Study Guide — The End of Fire

Glossary

Absolute space W: The Newtonian conception of space as "absolute, made up of absolute places, as if there were an invisible grid laid over all the universe." Rejected by Ernst Mach, and Albert Einstein on the basis that it could not be measured. Mills argues absolute space is necessary to explain inertia, absolute time dilation, and the total mass/energy of the universe. See Appendix I.
Alcubierre drive / warp drive W: A faster-than-light ("warp") drive proposed by Miguel Alcubierre in 1994, premised on the ability to distort spacetime. The expansion of spacetime is produced by dark energy or exotic matter. In Mills's physics, this expansion could be manufactured by particle-antiparticle annihilation events.
ALP model: A classical model of the electron as a spherical shell, developed by Max Abraham, Hendrik Lorentz, and Henri Poincaré, as a theoretical means to study its behavior under various conditions.
Angular momentum W: The rotational analogue of linear momentum. This is a conserved quantity for fundamental particles. In Mills's model, as the radius of a particle shrinks, the electric currents on its surface must move faster. At the radius of the hydrogen atom divided times fine structure constant (1/137) the electron currents reach light speed, and the particle is at its production radius at which all electromagnetic forces are equal. In black holes, angular momentum prohibits singularities; it is “the immovable object capable of resisting the prime mover of unstoppable gravitational force.”
Annihilation W: Destruction of particle–antiparticle pairs into light (or the reverse process, pair production).
Arc plasma W: A high-current electrical discharge through a gas or vapor, used in some hydrino solid-fuel and SunCell ignition experiments.
Aspect experiment W: Alain Aspect’s tests of Bell’s inequalities, often cited as experimental support for quantum nonlocality (entanglement). In Mills's interpretation, an extended classical particle is consistent with Aspect's observations and does not require entanglement; therefore it is only point-like particles that require entanglement, a strong argument against the quantum model.

Bell’s theorem W: John Bell’s result showing that no local hidden-variable theory can reproduce all predictions of quantum mechanics. In Mills's interpretation, a classical extended particle solution is not a "hidden variables" interpretation, and is consistent with observations.
Big Bang W: The standard cosmological model of a hot, dense early universe expanding from a singularity. Although the Big Bang is accepted physics, it is a speculative theory that does not explain the ongoing expansion of the universe or ancient structures in the early universe detected by the James Webb Space Telescope. Mills revises this with an oscillating universe model.
Black hole W: A star which has become so dense that gravity does not allow light to escape. Black holes are typically spinning at relativistic speeds and experience extreme time dilation due to gravity and rotation. Once across the horizon of a black hole, an object must be moving toward the center, with the inevitable result that black holes are collapsing structures. In Mills's physics, angular momentum prohibits a singularity from forming, and black holes may annihilate.
Bohr model W: Niels Bohr’s 1913 planetary model of the atom, in which the electron is a point-like particle in quantized orbits. Bohr offered no physical explanation for the stability of the ground state orbit; a topic that would require 70 years to explain with classical electrodynamics.
Catalyst (hydrino) W: A catalyst is element of a chemical reaction that is left unaltered. In hydrino chemistry, a catalyst is a species whose energy levels allow resonant, non-radiative acceptance of an integer multiple of 27.2 eV from atomic hydrogen, enabling the hydrogen atom to transition to an orbit an integer fraction of the size of the ground state.
Classical electron radius W: The minimum size that a classical extended electron must be (e2/mc2) such that the particle does not exhibit behaviors in violation with causality. Described by Harold Levine in 1977. At this size an impinging force propagates at light speed through the particle.
Cold fusion / LENR W: Claims of nuclear reactions at ordinary temperatures, especially palladium–deuterium electrolysis beginning with the announcement by Fleischmann and Pons. Distinct from Mills's hydrino reaction, which was proposed as a chemical explanation.

