The atom

1. Introduction

How was the universe made? Surely the biggest question we can ask. We may not have the answer, but I do believe we have a new perspective from which to ponder this question. In any case, we will only be concerned with how to make an atom, limiting the scope somewhat.

Can we comprehend the atom? Perhaps. Some properties are well understood, and I hope to show its structure is conceivable. The theory we use to guide us is called Structural Electrodynamics (SED) and it explains how matter is created from energy, super high energy that future experiments with gamma ray photons, may show is possible. At the moment it is far beyond the capabilities of CERN.

But how does an atom work? What is it doing? Physics tells us some of these answers though we may not have always looked in the right places. I hope to reveal a few more.

An atom is nothing like the mini solar system we often imagine, but it does have a structure, although only the lightest atoms have one we can readily perceive. The heavier elements obey the same architecture but become incredibly complex. The building blocks they all use are stable fundamental particles, although there are not so many types as we currently believe. The mortar for these structures is the force arising from electromagnetic (E-M) fields. In fact, fields are the only real entity in the universe, and there is only one type - electromagnetic. Even the fundamental particles themselves are just E-M-fields oscillating with a fixed bundle of energy, enfolded and trapped in a tiny soliton. A soliton is a standing wave or quantity of energy that can move from place to place but does not disperse or spread out like ordinary waves and so manifests as an object. These particles store energy in the form of mass, occupying space-time, and can persist for billions of years.

Though they are tiny, they are not points. Infinitely small objects cannot exist in nature. They appear to be a point, taking up no spatial extent, precisely because they are not a solid particle. They are trapped field energy that possesses both wave and particle properties, giving them inertia. Their size is determined by their energy through their Compton wavelength. Counterintuitively, the more energy or mass a fundamental particle has, the smaller it is. However as with the electromagnetic spectrum, the more energetic a photon, the shorter its wavelength, and wavelength corresponds to the soliton’s size.

An atom is composed of three types of stable particle: A proton, a neutron, both nucleons, and the far larger and lighter electron, a lepton. For many years particle scientists had realized that nucleons were different from leptons in some basic way but could not definitively say why. They had no model to guide them. It was just something that came out of their mathematics but defied physical explanation. Now it does.

Matter is created from energy in the form of gamma rays, and the structure of these fundamental particles depends on these source waves or photons that carry this energy to superpose and form the soliton. Always orthogonal to each other and with fixed angular momentum, these photons can interact, forming two basic types of solitons, leptons, and nucleons.

Leptons (e.g., electrons) are created from much less energetic (i.e., larger) gamma ray photons, while protons and neutrons, both nucleons, are about two thousand times smaller and denser than an electron. Just why each particle has the size it does depends on their frequency or energy. In all cases the resulting soliton is three dimensional whereas the original photons are two.

Electrons are incredibly stable, but nucleons can change into a different type and create or destroy leptons. For instance, with the right conditions (i.e., energy and time), it is possible for a neutron to spontaneously morph into a proton and electron with energy and a neutrino involved. The reverse, involving antimatter, is also possible. This reaction always conserves charge, mass, and angular momentum. Exactly how will be shown in a later section and help build a structural explanation for the origin of fission or radioactive decay and its opposite, fusion where nucleons combine.

This article follows from ideas presented in my earlier paper, SED The Electron, where the design and properties of the electron were initially offered. The two papers are complimentary and although each can stand alone, it may be necessary to read both to gain a better understanding of the topic. Some repetition is inevitable though and for this I apologise. Here we will try to discover how an atom is made, to which the electron normally belongs. A single free electron was chosen then because it is so much simpler. Its intrinsic properties were explained from first principles. Now we will take this idea further to see how various elementary particles form and interact, to create the basis of all stable matter, an atom.

.2. What is a particle and what is spin?

A modern and suitable definition of a fundamental particle is as follows: A particle is the smallest possible vibration of a quantum field. We will find our model adheres to this definition precisely, being based on one cycle of an electromagnetic wave. That is, there is no sustained minimum or smaller vibration other than this and the electromagnetic field is a quantum field.

The concept of spin.in elementary particles has always been a difficult problem for particle physics because its theory maintains spin is not real angular momentum but purely an intrinsic or quantum property. This is because it declares particles are infinitely small points with no spatial extent and so there is nothing to rotate. Their argument continues by saying if they had a size, this implies particles would have to spin faster than light. In contrast, SED theory, with its structural model based on quantum fields of circular motion, proposes that spin and angular momentum are truly identical. Classical Mechanics can account for elementary particle spin because spin is a rotation of mass.

