Energy Unification – Why Ken’s Wrong

‘Energy Unification’ is a document Ken Wheeler has prepared to explain his grand unified theory of energy in the universe. Find out why his latest hypothesis in invalid, unsound and demonstrably false.

We all use the word energy every day, but it’s a notoriously difficult term to define scientifically. Building on earlier speculation by Thales and Empedocles, Aristotle talked about energeia, which in his day meant something more like “activity.”

Plato’s best-known pupil taught that everything in the universe has a built-in capacity to do work. He viewed energy as the process that turns that capacity into reality.

For Aristotle, energy and motion were intimately connected. According to him, we really can’t think about one without considering the other at the same time.

Energy as a Fundamental Scientific Property

Gottfried Leibniz came up with the principle of vis viva (living force) in the 18th Century. It states that the total mechanical energy in a closed system is always constant, and Daniel Bernoulli and Leonard Euler refined Leibniz’s framework.

Our modern idea of energy as a fundamental scientific property only arose in the 19th century. That’s when James Joule’s experiments showed that mechanical work and heat energy were equivalent. This expanded our understanding of how systems conserve energy in various forms.

Around the same time, Lord Kelvin and Rudolf Clausius each came up with the First Law of Thermodynamics. It states that although closed systems’ total energy may transfer or transform, they always conserve their total energy.

Helmoltz Formulated the Conservation of Energy

Meanwhile, Hermann von Helmholtz published his influential paper, On the Conservation of Force. It detailed the thorough mathematical formulation behind the universal principle of the conservation of energy.

Albert Einstein’s most famous equation, E = Mc² describes the relationship between energy and matter more concisely. Because it shows we can convert a small amount of mass into an enormous amount of energy, it’s the basis of modern nuclear physics.

We experience energy conservation in more direct ways every day. For example, as a pendulum swings, it has the most potential energy at its highest point and the least kinetic energy at its lowest point, so the total energy in its system remains the same.

All Electrical Systems Follow Conservation of Energy

Electricians couldn’t do their jobs without the principle of the conservation of energy. The relationships between voltage, current and resistance driving our electrical systems always follow the principle that the total energy input into a system equals its total output, including losses from resistance.

It’s the same for chemists. The energy changes from chemical reactions, including heat transfer, consistently show that energy is never added to, or removed from, a closed chemical system.

Ken Wheeler proudly unveiled a new publication recently. It’s called Energy Unification and it purports to demonstrate “the unified nature of all energy.”

Purports to Demonstrate “Unified Nature of All Energy”

The Angry Photographer claims that his new document outlines “the absolute simplicity by which Nature expresses all universal energy modalities from light, radio, gamma, visible, to matter to the end of matter.”

The Theoria Apophasis host elaborates, saying, “From circular to spherical to inertial, energy capacitance unification is nature’s geometric-divinity of absolute simplicity. The divine simplicity of all energy circuits follow the geometry of the conjugate field perfectly, and with perfect simplicity.”

Kentucky Ken’s “geometry of the conjugate field” is his notion of the hyperboloid and the torus. We outline why this model is logically invalid and empirically unsound under Magnetism – Why Ken’s Wrong.

“Geometry of the Conjugate Field” – Hyperboloid and Torus

In brief, Ken Wheeler claims that the two shapes are negative images of one another. They’re not. He claims that when combined, the two shapes form a sphere. They don’t.

There’s no evidence whatsoever supporting the Angry Photographer’s speculation that the hyperboloid and the torus define the universe’s geometry. They’re absolutely not any sort of fundamental model of how energy works in our universe.

The YouTuber behind Theoria Apophasis bases most of his claims about the torus and the hyperboloid on diagrams published by Charles Proteus Steinmetz in 1917. Kentucky Ken relates these shapes to the concepts of the ether, the dielectric and the magnetic respectively.

Steinmetz Considered Ether an Obsolete “Mistake”

Steinmetz had this to say about the ether to the New York Times back in 1922. “The mistake which led to the hypothesis of the ether was that wave motions were the only waves known at the time when the wave theory of light was proposed, and so the light wave was also considered as a wave motion and the question asked ‘what moves in the light wave?’

“And this moving thing was called ether. Since that time, we have become familiar with waves which are not wave motions, but merely periodic phenomena.”

So, ironically, the Theoria Apophasis host is drawing on the work of a renowned scientist who considered the ether an obsolete “mistake” over a century ago. Of course, Kentucky Ken never mentions this contradiction in his new publication.

Denies Light Consists of Photons with Wave/Particle Duality

The Angry Photographer moves on to deny that light consists of photons with wavelike and particle-like properties. We explain why this is nonsense under Light – Why Ken’s Wrong.

Building on these false claims, Kentucky Ken asserts that when electromagnetic waves reach their maximum frequency, they form atoms, creating matter. As we explain in detail under Matter – Why Ken’s Wrong, this is more pseudoscience.