C–D

Constructive Empiricism W: Bas van Fraassen’s philosophy of science: science aims at empirical adequacy, not truth, when applied to "unobservables."
Copenhagen Interpretation W: An interpretation of quantum mechanics associated with Bohr, in which contradictory clauses may each be true, because quantum mechanics does not describe reality, only abstract physical descriptions of nature.
Corona (solar) W: The Sun’s atmosphere. This appears far hotter than the surface. Mills offers an explanation that species in the atmosphere are photo-ionized as a result of high-energy light emitted from hydrino reactions taking place on the surface of the Sun.
Dark energy W: The unknown, driving force behind the acceleration of the expansion of the universe, discovered in 1998. Mills predicted the accelerating expansion in 1995, driven by matter-to-energy conversion in stars. According to the equation Q = c3/4piG, stellar fusion across the entire universe over a period of 40 seconds produces about one second of spacetime expansion.
Dark matter W: The unknown, non-light-emitting mass inferred from galactic rotation curves, lensing, and cosmology, primarily distributed in large clouds (halos) around galaxies. Mills proposes that dark matter is molecular hydrino; which matches unexplained EUV and X-ray light emissions from space, as well as hundreds of diffuse interstellar absorption bands. It is also reinforced by the idea that 90 percent of the visible universe is hydrogen.
Determinism W: The thesis that the future is fixed by the past and the physical laws of nature. Classical physics is typically deterministic; standard quantum mechanics is not.
Deuterino: The heavy-hydrino equivalent of heavy hydrogen which contains an extra neutron in the nucleus, making it deuterium.
Diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) W: Unidentified absorption features in stellar spectra, long attributed to unknown interstellar molecules or ions. None of these lines has been unequivocally identified, despite hundreds of bands. Mills has proposed that molecular hydrino rovibrational lines are a good match for upwards of 300 lines.

Doppler broadening W: Spectral line width caused by the motion of emitters. Fast-moving hydrogen (“Fast H”) in hydrino plasmas is identified by anomalous Balmer-line broadening.
Electron orbitsphere: Mills’s electrodynamical model of the electron as a thin spherical shell of moving charge (current) centered on the nucleus. The entire aggregate of moving charge is stable according to Maxwell's equations (and Haus's condition), and absorbs light like a resonator cavity.
Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) W: Spectroscopic technique that detects unpaired electron spins. Used by Hagen & Mills (2022) to claim identification of molecular hydrino H₂(1/4) in solid matrices.
Electrolytic cell W: Early experimental platform for hydrino chemistry in which an electric current is used to split (electrolyze) water to release hydrogen in a liquid solution, allowing it to be available for chemical reactions.
Embodied energy W: The total energy required to produce a material or device.
Empiricism W: The philosophical view that knowledge derives primarily from sensory experience. Contrasted with rationalism and examined in the book’s chapters on scientific method.
Entanglement W: Quantum correlation between measurements of particles that cannot be explained by signals passing between the particles at light speed. Einstein called this "spooky action at a distance."
EUV (extreme ultraviolet) W: Wavelengths roughly 10–121 nm. Hydrino transitions are predicted to produce characteristic EUV continua and lines; these have been observed in laboratory plasma experiments, in observations of the sun and from interstellar space.

F–G

Fine-structure constant (α) W: The dimensionless constant (≈ 1/137). In Mills's theory, the fine structure constant multiplied by the radius of the hydrogen atom gives the lower limit of the physical radius of the electron, in that an electron at this radius would have its electric currents approach the speed of light. According to Mills's theory, electrons are created from a photon at this radius; a state in which electric and magnetic potential energies are equal. The equivalence of E & M energies to the Planck energy allows three classes of particles (electron, muon, tau) to exist and allows Mills to calculate the ratios of their masses.
Fractional quantum number: In hydrino theory, fractional quantum numbers n = 1/p (p = 2, 3, …) identify allowed fractional orbits below the hydrogen ground state for the electron, modeled as a classical extended (spherical) particle centered on the proton.
Gamma-ray burst (GRB) W: Extremely luminous, short-lived cosmic explosions. Causes may include the merging of neutron stars, or black hole annihilations, as predicted by Mills.
General Relativity W: Einstein’s theory of gravity in which matter produces curved spacetime and time dilation. For a spherically symmetric mass (as in a star), the Schwartzchild Metric applies. Mills proposes a modified Schwartzchild metric as the physical basis for gravity produced by an individual particle. Whereas Einstein's equations are applicable to bulk aggregations of matter, Mills's modification is required when considering isolated particles or the center of black holes.
Grand Unified Theory of Classical Physics (GUTCP): Mills’s 4-volume theory in which he extends classical electrodynamics to atomic theory, molecular theory, and particle physics, with important ramifications for gravity, cosmology and astrophysics. Mills largely discards all quantum mechanical theoretical solutions, preserving only observed behavior of particles, well-supported relationships such as the Planck equation, and empirically derived formulas. Mills's particle theory presents gravity as a relativistic correction to spacetime that originates during particle production; this modifies Einstein's general relativity by providing a new equation for the gravitational field of an individual particle. It allows Mills to calculate particle masses, it predicts an accelerating cosmology due to spacetime expansion during matter-to-energy release, and predicts an oscillating universe.
Ground state W: The energy level and orbital radius to which the hydrogen atom decays after absorbing light.