In our model, E-M energy follows a tiny path consisting of two circular loops with an exact radius that achieves light speed and creates all the other fundamental properties including mass. Moreover, being made only from fields means particles are not a solid ball or point, but simply energy and their influence extends beyond their size and continues throughout surrounding space. Fermions or stable particles that portray mass, will be shown to exhibit a half spin or h/2 at any one time, in order to create their properties. However, their total overall spin is still h. Just how will be discussed shortly. First, we need to examine h, the quantum of spin.

3. Angular momentum and Plank’s Constant, ћ

The importance of Plank’s constant, h, to this theory cannot be overestimated as it represents the smallest amount of angular momentum that can exist. In fact, it may even be the smallest amount of anything that can exist. It was originally called the quantum of action. What was meant was quantity of energy per frequency of rotation and it is this quotient that is a quantum. The existence of this constant is profound. It means that circular motion is not a continuum but granular, like a unit of charge. Although h is incredibly small, it has a great influence on the formation of fundamental particles and hence all matter. If something physical exists, it spins with h or some whole multiple. This applies to both energy and matter.

For some reason, many physicists see h merely as just another constant without appreciating its deep physical and philosophical significance. Its fixed numerical value is often taken for granted or glossed over and replaced by unity to simplify some equations. This is a great pity.

But what exactly is h and why is it so important to SED? Apart from being a major term in every equation of quantum mechanics, angular momentum, and its preservation, as every ballerina knows, can be a powerful property. Mathematically it is the product of mass times speed times radius of rotation and without the application of a torque or external force this total will not change. That is, the number of h’s in the system remains constant. This conservation law also means that if one of the three components in its definition varies, another must inversely change to compensate. So, the ballerina pulls her arms in tightly, reducing her radius and consequently spins faster. At this human level and without friction, angular momentum means things continue to spin, because of their inertia in rotation, or how many h‘s they have, but as each h is so small we do not notice the graininess. However, for fundamental particles, h is critical because although it is small, it is constant, and each must be built from one and only one unit of h. Neither more nor less. This gives us an important clue as to how our model must behave. Further, in the sub-atomic world and its interactions, both energy times time and momentum times distance, also equals h. Below this minimum value or quantum however, some surprising things are possible as we shall soon see.

It is important to note that although angular momentum is quantised, neither linear momentum nor energy is. They can vary continuously depending on the frequency of a cycle and an object’s size or radius of motion. A tighter curl spins faster and requires more energy to sustain it, meaning a more rapidly changing and larger field. This is portrayed as more mass or potential energy locked in the soliton but does not change its angular momentum. And because h is so small and constant, only fundamental particles portray such quantum behaviour.

Just as all objects are made of atoms, all atoms are made of fundamental particles, for which energy and angular momentum or spin are the two prime properties. The intrinsic energy of a particle tells us how fast it rotates (i.e., its frequency or spin rate). Different types of particles have different rates, but the same type always has identical frequency. And because mass is energy, we have the curious fact that fundamental particles with larger mass are smaller than those with less (i.e., a smaller Compton wavelength). This is the only way they can rotate faster, due to the finite speed of light.

Irrespective, all stable particles that build an atom have exactly one unit of angular momentum (i.e., Plank’s constant, h) for each rotation or full wave cycle they perform. We will see that this rotational invariance or fixed spin is responsible for charge conservation, magnetism, and other properties such as the forces that hold the atom and its nucleus together.

In summary: at our scale, angular momentum, L, manifests through circular motion and appears not to be quantised. It is calculated from the product of a spinning object's mass, tangential velocity, and radius. Thus L = mvr. However, in the realm of fundamental particles, because they are so small, we measure angular momentum or spin in units of h, and find that it is quantised, and never less than a constant amount. Its definition is, h = mcλ, where m = particles mass, c = the speed of light, and λ is the Compton or circumferential wavelength of the particle, derived from its energy. So, for particles, it is h or nothing.

4. Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle

So much of modern physics is permeated by this principle that without it quantum mechanics and science in general would not be the same. It acknowledges that we can never know precisely or measure simultaneously, each of the physical properties that combine to form the minimum of angular momentum. That is: mass, velocity, and radius. The product of these three can be expressed as either momentum-distance or energy-time, as well angular momentum. This is because the smallest of all things has one whole cycle or quantum vibration of an E-M field in it, which gets more concentrated with new energy. More mass means a denser, tighter curl with higher frequency. But still, angular momentum is always h. Although some weird things are possible in the sub-quantum world, provided they combine to form half a unit or less of h or half a quantum wave, they are fine. It is the product that matters, not the individual components separately. This is critical to our theory of SED and the atom. In fact, it could be said that because of the shape of its soliton, which we will examine soon, this principle is formulated the way it is. In the section on fermions and spin, we will discover why the factor of a half of ћ is included.

