]

Magnetism, like gravity, is a distortion of space-time, in that space-time helices bend and curve under the influence of matter. Matter bends the STH like an optical lens bends light (actually the molecules in the lens bend their constituent helices along paths which light photons travel). In the case of magnetism, the bending is caused by molecules that form magnetic dipoles. The magnetic dipoles may allow only one-way direction of travel for the STH, thereby creating north and south poles. Helices involved in magnetic fields tend to bend sharply back into the magnetized body to form the common toroidal shape, due primarily to the one-way STH flow. Magnetic lines of force have traditionally been considered actual lines in space, as evidenced by the various units of measure for magnetism, such as Gauss, Webbers, and lines of flux. Magnetism can be induced by rubbing iron against a magnet, or by an electric current in a coil following the direction of the right hand rule. These methods of magnetization line up dipole molecules and start the magnetic field flowing back upon itself, until hysteresis or thermal agitation re-scrambles the dipole molecules.

17 Gravity [Back to TOC]

Like magnetism, gravity is indeed the result of warped space-time; but in the case of gravity, the STH flow is bi-directional, or more properly, multi-directional. Space-time is a double helix; and matter or light which is composed of the STH will follow the path laid out by the STH, not because it is the least path, but because it is the only path. Zero-rest-mass photons ride the space-time helices as modulated distortions. Space-time helices are deflected and warped by the lens effect of matter through which they pass, yielding gravity and magnetism. Light photons can be stripped from one STH and applied to another STH at a pair node. Light can therefore be deflected near a planet or star by free floating pair nodes (e.g., hydrogen atoms) held in the gravity of the heavenly body. Both the deflection of space-time helices, and the renormalization between STH pairs, contribute to the apparent bending of light near a star or planet.

In a vacuum, feathers and anvils fall to earth at the same rate; this is because the space-time helix density of both anvils and feathers is identical, differing only in the molecular weights of the bodies as related to Avogadro抯 number (see Avogadro抯 Number). Air resistance makes the feather fall slower.

Gravitational field strength, like electric field strength between charged bodies (see Equation 6 and Equation 7), diminishes with distance according to the product of their masses or charges, divided by the square of the distance between them. Matter warps space-time by its shape and density.

The space-time helices are already highly convoluted in the presence of matter, causing both gravity (curved two-way flow) and magnetism (curved one-way flow). Rotation of the earth, of solar systems and galaxies, also causes clumpiness in the universe and local gravitational distortions. (The literature says the Milky Way Galaxy has rotated eight times since its formation.)

Gravitational Attraction [Back to TOE]

F_g = G (m * m') / r² Equation 6

F_g = Force of gravity

G = Universal Gravitational Constant

m, m' = Masses of two bodies

r = Distance between the two bodies

Coulomb's Law [Back to TOE]

F = k (q * q') / r² Equation 7

F = Force between charged bodies

k = Electrical constant

q, q' = Two point charges

r = Distance between the two point charges

18 Inertia [Back to TOC]

The proton is the backbone of the universe. The proton never decays. Tremendous binding energy was packed into the protons in the first one (1) second of the Big Bang. The space-time helix in free space lacks inertia, but it is drawn relentlessly on at the speed of light by mechanisms that are beyond our means of assessment (see Where Does Mass Come From?). In our world protons, electrons, and neutrons supply the properties of inertia and charge repulsion that the STH lacks, but their mass and charge materialize from the background helices.

19 Right Hand Rule [Back to TOC]

The Right Hand Rule is the most fundamental clue to the underlying structure of the universe, and it is one of the most neglected phenomena in physics. The right hand rule acts upon both matter and electromagnetic waves; how can this be, except that matter is created from the spiral STH, and electromagnetic waves ride the spiral STH as photons. The right hand rule affects gyroscopic precession, magnetic field rotation, and particle spin. Without it, inertial navigation would be impossible, electric motors wouldn抰 work, and bicycles and motorcycles would fall over. The right hand rule is not to be confused with the Coriolis Effect which has to do primarily with large scale air and water movement north and south of the equator due to the earth's rotation. Localized spin which results from or causes a linear force, either mechanical, electrical, or magnetic, is a product of the right hand rule.

The right hand rule is best illustrated by a simple exercise for which it is named: 1) hold out your right hand; 2) point your thumb outward ?it points in the direction of motive force; 3) curl your fingers into your palm - imagine your finger tips as arrows showing the direction of rotation. The rule applies in many ways:

-- If a current flows through a wire in the direction your thumb is pointing, a magnetic field will be generated that circles the wire in the direction your fingers are curled.

-- If an electric motor coil has a current flowing through it in the direction your fingers are curled, a magnetic field will be generated from the center of the coil, with its north pole pointed in the direction represented by your thumb.

-- When a gyroscope is set spinning on a raised pivot stand, the spinning mass creates an invisible force vector in the direction of the thumb, following the same right hand rule exercise. As the gyroscope slows down and tries to tip over, the invisible perpendicular force vector rotates in the direction of the curled fingers and generates a secondary invisible force at right angles to the top of the falling gyroscope, again following the right hand rule exercise. The secondary force vector causes the top of the gyroscope to rotate about the pivot stand in a circle. The rotating secondary force vector creates a third invisible force vector, again following the right hand rule, which lifts the top of the gyroscope so that it can抰 fall until the energy stored in the spinning gyroscope is expended and the gyroscope slows, then it will fall. This whole sequence of three invisible vector forces based on the right hand rule is called "gyroscopic precession." It is the basis of inertial navigation, and bicycle or motorcycle wheels which act like gyroscopes.

In physics class, we were taught how the gyroscope works and how to calculate the forces; but no one could explain where the forces come from. The term "force" is a technical way of saying, "we don抰 know what is causing this." It sounds better that way. I went looking for an answer to gyroscopic precession, and other questions I had, but the answers weren抰 in the many books I read. I found the answer for the right hand rule by developing an understanding of the space-time helix. A magnetic compass led Einstein to question "action at a distance." A gyroscope and an inadequate explanation in physics class led to the space-time helix and the Clopton Model.

