Atoms - the remarkable thing about atoms

The remarkable thing about atoms

The challenge in modelling the atom

The remarkable thing about atoms

Is that atoms resist being compressed

Despite the electron being attracted to the atomic nucleus

The Standard model of particle physics

Avoids the collapse of the atom

By using quantum fields, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, and the Pauli exclusion principle

This physics model

Does not contain the principles that modern physics uses

To explain the atom

The challenge for this physics model

Is to use particles to model the atom

Without the atom collapsing

Bearing in mind that, electrons are attracted to the atomic nucleus

And in general, that attraction will get stronger

The closer the electron gets to the nucleus

When electrons move in circles

In general, they radiate

Particles of light

Electrons and protons form atoms

But the electron and the positron do not form a positronium atom

Why is that, what is the explanation

If there is such a particle as the 'neutral' particle, as suggested by the model

Then why hasn't the 'neutral' particle been detected in experiments

Re neutral particle detection

If the interaction of light with electric fields is part of the solution, as suggested by the model

Then why does light in experiments

Show no interaction with electric fields

For reference, here is a YouTube video (2009) of Professor Leonard Susskind's Stanford University lecture discussing the basic concepts of particle physics

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The subatomic particles

Moving a particle of matter

Inertia and momentum

Electric field particles

'Neutral' particle electric field particles

This physics model

Has a single elementary particle

A three dimensional strand shaped particle, that moves continuously at a single constant speed, against a static universal reference frame, in three dimensional space

Everything in this physics model is made from the elementary strand shaped particle

The neutrino and particle of light are helix shaped particles

And the electron, positron and 'neutral' particle are torus shaped particles

In the model

A proton is a positron sandwiched between a pair of the left and right 'neutral' particles

And a neutron is a proton with an electron embedded into the side of the proton

The following animation shows the shapes and structures of the model's subatomic particles, the  Particles  button steps through the particles, the  Run  button start / stops the animation (any of the buttons can be used in pause mode)

In the model

The particles of matter are torus shaped particles

And in the model, the natural state of a torus shaped particle, is to be stationary, with respect to the model's static universal reference frame

With the strand shaped particles in a particle of matter moving continuously at a single constant speed

For a torus shaped particle of matter to move forwards

The internal strand shaped particles of the particle of matter, have to bunch up on one side or other

Distorting the particle's perfectly round torus shape

The following animation shows an electron and a proton in the model, changing shape when the particles move, the  Move Forwards  button starts the particles moving forwards, the  Run  button start / stops the animation (any of the buttons can be used in pause mode)

The strand shaped particles inside a particle of matter

Stick together and continuously pull a distorted particle of matter back into its perfectly round torus shape

In the model, a particle of matter has a persistent resistance to being moved, with respect to the model's static universal reference frame

In the model

Particles of matter have persistent inertia

But not persistent momentum

For a particle of matter to gain persistent movement

A particle of matter needs to be pushed along by something that has persistent momentum

Such as a particle of light

In the model

A particle of light has persistent momentum because it is a helix shaped particle

And the particles of matter have persistent inertia because they are torus shaped particles

In the model

A particle of matter obtains persistent momentum when a particle of light attaches itself to the particle of matter and pushes the particle of matter along

(Which is why particles of matter in the model do not move faster than light)

In the model

Particles of matter have inertia and therefore they have mass, but they do not have momentum

Light and the neutrino have momentum, but they do not have inertia, and therefore they do not have mass

The following animation shows particles of light in the model attaching themselves to an electron and an electron pair, and pushing the electrons along, the  Run  button start / stops the animation (any of the buttons can be used in pause mode)

In the model

Electric charge is a count of the number of strand shaped particles that are in a subatomic particle

The strand shaped particles having either a left-handed curl, or a right-handed curl

In the model

Electric field particles are created by the constant speed of the head of the elementary strand shaped particle

Being greater than the constant speed of its tail

The strand shaped particle continuously extends itself

With the head of the strand shaped particle eventually breaking free

As a suggestion, this leaves the strand shaped particle with a new head, that repeats the process

