I’ve always had a difficult time accepting what I’m told at face value. I want and need to know. But that why has given me meaning throughtout my life. Finding a sense of universal why, putting myself contextually into an vast 13 billion year old chaotic void gives everything I am, purpose. Our life, death, every atom constituting I has meaning and purpose within the broad scope of existance.
Mass and Volume
Mass = Inertia
Most hear the word mass and immediately associate it with weight or size. Something is massive, it is huge, heavy. That works fine within classical physics, but begins to fall apart at the sub-atomic level. Atoms are mostly empty, they have an extremely small nucleus of protons and nuetrons surrounded by electrons so small, their current position can’t be known, only where it’s likely to be, a cloud of probability.
The Atom
Atoms are composed of particles called protons(positive) and neutrons(nuetral) surrounded by a cloud of electrons(negative). Most of us envision the Bohr model, protons and nuetrons mashed together in a mass orbitied by electrons, like a planet. This works for a simple, elementary understanding of atomic structure, but I believe it leads to the notion of electrons moving or flowing through a conductor, which is fine for basic electrical work, but carries issue when taken too far.
E=MC2
Within classical physics, matter by defintion is any substance composed of atoms that has mass and volume. It has an atomic structure. Non-matter being the inverse, i.e light, gravity, sound. These massless phenomena can interact with matter and increase it’s mass. Heat a steel rod and it will increase in mass. Let it cool and it will lose mass. Trap a radio wave in a perfectly reflective box and it will increase in weight. According to special relativity, mass = Energy divided by the speed of light squared. Matter is energy with structure.
Do Electrons Flow
Sort of. I mean, yes, but that isn’t what’s transfering energy. I was taught to visualize electricity like plumbing. Water flows, valves divert, turbines spin, energy is transferred. This works for simple wiring to a degree but, water physically flows from one place to another. Our conductor is matter, electrons are already present. We arent shooting electrons down the wire, we’re simply giving that first electron a push which transfers that energy on down the line, like a row of dominoes. When we flip on a switch, we’re applying an electrical field to that first electron for that initial bump, which aggitate other electrons, creating a magnetic field.