The Wakefield Experiments Background and Motivation
| Article | |
|---|---|
| Title | The Wakefield Experiments Background and Motivation |
| Author(s) | Harry Hamlin Ricker |
| Published in | Beyond Mainstream |
| Date | 2019-10-07 |
| Subject area | Physics |
| Topics | electricity, capacitors, transmission line |
Read online | Read the full article |
Archived copy | Archived version |
| Retrieved | 2026-07-23 |
"The Wakefield Experiments Background and Motivation" is an article by Harry Hamlin Ricker published on 7 October 2019 on Beyond Mainstream, setting out the background to two sets of experiments carried out by the Australian radio amateur Tony Wakefield for Ivor Catt.
The experiments were designed to test Catt's Theory C, which holds that a capacitor is a transmission line and that its stored energy is not static charge but a wave surging back and forth in a continuous cycle. Ricker argues their significance is that they conclusively contradict the textbook account of capacitor discharge: the exponential decay of current that standard theory predicts is not what is observed.