People who read “hard sci-fi” or who paid attention in their basic Physics class (assuming they were even required to take one, sigh…) are aware of the concept of magentic monopoles. If they exist, they would be similar in behavior to the proton and electron, the electric monopoles for positive and negative charge respectively. In other words, there would be a “north pole” particle and “south pole” particle if one used the strict definition of “monopole” that has been used for electric charge. There is a set of remarkably elegant mathematical formulas, named the Maxwell Equations, that describe the interaction of electromagnetic fields and electric monopoles. These equations do not account for the existence of magnetic monopoles, because the data existing at the time of their formulation indicated that magnetic monopoles did not exist, and there has been no replicated experiment to indicate that this data was incorrect or the equations are flawed. When I was in graduate school studying Physics, on the final exam for my class in Electrodynamics I was required to re-derive the Maxwell equations assuming that magnetic monopoles did indeed exist. The form of the equations changed significantly, and I had to explain how observed phenomena would be different if the equations I had just derived were the actual description of the behaviors of interaction rather than the classic Maxwell Equations.
After this long preamble explaining how and why I know what I am talking about on this subject, if anyone is still reading, I have to express my objection to the headline of the following article:
Magnetic Monopoles Detected In A Real Magnet For The First Time
I won’t go into the details, because they are very abstruse, but my rationale for my objection is that the “magnetic monopoles” described in the article are not in any way related to the magnetic monopoles that would exist if there was indeed symmetry between electric and magnetic interactions.
The entire context is lost. The “Dirac strings” described in the article are not related to classic magnetic monopoles in the way that the article and headline imply.
In other words, I am complaining about how the press, even the scientifically oriented press such as Science Daily, can’t seem to report and describe the context of any issue, whether scientific or political.
Sigh…
I wonder at times, how have we even survived to this point, until the cynical side of me that I try to combat kicks in and tells me it is because the vast majority are indifferent at best and just go along.
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Cross-posted between Random Fate and The Moderate Voice.
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