In the world of empirical science, the universe operates by a hidden set of mathematical laws that merely await discovery by mathematicians. These laws control the creation and movement of matter. Empirical science is not interested in how matter forms. It is not interested in what makes matter move. It is not interested in how matter comes apart. It is not interested in the structure of light. It is not interested in the mechanics of electricity or the basis of magnetism. Simply naming things suffices the dogged empirical mind because once something has a name it can be represented by a symbol and plugged in to a formula. The formula can then be used to mirror what the empiricist sees. As soon as the empirical mind has a formula that mimics what it sees in reality, that is the reality it sees regardless of whether the formula explains actual reality.
Thus, the atom empirical science constructs is a confusing set of particles, with its most predominant piece of ignorance the source of the motion of the electrons that whiz around the nucleus of the atom.
Under the Baconian process, we see the universe as the operation of forces on the visible matter we see moving. We see matter and we want to know how that matter came into existence, how it is constructed, how it can come apart and when it comes apart, whether it can reform once again into matter. The Baconian process demands mechanical answers to the questions for force and motion that reality presents us, and it wants a consistent picture, one that actually explains that reality.
In hypothesizing an elementary particle with two properties, the Baconian process requires that the particle begin by describing the existence of matter, how it is that matter is held together, how it is that matter produces heat and light, how it is that there are different types of matter and how it is that matter can be broken down and recombined with the application of energy, energy produced by the same matter.
There are no laws in the Baconian process, only descriptions of operation.
However, there are certain outcomes that are repetitive. In empirical science, repetitive outcomes demand a law to express them. But repetitive outcomes are really the result of the operation of the basic particle with its two opposing properties and thus, the repetitive outcomes are better described as simple reality. One of the repetitive outcomes of the elementary particle coming together is that its opposing properties dictate the number of particles that can come together and thus dictate the structure those particles can form.
A familiar repetitive outcome is what is known as the law of diminishing returns in economics. The law of diminishing returns is not really a law, but the dictates of reality. If a farmer has an acre field that takes him a week to harvest alone, he might add workers to shorten the time it takes to harvest the field. However, the more workers he adds, the less work each of the workers performs until it becomes uneconomic to add any additional workers. The reality of the size of the field dictates the number of workers that can harvest the field to maximum benefit to the farmer.
When we are dealing with a single elementary particle with two properties, and those two properties are in opposition to one another, we have a specific effect that controls the structures those particles can produce. Because we know that matter breaks down in an emission field, throw a log on the fire and the molecules of the log come apart, we know that the existence of matter is dependent on the strength of the field. No matter can exist on the surface of the sun because the emission field on the surface of the sun breaks all matter down into its component parts, the smallest units that can exist, and then those units come apart as the elementary particles that make them up dissipate. That is why we measure the surface of the sun to be composed of hydrogen, the simplest element. The matter that makes up the sun is breaking down on its surface into the smallest units before those units dissipate in an expanding emission field.
If we know that matter's existence is dependent on the field in which it finds itself, then we can conclude without too much trouble that matter comes together in the absence of a field. If matter breaks down in an emission field, then it forms in the absence of an emission field. There are vast stretches of the universe where there is an absence of a field, and the expanding emission fields that are emitted by stars eventually break down and the elementary particles that make them up pour into these voids. As the voids become crowded with particles, the particles, all attempting to move at their at rest speed, begin to collide with one another and those collisions eventually slow the particles down so that their affinity propensity, their affinity to occupy the space of all other particles, once again begins to get the upper hand, overcome the particles' at rest motion and form the particles into solid matter.
The basic units that the particles form are limited in size. This is the result of the opposing properties of at rest motion and affinity propensity. Even though the affinity propensity of the particles has overcome the at rest motion, the particle still has the tendency to regain its at rest motion. Thus, each particle's affinity propensity has to work, has to overcome its rest motion. This results in a specific effect. While two particles held together by their affinity propensity have twice as much affinity propensity as one particle, part of that affinity propensity is being used to hold the particles' at rest motion in check. Add a third particle and the resulting structure has three times the affinity propensity but more of that affinity propensity is needed for what is now a three-particle structure.
This results is in a limitation. As the number of particles increases, the excess affinity propensity increases, but it does so at a diminishing rate because, while each additional particle adds affinity propensity, the overall structure uses up some of that affinity propensity to attract the particle. Eventually, all of the particles that can come together do come together, and the structure can attract no additional particles.
The process is instantaneous. Once affinity propensities start to overcome at rest motion, the units come together instantly because of the concentrations of affinity propensity balls of the particles produce. If this were the final stage in the formation of the atom, then we would see the units, all identical in size because they are formed by the same particle with the same opposing properties which dictate how many can come together, start to attract elementary particles into orbiting clouds. The elementary particles would orbit simply because the unit, while it did not have enough excess affinity propensity to capture an electron, overcome its at rest motion, and hold it to its surface, would still have enough excess affinity propensity to attract electrons which would then balance the attraction with their at rest motion into the resulting orbits.
But before the units could attract particles into orbiting clouds, they would find a better source to satisfy their excess affinity propensities, and that source would be the excess affinity propensities of other units. Thus, the units come together the same way the individual particles come together, with the excess affinity propensity dictating the number of units that can come together. Once all the units that can come together have come together, the result is identical atoms with the most number of units in the nuclei that can come together. Because these atoms also have excess affinity propensity, but not enough to attract another unit and hold it to its surface, the nuclei attract orbiting clouds of electrons. The orbiting clouds of electrons, themselves with affinity propensities, then cause the nuclei to come together to form solid matter and the solid matter is formed in a ball because it occurs on all possible surfaces, which, like an expanding field, is out in every direction.
