3.3 Review of Classical Physics
3.3.1 Particles and Waves: Current Theories
The conventional theory of Particle Physics views the three fundamental particles, protons, electrons and neutrons, as consisting of sub-particles which are said to be present in the debris of high energy particle collisions. Cloud chambers and photographic emulsions located near the collision site, show ionization tracks which are assumed to be caused by sub-particles rather than kinetic energy escaping the collision. These sub-particles are transient in the sense that these tracks are very short, and since sub-particles themselves are not directly observed, they are labeled according to the nature of their tracks. The whole scheme of relationships between sub-particles is presented as a table in a similar way to the periodic table of elements.
It is incontestable that some of these ionization tracks are made by electrons, protons and neutrons. However, other tracks could just as well have been the result of energy waves released by the original particle collisions. This possibility is discounted because it is believed that the space surrounding the colliding particles is empty.
Theories of wave motion in modern physics are somewhat confused. Maxwell's electromagnetic wave equation is said to describe light, radio and other transverse waves. However, it is well known that light is a quantum phenomena, and has the properties of a stream of particles, as originally suggested by Newton and rediscovered by Planck and Einstein. Though Maxwell's equations provide a good explanation for radio waves, they fail to describe light and the Electromagnetic fields associated with moving charged particles.
The theoretical physicist, Anton Lorentz, discovered that the results of his experiments with electrons could not be explained by Maxwell's equations. However, he found that the wrong predictions obtained from Maxwell's equations could be corrected by use of a mathematical 'trick', (Lorentz Transform) for which he could find no physical justification. It was left to Einstein to discover a logical rationale for this procedure which is now known as Special Relativity. To do this he had to abandon the classical concepts of absolute time, absolute space, and of an Aether as the medium through which waves are transmitted.
Experiments with light passing through narrow slits have led some physicists to the conclusion that light is both a wave and a particle. It is also claimed that light, as a photon, can pass through two different slits at the same time. This theory of wave/particle duality seems to be part of the larger confusion inherent in field/particle theory. A field, by definition, extends over all space, whereas, a particle is said to exist at a single geometrical point, it would seem impossible that the two should be the same thing.
Another kind of wave motion was discovered by Schrodinger which describes vibrations in the space surrounding a positively charged nucleus. Of all the possible vibration patterns only a few are stable, and the energy content of these stable states corresponds to that of electrons said to be in orbit around the nucleus. In order to reconcile Schrodinger's waves with electrons as particles, the waves are said to be probability functions that an electron exists at each point. That probability is a physical property of space is clearly absurd.
In this work, photons will be regarded as particles of energy which are stable only when moving at the speed of light. When the motion of a photon is halted by collision with matter, its structure is destroyed and its energy is released into the surrounding continuum, and observed as standing waves, as first noted by Newton. Unhindered photons are able to retain their particle structure for billions of years while traveling vast distances across the universe, whereas, the energy content of waves disperses with distance.
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