In the model

The head part of the strand shaped particle that breaks free

Is the electric field particle

The electric field particles

Have a helix shape, with either a left helicity or a right helicity

The same helicity as the subatomic particle that generates them

The escaping left or right helix shaped particles

Are a positive particle's positive electric field

Or a negative particle's negative electric field

Please note

The animations do not show the electric field particles

Exiting from the subatomic particles

In the model

Light does not interact with the short electric field particles emitted by an electron, or the positron that is inside a proton

But light does interact with the long positive and negative electric field particles emitted by the 'neutral' particles that are in a proton

The long length of the 'neutral' particle electric field particles

Allows them to wrap around a particle of light, stretching out one side of the light, and compressing up the other side

Causing the particle of light to arc along its body and change direction

The short length of the electric field particles emitted by the electron, or the positron that is inside a proton

Are unable to wrap around a particle of light

And they are unable to change the direction of a particle of light

The following animation shows the model's electron, positron, 'neutral' particle, neutrino and particle of light interacting with the short and long electric field particles, the  Interaction  button steps through the interactions, the   01   input box lists the interactions for direct selection, the  Run  button start / stops the animation (any of the buttons can be used in pause mode)

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Electrons are pushed along by an attached particle of light

'Neutral' particle electric field particles are long

Light in a 'neutral' particle electric field

The atom is dominated by the 'neutral' particle electric fields

'Neutral' particle electric fields are ineffective at right angles

Effect on an orbiting electron

Electron moving towards the nucleus

Electron moving away from the nucleus

Overall outcome

In this physics model

The atom consists of a positively charged atomic nucleus

Surrounded by negatively charged orbiting electrons

And

An electron orbiting the nucleus of an atom, is pushed around the nucleus

By a particle of light that is attached to the orbiting electron

The following animation shows particles of light in the model attaching themselves to an electron and an electron pair, and pushing the electrons along, the  Run  button start / stops the animation (any of the buttons can be used in pause mode)

In the model

The positive and negative electric field particles emitted by the 'neutral' particles that are part of the proton and the neutron

Are long in length

Whereas, in the model

The electric field particles emitted by the electron, or the positron that is inside a proton

Are short in length

The long length of the 'neutral' particle electric field particles

Enables the 'neutral' particle electric field particles to wrap around the particle of light that is attached to an orbiting electron

And alter the direction of the particle of light that is pushing the orbiting electron along

The following animation shows the model's electron, positron, 'neutral' particle, neutrino and particle of light interacting with the short and long electric field particles, the  Interaction  button steps through the interactions, the   23   input box lists the interactions for direct selection, the  Run  button start / stops the animation (any of the buttons can be used in pause mode)

In the model

The electric field particles escaping from the outer torus of a 'neutral' particle

Are unable to escape as helix shaped particles

This causes a 'neutral' particle

To produce only a positive electric field, or only a negative electric field

Depending on whether the inner torus of the 'neutral' particle is a left-handed torus, or a right-handed torus

Based on the actual mass difference between an electron and a proton, and the way in which a 'neutral' particle in the model produces its electric field

As a suggestion, the electric field from a single 'neutral' particle

Is in the order of 450 times more intense than the electric field from an electron

Within the atom

The positive and negative 'neutral' particle electric fields

Dominate the behaviour of the light that is attached to the orbiting electrons

When the path of the light and the electric field particles are at right angles to each other

The positive and negative 'neutral' particle electric fields

Do not change the direction of the attached light

Initially at a distance

The electron's negative charge draws the electron (with its attached light)

Towards the overall positive charge of the nucleus

The positive and negative 'neutral' particle electric fields

Also interact with the light that is attached to the electron

With each interaction changing the current direction of the attached light to a different direction

When a positive or negative 'neutral' particle electric field particle interacts with the light that is attached to the electron, and the electron is moving towards the nucleus

