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A Beginner's View of Our Electric Universe - New

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I think it is reasonable to ask, how, out <strong>of</strong> the thousands <strong>of</strong> pulsars detected so far, all <strong>of</strong> their assumed narrow<br />

beams <strong>of</strong> radiation are able to find Earth in their sweeping path. This suggests that pulsars must be extremely<br />

common in space. I do admit this would be possible, especially since their claimed narrow beams would spread<br />

out to become broad cones over distance, but there is no firm evidence to believe any <strong>of</strong> this is true. Moreover,<br />

astro-science seems to assume that all <strong>of</strong> the power emitted by pulsars can be detected and measured accurately.<br />

What then about the situation where the Earth may only find itself swept by the edge <strong>of</strong> one <strong>of</strong> these cone-like<br />

beams? How in that case could the true radiation levels measured be considered accurate enough data on which<br />

to make absolute judgements about the object from which they came? Mere ‘convenient analogy’, the mark <strong>of</strong><br />

a doomed approach, seems to take the lead with astro-scientists today. The only exception to this is when ever<br />

more complicated mathematics indicates something might just be real, so if it suits their purpose, they typically<br />

go ahead and make it so! The mathematical invention <strong>of</strong> a rotating body with a narrow sweeping beam <strong>of</strong><br />

powerful radiation is rejected in favour <strong>of</strong> what common sense EU theory has to say. In this respect, I want to<br />

explain a simple electrical circuit that provides the same visual effect that a pulsar does as it demonstrates the<br />

electrical principal that probably lies behind their observed behaviour.<br />

This is a simple circuit in which the neon bulb<br />

on the right flashes repeatedly (pulses), just as<br />

a pulsar does.<br />

Circuit <strong>of</strong> a simple relaxation oscillator © author<br />

(Refer to the small inset graph.) (1) Current<br />

flow from the DC source is limited by the<br />

resistor so time is needed to build up charge<br />

in the capacitor. (2) When the charge in the<br />

capacitor reaches the ‘striking or breakdown<br />

voltage’ <strong>of</strong> the neon gas inside the bulb, a shorter time is taken for current to flow (discharge) from the capacitor<br />

through the gas to briefly light it up; this also lets the current make its way back to the negative side <strong>of</strong> the<br />

supply. The key here is the ‘striking or breakdown voltage’. This can be monitored at point ‘A’ where we see<br />

the waveform <strong>of</strong> voltage reaching an appropriately high value that will switch the neon gas inside the bulb from<br />

its plasma ‘dark mode’ to ‘glow mode’. When this happens we see the brief period <strong>of</strong> glow mode as a flash <strong>of</strong><br />

light before the gas reverts back to its dark mode. After a discharge takes place in the neon gas, the circuit will<br />

go on to do the same thing over and over again until such time as the DC supply is removed. Might this flashing<br />

action be mimicking the behaviour <strong>of</strong> a pulsar? Yes it does, and this is what is actually happening out in space,<br />

except on a scale that is hard to imagine. What we see here in this simple circuit is basic electrical engineering<br />

in practice. It is the same level <strong>of</strong> theory that is taught to first year electrical engineering students in colleges.<br />

116 | The <strong>Electric</strong> <strong>Universe</strong> answers I see<br />

+<br />

DC VOLTAGE<br />

_<br />

RESISTOR<br />

CAPACITOR<br />

A<br />

1 2<br />

+<br />

VOLTAGE<br />

AT A<br />

NEON BULB<br />

TIME

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