Haus’s condition: A general criterion (formulated by Herman Haus in 1986) for the presence or absence of radiation emitted by accelerated charged particles. Namely, particles (or aggregates) radiate not because they are accelerated, but because they contain light-like Fourier components (synchronous with waves traveling at light speed.) This physical explanation allows classical extended particles to occupy accelerating stationary states (orbits) without radiating. A similar, but less general, criterion was reached by George Goedecke in 1963.
Heat death W: The thermodynamic end-state of a closed universe in which entropy is maximized and no free energy remains.
Heisenberg uncertainty principle W: The quantum limit on simultaneous knowledge of conjugate variables (e.g. position and momentum) of a phenomenon such as a particle, mathematically modeled as a wave group.
Hidden variables W: Hypothetical additional parameters that would restore determinism or locality to quantum mechanics, but did not sufficiently question the fundamental assumption of quantum mechanics, that particles are point-like objects described by the Schrodinger equation.
Higgs field / boson W: The Standard Model mechanism that gives mass to elementary particles. According to Mills, the Higgs field does not exist. The Higgs boson is an excited state of a neutron, and has nothing to do with giving mass to particles; instead mass originates at particle production.
Hybrid orbital W: In chemistry, a linear combination of atomic orbitals used to describe bonding geometry. Mills’s molecular theory offers a classical counterpart based on the energetics of surface charge density on ellipsoidal shells.
Hydrino: A tightly-bound state of the hydrogen atom, physically smaller than a conventional hydrogen atom, in which the electron occupies a fractional quantum orbit (n = 1/p (p ≥ 2), with binding energy p² × 13.6 eV). Predicted by Randell Mills in 1990, and experimentally confirmed by Mills and his team via numerous techniques in the subsequent decades. Hydrino atoms can form molecules that have a correspondingly smaller interatomic distance. Due to the extremely high binding energy, hydrino is incredibly inert, and although they release high-energy light during formation, the resulting atoms do not have excited states (electronic transitions) and are therefore impossible to see spectroscopically outside nuclear transitions such as NMR. Molecules are physically very small and difficult to contain with known materials over lengths of time. Molecules exhibit rovibrational lines; these absorption lines are a good match for diffuse interstellar bands in space, making hydrino a great candidate for dark matter in the universe. Hydrino chemistry is also likely to be a key process in the Sun's power, particularly in outer layers and on the surface (the photosphere), and may enable fusion pathways that explain the solar neutrino balance.
Hydrino molecule / H₂(1/p): The diatomic molecule formed from hydrino atoms; predicted to have a shorter interatomic distance and higher binding energy than ordinary hydrogen. Molecular hydrino is visible spectroscopically (rovibration, but not electronic transitions), and exhibit paramagnetism unlike conventional hydrogen. Hydrino molecules are neutrino-active, similar to that of nuclear particles but with a significantly larger cross-section, due to electrons in a spin 1/2 electronic state.

