MIKHAILOV'S MAGNETIC-MONOPOLE VERSION OF THE MILLIKAN OIL-DROP EXPERIMENT Date: Sat, 10 May 1997 18:28:28 -0800 From: Horace Heffner Subject: Gravity, electromagnetism, Maxwell In regard to the above issues, Robert Stirniman brought to my attention some time ago "Advanced Electromagnetism Foundations, Theories and Applications", edited by Terrence W. Barrett and Dale M. Grimes, World Scientific Publishing, 1995. Of particular interest is the article "Six experiments with Magnetic Charge", V.F. Mikhailov, p. 593 ff., which discusses a modern look at the work of Felix Eherenhaft (1879-1952). Eherenhaft performed the magnetic equivalence of a Millikan's oil drop experiment in the hopes of isolating magnetic monopoles and measuring magnetic charge. Surprisingly, Eherenhaft had positive results, obtaining a value for magnetic charge in the range of 10^-9 to 10^-14 Gauss*cm^2. Because this did not agree with Dirac's theorized value of 3.29x10^-8 gauss*cm^2, interest waned in Ehrenhafts work. Mikhailov created 10^-5 to 10^-6 cm dia. ferromagnetic aerosols by electrospark sputtering. This was accomplished by use of current interrupter iron contacts in argon at one atmosphere. Helmholtz coils provided a uniform magnetic field. The falling aerosol was placed in an intense light beam and viewed with a microscope. The initial experiment showed a roughly equal number of both N and S monopoles. Switching the field of the Helmholz coils reversed the lateral motion of the magnetically charged particles. It was noted that increasing *either* magnetic field intensity or light intensity increased the lateral rate of travel. Many of the particles were electrically and magnetically charged, permiting a comparison of the electrostatic quantum to the magnetic quantum of charge. Mikhailov found agreement with Eherenhaft that the quantum of magnetic charge is g = (a)(e)/6 = (1/3)(a^2)(gD) = 5.84x10^-13 gauss*cm^2, where Gd is the charge of Dirac's theoretical monopole, a is the fine structure constant a = (1/137). The monopoles of Eherenhaft and Mikhailov are not monopole particles in the conventional sense, however. Mikhailov states: "Magnetic charges (monopoles) are experimentally observed only in the presence of two components: light and ferromagnetic particles. It seems therefore, that magnetic charges are created a a consequence of of an interaction between photons ans ferromagnetic particles, and moreover, such charges cannnot exists without these physical conditions: without light a particle loses magnetic charge almost instantaneously." Some observations and experiment suggestions in regard to Mikhailov's experiments: 1. Lateral motion observed in a uniform magnetic field, regadless of light direction, appears to be a clear violation of Maxwell's laws, regardless of other conclusions drawn by Mikhailov. The existence of a monopole of course also denies the law being the orginal subject, namely B dot dS = 0. 2. The magnetic charge, though apparently produced in pairs, is not conservative in that the dual requirements for existence imply you can separate the N and S particles, turn off the light which sustains, say, the S particles, leaving only the N particles. (Save a sufficient number and you can lift off the North magnetic pole! 8^) 3. There might just possibly be a convenient way for amateurs to experiment with this. There now exist ferrofluids which could be used in Millikan style experiments. Since sputtering would not be involved, it might be necessary to artificially charge the drops when atomizing the ferrofluid. Bill Beaty posted 9/23/96 that ferrofluid might be available from Ferrofluidics Inc. I checked and found , email: , phone 603-883-9800. They sell 30 ml kits for prototyping loudspeakers. Regards, Horace Heffner