Most of the direction changes to the light will be away from the nucleus

Which is likely to put the path of the light more at a tangent to the nucleus

And lessen the next interaction with the positive and negative 'neutral' particle electric fields

When the direction change to the light is more towards the nucleus

This strengthens the next interaction with the positive and negative 'neutral particle electric fields

Which are now more likely to turn the light away from the nucleus

When the direction of the attached light is exactly towards the nucleus

Then the next interaction with the positive and negative 'neutral' particle electric fields

Will always turn the light away from the nucleus

When a positive or negative 'neutral' particle electric field particle interacts with the light that is attached to the electron, and the electron is moving away from the nucleus

Most of the direction changes to the light will be towards the nucleus

Which is likely to put the path of the light more at a tangent to the nucleus

And lessen the next interaction with the positive and negative 'neutral' particle electric fields

When the direction change to the light is more away from the nucleus

This strengthens the next interaction with the positive and negative 'neutral particle electric fields

Which are now more likely to turn the light back towards the nucleus

When the direction of the attached light is exactly away from the nucleus

Then the next interaction with the positive and negative 'neutral' particle electric fields

Will always turn the light back towards the nucleus

Overall, when the electron is moving towards the nucleus, the positive and negative 'neutral' particle electric fields

Will tend to turn the electron and its attached light away from the nucleus

Onto a tangential path around the nucleus

And when the electron is moving away from the nucleus, the positive and negative 'neutral' particle electric fields

Will tend to turn the electron and its attached light back towards the nucleus

Onto a tangential path around the nucleus

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Tangential path

Light is directed around the nucleus

Understanding the atom

In this physics model of the atom, the positive and negative electric fields that come from the 'neutral' particles that are in the nucleus of the atom

Control the path of an orbiting electron

By changing the path of the light that is attached to the orbiting electron

The net outcome is that at a distance

The orbiting electron is attracted towards the nucleus

But close to the nucleus, the orbiting electron is pushed onto a tangential path around the nucleus

The orbiting electron moves around the nucleus in a potential well

That sits at a distance from the nucleus

With the potential well bounded on its inner side, by a repulsive region surrounding the nucleus

As a suggestion, the orbiting electron does not radiate away its attached light

Because it is the attached light itself

That is being directed around the nucleus

As a suggestion, the above is an example

Of an atom

That exists as a system of particles

The atom could perhaps be easy to understand

If we had a computer program model

That enabled us to watch atoms and particles interact with each other

The Standard model of particle physics

Is based on quantum field theory

And the atom is modelled by calculating the probability of where the electron may be found, when a measurement is taken to determine the electron's position, when the electron is near a proton

Quantum field theory appears to make any atom

Other than the single electron hydrogen atom

Difficult for the mathematics of quantum field theory to model the atom

On the other hand

If the electron and proton were to be modelled as particles

Then it might be possible to model any atom, no matter how complex

Here is an old video that discusses the mechanism of the atom in the model

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Building the atomic nucleus

Nuclear fusion

Embedded nuclear electrons

Creating positrons

Radioactive decay

Nuclear fission

Neutron absorption

The atomic nuclei of the periodic table of elements are built by means of nuclear fusion that merges small atomic nuclei into larger nuclei

With the elements and their isotopes

Defined by the number of protons and neutrons that are in their atomic nuclei

In this physics model

The proton is a positron sandwiched between a pair of left and right 'neutral' particles (the 'neutral' particle is a particle that consists of both positive and negative electric charge)

And the neutron is an electron embedded into the side of a proton

As a suggestion

Atomic nuclei in the model are built by using the electron that is embedded in the side of the neutron

To also embed into the side of a proton, joining the proton and neutron together

As a suggestion

The adjacent 'neutral' particles in a nucleus have the same edge spin and their touching edges hold the protons and neutrons together

While the embedded electrons align the protons and neutrons into a flat grid

In the model

Atomic nuclei have a flat structure

Which is different to the spherical structure that is often used to depict an atomic nucleus