I–M

Inertia / inertial mass W: Resistance to acceleration. In any classical extended particle model, such as that proposed by Mills, acceleration corresponds to a change in the charge distribution of the particle as viewed by the starting reference frame, into a more polarized state. The energy requirement of this rearrangement of charge is equal to the energy required for acceleration of matter. Thus inertia is given an electromagnetic / relativistic basis without relying on the "radiation reaction" force as was considered by early classical models.
Instrumentalism W: The view that scientific theories are tools for prediction rather than true descriptions of unobservable reality. Contrasted with scientific realism.
Interstellar medium W: The gas and dust between stars. Features include diffuse light emissions and diffuse absorption bands.
Klein–Gordon equation W: A relativistic wave equation for spin-0 particles that utilizes a true wave equation but gives incorrect solutions for the hydrogen atom. Predicts hydrino-like states of hydrogen.
Line inversion / inverted Lyman population W: A spectroscopic signature that reveals the plasma to not be in thermal equilibrium, but rather in which processes such as chemical reactions are producing an artifact skewing the normal Boltzman population of energy states.
Locality W: The principle that signals cannot propagate faster than light.
Mach’s principle W: There are two different ideas called "Mach's principle." First, a skepticism of what cannot be observed, paired with the goal of making instrumentalist theories rather than discerning truth; this influenced the founders of quantum mechanics. Second, the idea that the distant positions of stars establishes a pseudo-absolute space frame; usually discussed in the context of general relativity.
Maxwell’s equations W: The equations developed by James Clerk Maxwell that unified numerous laws of electricity and magnetism, and predicted that light was self-propagating electro-magnetic waves. According to Mills, these laws are the basis for the unified theory of physics, when combined with equations and laws derivative of them, such as Haus's condition, special and general relativity.

Microwave plasma: A plasma sustained by microwave power, allowing the heating of water vapor in the plasma; one of the laboratory platforms used for hydrino spectroscopy and calorimetry.
Molecular hydrino: See Hydrino molecule.
Muon / muonic catalysis W: The muon is a heavy electron; muon-catalyzed fusion is a known nuclear process.
Neutrino W: There is no established scientific consensus on the nature of the neutrino. According to Mills, a neutrino is a massless, elliptically polarized photon, that interacts only with nuclear particles and hydrino molecules.
Neutron star W: The collapsed remnant of a massive star, supported by neutron degeneracy pressure. Not dense enough to form a black hole.
Orbitsphere: See Electron orbitsphere. This is a classical extended particle model in which the electron is a spherical shell, and paths of charge/current flow along great-circle lines like a ball of yarn, keeping the nucleus of the atom at its center.
Pair production W: Creation of a particle–antiparticle pair (such as an electron and positron) from a single photon.

P–R

Paramagnetism W: A weak magnetism of substances subjected to a magnetic field as a result of one or more unpaired electrons. Unlike hydrogen, molecular hydrino exhibits paramagnetism.
Photon W: A particle of light. Energy is related to frequency. According to Mills's theory, a photon is a collection of electric and magnetic field lines that are great circles of a specific radius defining a spherical surface. The architecture of the photon is the field lines required to excite the source currents of a spherical particle such as the electron in the atom. The electron becomes the resonant cavity, and the absorbed photon creates a radial dipole field, changing the size and resonant frequency of the resulting excited state electron.
Plasma W: A hot, light-emitting and electrically conductive gas of charged species including free electrons and ions. Often considered the fourth state of matter.
Point particle W: An idealized classical particle that occupies no volume. In electromagnetism, point particles exhibit non-causal behavior, have infinite self-energy (due to internal repulsion), undefined mass-density, and no classical angular momentum. Many of the problems of point-particles are solved by considering two-dimensional membranes of charge such as spherical shells or disks.
Power density W: Power per defined unit of volume, area, or weight (gravimetric). Power density may be calculated in the context of a reaction chamber, or the total manufactured or infrastructural area required to produce it, or the fuel.
Pseudoelectron / electrino: Speculative state of an electron in which the physical form exhibits negative curvature, and therefore repels gravitational fields. Mills believes that these particles may form in the neighborhood of black holes due to absorption of gamma-ray photons, and are responsible for black hole jets.
Quantum tunneling W: The ability of a quantum particle to overcome a barrier. In classical physics, point-like particles are unable to exhibit quantum tunneling, but classical extended particles may overcome similar barriers by allowing the center of mass to pass through it.

