Elemental force

“ It is, however, certain that we must regard all manifestations of chemical force as dependent upon some secret principles common to all matter, diffused throughout the universe, but modified by the influences of the known imponderable elements, and by the mechanical force of aggregative attraction. ”

“ Can we retain the conception of the atom as formulated in the last century? Is matter an aggregate of impenetrable, indivisible nodules, or is an atom merely a centre of force? Have we nothing that we should call solid, [354] only vortices? Is solidity a flux of ions? ”

“ It could only belong to another and an entirely different order of existence from that of Substance as we know it. It must possess characteristics and properties of an order as yet unknown to us by name—for which the material world contains no analogy—for which Substance has no analogues. It must be a far more complex thing than is even the most complex thing we call Matter, or that which we call Force or Energy. ”

“ The effects of the force, called either affinity or attraction, which maintains these elements united, are not beyond the range of our observation; tables of affinity, and of atomic weights, have been constructed, which enable the chemist to dominate over matter, just as the astronomer embraces the stars, the atoms of the world, by the law of universal gravitation. ”

“ Indeed, when the range of seeing puts the size of an atom at less than one two-hundred-and-twenty-four-thousandth of an inch, and when the range of thinking puts it at less than one six-millionth of an inch, many prefer to consider an atom as a center of force and not as a material entity at all. ”

“ And the main problem of physical science is, not to calculate the play of atomic motions, under the sway of their constant central forces, but to trace the differentiation and transformation of material forms as determined by the differentiation and transformation of the formative energy of the universe. In this connection, observation and experiment have brought to light a number of the most significant facts, to one of which I may be permitted to draw attention before the conclusion of this paper. Force, or, more correctly speaking, energy, is not only indestructible, like mass ”

“ Each atom possesses an inherent sum of force, or energy. The well-established and universally-admitted theory of chemical affinity teaches us that these atoms are capable of attracting and repelling each other, and, therefore, also teaches us, by implication, that they are possessed with definite inclinations, follow these sensations or impulses, and have also the will and ability to move to and from one another. This we are clearly taught by chemistry. Thus every atom in the universe possesses sensation and will, pleasure and displeasure, desire and loathing, attraction and repulsion ”

“ It has been seen above that the natural condition of matter is cold, frozen, inactive, and solid: and that the elements of this globe were created in a simple, uncombined state. If this mass of elements received a quickening impulse, the chemical laws of affinity and attraction, and also the natural law of gravitation, would commence exerting their influence. This we know would create a rise in the temperature of the whole mass, in proportion to the amount of matter acted on, and the force of the 68 different principles and agents which were in operation. ”

“ Do they not also indicate that any alteration in the specific gravity of the atom would give rise to a new series of compounds, thus apparently producing a new element? Surely there is nothing irrational in the idea that the influences of heat or electricity, or of other powers of which as yet we know nothing, may be sufficient to effect such changes in the atomic constituents of this earth.
The combination of elementary atoms takes place under the influence of an unknown force which we are compelled to express by a figurative term, affinity. ”

“ This is the fundamental conception (not hypothesis) of the theory.... Now in a system of atoms as above defined, let the centers be of equal mass and at equal distances; there will be no difference of pressure on any one center, no moving force will be developed, and the conditions of equilibrium will be satisfied. ”

“ Downward and downward falls the temperature, property after property disappears, until science asks, bewildered, what will happen when we reach the absolute zero, what will then become of the properties of matter, what will remain of the characteristics of the elements? Is there not but one Matter, and are not all chemical elements but modifications, aggregations, of this one ultimate matter? Similarly with Force, modern science has made the magnificent generalisation that all [39] the forces that we know are modifications of one Force, and are identical in their essential nature ”

“ These forms of energy, although much higher in the scale than matter, are imprisoned and confined in the material combinations, by reason of the energies manifesting through, and using material forms, but thus becoming entangled and confined in their creations of material forms, which, to an extent, is true of all creations, the creating force becoming involved in its creation. ”

“ And since a molecule, as a general rule, contains two or more atoms, and may contain many of them, why not predicate dynamic force of the atoms, which lie one step nearer the elementary forces of nature? ”

“ Every particle of matter of which we have any knowledge attracts every other particle in conformity to the law of gravitation; and every material element exerts chemical, electrical, magnetic, thermic, and similar forces upon other elements which in respect to these forces are its correlates. The whole presence of matter to the senses consists in the manifestation of power, in the exhibition of force. All this has been very clearly seen and very explicitly stated by numerous physicists ”

“ Every pair of atoms is, like a balance, delicately suspended, under the constant struggle which arises from the tendency to fly asunder, induced by one order of forces—centrifugal force—and the efforts of others, gravitation and cohesion, to chain them together. ”

“ In so doing, we must have regard to the fact that each particle must drop into the place where it can go most easily, or where no easier place offers. In more technical language, each particle is free to take up, and does take up, its position of least potential energy relative to those already deposited; in other words, for each particle motion is induced until the energy of the system is so distributed that no tendency or resultant force remains to move it more. ”

“ To this spiritual world we may refer the marvellously complex forces which we know as gravitation, cohesion, chemical force, radiant force, and electricity, without which the material universe could not exist for a moment in its present form, and perhaps not at all, since without these forces, and perhaps others which may be termed atomic, it is doubtful whether matter itself could have any existence. ”