We live in a right-hand universe. The right hand rule is an inherent part of the space-time helix. NOTE: The space-time helix has left-handed thread pitch which creates right-handed rotation (or motive force) according to the right hand rule, in every mass and every plane of detection it passes through at the speed of light. The STH explains why all mature galaxies and stellar bodies exhibit rotation, whether as a pin wheel shaped star field, or as planets orbiting a star, or as star pairs orbiting each other? The STH explains why rotation is such an inherent part of the universe as all levels. Figure 6 and Figure 7 are photographs of the STH derived right hand rule at work in the cosmos.

Figure 6. Photograph and schematic overlay of a large magnetic helix found in the Orion Molecular Cloud.
[Back to TOF] [Entire Article] Credit: Saxton, Dame, Hartmann, Thaddeus; NRAO/AUI/NSF

Figure 7. Infrared photograph of a double helix nebulae at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.
[Back to TOF] [Entire Article] Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA

20 Unlimited Power by STH Coupling [Back to TOC]

The right hand rule works by a coupling effect, applied both mechanically and electrically, to the basic STH. The Clopton Model is the first theory to provide a legitimate explanation for this phenomenon. In both the example of a spinning gyroscope (mechanical coupling) and the magnetic field of an electric motor (electrical coupling), the resultant right hand rule force vector is supplied by the aligned linear motion of the space-time helices to which the spinning object or field becomes coupled.

By now it should be apparent that electrical and/or mechanical coupling to the space-time helix, involving rotation and possibly superimposed nuclear, magnetic, or photon effects, could hold the potential for unlimited power production and motive propulsion; but such coupling could alter space-time for extended distances, causing untold disruption to normal matter and possibly affecting human physiology. Such experimentation would not be without risks; and those risks could jeopardize every human being (see An Imminent Danger at the end of this paper).

21 Chemical Bonding [Back to TOC]

The space-time helix is the vehicle for single, double, and triple chemical covalent bonding. Current theory bases chemical bonding on an exchange of electrons from the outer orbitals, which implies that so-called free electrons jump from one race track to another and back again, metaphorically speaking. In the Clopton Model, wave aspects of matter derive from the STH, because the STH inner and outer helices generate or describe a sine wave whenever the STH intersects a plane of detection that is non-perpendicular to the STH axis. There are an infinite number of non-perpendicular planes of intersection, but only one perpendicular plane, so the STH will almost always yield a sine wave in any plane of detection having to do with particulate matter. Chemical bonding can take place along the common axis of an STH that is shared by two adjacent atoms. For example, in the case of aluminum with 27 nucleons, there are 54 space-time helices radiating from each atom along which bonding may occur. Bonding may result from a resonance function or standing wave along a shared STH. Metals and crystalline structures present interesting lattice arrangements for bonding; the STH provides an underlying grid structure for such lattice arrangements.

22 Power Source for the Universe [Back to TOC]

The STH is the power source for the universe at a sub-atomic level, where fusion and fission are not a factor. The STH circulates constantly across the universe at the speed of light; its helical shape generates rotation in electrons and protons as it slides through them, and thereby powers all atoms, molecules, and reactions; but the STH doesn抰 actually rotate. Where the STH becomes twisted or is deflected by a nucleus, a neutron is formed by convergence of a proton and electron at a fold on the same STH.

The STH is the source of all rotational force and atomic energy, and is the carrier of photon energy including light from the sun. The speed of light, unit charges +/-/0, and electron/ proton/ neutron masses have all been described herein as integral constants of the space-time helix. In popularly accepted atomic models, chemical bonding and de Broglie waves bleed energy from the electrons, so that the material universe should have long ago vanished. Simple inertia of sub-atomic particles, or stored thermal energy, cannot be expected to keep particles in motion after 14 billion years. The universe has already cooled to three degrees Kelvin (-454^oF); that抯 very cold.

To deny the need for an underlying structure or mechanism to power and sustain the world around us is to believe in perpetual motion, or in the proverbial free lunch. The Clopton Model demands a first cause and design. The STH drives the universe; but what drives the STH? That is a philosophical question that each reader must answer in his or her own way. Theoretical physics avoided the question of cause, focusing instead on elaborate mathematical explanations for the opening moments of the Big Bang, and neglecting a sustaining power source for sub-atomic particles and interactions. The motive source for the STH is unknowable through science because of limitations in the number of ways we can gather information about the universe (see Where Does Mass Come From?).

23 Conservation Laws [Back to TOC]

The various conservation laws have all been proven experimentally, but a satisfactory universal conservation law has yet to be found. The space-time helix, by its very nature, can serve to unite the following conservation laws:

-- Conservation of Mass-Energy ?Both mass and energy are caused by distortions of the same STH structure. Atomic mass results from sustained vibrational and lateral displacement as one STH plays another STH at a pair node. Short lived particles and their masses derive from impact vibrations applied to magnetically stiffened helices. Energy is the result of photon distortions riding the STH, or rotational energy imparted to the proton, neutron, and electron by the space-time helices from which they area formed.

-- Conservation of Linear and Angular Momentum ?Both forms of momentum can be products of STH generated rotation and STH axial travel at the speed of light. The STH provides a means to link linear momentum and angular momentum.

-- Conservation of Charge ?The total charge of the universe is constant, because the average density of space-time helices is constant across the universe.