Quark W: Subatomic particles that make up neutrons and protons.
Quasar W: A quasi-stellar object; an extremely luminous region of matter under the influence of a black hole, typically at the center of a galaxy.
Radiation reaction / self-force W: A resistance to motion by classical charged particles.
Realism (scientific) W: The view that the goal of science is to give us a literally true story of what the world is like, and that to accept a scientific theory is to believe the theory is true. Suggests a mind-independent universe, knowable by human faculties of perception and reason.
Resonant transfer: A means by which electromagnetic systems can exchange energy without the use of radiation (photons).
Rovibration W: Coupled rotational and vibrational motion of molecules.

S–W

Schrödinger equation W: The fundamental equation of non-relativistic quantum mechanics. This equation utilizes a heat-diffusion equation to describe the volume over which an electron has some probability of being measured. This is not the true wave equation as commonly believed (partially due to the misnomer "wavefunction.")
Schwarzschild metric W: The solution of Einstein’s equations for general relativity outside a spherical symmetrical mass. Mills's equation for the gravitation of an individual particle is a modification to this metric such that the particle has a minimum radius, below which the gravitational field does not exist. This shows that gravitation is produced by particles with positive curvature, a definition that does not apply to free leptons (electrons).
Semantic View (of theories) W: A philosophy-of-science approach that treats theories as cognitive models rather than purely linguistic (semantic) constructions.
Singularity W: A theoretical point of infinite mass density, as in the point at the center of a black hole. In Mills's theory, singularities are prohibited by classical angular momentum as well as the ability of particles to annihilate directly into light (Planck mass particles).
Special Relativity W: Einstein’s 1905 interpretation of the Lorentz transformations, which modify length and time for objects moving near light speed relative to another frame of reference. Einstein uses a conceptual framework inspired by Mach to argue that there is no absolute reference frame, and therefore choice of reference frame is arbitrary. Einstein also shows that the notion of "simultaneous" depends on reference frame; there is no absolute order of events.
Spherical harmonics W: Angular functions that appear in both quantum orbital theory and classical multipole expansions. In Mills’s theory, spherical harmonic functions create varying charge density on the surface of electron shells, allowing more electrons to pack into atomic orbitals, minimizing energy of the system.
Spin W: In Mills's theory, particle spin is classical angular momentum, and produces a magnetic field due to moving charge.

Standard Model W: The prevailing theory of elementary particles and three of the four fundamental forces. Mills's model gives a causal explanation for the classes and masses of particles, as a result of how energy is determined by the Planck energy, electric energy, and magnetic energy of a particle during production from a photon. Mills also shows the strong and weak forces to be electromagnetic.
Stern–Gerlach experiment W: The classic demonstration of the spin of a particle when subjected to magnetic fields, showing that it is distributed along multiple orientations and not purely the result of a classical, rigid rotating object.
SunCell: Brilliant Light Power’s prototype for a hydrino reactor, in which the high temperature plasma occurs in a glass reaction chamber and directly irradiates solar panels. The plasma is initiated and maintained by an electric arc current, delivered by two electrodes that are streams of liquid metal. Catalytic reactions occur within the cell to produce hydrino gas, which naturally diffuses out through the cell walls.
Superfluid W: A fluid phase with zero viscosity (e.g. liquid helium below the lambda point). Electron bubbles in superfluid helium appear in experiments related to the free-electron problem.
Supernova W: The explosive death of a massive star, often triggered by an increase in density that triggers a new fusion pathway.
Torsion balance W: A precision instrument for measuring the equivalence of inertial and gravitational mass.
Wavefunction W: The common name for a particle described by the Schrodinger equation in quantum mechanics. Considers a particle to be a wave group, rather than a classical object.
White dwarf W: A dense stellar remnant no longer capable of fusion. Spectral features show that hydrino chemsitry likely produces the visible luminosity of the star.
Wormhole W: A hypothetical topological shortcut through spacetime. According to Mills's theory, wormholes not an allowed solution, as they would require exotic matter that does not exist.