Image produced by Wikipedia user Marekich

The following animation shows protons and neutrons in the model, bonding together to form the atomic nuclei of hydrogen through to carbon, with decay sequences included for the unstable isotopes, the  Run  button start / stops the animation (any of the buttons can be used in pause mode)

The following is an interactive animation, that lets you build the atomic nuclei, from hydrogen through to iron in the model, the  Next  button steps through prepared atomic nuclei configurations, the  Element Filter  input box lists the prepared atomic nuclei configurations for direct selection, the  Run  button start / stops the animation (any of the buttons can be used in pause mode)

The atomic nuclei stability and decay suggested by the model

Have an apparent correlation with experimentally determined atomic nuclei stability and decay

Plot of experimentally determined atomic nuclei stability and decay

Image produced by Wikimedia user Admiral sayony

For reference

Here is a computer visualisation of the quantum gluon field

That, in the Standard Model of particle physics, binds protons and neutrons together in an atomic nucleus

Visualisation of the quantum gluon field

Image produced by James Biddle, Josh Charvetto, Waseem Kamleh, Derek Leinweber, Helen Piercy, Ethan Puckridge, Finn Stokes, Ross D. Young, James Zanott, in their scientific paper (2019) Publicising Lattice Field Theory Through Visualisation

In the model

Each larger nucleus has more internal touching surfaces within its nucleus

Than that of the individual protons and neutrons that make up its nucleus

As a suggestion

When the internal touching surfaces within a nucleus increases

The electric field particles that are escaping from the 'neutral' particles that are in the protons and neutrons of the nucleus

Have difficulty in escaping

The electric field particles build up to a greater density than before

And with the now greater density of escaping electric field particles

Drag some of the strand shaped particles away from the 'neutral' particles as particles of light and neutrinos

As a suggestion

The conversion of this mass into particles of light

Continues until the previous stable, lesser density of the escaping electric field particles, is reached once more

And strand shaped particles are not further removed from the 'neutral' particles by the escaping electric field particles

This leaves the newly formed nucleus

With less mass than the mass of the components

When they were separate

As a suggestion

The 'neutral' particles in the inner parts of the nucleus, experience this loss in mass

More than the 'neutral' particles on the outer parts of the nucleus

As a suggestion

The electrons that are embedded in the side of the neutrons, and the positrons that are inside the protons

Are not affected by the process of mass reduction that the 'neutral' particles incur during nuclear fusion

As a suggestion

The contact of the nuclear electrons and positrons, with the 'neutral' particles

Forces the release of the electric field particles from the nuclear electrons and positrons, to be at a faster rate than their normal frequency

Keeping the density of the electron and positron escaping electric field particles, at a lower than normal density

When mass is lost from a 'neutral' particle

The strand shaped particles that are dragged from the 'neutral' particle

Can escape in the form of a neutrino or a particle of light

As a suggestion

When the loss in mass is great enough, the escaping strand shaped particles are able to form a gamma ray particle of light

Which as a suggestion, on collision with another nucleus, are able to change into an electron-positron pair

As a suggestion

If a positron, by what ever means, becomes embedded into the side of a proton or neutron in a nucleus

Then over time the nucleus is able to eject the side embedded positron, as radioactive decay

As a suggestion

A nucleus that is neutron rich

Is able to eject an electron that is embedded in the side of one of its neutrons, as radioactive decay

With large nuclei, as a suggestion

The increased overall positive charge of the nucleus and the increased electric field particles escaping from the interior of the nucleus

Becomes a limiting factor in the stability of the nucleus

Leading to some of the large nuclei being unstable and splitting apart as fission

Freely moving, slow thermal neutrons have a smaller particle of light pushing them along than fast moving neutrons, and as a suggestion

This perhaps could make them less likely to be deflected by the positive and negative 'neutral' particle electric fields of a nucleus

Perhaps this is why slow moving thermal neutrons in a nuclear chain reaction, are better at propagating the nuclear chain reaction, than fast moving neutrons (slow moving with respect to the model's static universal reference frame)