24 What Is Antimatter? [Back to TOC]

Normal matter consists of a positively charged nucleus and a negatively charged electron shell. Many atomic particles carry a positive or negative charge. Most atomic particles have corresponding antiparticles that carry the opposite electrical charges. Even neutral particles can theoretically have antiparticles with reversed internal charges but zero net charge. When matter and antimatter come in contact with each other, the two opposing particles neutralize and cancel each other electrically with release of their entire energy. Antimatter is insignificant by its volume in the universe, and all kinds of theories have been developed to account for the gross imbalance between matter and antimatter. Our universe is a right-hand universe, and a normal matter universe. The STH structure explains why that is.

Antimatter for research use must be created in particle accelerators and colliders then stored in vacuum vessels with strong magnetic fields surrounding the container to keep the antimatter from coming in contact with the walls of the vessel or with normal-matter gas molecules in the chamber. Because magnetic containment coils are irregular in their field shapes, and a vacuum is seldom perfect, it is difficult to store antimatter very long. Antimatter has acquired a place in popular culture. Everyone knows that androids have positronic brains, regardless of the movie title, which means their computer brains are made of positrons (antielectrons). In order for an android to have a positronic brain, its head would have to be surrounded by a containment vessel the size of a Volkswagen.

Science fiction aside, we need to understand antimatter, because it gives us a major clue about the nature of particle physics. Antimatter has an accepted alternate definition. Antimatter can be equally defined as "normal matter moving backward in time". That definition of reverse time flow isn抰 used very much because it has been difficult to envision reverse time flow, until the Clopton Model that is. The space-time helix establishes the speed of light, gives the universe a bias toward the right hand rule, and establishes a direction for the flow of time. Time in its basic standard is simply the crest to crest passage of the space-time helix as it flows through a plane of detection. Time flows only one way because the helix has a standard pitch, like threads on a metal screw. The space-time helix is pliable, stretchable, and the outer helix can be compressed or expanded to accept modulation. Time re-normalizes at each paired node (atom) so the universe shares a more or less common time base, and the STH waveform maintains a more or less common pitch and shape.

Time has a direction of flow, which means that the STH flows through atoms and causes electrons to orbit at the same general frequency. If the orbital frequency was increased in an atom, it could be said that the atom was moving ahead in time. Similarly, if the orbital frequency was slowed in an atom, it could be said that the atom was moving backward in time. The orbital rotation does not need to be reversed in order to move backward in time; it is only necessary that the forward speed of rotation be slower than the prevailing orbital frequency in order for the atom to adopt a slower time scale and fall behind the prevailing time scale. To the normal world, the slowed atom would appear to be traveling backward in time, and its electrical charges would appear to a local observer to be reversed. That is the origin of antimatter. But why isn抰 there more antimatter? Because any attempt to push a paired node backward against the flow of the STH causes an S-shaped loop to form which allows time to maintain its normal direction of flow, and the coupled STH re-normalizes the pair node to the common time scale (see Figure 3).

Antimatter distortions generally cannot form in the universe, except in the presence of a very strong magnetic field, which stiffens the space-time helices like the pattern revealed by iron filings on a sheet of paper held over a bar magnet. That magnetic stiffening of space-time helices allows a "particle" to be pushed upstream against the stiffened helices, resulting in apparent reverse time and antimatter. There are two places in the universe where antimatter is likely to form: in highly magnetic stellar plasma, and in the physicists?accelerators, colliders, detectors, and storage rings, all of which utilize very strong magnetic fields. The very act of trying to detect anti-matter by measuring its reversed spin in the intense magnetic field of a cloud chamber stiffens the space-time helices so that anti-matter can exist. The quantity of positrons, antineutrinos, and other antimatter generated at research facilities does not reflect the real world, because of the intense magnetic fields used to generate, accelerate, direct, detect, and store created particles.

25 What Are Short-lived Particles? [Back to TOC]

The proton has a half-life of 1 x 10³² years, which is to say that protons don抰 decay, not since the universe began. The proton is the backbone of the universe; its pair nodes hold the universe together. The electron also is not expected to decay. A free neutron will decay with a half-life of about 10.3 minutes into a proton and electron (beta particle), but the neutron is stable if combined into a nucleus. These are all extremely long lived compared to the rest of the particles created in accelerators and colliders by particle physicists. The longest half-lives among other sub-atomic particles are on the order of 1 x 10^-8 seconds. Why is there such a broad disparity between the half-lives of the proton, neutron, and electron, and the remaining particles? As in the case of antimatter production, the answer involves stiffening the space-time helices by means of intense magnetic fields in plasma fields or high energy research equipment. The proton, neutron, and electron are self sustaining because two merged helices, joined perpetually in the first one (1) second of the Big Bang, play each other continuously like a violin string and bow. All the remaining "particles" are local vibrations caused by accelerated impact against stiffened space-time helices in the physicists?target chambers, cloud chambers, and scintillators. This is analogous to plucking a tensioned violin string, or striking the string with the wooden back of the bow.

The literature shows that these temporary vibrational distortions, or short-lived particles, can be organized by their properties into three octaves of eight "notes" each, like music notes. Any violin player understands the significance of three octaves on a violin string. The third harmonic is the highest note that a violin string can be effectively divided into by lightly touching the string with the little finger in just the right spot (at 1/2, 1/3, and 1/4 the string length from the bridge). The first harmonic is double the frequency of the open string; the second harmonic is double the frequency of the first harmonic; and the third harmonic is double the frequency of the second harmonic. Above the third harmonic, too much violin bow pressure (compare to particle accelerator energy) is required to excite the string. Tightened violin strings correspond by analogy to the stiffened space-time helices held in intense magnetic fields of research instruments at our national and university particle physics labs. Physicists actually create many of the particles they claim are constituent parts of larger particles. This research methodology may be relevant to nuclear fission or fusion, or the mechanisms of stellar plasma, but it is not representative of the rest of the universe.

