A Burning Bush

As related in the Book of Exodus, it was a bush that appeared to be but was not really burning that was used to attract the attention of Moses. There are other examples in the course of our daily lives where things happen with no apparent cause. This is especially true in the areas involving electrostatics, magnetism, gravity, and the binding of atoms, where attraction forces are exerted by one body upon another at a distance without an apparent cause or medium.

Unlike the burning bush incident the listed attraction forces are inherent in processes by which the known universe is given existence. In a word, those forces are produced by a cause first documented as the attraction of amber for small fibrous material by Thales of Miletus (640-546 B.C.), a Greek “wise man.” Two thousand years later, Sir William Gilbert (1540-1603) demonstrated that an attraction force exists between “positively” charged and “negatively” charged objects while a repelling force exists between like charged objects whether “positively or negatively” charged. It has subsequently been established that the charge that causes those attraction and repulsion forces is a function of a relationship that exists between the particles of which atoms are made (protons and electrons), which is the cause of the forces involved in electrostatics, magnetism, gravity, and the binding of atoms. Through the application of reasoned logic in consideration of known fact, it is possible to show the source of the charge that produces those attracting and repelling forces.

As demonstrated over and over by scientists and their experiments, those forces are fundamental to atoms, which are the building blocks of all matter. All atoms are an assembly of protons, neutrons and electrons that are given existence and the ability to exist by the attraction force of “unlike” charges. No matter has ever been identified that is made by any other means or materials. However, the previous statement that identifies three different components (in addition to the charge) is somewhat misleading since neutrons, that are unable to stand alone, collapse after about twenty seconds “giving birth” to a “negatively” charged electron and a “positively” charged proton. Since the electron came from a neutron and a proton is what remains after the electron is ejected from the neutron, logic says that neutrons are an assembly of particles with electron characteristics. That means each such particle carries a like “negative” charge so that a repelling force exists between particles. Further logical reasoning says that a “positive” charge of equal or greater strength must exist at the core center of neutrons (and protons) by which the inter-particle repelling force can be overcome. Otherwise protons and neutrons could not exist. It is by the binding of repelling particles of like energy “charge” (that like the fire in the burning bush have no physical component) that gives existence and physical properties to those assemblies.

Consider the interaction of charges within a neutron whose “mass” is 1,837 times greater than that of an electron. The neutron as an assembly is said to be neutral since it exhibits neither a positive or a negative charge, which is as it would be when the “positive charge” is consumed in holding the 1,837 electron-like like-charge particles together. Include consideration for the established fact that the strength of the binding force exerted on the electron-like particles is inversely proportional to the distance (squared) between the source (the core center) and the particle, which means; as particles are pulled by the “positively charged” core center, the force applied increases in accordance with the stated proportion. Eventually (after approximately 20 seconds) a point is reached where the strength of the applied force causes the ejection of one of the electron-like charge particles. By that action, the remaining assembly with 1,837 units of positive charge at its core center now has only 1,836 electron-like charge particles and it assumes the behavior characteristics defined as a proton. In other words, the assembly is left with an excess of positive charge that now extends beyond the periphery of the assembly with the potential to attract an opposite charge. Bear in mind that the strength of the negative charge attracting potential (positive charge) is diminished by distance so is not sufficient to bring such charge (an electron) back into the proton assembly. If for some reason the proton was made to accept the ejected negative charge, it would again become a neutron and the process would repeat.

Consider further that it is the excess negative charge attracting potential of protons (positive charge) that gives atoms the ability to bind together to form larger assemblies. Continue consideration and recognize that with growth in the mass of assemblies, the distance from the core center of those assemblies increases whereby ever increasing excess positive charge power is established, which when assemblies reach the size of planets, is known as gravitational attraction.

It would be a disservice to leave the subject without pointing out one additional burning bush type fact. Because it is the reaction between positive and negative charges that is employed as a means of establishing “mass”, such means are incapable of establishing the “mass” of the fundamental charge itself. Consider that since the charge that provides the energy by which binding forces are formed in the first place is the “positive charge” established at the core center of a particle or assembly of matter, then the means (the instruments) that depend upon the reaction between positive and negative charges would be incapable of detecting the existence (mass) of that fundamental charge.