“ It was then shown that the forces by which chemical effects are produced necessarily involve the Idea of Polarity,—they are polar forces; the particles tend together in virtue of opposite properties which in the combination neutralize each other. Hence, in attempting to advance to a theory of Causes in chemistry, our task is by no means to invent laws of mechanical force, and collections of forces, by which the effects may be produced. ”

“ In the scientific picture of molecules constituting a physical body, of atoms constituting the molecules, of electrons, protons, etc., constituting the atoms, all separated by spaces far exceeding the size of the elementary particles themselves, we find reflected, in a form comprehensible to the onlooker-consciousness, the fact that matter, even in the solid state, is kept in spatial extension by a field of force relating it to the cosmic periphery. ”

“ It is now believed, and to a large extent demonstrated, that the force, apparently lost, has been transformed into heat, electricity, or some other kind of molecular motion, of which the change of shape is only the outward sign. The establishment on a firm foundation of theory and experiment of the so-called conservation of energy, the child of the correlation of physical forces, is one of the first fruits of molecular mechanics. ”

“ The atoms of which bodies are composed, move relatively as fast as stars in the sky. Motion regulates all things, forms all things.
"The atom itself is not an inert mass, it is a centre of force.
[112] "That which essentially constitutes and organizes the human being, is not his material substance; it is not the protoplasm, nor the cell, nor those marvellous and fertile combinations of carbon with hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen,—it is animate, invisible, immaterial Force. ”

“ And thus, under a logical analysis, which must be admitted to be legitimate, it may be maintained that a body or chemical element resolves itself into a system of centres of force balancing each other at certain distances, and thus rendering the whole molecule or mass extended, as body is known to be. ”

“ The opinion is rapidly gaining ground that even chemical action is a mode of motion, and Professor Norton does not hesitate in affirming that "all the phenomena of material nature result from the action of force upon matter." [169] All that we mean by a Material Force "is a force which acts upon matter, and produces in matter its own appropriate effects." ”

“ Chemical affinity, the tendency which atoms have in particular instances to unite in one body, is not a new force, but is the effect of the natural working of the forces of attraction. The force of attraction varying in different substances, when different kinds of matter are brought together and under favorable circumstances, the constant pull of the varying attractions causes a tendency to equalization and a consequent commingling of atoms, resulting in a new compound. ”

“ So now we see that water consists of two kinds of particles attracting each other in a very different manner to the attraction of gravitation or cohesion, and this new attraction we call chemical affinity, or the force of chemical action between different bodies; we are now no longer concerned with the attraction of iron for iron, water for water, wood for wood, or like bodies for each other, as we were when dealing with the force of cohesion; we are dealing with another kind of attraction—the attraction between particles of a different nature one to the other. ”

“ These new arrangements, being succeeded by more stable combinations, in turn bring about a disengagement of a great amount of force, in passing from a less stable to a more stable equilibrium. The atoms of the organic substance lose part of their latent motion, which is manifested externally under the form of heat, electricity, light, nervous force, or mechanical motion, according to circumstances. ”

“ The theory which reduces all to force, which recognizes in bodies an intrinsic mode of acting, whether it divide these forces in the mass of matter, or cause them to mount up to the primitive element, to the atom, indivisible point, or monad, seems to us in every case to beg the question. What is in fact a force, and especially a force attributed to any object? It is undoubtedly neither a being, since it is joined to a first element, nor a substance, since it is considered as an attribute. ”

“ The inherent measure of force possessed by each and every atom is its kinetic energy, and this energy is the correlative and antecedent of all the modes of force which characterize the various phenomena of the visible universe. The condition in which matter presents itself to our senses depends upon the degree in which these several forces are made manifest. All the phenomena of Nature consist in transformations of energy only, the working force of the universe being previously invested in the kinetic energy of its atoms. ”

“ Chemistry teaches us that matter, as a cause, has matter for its effect; but we may say with equal justification that to force as a cause corresponds force as effect. Since c = e, and e = c, it is natural to call one term of an equation a force, and the other an effect of force, or phenomenon, and to attach different notions to the expression force and phenomenon. In brief, then, if the cause is matter, the effect is matter; if the cause is a force, the effect is also a force. ”

“ In addition to gravitation, which must be considered as a primitive force in nature, we observe that attractions of another kind are at work around us, both in the interior of our planet and on its surface. These forces, to which we apply the term 'chemical affinity', act upon molecules in contact, or at infinitely minute distances from one another,* and which, being differently modified by electricity, heat, condensation in porous bodies, or by the contact of an intermediate substance, animate equally the inorganic world and animal and vegetable tissues. ”

“ Meantime, for broad answer about the atoms. I do not think we should use the word 'life,' of any energy which does not belong to a given form. A seed, or an egg, or a young animal are properly called 'alive' with respect to the force belonging to those forms, which consistently develops that form, and no other. But the force which crystallises a mineral appears to be chiefly external, and it does not produce an entirely determinate and individual form, limited in size, but only an aggregation, in which some limiting laws must be observed. ”

“ And from hence the expansive force will not be a particular force opposed to the attractive one, but an effect derived therefrom. I own, that we must suppose a perfect spring in every molecule, and in every atom of matter, to have a clear conception how this change of attraction into repulsion is performed. ”