26 Particle Spin [Back to TOC]

Atomic particles have a spin value associated with each particle that can only be an integral or half-integral multiple of Planck抯 constant shown as h, with the exception of the Meson class (spin 0). The reason for a spin value is that all particles are distortions by various methods of the same basic space-time helix, a twisted ribbon-like structure traveling along its axis at speed c. Lepton class particles derive from the outer helix of the STH, and Nucleon class particles derive from the inner helix; both classes have a spin value of 1/2h. The photon is the only particle with an integer spin value of 1h.

Here are some examples and explanations of spin in atomic structure -

-- Electrons spin on an axis that is always perpendicular to the orbital path; this would place the electron spin axis parallel to the STH propagation axis, in agreement with the Clopton Model.

-- Maxwell抯 electromagnetic theory suggested that there is some kind of rotation going on in an electromagnetic field. The reason is obvious in the Clopton Model that photons ride upon a carrier helix. The space-time helix doesn抰 rotate, but it creates spin or rotation at any point of intersection or plane of detection, by action of the helix sliding through an intersecting particle.

-- The nucleus itself can have composite angular momentum known as nuclear spin, but the nucleus has a low magnetic moment compared to the electron shells which have high magnetic moments. The Clopton Model accounts for this difference. Electrons have negative unit-value electric charge, and protons have positive unit-value electric charge, but protons and neutrons orbit about a very small radius of gyration compared to electrons which orbit about a radius of gyration 1836 times greater than their coupled protons. This results in the orbiting electron producing a much greater magnetic moment than the orbiting proton.

-- The photon is capable of receiving angular momentum from atoms and particles, and of imparting angular momentum to atoms and particles. The photon is zero-rest-mass, but it derives its mass at speed c from the STH. Atoms and particles are formed from the STH, so it is not surprising that angular momentum can be conveyed to and from the photon by the STH.

All even proton / even neutron nuclei (2 protons / 2 neutrons, 4 protons / 4 neutrons, etc.) have a total angular spin momentum in the nucleus of zero (0). In the Clopton Model, this reduces to a condition of aligned and opposing space-time helices, whose net angular momentum cancels out. Each nucleon has two (2) space-time helices crossing in its midst as a pair node. The second oblique STH of each pair node may also act like an outrigger to stabilize nucleon angular momentum. There appears to be a natural tendency for the STH to pair with another STH along a shared axis, but with opposing direction of travel, so that angular momentum cancels out. It has been found that even-even (proton-neutron) isotopes are the most abundant; even-odd and odd-even isotopes are less abundant; and odd-odd isotopes are extremely rare. The Clopton Model may also explain the condition found in the Bohr-Mottleson model (which emphasizes nuclear vibration and rotation), that even-even nuclear configurations at or near the so-called 憁agic numbers?of 2, 8, 14, 20, 28, 50, 82, and 126 are particularly stable; this may be caused by space-time helices paired along a shared axis with opposing directions of travel, but held in stable spherical configurations.

27 High Energy Particles and Cosmic Radiation [Back to TOC]

The inner helix of the STH can acquire massive photon-like distortions, from stellar events for example, that may be the source of high energy gamma radiation. The heavy photon, or gamma radiation, can travel as a zero rest mass particle riding the inner helix of the STH at speed c. Gamma radiation can be stopped by 10 cm of lead.

28 Avogadro抯 Number [Back to TOC]

Avogadro抯 number defines the number of atoms or molecules in a mole weight of any chemical element or compound, held either as a gas, liquid, or solid. Its value is 6.022 x 10²³ atoms or molecules per mole. Avogadro抯 number is evidence of an underlying grid or matrix created by the space-time helices, and the average density of the STH background at this stage in the expansion of the universe. All nuclei have equal average density, as a product of the space-time grid or matrix created by the STH. The STH have equal average density across the spherical surface of the universe (see Big Bang and the Shape of the Universe).

29 Brownian Motion [Back to TOC]

Brownian motion presents the opportunity to see an effect of space-time helices visibly. Space-time helices can absorb low energy thermal photons and impart their kinetic energy to minute particles such as dust or smoke. This results in the minute particles being bumped erratically by one STH, then another STH, which comprise the particle抯 pair nodes or atoms. This bumping action can be witnessed under a microscope. Brownian motion was one experimental method used to derive a value for Avogadro抯 number.

30 Continuum ?Quantum Commonality [Back to TOC]

Relativity and Quantum Theory were the foundations of advances in twentieth century science. The outer limits of man抯 knowledge are defined by relativity; the inner limits are defined by quantum theory. Max Planck formulated quantum theory in 1900, and Einstein successfully applied it in 1905 to electromagnetic radiation, when he first proposed the photon unit. Relativity has been proven and applied extensively, but the relativistic effects have remained without physical representation until the Clopton Model (see Relativistic Time Dilation, Relativistic Mass Increase, and Lorentz-Einstein Contraction). Quantum theory is the basis for particle physics and was the foundation of the electronic revolution, but the question has remained, why such narrow limits of quantization (spin, charge, and mass)? Again, the space-time helix provides the structure from which quantization values are derived.

The particle description of light applies in matter reactions (six photon interaction modes); the wave description of light applies in diffraction and diffusion. One proposed solution for this duality was to impose hypothetical boundaries on infinite wave functions, to reflect and create a localized hypothetical standing wave. The more obvious solution to the duality of light is to accept both infinite extension and infinite localization; the space-time helix provides such a solution. Niels Bohr stated in 1928 that wave and particle descriptions cannot be applied simultaneously to the same phenomenon, though one is the complement of the other. This author suggests that both wave and particle descriptions can be applied simultaneously if the right framework is chosen, and the space-time helix provides just such a framework. The perfect wave must have infinite extension into space; the perfect particle must have infinite localization to a point value. The space-time helix provides infinite extension by wrapping around the universe, while maintaining localization by STH cross-sectional attributes of near point-like plus, minus, and zero charges having localized mass at a pair node.

