Reference: Essays on Substance
The Quantum Particle
This is a video of the first lecture of an introductory course on QM at Yale university. Here are the lecture notes from this video.
This lecture discusses the wave-particle duality. The results of the famous double slit experiment cannot be explained with either the wave or the classical particle model of light. The math shows a photon to be massless.
The photon does not follow the classical wave model because it has its own substance, and it does not require a medium. The photon does not follow the classical particle model either because it can split between the slits, and it does not always leave a point impression. Yet it does appear to have a discrete existence.
The Theory of Substance sees light to be a fluid substance that flows. It has a continuous medium, that can be reduced to discrete “drops” similar to water. These “drops” or “fluid-particles” have dimensions and they have the ability to split and coalesce back. The classical point-particles do not have such properties.
The analogy of light and water ends when we notice that, when divided, water ends up with hard core molecules that cannot coalesce with each other. However, light has no such limitations.
The photon being, a fluid-particle, can appear as a point on the photographic plate in the experiment. But it extends in spacetime, such that it can coalesce with the next photon when it comes along. So there is a fluid-like aspect to light that seems to make all the difference. This has not been examined in physics so far.
A quantum particle is, therefore, a fluid-particle that can split and coalesce and remain a continuous fluid medium.
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Comments
A quantum is defined as the smallest discrete unit of a physical property that can be involved in an interaction. It represents the minimum amount of any physical entity, such as energy or matter, that can participate in a physical process.
Quantum mechanics believes that a quantum cannot be divided further. But this belief is questionable.
Quantum properties may come in discrete units; but that does not necessarily mean that quantum of substance is indivisible. The quantum of substance is fluid-like.