For reference, here is a YouTube video (2024) of Dr Angela Collier discussing the atomic nucleus (from the YouTube channel Angela Collier)

For reference, here is a YouTube video (2014) of Dr Bob Eagle discussing nuclear fusion in stars (from the YouTube channel DrPhysicsA)

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Positronium

Antiprotonic hydrogen

Antiprotonic helium

There is a hydrogen-like atom referred to as positronium

That consists of an electron and a positron

The positronium atom is not stable and the two particles change into particles of light

As a suggestion, in this physics model

The positronium atom collapses because neither the electron nor the positron, contain a 'neutral' particle

And without the presence of the positive and negative 'neutral' particle electric fields

There is nothing to stop the negative electron and positive positron from spiralling down into each other

When electron and positron particles collide

They may touch, one on top of the other

With their horizontal (toroidal) spins moving in the same direction

As a suggestion

When an electron and a positron touch side-by-side, with their horizontal spins moving in the same direction

This could allow the gaps on their torus structures to line up and enable the electron and positron to split open, and become a pair of helix structures

Which, in this physics model, is a particle of light

Here is an old video that discusses an electron and positron combining into light

There is a hydrogen-like atom referred to as antiprotonic hydrogen

Where the orbiting negative electron in a normal hydrogen atom

Is replaced with an orbiting negative antiproton

Antiprotonic hydrogen is a bound proton and antiproton pair, and is not stable

As a suggestion, in order for the proton and antiproton pair to decay

The two particles need to touch one on top of the other, with their horizontal (toroidal) spins moving in the same direction

There is a helium-like atom referred to as antiprotonic helium

Where one of the orbiting negative electrons in a normal helium atom

Is replaced with an orbiting negative antiproton

Antiprotonic helium is not stable

As a suggestion, in order for the antiproton to decay with one of the nuclear protons

The two particles need to touch one on top of the other, with their horizontal (toroidal) spins moving in the same direction

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Electric fields have gaps

Quantum tunnelling is where a charged subatomic particle

Progresses further than expected

Into a repulsive electric field

The Standard model of particle physics

Models the subatomic particles as quantum waves that have a wave-particle duality that explore all possible paths

With the probablistic nature of the quantum wave allowing quantum tunnelling to occur

In this physics model

The subatomic particles are modelled as ordinary particles

That move in three dimensional space in an ordinary manner

In this physics model

Electric fields are constructed using electric field particles, and being made of particles

An electric field in the model is not continuous

There are gaps inbetween the electric field particles

With gaps inbetween the electric field particles

There is a probability of a charged particle progressing

Further than expected through a repulsive electric field

For reference, here is a YouTube video (2022) of the Physics Explained channel discussing quantum tunnelling, using the example of the emission of alpha particles from an atomic nucleus

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Macro distances

Electron in a macro electric field

Magnetic fields

At macro distances

The presence of an overall positive or an overall negative electric field

Is due to the surrounding objects having a different number of electrons to protons

In this physics model

A macro electric field contains an unequal number of the short electric field particles

Emitted by electrons, and the positrons in protons, in near by objects

In the model, at macro distances

The positive and negative 'neutral' particle electric fields from the surfaces of the near by objects, are equal in number, but have overlapping directions

And as a suggestion, have a reduced or minimal effect on the path of light

When an electron moves through a macro electric field at a distance from an object

The short electric field particles change the direction of the electron

But do not change the direction of the attached particle of light that is pushing the electron along

As a suggestion, when an electron changes direction

But the attached particle of light does not change direction

A portion of the attached particle of light separates from the electron

As a note, a suggestion is required as to what a magnetic field is in this physics model

As a suggestion, in the model, a magnetic field could perhaps be an overall neutral electric field

That from each atomic point source of the electric field

The majority of the short positive electric field particles move in one direction, and the majority of the short negative electric field particles move in another direction, the two directions being at an angle to each other

For reference, here is a YouTube video (2025) of Arvin Ash discussing the atomic mechanism of magnets

Here is an old video that discusses the electron and magnetic fields

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