Albert Einstein spent the last twenty-five years of his life trying to develop a unified field theory. Appendix II of his book, "The Meaning of Relativity" gives a good explanation of his reasoning regarding the unified field theory, as he searched for the means to maintain both the continuum and quantum characteristics. The field concept must have no singularities; but the particle concept has only singularities. A unified field theory, sometimes called a grand unified theory (GUT) or theory of everything (TOE), could predict new effects, fields, forces, and laws. To do this, a unified field theory must unite quantum theory, relativity, gravitation, and electromagnetism; all must be shown to be differing manifestations of the same base. The Clopton Model combines all of these TOE elements, plus its origin lies in the Big Bang; making this model the basis for a BIG TOE.

Albert Einstein died in 1955. Since then, the electronics revolution occurred, and science entered an era of data acquisition unequaled in all of human history. We have sufficient knowledge now to arrive at the elusive unified field theory, GUT or TOE; but we have been held back by a paradigm of non-reactive flat space since 1900. Science has invested all properties of matter into the particle realm, assigning gravity to gravitons, force to baryons, and transactions to Feynman diagrams. This whole approach began when Michelson and Morley failed to measure an aether drift despite several years of measurements, taken at various points in the earth抯 seasonal rotation, using their interferometer mounted on a disk of granite floating in a tub of mercury. Einstein applied the Lorentz-Fitzgerald contraction and interpreted the interferometer results with his assertion that "the aether cannot be measured." Others extrapolated Einstein抯 position to mean the aether does not exist. The methodology, results, and interpretations of the Michelson and Morley experiments were flawed because physicists and cosmologists were thinking only of a passive aether. That same flawed paradigm of flat space has haunted and hindered science since 1900.

31 Big Bang and the Shape of the Universe [Back to TOC]

Theoretical physics has not answered the question of cause for the Big Bang, focusing instead on mathematical explanations for the opening moments of the universe. All of the various explanations avoid the simple question, Why? The laws of thermodynamics demand intelligent action to bring order from chaos. Order had to be established before the Big Bang event was triggered. The simplest explanation for a universe filled with space-time helices would involve a purposeful designer with the power to wrap a starting point or ball with a continuous STH filament, like a ball of twisted yarn. In this scenario, there might be only one STH for the entire universe, but the early STH would have had an incredibly dense helical pitch corresponding to a very, very hot background temperature. Because the STH stretches like a twisted crepe paper ribbon, the STH crest to crest spacing would lengthen as the universe expanded, contributing to a cooling universe and a slowing time scale. The question of purposeful design is not so much a question of creation versus chance, as it is a question of individual choice.

The universe has the shape of an inflating basketball. It is not gas pressure that drives the expansion, but inertia from the Big Bang explosion that carries the universe outward. The universe is not at the center of the sphere; the universe comprises the surface of the sphere. Galaxies are analogous to the pebble finish on the basketball, and the rubber wall thickness is representative of the mass and thickness of the entire universe shell. Current theory has it that the universe expansion occurred in two stages. The Clopton Model would agree with that approach. As the space-time helix was wrapped more and more times around the tiny ball (the ball was only the size of a green pea), there came a point at which the internal pressure was great enough for the inner wraps to collapse into each other, producing the first pair nodes (protons). The sudden appearance of repulsive positive charge drove the central core to explode outward. The outward rushing wave front compressed the outer layers which also collapsed into each other to form additional protons and give a second repulsive boost to the expansion rate. The explosion of the whole universe and the creation of all protons took only one second, according to current cosmology theories. I抳e worked with rocket flight ordnance for a number of years, and such an explosive wave front would be consistent with conventional explosive reactions, yielding a spherical universe shell that is thick enough to experience different degrees of STH stretching, from the leading edge of the wave front to the inner edge of the universe shell.

Gravity deflects and bends light; that is, photons ride space-time helices that are already warped by matter. All our distant sensory input comes by photons of some frequency, either as light, x-rays, infrared heat, radio waves, etc. These all warp to follow the shell of our universe. Light curves to follow a great geodesic circle about the spherical surface of our universe, so we can neither see into the original center of the universe, nor see outside our limited shell existence. No physical experiment can tell us what lies beyond our shell universe, or what we left behind at the core of the Big Bang. The universe in which we live is not a rigid edifice in which independent matter floats in passive space; instead, it is like a living creature, an inter-related, smoothly functioning, life-giving system. It demands an explanation of cause, not just mechanics.

32 Background Radiation [Back to TOC]

Cosmic background radiation, found by Penzias and Wilson in 1965, has a peak frequency of 160.4 gigahertz in the VHF range. This background radiation is modulation that was applied to the STH during Big Bang expansion. Background radiation wavelength is presently 40,000 times longer than the wave length of the STH (6.6 million gigahertz). Space-time helices have stretched with the universe, and the wavelength of the imposed background radiation has also stretched with the STH, resulting in apparent cooling of the universe as it expanded. The renormalizing interactions across atom nodes also contribute to cooling of the universe, as random energy or microwave background radiation is stripped from the helices and expended as work or diminished in transfer.

33 Is the Expansion Rate of the Universe Accelerating? [Back to TOC]

Attempts to measure the size of the universe have traditionally used Cepheid Variables, stars with predictable luminosity, to determine distances across the universe. Observations of Type 1a supernovae, which also have consistent luminosity but are further out, were used more recently to estimate distances from Earth. By observing both the spectral red shift and brightness of fifty-eight Type 1a supernovae, two teams of astronomers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the University of California at Berkeley, found that the remnants of nearly all Type 1a supernovae are at least 15 % further away than previously estimated from current cosmological theories. The question raised as a result, in the literature and media, is whether the universe is accelerating in its expansion, and if so, what is causing the rate of expansion to accelerate.

