Drifting Stars and The Solidity and Agitation of Bodies

120. The Movement of a Star When It First Ceases to Be Fixed

For example, the air-aether of Vortex AEIO first carries off Star N.

All the air-aether of Vortex AEIO rotates around the center S and therefore tends to move away from it.

The air-aether currently at O, moving through R to Q, will push this star in a straight line towards S.

“Descent” is the movement of a body towards the center of the vortex that it is inside.

Initially, it is pushed this way, assuming there is no other movement in it.

But soon after, it is also carried around in a circular motion from N to A.

This circular motion gives it the force to move away from the center S. And so its descent towards S depends only on its solidity.

• If it has very little solidity, it will descend significantly towards S.
• If it has great solidity, it will move away from S.

121. What I Mean by the Solidity and Agitation of Bodies

Here, solidity refers to the quantity of earth-aether compared to its mass and surface area.

The spots enveloping the star are composed of this earth-aether.

The air-aether of Vortex AEIO has a force which moves it circularly around the center S. It should be estimated by the size of the surface area that it encounters. The larger this surface area, the more air-aether acts on it.

The force by which this air-aether pushes it towards the same center S should be estimated by the size of the space that it occupies.

All the air-aether in Vortex AEIO tends to move away from S. But not all of it acts on Star N, but only the part that is moving away from S as this star approaches.

This part is equal to the space occupied by the star.

A star’s ‘agitation’ is the force that a star gains from its own motion to continue in the same motion.

This should not be estimated by its surface area or its entire mass, but only by the part of its mass composed of the earth-aether.

• This consists of particles of matter adhering to each other, forming the spots enveloping it.

The fire-aether and air-aether in it continuously exits and is replaced by new matter, which cannot retain the force impressed on the previous matter that has already exited.

Additionally, hardly any force is impressed on this new matter, but only the motion it had from elsewhere is directed towards a certain part, and this direction can constantly change due to various causes.

122. How Solidity Depends Not Only on Matter but Also on Size and Shape

Here on Earth, metals, once set in motion, retain greater agitation or force to continue in their motion than wood and stones of the same size and shape.

Hence, they are considered more solid or to contain more of the earth-aether’s matter and fewer pores filled with the fire-aether and air-aether.

Gold can be stretched into filaments or sheets, or hollowed out like a sponge with many tiny holes, or other ways where it acquires more surface area relative to its matter and mass than the wooden globule.

This is why a small globule of gold may not have as much force to retain the motion impressed on it as a much larger stone or wooden globule.

123. How Air-aether Globules Can Be More Solid Than an Entire Star

It is possible for Star N, even if very large and covered with many layers of spots, to have less solidity or less ability to retain its motions than the surrounding air-aether globules.

These globules, relative to their size, are the most solid possible because they:

• do not have any passages filled with more solid matter
• have a spherical shape
  • This has the least surface area relative to the mass that it contains, as well known to geometers

There is a significant disparity between their small size and the large size of a star. But this is partially compensated by the combined forces of many globules opposing the star’s forces.

When they rotate with a star around center S, they tend to move away from S.

• This is countered by the combined forces of the air-aether globules that are needed to fill the space occupied by the star.

The star will move away from S if the force moving away from S exceeds the force needing to fill the star’s space. This will cause the globules to descend into its place.

Conversely, if the globules have more force, they will push the star towards S.

124. How They Can Also Be Less Solid

It can also easily happen that Star N has much more force to continue in its straight-line motion than the surrounding air-aether globules.

This can happen even if it contains less of the earth-aether’s matter than the air-aether, in as many of these globules as are needed to occupy an equal space.

They are mutually separated and have various motions. They act with combined forces on the star. But they cannot unite all their forces so that no part of them becomes useless.

All of the earth-aether’s matter forms the spots enveloping the star and the air surrounding it. This makes a single mass which moves all together.

This directs all its force to continue in its motion towards the same parts.

Similarly, fragments of wood floating on a river follow their course in straight lines with greater force than the water itself. They tend to hit the banks more strongly, even though they contain less of the earth-aether than an equal mass of water.

125. How Some Celestial Bodies Are More Solid Than a Given Star, While Others Are Less Solid

The same star has:

• less solidity than some air-aether globules
• more solidity than slightly smaller stars.

These smaller globules taken together have the same amount of air-aether as the larger ones occupying the same space.

But they have much more surface area.

Because of this, they are more easily diverted from their course and deflected towards other directions by the fire-aether filling the angles between them and by any other bodies, compared to the larger ones.