A highly significant corollary of this principle is that it enables nucleons to form. Nucleons reside in the nucleus of an atom and provide nearly all of its mass. There are two types: protons with a single positive charge and neutrons with none. Both have almost the same mass although the neutron has slightly more. The other atomic particle is the electron, a lepton. This has a negative charge and surrounds the nucleus being so much larger.

Physics has always classified nucleons and leptons differently without providing a clear and concise reason for this, other than leptons do not participate in the so-called strong force. Now this theory, linked with the uncertainty principle, shows how the different structure of their solitons, enables them to combine to form an atom.

Like virtual particles that exploit the uncertainty principle to borrow energy and exist for a very short time, or electrons that can tunnel through normally impassable barriers, nucleons utilise this principle to alter their soliton on average every second cycle. They do this independently and build a structure based on probabilities, with properties unavailable to leptons. Properties like two variants of the basic form; one having charge and the other not. Occasionally one type of nucleon can transform into another. However, for these transformations, external particles such as leptons, neutrinos and photons are always involved. We will now review how all these particles are first created.

5. An overview of SED - Structural Electrodynamics

Physics often takes the difference between energy and matter for granted. However, SED distinguishes these two entities in this way: - Energy has a two-dimensional structure, while matter has three. Consequently, matter has mass and inertia because it compresses space and has a resistance to change its motion or accelerate through it. Physics does however, have a name for the elementary particles involved with each entity: boson and fermion, although it does not classify them through structure, for currently it maintains both are structureless. Irrespective, a photon is a boson and has integral angular momentum (i.e., a spin of h). It carries energy but has no rest-mass. Fermions do have rest-mass and portray half-integral spin at any one time due to their soliton’s shape. Particle physics categorizes many other short-lived particles, but these are not considered important by SED, because in the formation of matter, they only exist momentarily and cannot occur alone. What is stable matters.

There are two types of fermion or mass particles: leptons and nucleons. SED proposes a lepton always has the same single wave in its structure. However, a nucleon has one wave that splits into two equal probabilities due to the uncertainty principle. The simplest example of a lepton is the free electron, a single particle of generally stable matter. Nucleons are either protons or neutrons and can be both stable and somewhat unstable, in that they can transform into one another depending on their environment. They are far more energetic than leptons and thus much smaller.

The most common composite particle in the universe is an atom, a stable system made of both leptons and nucleons. While not fundamental, an atom follows the same basic ideas but has far greater levels of complexity, due to the number of particles and their various interactions. These interactions involve energy and angular momentum transfer amongst photons, neutrinos, and fermions.

A photon, like other bosons, is electromagnetic (E-M) field energy with the structure of a flat circle. It both spins and moves forward at the speed of light and thus forms a helix in space-time. Being purely energy transfer it has no real volume or rest-mass. Its helical shape when in motion gives it somewhat of a three-dimensional form in space-time and consequently it portrays a small virtual mass through the momentum it carries. Photons usually transfer some energy amongst fermions, though this amount is tiny in comparison to fermions mass and depends on the interaction time through frequency. A single unit of angular momentum, or h, is always involved with each photon exchange. This also applies to neutrinos.

Light is one type of photon occupying the visible or mid-energy range within the E-M spectrum, but others exist with different frequencies and all move at the speed of light or c. It is well understood that matter creates and absorbs photons, however SED proposes the reverse is also possible and that highly energetic photons or gamma rays can combine to create matter. We will endeavour to show how but the technology to do this experimentally is not yet available. Light and even X-ray photons cannot do this because they do not carry sufficient energy.

Figure 1 – The electromagnetic spectrum

The two types of fermions in an atom, leptons, and nucleons, have a large energy/size difference, so the smaller denser nucleons primarily determine its centre of mass. The electron is not a point and does not revolve but should be thought of as a dynamic field vibration or standing wave surrounding the nucleus, occupying space as close as charge, the fine structure constant and Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle allow. The overall size, number of particles and form is unique and generally stable for each type of atom.

The concept behind SED is that gamma-ray photons can superpose to form a standing wave of energy or soliton, a stable 3-dimensional structure with rest-mass and the shape of a roton (a roton can be thought of as a rotating photon). All matter is made from rotons, and we will examine their construction now.

Note: A demonstration model such as the marked-up strip below is an extremely useful aid in following these ideas. This section is a recap from that in my other paper “SED The Electron”.

Figure 2 - A 3D view of the Hubius Helix or roton. (Thanks to Qiu-Hong Hu) [1]

The roton is the path that forms the structure of elementary particles. It can be created in a number of ways as in the examples described below, these three being demonstration models. Familiarity with this shape and how it arises is vital to understanding the model and this theory.