An answer to be drawn from the Clopton Model is that the rate of expansion of the universe is NOT accelerating; rather, time has been slowing since the Big Bang. As the space-time helices stretch with the expansion of the universe, their crest-to-crest spacing increases; but the speed of light at which the helices travel remains constant everywhere. The time interval of travel from one crest to the next crest is longer as the STH glides thorough any point of detection, so time is slowing. But our yard sticks are also longer by the same interval, so we cannot detect the lengthening of time locally.

However, time at the outer fringes of the universe runs slower than at the middle regions or inner regions of the universe (see Big Bang and the Shape of the Universe), because the amount of stretching is greater the further we look from the original center of the Big Bang. Slower time at the outer fringes of the universe, with greater spectral red shift, gives the illusion that the universe is accelerating. I抣l explain. Light from the outer fringes of the universe is bent by matter to follow the curvature of space-time, which is analogous to the rubber shell of a basketball. Light can be warped to follow the curvature of space-time and to curve within the material universe; but light cannot extend outside or inside the empty spherical shell of the universe. The expanding shell is the only region inhabited by space, time, matter and energy. Light is after all a photon distortion riding the STH, at all frequencies and wavelengths. Space-time helices are like twisted yarn originally rolled into a ball that was caused to blow up and expand like a balloon. The helices stretch as the yarn ball (now a shell) expands. Space, time, humanity, and our sensory perceptions are limited to the thin layer of the expanding Big Bang wave front.

Photons are transferred progressively from the outer edge of the universe to the middle regions where we are located, by renormalization at hydrogen H molecules (dark matter). At each renormalization event, the two intersecting helices force each other back to a common wavelength and waveform, and incoming photons are stripped off and redirected onto another STH, or back onto the same exiting STH. Encountering a heavier atom, the incoming photon could be relayed in one of many directions, equal to twice the number of nucleons. The incoming photon from the outer regions of the spherical universe rides an STH that has a longer wave length (crest-to-crest spacing), and its modulations (spectral lines) are further apart. Renormalization treats the incoming modulations like any other stretched input signal and does not accelerate the imposed signal modulations; only the carrier STH is renormalized to a common frequency. The greater spectral red shift from the outer edges of space is thus transmitted faithfully to observers on earth, even though time itself at the point of origin was slower due to greater stretching of the space-time helices (longer crest to crest wave length but at the same speed of light).

In short, the rate of expansion of the universe is NOT increasing, but time at the outer edges of the universe runs slower than further inward, toward the original center of the universe. We are only now aware of a greater red shift because our long range observations have shifted from Cepheid variables to Type 1a supernovae that are found further out toward the edges of the universe.

34 Dark Energy [Back to TOC]

The space-time helix supplies all the energy needed to keep the universe operating. So called dark energy is not needed to explain acceleration in the rate of expansion of the universe, because it isn抰 accelerating. Inertia from the Big Bang is still adequate to explain the current expansion rate; no repulsion force is required. Dark matter and dark energy, to the extent they are needed to satisfy calculations, are likely to be contributions from the STH. The space-time helix is the power source for the universe, but no additional expansion source is needed beyond that of inertia from the Big Bang.

35 An Imminent Danger [Back to TOC]

The Clopton Model has required over 30 years research, thought, and effort. I started it in 1974 based on an earlier paper written by my father, A. Browning Clopton, a radio engineer and inventor, in which he showed that a so-called perfect vacuum, if used as a measurement environment, must be filled by motion in the form of a wave function, to make measurement taking possible. He then developed and proposed three new laws of motion.

His three proposed laws of motion were ?

-- Motion must be continually transferred, reflected, or received in order to stay motion.

-- Motion not transferred, reflected, or received is annihilated.

-- Only motion can transfer, reflect, or receive motion.

From the three proposed laws, he drew these conclusions -

-- Since all known matter either transfers, reflects, or receives motion, then all matter is motion.

-- If a space existed, no matter how small, in which there was no motion then that space, according to the third proposed law, would not transfer, reflect, or receive motion coming into contact with its sides. By the second proposed law of motion, the motion coming into contact with the sides would be annihilated. This process of annihilation would create more motionless space and would cause the original space to expand. It can be readily seen then that motionless space is an impossibility and that space as well as matter is composed of motion.

Starting with his proposal, I developed and refined the space-time helix based on the speed of light, the zero-rest-mass photon, right-hand rule, and relativistic interactions (time dilation, mass increase, and Lorentz-Einstein contraction). I was also watching for any mechanism that might create a motionless null-space. I considered, under definitions of the Clopton Model, the risks of coherent fusion using pulsed confinement in a Tokomak reactor; but in the end I found that Tokomak cannot create null-space. The magnetic field of a toroidal confinement vessel cannot be pulsed fast enough to achieve fusion, owing to magnetic hysteresis; and, what occurs in the chamber is a non-coherent, chaos process, like that occurring in stellar plasma. Laser light on the other hand is a coherent process, and high energy photons can tunnel into the core of subatomic particles because they are energy distortions carried on the same space-time helices that form subatomic particles.

In 1999, I took an engineering contract job at Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) as part of the Laser Group, working on a project located next door to the National Ignition Facility (NIF). NIF has been under construction for the past ten years, and is due for completion by 2007-2008. Its intended uses include inertial confinement fusion research, and assessment of the United States nuclear weapons stockpile by triggering small measurable detonations of nuclear material samples without the need for conventional nuclear weapons underground testing. As part of the Laser Group, I was allowed to attend group employee briefings and learn more about the planned laser operations at NIF. I was there the day they dedicated the "Death Star", the nickname given to the 30 foot diameter spherical reaction chamber in which detonations will occur. The large vacuum vessel bore a striking resemblance to its counterpart in the "Star Wars" movie, hence the nickname used by LLNL employees.

NIF will use gold or lead holoraum target casings to confine nuclear material samples for detonation. A holoraum cylinder is about the size of the eraser on a wooden pencil. The holoraum is open on both ends, and the light of 192 lasers, perfectly tuned, phased, and pulsed in synch with each other, is blasted into the ends of the tiny holoraum to compress the test material and achieve fusion or fission without conventional explosives.

