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Poita
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I'm pretty much physics illiterate so please bear with my simplistic metaphors and characterisations of physics principles in this question.
It is said that there are two states, matter and energy. Well, my question is this. Does matter actualy exist?
Surounding every atom is an electro magnetic field which itself is energy and not matter. Even surrounding electrons and nuclei is a field and even the particles that make up the electron which revolve around the atom is probably another electromagnetic field and whatever makes up those particles is probably surrounded by an electromagnetic field and so on.
Atoms never actually touch one another. Their electro magnetic force fields pull a star treck and repulse each other so in reality all that actually comes into contact is the fields of individual parts be they electrons or sub atomic particles. Of course, depending on their charge, they sometimes attract also, otherwise we would not have the chemical bonding that brings about molecules. I don't quite know how they manage to attract and repulse at the same time and remain independant of each other yet stuck to each other but that's another topic.
So, if all matter is basically made up of electro magnetic force fields then you could say that matter as we imagine it does not exist and that what we see as molecules (the basic building blocks of all matter) is just a matter of the different ways in which these electro magnetic fiels (atoms) are configured.
We tend to imagine matter as a 'solid' thing and energy as some etherial, radio wave like un-solid thing. Would it be fair then to say that in fact matter does not exist and only exists in the same way that a picutre exists due to the configuration of the ink on the page. That the ink and the paper is all that 'actually' exists and the picture is just the way the ink is placed in relation to other spots of ink until it forms a picture. The paper exists as a solid thing and the ink exists as a solid thing but the picture is just 'implied' so in the stictist sense could be said to not exist.
When you look deeper into an atom you see a nucleus at the center and one or more electrons (or positrons) orbiting it. But when you look in those nuclei and electrons you see particls that make them up and if it were possible to look into those constituent particles you probably would see more constituent parts and they are all just basically fromed by the relationship/configuration of electro magnetic fields which, again, is just 'energy'. So is it right that only energy exists and that matter does not 'exist' in the way we usually think of something existing and that it is just the result of the varying 'configuration' of the energy fields?
By 'varying configuration of energy fields' i don't actually mean energy transmuting into a new state called matter. I mean patterns. I guess I'm asking if matter is nothing more than a pattern.
It is said that there are two states, matter and energy. Well, my question is this. Does matter actualy exist?
Surounding every atom is an electro magnetic field which itself is energy and not matter. Even surrounding electrons and nuclei is a field and even the particles that make up the electron which revolve around the atom is probably another electromagnetic field and whatever makes up those particles is probably surrounded by an electromagnetic field and so on.
Atoms never actually touch one another. Their electro magnetic force fields pull a star treck and repulse each other so in reality all that actually comes into contact is the fields of individual parts be they electrons or sub atomic particles. Of course, depending on their charge, they sometimes attract also, otherwise we would not have the chemical bonding that brings about molecules. I don't quite know how they manage to attract and repulse at the same time and remain independant of each other yet stuck to each other but that's another topic.
So, if all matter is basically made up of electro magnetic force fields then you could say that matter as we imagine it does not exist and that what we see as molecules (the basic building blocks of all matter) is just a matter of the different ways in which these electro magnetic fiels (atoms) are configured.
We tend to imagine matter as a 'solid' thing and energy as some etherial, radio wave like un-solid thing. Would it be fair then to say that in fact matter does not exist and only exists in the same way that a picutre exists due to the configuration of the ink on the page. That the ink and the paper is all that 'actually' exists and the picture is just the way the ink is placed in relation to other spots of ink until it forms a picture. The paper exists as a solid thing and the ink exists as a solid thing but the picture is just 'implied' so in the stictist sense could be said to not exist.
When you look deeper into an atom you see a nucleus at the center and one or more electrons (or positrons) orbiting it. But when you look in those nuclei and electrons you see particls that make them up and if it were possible to look into those constituent particles you probably would see more constituent parts and they are all just basically fromed by the relationship/configuration of electro magnetic fields which, again, is just 'energy'. So is it right that only energy exists and that matter does not 'exist' in the way we usually think of something existing and that it is just the result of the varying 'configuration' of the energy fields?
By 'varying configuration of energy fields' i don't actually mean energy transmuting into a new state called matter. I mean patterns. I guess I'm asking if matter is nothing more than a pattern.