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Reference: The Physics Book

Traditionally, matter is generalized as substance. We use the word SUBSTANCE as a broad category for things that are physically substantial enough to be sensed. This makes force the key characteristic of substance. 

SUBSTANCE is anything that is substantial enough to be sensed.

Matter may be categorized as a special kind of substance that contains mass (inertial force). The laws of mechanics apply to all material particles because they have a center of mass.

MATTER is a substance that has the property of a center of mass.

Today we know that light may not have mass but it has momentum (impact). This qualifies light as a substance. We feel gravity through every cell of our body; so it would be a substance too. 

LIGHT and GRAVITY are substances that do not have a center of mass.

This provides us with a more accurate definition of VOID.

VOID is that which cannot be sensed.

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The Structure of Atom

Hydrogen is the lightest material substance. The hydrogen atom consists of a proton and an electron. The tiny proton forms the nucleus at the center of the atom. The old atomic model assumed the electron and proton to be “particles” separated by a void. The negatively charged electron revolves around the positively charged proton as it is attracted towards it. But this configuration cannot be stable because an accelerating charged particle loses energy. The loss of energy will make the revolving electron immediately spiral into the proton.

The Quantum mechanics model of the atom is quite different, but it is described mathematically only. Realistically, 99.99% of the volume of the hydrogen atom is the electron. The tiny proton occupies only 0.01% of the volume at the center of the atom. It is like a tiny marble immersed in a large pond. There is no void separating the electron from the proton. They are very much in contact with each other. 

The proton consists of 1836/1837 of the total mass of the atom. The mass of the surrounding electron is 1/1836 times the mass of the embedded proton. If the proton consists of “solid mass,” we may consider the electron to consist of “liquid mass.” Furthermore, the atom is embedded in a much larger but much less concentrated force field of light and gravity. We may consider that force field to consist of “gaseous mass.”

Here we have used the terms “solid, liquid, and gaseous,” in the context of mass, only to make the point that the concept of mass need not be confined to matter only. It is a concept inherent to all substance.

Consistent with Faraday’s hypothesis of “force field” the concept of mass may be applied to matter, light and gravity equally. The mass becomes much dilated in case of light and gravity. This allows us to explain better the idea of momentum associated with light.

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