Ken Wheeler’s document then carries on to discuss what he calls “the coaxial light circuit.” He falls at the first fence with this section because light isn’t coaxial.

Light Has No “Coaxial Circuit” hey

Light isn’t an electrical signal, and it doesn’t travel through conductive material like the components of a coaxial cable. Light travels through the vacuum of space in wave form, and those waves don’t need a medium through which to spread.

Electromagnetism has no maximum frequency, at least in principle. Above 10²⁴ Hz, we don’t have instruments that can measure light’s wavelength.

Even so, we know that electromagnetic waves are the same phenomenon even at more extreme frequencies. Scientists can also describe extremely high frequency waves with the same mathematical framework.

Electromagnetism Has No Maximum Frequency

To work his way around this, the Theoria Apophasis host resorts to a concept he calls “spherical frequency.” He seems to have lifted this term from an advanced mathematical technique called spherical geometry.

It’s a method of applying two-dimensional geometry to a curved surface like a sphere. However, there’s no such thing as spherical frequency, either in physics or in mathematics.

Ken Wheeler seems to have fabricated this term to rationalize how a wave could take on matter’s three dimensions and form a spherical proton particle. However, since spherical frequency is an invalid concept, it doesn’t explain how an electromagnetic wave could take on matter’s key properties of mass and volume.

Electromagnetic Waves Have No Mass or Volume

At this point, it’s clear that the Angry Photographer’s energy unification theory is invalid and unsound. Even so, we’ll pursue the rest of his speculations.

According to Kentucky Ken, when matter reaches a point where his so-called “dielectric capacitance” overwhelms its “spatial attribute of magnetism” a black hole forms. He defines a black hole as a point-source object with infinite mass and no magnitude.

We’ve already seen that there’s no such thing as the dielectric, so it can’t have properties such as capacitance. Capacitance refers to a system’s ability to store an electric charge, and black holes don’t conduct electricity at all.

Black Holes Can’t Have Capacitance

Black holes have measurable dimensions, so the Theoria Apophasis host is incorrect when he claims they have no magnitude. Although their mass is unimaginably great, it’s not infinite.

So, this black hole phase of Ken Wheeler’s energy unification theory is also false. Still, at this point, we have just one more phase to consider, so we may as well persist.

The supermassive black holes at the centre of most galaxies emit narrow streams of plasma and subatomic particles called extragalactic jets. These jets are some of the universe’s largest objects.

Extragalactic Jets Not Made of Hydrogen

The Angry Photographer speculates that these jets contain trillions of tons of ab-extra hydrogen that black holes create spontaneously. As such, he calls black holes “the universe’s great recyclers.”

The difficulty with this hypothesis is that it’s physically impossible. Returning to the First Law of Thermodynamics, there’s no way for a black hole or any other closed system to generate ab-extra matter or ab-extra energy of any kind.

So, now we’ve arrived back at the beginning of the energy unification lifecycle as conceived by Ken Wheeler. Having done so, we can declare it to be absolute bunk from beginning to end.

Absolute Bunk from Beginning to End

But wait, there’s more! What grand theory of everything would be complete without a mathematical formula?

The Theoria Apophasis host generously shares an equation with his readers. It goes like this:

P = fC3

Where:

P = Proton (which Ken Wheeler conflates with atoms, hydrogen and matter)
f = Frequency
C = Capacitance, or ether induction rate

Formula Has No Physical or Mathematical Meaning

This formula has no physical or mathematical meaning. There’s no relationship between the mass of a proton and time. Also, since the ether doesn’t exist, it can’t have an induction rate or a capacity to store a dielectric, electric or magnetic charge.

Each of the variables making up this so-called “equation” have different units and dimensions. That makes them incommensurate, meaning we can’t combine them in a mathematical expression like this.

This formula looks an awful lot like Einstein’s famous E = Mc². That’s no coincidence. The Angry Photographer intends this to be the crowning achievement of his grand, new hypothesis, just as Einstein’s equation became his best-known legacy.

Ken’s Entire Energy Unification Project Is Utterly Pointless

Fittingly, the formula is as meaningless and false as the speculation Kentucky Ken intends it to express. This entire energy unification project is utterly pointless.

Once again, this episode in the Theoria Apophasis host’s body of work has a tragic tinge. He’s clearly devoted a great deal of time and effort to this document, particularly the graphic design, and he seems to view it as the crowning achievement of his legacy as a groundbreaking sage.

The truth is, he’s produced a meaningless document that the all readers will ignore or view with derision. It’s disheartening to think what Ken Wheeler might have achieved if he had devoted the same amount of time to something useful.

Ken’s Evidence:

Energy Unification and Article (Video)
Energy Unification (Document)