1.         A thin strip of semi rigid material e.g., a woven plastic strap about 1 cm x 60 cm is twisted one full rotation or 360°, then the ends are joined at the crossover, creating a curved infinity symbol as in Figure 3. This can be marked-up to show field flow direction and distinguish inside/outside surfaces. Note: This is not a Möbius strip which has only a 180° twist and forms one continuous surface.

Figure 3 - Making a Hubius Helix or roton from a strip (Based on drawing by Williamson & Van Der Mark) [2]

2.         Figure 4 below illustrates a rotating vertical disc (e.g., a CD), in its plane while simultaneously twisting it sideways in a circular motion at the same rate. The locus of a small circle (~ 1/137th of the disc & shown in pink) drawn on the disc's edge is the roton. Significantly, rotation direction (i.e., clockwise, or anticlockwise when viewed from front) reverses twice each 3600 to maintain angular momentum. There are also two, 360o turns per 720o cycle, as is a requirement of Lie groups, and consistent with the spin of fundamental particles and spinors. However, this model does not need any abstract space or mathematics. This twist motion prevents the fields changing their sense as will be explored in the section on the origin of charge.

Figure 4 - Making a roton from two rotating discs.

3.         Figure 5 below shows how the same roton, but in this case in a different orientation, can be created by tracing the path in space a small area on a polar great circle sweeps out, as it rotates around a horizontally revolving sphere. A bit like a plane flying a polar great circle every 24 hours. The roton (pink) lies on the surface of the sphere in one vertical hemisphere. This has the same shape as model 2 above but may be easier to visualise. All three models are spinors.

Figure 5 - Making a roton from a revolving sphere and a great circle.

In the last two models we have used a small pink circle rather than a point, to form the roton’s path because this helps envisage that the twist of the small circle, as it moves around its path, is essential to the creation of the soliton. With the strip model, this twist is more obvious and more easily shows how the model’s topology allows the standing E-M fields to produce an electron.

6. How matter is created – The formation of a soliton or spinor

In this model, a stable particle is a soliton or standing wave of field energy with a 3-dimensional structure, made from highly energetic, single cycle electromagnetic waves. It spins with an angular momentum of h and its precise energy yields a corresponding mass and volume that is sustained and localised in space-time. Once formed, energy flows continuously at light-speed, along an endless path comprising the soliton, but having acquired mass means it is compacted into a tiny volume, so its overall or external speed is always less. All other measurable properties of the particle such as its charge, magnetic moment and particle type (e.g. nucleon or lepton), are directly and simply derived from the electromagnetic properties of this structure, with no need for further assumptions. Most particles were created during the Big Bang, when its extreme temperatures supplied these gamma ray photons with sufficient energy. Others are being formed in the hottest regions of the present universe. It is possible that with future technology, we can do the same.

Supersymmetry is the name of the physics term whereby bosons are converted into fermions. This is also how spinors are made. My previous paper described how this process meets the necessary conditions for photons to create a soliton. Here is another short recap.

We begin with the theory of solitons. Like Higgs theory which has borrowed many of these ideas, a soliton has its minimum energy at a constant non-zero field strength. This minimum is known as the vacuum state and enfolds the soliton, trapping it inside. The vacuum state corresponds to a minimum of electrical potential energy and lies on a sphere which geometry shows has the diameter of ƛ√2 or about 1.4 times its reduced Compton wavelength. No other particle can ever penetrate this space because inside this hemisphere field energy immediately rises above this minimum and cannot change. It has only one state and its space is full. This explains why the Pauli exclusion principle prevents the quantum numbers of two particles being all the same. They cannot occupy the same space-time with identical energy.

Figure 6 - The dimensions of the roton drawn flat (left), and as viewed from the front when bent at 90° (right)

Theory also shows that for a soliton to exist we need its field magnitude to be zero at some time, but at that same time, the energy carried by this field must have a definite non-zero value. This occurs in our model at each crossover when both fields are momentarily zero but keep moving at the speed of light. Now, because intrinsic energy remains constant at mc2 = hf, we have both necessary conditions for a soliton to form, as described in Rabbi’s article [2].

Outside the particle, field strength follows the normal inverse squared law, as shown in the drawing below.

Figure 7 – Potential energy in a soliton forming matter. Its total energy is mc2and its diameter is ƛ√2

The diameter ƛ√2, forms a kind of event horizon, being the size of the hemisphere which the twisted, two-looped shape, or roton, generates. It defines the location of the vacuum state where the particle’s energy is fixed and forms a mathematical transition surface, separating internal and external fields. Their ratio is the fine structure constant. The structure holds energy inside by compacting space using this same ratio and that is why it is a soliton.