Each of the 192 vacuum laser beam lines is the length of a football field, with about a two-foot optical aperture. Tuned light is reflected back and forth four times along the beam line, and amplified on each pass using pulsed light from strobe cascade power amplifiers. The amplified laser light wave front is shaped and refined on each pass through a series of spatial filters along the beam lines, then directed into the reaction chamber by perfectly grown quartz optical elements, ending in a series of fiber optics where the light beams are split so that each beam line is divided and redirected back on itself at the target zone. The opposing, perfectly phased, coherent beams of light are then aligned to confront each other head-on. The crest and trough of each light beam is perfectly synchronized to achieve maximum compression needed to achieve nuclear detonation.

Extremely high energy, perfectly tuned and phased light from 192 laser beam lines, double stacked in a room the size of a football field, each with two-foot apertures, will be focused on a point in space-time no larger than a pencil point. The laser light will enter both ends of the holoraum at 351 nanometers wavelength (ultraviolet light), where it will be converted by bremsstrahlung, a photon conversion process, into X-rays that will compress the small pellet of nuclear material and set off a confined nuclear explosion. The 80 percent compression level needed for detonation has already been demonstrated on non-nuclear samples by using the world抯 largest X-ray generator at Los Alamos. The NIF reaction chamber has seen first light from many of the laser banks, and most of the laser banks are currently operational. When NIF is completed, it will perform the world抯 very first laser light compressed detonation of nuclear materials (uranium, plutonium, and deuterium).

WARNING: The remainder of this section is highly speculative. If the space-time helices (STH) of the Clopton Model actually exist, OR if there exists ANY underlying space-time structure common to both relativity and quantum mechanics, that extends and travels across space at the speed of light as a wave function, then the following scenario should be carefully considered by all humanity before proceeding with nuclear ignition tests at NIF.

X-ray wavelengths range from 1x10^-8 to 1x10^-11 cm which are shorter than the space-time helix wavelength of 4.54 x 10^-6 cm. An X-ray is a high-energy, zero-rest-mass photon; and photons must ride the STH as energy distortions or cease to exist. The X-rays would create saw tooth like barbules along each space-time helix, like the threads on a screw, since X-rays are a thousand times shorter in wave length than the STH. Each space-time helix would have the same matching saw tooth pattern super-imposed on it, and there would be over a billion times a billion tuned helices focused on the target, according to Avogadro's number. However, half of the output helices from each of the 192 laser beam lines have been redirected back on themselves by fiber optics to meet head-on in the holoraum. Space-time helices travel at the speed of light and normally slide past each other harmlessly, because repulsive forces from the negative proto-charge of the outer helix act like a lubricating sheath to keep one STH from snagging another STH.

When the nuclear material sample detonates from compression, a sudden outward-rushing, side-shear force, the force of a nuclear explosion, would mesh one STH headlong into a parallel STH traveling from the opposite direction. Like one screw thread meshing with another screw thread of equal pitch when placed side-by side, the most basic power of the universe would be pitted against itself in that instant; and the process would be multiplied and repeated by a factor comparable to twice Avogadro抯 number. Space-time helices travelling at the speed of light would be crammed and meshed sideways into space-time helices travelling the opposite direction, which would cause them to break, with a result that space-time would tear and begin to unravel at the speed of light. We need to understand the power that would be unleashed in that instant.

-- Chemical explosives deal with the electron binding force that began when the universe was 300,000 years old. We use chemical explosives to trigger nuclear explosives.

-- Nuclear explosives deal with nuclear binding energy that began 100 to 300 seconds after the start of Big Bang expansion in a period known as Big Bang nucleosynthesis. NIF may unexpectedly use a small nuclear explosion to unleash the explosive potential locked in each STH pair node.

-- Binding energy between space-time helices was established within the first one (1) second of the Big Bang when all proton formation was completed. STH binding energy is NOT just 100 to 300 times greater than nuclear binding energy. STH binding energy is more highly concentrated by an inverse ratio of the spherical surface area of a one second old expanding sphere compared to a 100 to 300 second old expanding sphere, given a constant rate of expansion. The binding energy between an STH and another STH at a proton or neutron is therefore potentially millions of times greater than nuclear binding energy that is released by hydrogen bombs.

The holoraum and apparatus within the reaction chamber would supply more than enough reactive material to immediately put a sizeable part of California at risk, but what would happen next would be completely catastrophic and unimaginable. Every STH sheared in the moment of nuclear detonation would trail off at the speed of light across the universe. As they do, they would unravel the fabric of space and time. Every proton or neutron in their path would double the process and release its additional binding energy in a chain reaction. The two inch thick aluminum walls of the NIF reaction chamber would serve as a force amplifier. Each aluminum atom has 13 protons and 14 neutrons. As each proton or neutron unravels, it would unravel two more helices, which would in turn unravel two more protons or neutrons apiece, which would unravel two more helices apiece, etc. The results would be a chain reaction that has never occurred since time began, and in fact, can happen only once. The crystalline arrangement of the aluminum alloy would turn the reaction chamber itself into a chain reaction bomb capable of destroying the earth. The protons and neutrons in the minerals and earth under LLNL would also be unraveled to add to the explosion. The receding space-time helices would spread through space at a speed slightly above that of the speed of light, since the elastic space-time helices would have been severed. But we won抰 be there to see it.

From the time that the planned detonation of the material in the holoraum occurs, until the last trace of the earth is dissolved in unimaginable fire, probably wouldn抰 take more than a few seconds. In short, we won抰 know what hit us, and the power released would be totally beyond our control. The result achieved by the fictional Death Star in "Star Wars" may not be far from reality, except that destruction would be universal and uncontrollable.