The process results in the stars, and stars form in vast fields of empty space where expanding emission fields are pouring through and expanding out of existence, releasing their elementary particles. Once the expanding balls of the nuclei with the most units possible encounter a field, they ignite, and the balls become the suns we see as stars. Some, bigger than others, capture smaller balls, forming them into solar systems (more on this next week). The smaller balls, eventually cooling, crust over in the myriad of elements that have been broken down in the combustion field as the surface cooled. The nuclei come apart and form nuclei with fewer units, with the emission field eventually capturing the nuclei with the fewest units as gases into an atmosphere that surrounds a crust made up of a myriad of nuclei with varying numbers of units. This means that the sun is not a ball of hydrogen gas, but made up of atoms with the highest number of units possible coming apart on the surface where the strongest field possible exists.
The atom, then, is quite simple. It has a number of units in the nucleus with a cloud of orbiting elementary particles surrounding the nucleus. It is held together by it affinity propensities. The orbiting elementary particles, which are really electrons with the property of motion and lack the magnetic analogy that would cause them to repel, hold those nuclei together into the solid matter we manipulate with field replacement (See 2/19/05 column). Add heat, flows of the elementary particle, and they replace the orbiting electrons. Add other atoms and the heat replaces their orbiting electrons. Remove the heat and the atoms attract one another to the extent possible, forming into new substances, and then attract clouds of orbiting electrons, which bring the matter together into solid matter.
The atom formed from an elementary particle with two properties is simpler than the empirical atom and accomplishes the same tasks, only better. We have already seen how it operates in a field of gravity, the emission fields made up of the same particles (see 1/08/05 column). As the number of units in the nuclei increases, it controls the size of the cloud of orbiting electrons, which provides the repetitive nature on the periodic table. This in turn not only accounts for chemical interactions, but also does so in an understandable way.
Let's test the atom against some common effects in physical reality.
Evaporation is thought to produce clouds which in turn produce rain even though clouds form where there is no evaporation and if they were made up of water molecules, would be too heavy to float up there in the sky. What happens when sunlight strikes a water molecule? The water molecule is made up of oxygen and hydrogen, with oxygen atoms having a lot more units in their nuclei than hydrogen atoms. When the two atoms are combined into water, the resulting configuration produces a cloud of orbiting electrons around the combined oxygen and hydrogen atoms. When sunlight strikes the surface of water, it field replaces the clouds of orbiting electrons and the atoms come apart. Because hydrogen has less units and is therefore lighter than oxygen, it rises from the surface faster than they oxygen atoms, which follow quickly behind. However, the combined atoms had a single orbiting cloud of electrons before being split by the sunlight and now they are single atoms each needing an orbiting cloud of electrons. Thus, they remove electrons from the environment to form their individual clouds and this electron removal evidences itself as cooling, which is the effect we get with "evaporation." How the Weather Really Works!, the 5th volume of The Copernican Series, follows what happens next, as the clouds of hydrogen and oxygen atoms are pushed toward the poles and down into the lower, warmer atmosphere where they recombine, eliminating the need of separate clouds of orbiting electrons. The excess electrons, excess because now only single clouds are needed to hold the water molecules together, become the lightning that provides empirical meteorologists with so much puzzlement.
Carrying the storm analogy a bit further, when we have a particularly vicious storm, which means the atoms of hydrogen and oxygen are coming together too fast to drop as rain, they form into hail. When we freeze water, we are removing the electrons that hold the combined hydrogen and oxygen atoms together. Producing a crystalline structure, this results in a given volume of water producing a greater volume of ice. However, if we leave the ice in the freezer too long, more electrons are leached out and the ice begins to shrink as the nuclei start to field replace one another, moving closer together. If we examine the resulting ice and compare it to the hail that is produced rapidly in the recombination process of the storm, we find the two identical.
The refrigerator itself is an example of the atom's operation. The coolant is compressed. Compressing it moves the nuclei of its atoms closer together. As they field replace one another's excess affinity propensities, they no longer need the clouds of orbiting electrons and give them up in the form of the heat we feel coming out of the back of the refrigerator. The coolant is then sent through the insulated box where it is allowed to expand. As it expands, the nuclei move apart, recreating the need for orbiting clouds of electrons. Those electrons, heat, are removed from the insulated box and anything the box contains.
One of the most common instances of the operation of the atom made up of a single elementary particle is found when we need to add air to our tires. We take a hose connected to a pump that compresses the air, in effect causing the nuclei to move closer together, field replacing each other's excess affinity propensities and giving up their orbiting clouds of electrons in the form of heat.
If we want to see those compressed nuclei regain that heat, we can take the cap and open the valve of the tire. As the air rushes out, the valve becomes cold. The nuclei are decompressing, moving apart, creating a need for orbiting electrons, which are pulled out of the environment, leaving the environment feeling cool.
Peter Bros is the author of the 9 volume Copernican Series and is President of The Far Museum of Dallas, an actual history museum, which will house its collection of 50,000 rare Eastern Mediterranean manuscripts and artifacts together with actual history displays and tours in a full-sized replica of the Egyptian Temple at Dendera to be built in the Dallas Ft. Worth area. Email:peterbros@therealskeptic.com