Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Standing Wave Theory of Matter

I discovered an interesting theory purporting to solve the longstanding paradox of the wave/particle duality of light and and matter. More about this can be found at this website: http://www.spaceandmotion.com/Physics-Particle-Wave-Duality-Paradox.htm.

The solution seems to fit with a lot of the ideas I have thought about concerning this problem. Modern physics has been trying to put forth the idea that light and matter are both particles and waves. Quantum theory says light and matter exist only as probablities which are mathematically described in Schrodinger's quantum wave equations. When observed, the theory proposes that the quantum wave function "collapses" and the particle is manifested.

My thinking has always been that this simply makes no sense. Either they are particles that somehow manifest themselves as waves, or they are waves that somehow manifest themselves as particles. I never could imagine any way for a particle to manifest itself as a wave, but it seems one could imagine many ways that a wave might manifest itself as a particle. The wave seems to me more fundamental than the particle. This new theory basiclly falls in this same train of thought , proposing that space is a wave medium in which matter waves are propagated. The outgoing waves of matter interact with the incoming waves of all other matter and produce a standing wave; the center of this standing wave is manifested as the particle that we observe. Many other interesting things fall out of theory, but rather than describe any of that here, I simply recommend that anyone interested check out the website, devoted to all of this. I still have many questions about what all of it might mean, but it seems possible that this might be a important breakthrough for Physics, something sorely needed to make sense of the non-sensical ideas we read about in modern Physics.

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