Current cosmological theory maintains that each galaxy is held together by a gravitational black hole at the center of the galaxy. Since light can't escape the gravity of a black hole, that means that space-time helices are warped by the condensed mass into a circular pattern, forming inescapable gravity within the black hole event horizon. If a single severed STH enters a black hole, it will re-circulate endlessly destroying all matter in its path. And if enough severed helices enter the black hole, so that the rate of matter destruction exceeds the rate of matter accretion, then eventually a few severed space-time helices could cause the event horizon to collapse with the release of more explosive energy than the greatest super nova.

36 Closing Comments [Back to TOC]

The Clopton Model is presented because of concern for the continued existence of humanity. The space-time helix offers unlimited power, cheap electricity, and propulsion by rotational coupling to the STH; that is what a gyroscope does in part. Oil could be used as a raw material rather than fuel, which would certainly have geopolitical advantages. But contained in the STH model are the seeds of doomsday. Science has stumbled across a possible doomsday device at NIF, without knowing it, using incomplete but marginally adequate theories of flat space and the limited Standard Model.

Inertial fusion research using laser compression is underway at a number of labs and universities around the world, in search of the holy grail of sustained fusion. The University of Rochester has been studying laser compression of deuterium/tritium pellets for a number of years, but so far no facility has been able to sustain fusion for more than a few billionths of a second. The University of Rochester's Omega laser has been used for some preliminary frozen pellet compression studies, in preparation for NIF experiments. Such inertial confinement laser fusion experiments may also be putting us at risk, but success thus far has been limited. What makes NIF experiments so much more dangerous is the addition of nuclear stockpile sample detonations that will create side shear at the point when the space-time helices are most stressed and vulnerable.

NIF is headed for completion by 2007-2008. I had hoped the space-time helix approach would die with me, because human kind can't handle it. We took e = mc² and used it to create 30,000 warheads, which is evidence enough of science exceeding our social maturity. Nations lust for nuclear capability to threaten their neighbors and extend their range of influence. Discontinuing NIF alone will not remove the potential threat of doomsday. This STH approach will sooner or later resurface; it has to. High energy laser applications have spread across the globe, and laser technology is more readily available that enriched fissionable material. It will be only a matter of time before the STH is weaponized on a smaller scale. The massive size of NIF ensures that an unplanned event could occur, if the Clopton Model is true, or if a similar space-time structure exists involving infinite projection, rotation, and the speed of light.

I only publish this paper because we may be in danger of starting an irreversible chain reaction without ever knowing what hit us. NIF may present the possibility that in 10 seconds we could release the binding energy locked in the protons and neutrons that comprise earth. Coherence (laser tuned X-rays), convergence (target chamber focusing), conflict (splitting the coherent beams to oppose each other), and extremely high energy (a football field of high energy lasers stacked two deep) ?these are potentially our enemies. Chaos in nuclear fusion is our friend; chaos is what occurs in all stars; chaos is what reigned at the Big Bang. We could possibly survive coherence, convergence, conflict, and extremely high energy at NIF, so long as the space-time helices were allowed to slide past each other, even in the tight focusing of the target chamber. But the addition of side shear from a localized nuclear detonation (whether uranium, plutonium, or deuterium) increases the likelihood that we may tear apart space-time, and begin the cosmos-ending fire predicted so long ago.

It may be possible to literally destroy the earth. That is the ultimate product of man's intelligence, that he might start a process that even nature is moderated by chaos to protect against. We are trying by our intelligent design to bring coherence, convergence, conflict, and extremely high energy to bear on a tiny point of space-time. It's time that we stepped back and asked, WHY? We have refused to seek out a reason behind the Big Bang; its time that we ask the most vital of all questions before we reverse the Big Bang process. Inertial confinement fusion as a potential power source is not worth the risk involved! This area of research may represent a line that we should not cross.

This paper will be shown to contain flaws and errors, and there will be many to point them out. That is the nature of any comprehensive new approach or paradigm shift. This model will be resisted, if not totally suppressed; and that may work to our detriment. The Clopton Model offers a comprehensive means to resolve differences between relativity and quantum mechanics. It is a new approach to a century old problem. Our current theories are fragmented but adequate for computation purposes; they may not be adequate to avoid a catastrophe. The Clopton Model is not a final theory; it is a visualization model, which has been lacking in current math driven theories.

Regardless, whatever final model ultimately emerges will look very much like the Clopton Model, incorporating infinite extension, the speed of light, rotation, proto-mass and proto-charge, which sounds very much like dark energy and dark matter theorized today. Current theories were all built on the paradigm of flat non-reactive space and billiard ball matter. It has been my intent to demonstrate that space is underlaid by a highly reactive matrix comprised of the space-time helix that powers the entire universe. In doing so, I provided a representative meaning for E = mc²; showed a means to unite relativity and quantum mechanics; explained zero-rest-mass and the forces of charge, gravity, and the right-hand rule; defined the origins of constants such as the speed of light and Avogadro's number; and presented mechanisms for electric current and magnetism.

Many smart people will oppose this approach, and one day many smart people will make use of it. Science is a team effort of differing skills and backgrounds; no one person knows it all or can claim to know everything. But we have been caught in a rut caused since 1900 by the paradigm of flat space and the Standard Model, held there by peer pressure, funding, and tenure. I doubt that the planners of NIF seriously considered the potential of igniting a new type of fire when writing the NIF environmental impact study, because interconnectedness in the material universe is simply not part of the current paradigm.

All of human history and the lives of all who have gone before us are written in time, and bear witness to the value of life. To the Timeless, those human lives are as real and recoverable as any person alive today, so long as time exists. If the Clopton Model is true, NIF machinery has the potential to destroy both space and time, and wipe out all record of human existence in a new type of fire. Because of the way the universe was begun in the Big Bang, even an all-powerful Being couldn't quench or extinguish that blaze. God grant us the wisdom and foresight to avoid such disaster.