Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)
[In bold black are the published facts. In color are some comments.]
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Einstein provided ground breaking physical reasoning to establish the reality of molecules, electromagnetic radiation and physical space. He proved the existence of molecules directly by relating it to the observable phenomenon of Brownian motion mathematically.
Matter, as a substance, is reducible to discrete point-particles that have momentum and inertia. Such properties are distinctive of “mass”.The “mass” of the electron is seen as increasing with velocity; but it is actually the inertia of electron that is increasing when accelerated. Electron has charge but it has no mass because it is not reducible to a point-particle.
Einstein established beyond any doubt that electromagnetic radiation has particle-like properties. In spite of its wave properties radiation was not a disturbance in some postulated ether. Radiation field could exist in space quite independently of palpable matter. Einstein visualized radiation as made up of unchanging energy-packets (quanta) distributed discontinuously in space. Einstein proved further that energy and mass are equivalent, and mechanics could no longer be maintained as the foundation of physics.
The particle-like properties of electromagnetic radiation are actually substance-like properties of momentum and inertia. Radiation is a different kind substance in that its momentum and inertia are many orders of magnitude less than that of matter, and it follows the laws of electromagnetism instead of Newton’s laws of motion. The wave-particle dilemma disappears when radiation is viewed as a fluid-like substance with a diffused consistency rather than a particle-like concentrated consistency in space. Maxwell’s model accounted for the intensity of radiation but not its unchanging consistency. The consistency naturally provides the unit of energy involved in the absorption and emission of that radiation. This is the quantum.
Einstein further established the nature of electromagnetic substance through his special theory of relativity. He determined that no observer (inertial frame) could travel at the speed of light. He postulated that the laws of nature, including the speed of light, should appear the same in all inertial frames moving with uniform speed with respect to each other. This became the basis of Einstein’s relativity. It resulted in the revision of the concepts of space and time.
The waves of electromagnetic substance are analogous to the waves of disturbance in a material medium. They are described by the same mathematics; but they are actually different in reality. The wave in a material medium is described by frequency, wave-length and period. However, the corresponding characteristics of an electromagnetic wave are best described as consistency, volume-space and duration. As frequency increases, wave-length decreases and period becomes increasingly repetitive. Similarly, as the consistency of radiation increases, its volume-space condenses and its duration at a location increases. This results in the reduction of speed. Thus, we see electron moving much slower than light. Since the consistency of light is many orders of magnitude less than the consistency of matter, the speed of light is many orders of magnitude greater than the speed of inertial frames in the material domain. Therefore, the speed of light appears to be constant for any uniformly moving coordinate system in the material domain. This is a good approximation. The mathematics of special relativity then follows. Matter and electromagnetic radiation are two different kind of substances that exist in space. Their relative motion is an expression of their relative consistency. The perception of space and time is fixed in nature through this relationship.
Einstein also published an analysis indicating the equivalence of gravitational and inertial mass is not a mere accident of nature, but the basis of a profound physical principle that leads to a new theory of gravity. Einstein realized that mathematical descriptions of nature were to be taken as laws only if their forms remain unchanged in going from one frame of reference to any other frame by the most general type of coordinate transformation we can imagine. This became his general theory of relativity.
From matter to electromagnetic radiation the substance undergoes orders of magnitude reduction in its essential property of inertia. A similar orders of magnitude reduction takes place from electromagnetic radiation to space. The substance of space is currently recognized as the Higgs Field. As material and electromagnetic substances move through space, there is a resistance that appears as inertia. The more is the acceleration, the greater is the inertia. When the acceleration is fixed and balanced by inertia it appears as the consistency of the quantum or mass. Here we have the Higgs field converting into the quantum or mass and vice versa. Please see A New Theory of Gravitation.
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