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XII.
THE NEW PHYSICS AND THE WAVE
THEORY OF LIGHT
IN the physics of the atom, as it has become in modern times,
everything is atomic, and there are sudden jumps from one
condition to another. The electron and the hydrogen nucleus are the
true “atoms” both of electricity and of matter. According to the
quantum theory, there are also atomic quantities, not of energy as
was thought when the theory was first suggested, but of what is
called “action.” The word “action,” in physics, has a precise technical
meaning; it may be regarded as the result of energy operating for a
certain time. Thus if a given amount of energy operates for two
seconds, there is twice as much action as if it operated for one
second; if it operates for a minute, there is 60 times as much action,
and so on. If twice the amount of energy operates for a second,
there is again twice as much action, and so on. If the energy which
is operating is variable, and we wish to estimate its action during a
given time, we divide the time into a number of little bits, during
each of which the energy will vary so little that it may be regarded
as constant; we then multiply the energy during each little interval of
time by the length of the interval, and add up for all the intervals. As
we make the intervals smaller and more numerous, the result of our
addition approaches nearer and nearer to a certain limit; this limit
we define as the total action during the total period of time
concerned. Action is a very important conception in physics; from
the point of view of theory it is more important than energy, which
has been deposed from its eminence by the theory of relativity.
Planck’s quantum is of the nature of action; thus the quantum
theory amounts to saying that there are atoms of action.
So long as we confine ourselves to what goes on in matter, this
theory is self-consistent and explains the facts, nor is it easy to
suppose that any theory which was not atomic would explain the
facts. But when we come to what goes on in “empty space,” or in
the “æther,” we find ourselves in difficulties if we adhere to the
quantum theory. Consider what happens when a wave of light is
sent out by an atom, with only one quantum of action in each
period. The wave spreads out in all directions, growing fainter as it
goes on, like a ripple when a stone is dropped into a pond. The
evidence that light consists of waves remains quite unshaken; it is
derived from the phenomena of interference and diffraction. As to
interference, a few words may be necessary. If two sets of waves
are travelling more or less in the same direction, if their crests come
together they will grow bigger, but if the crest of one comes in the
same place as the trough of the other, they will neutralize each
other. Now it is possible to arrange two sets of light-waves so that in
some places their crests come together, while in others the one
covers the trough of the other. When this is done, we get a lattice
pattern of alternate light and darkness, light where the waves
reinforce each other, and darkness where they neutralize each other.
If light consisted of particles travelling, and not of waves, this
phenomenon, which is called “interference,” could not take place.
The difficulties which arise for the quantum-theory out of the
phenomenon of interference have been forcibly stated by Jeans in
the following paragraphs:[11]
“If light occurred only in quanta, interference could only occur at
a point at which two or more quanta existed simultaneously. If the
light were sufficiently feeble the simultaneous occurrence of two or
more quanta at any point ought to be a very rare occurrence, so that
all phenomena, such as diffraction patterns, which depend on
interference, ought to disappear as the quantity of light present is
reduced. Taylor has shown that this is not the case; he reduced the
intensity of his light to such an extent that an exposure of 2,000
hours was necessary to obtain a photograph, and yet obtained
photographs of diffraction patterns in which the alternation of light
and dark appeared with undiminished sharpness. In Taylor’s
experiment the intensity of light was ... about one light-quantum per
10,000 cubic centimetres, so that if the quanta had been
concentrated nothing of the nature of a diffraction could possibly
have been observed.”
“Thus it appears that there is no hope of reconciling the
undulatory theory of light with the quantum-theory by regarding the
undulatory theory as being, so to speak, only statistically true when
a great number of quanta are present. One theory cannot be the
limit of the other in the sense in which the Newtonian mechanics is
the limit of the quantum-mechanics, and we are faced with the
problem of combining two apparently quite irreconcilable theories.”
Other similar difficulties might be mentioned, but the difficulty of
interference may suffice, since it is typical. It may be questioned
whether the difficulty still exists when the quantum theory is stated
in the form which it takes in Sommerfeld’s work. We no longer have
little parcels of energy; what we have is a property of periodic
processes. It would not be accurate to state this property in the
form: the total action throughout a complete period of any periodic
process is or an exact multiple of . But although this statement
would not be accurate, it gives, as nearly as is possible in non-
mathematical language, a general idea of the sort of thing that is
affirmed by the modern form of the quantum theory. In order to
reconcile this principle with the facts about the diffusion of light, it is
only necessary to avoid dividing the æther into imaginary particles.
As the light-wave travels outward, so long as it meets no obstruction
its energy remains constant, though it is more diffused, so that there
is less of it in any given area of the wave-front. But while we remain
in empty space, the wave must be treated as a whole, and the
quantum-theory must not be applied to separate little bits of it. The
quantum theory has to do, not with what is happening in a point at
an instant, but with what happens to a periodic process throughout
its whole period. Just as the period occupies a certain finite time, so
the process occupies a certain finite space; and in the case of a
light-wave travelling outward from a source of light, the finite space
occupied by the process grows larger as it travels away from the
source. For the purposes of stating the quantum principle, one
period of a periodic process has to be treated as an indivisible
whole. This was not evident at the time when Jean’s report was
written (1914), but has been made evident by subsequent
developments. While it makes the quantum principle more puzzling,
it also prevents it from being inconsistent with the known facts
about light.
It must be confessed that the quantum principle in its modern
form is far more astonishing and bewildering than is its older form.
It might have seemed odd that energy should exist in little indivisible
parcels, but at any rate it was an idea that could be grasped. But in
the modern form of the principle, nothing is said, in the first
instance, about what is going on at a given moment, or about atoms
of energy existing at all times, but only about the total result of a
process that takes time. Every periodic process arranges itself so as
to have achieved a certain amount by the time one period is
completed. This seems to show that nature has a kind of foresight,
and also knows the integral calculus, without which it is impossible
to know how fast to go at each instant so as to achieve a certain
result in the end. All this sounds incredible. No doubt the fact is that
the principle has assumed a complicated form because it has forced
its way through, owing to experimental evidence, in a science built
upon totally different notions. The revolution in physical notions
introduced by Einstein has as yet by no means produced its full
effect. When it has, it is probable that the quantum principle will
take on some simple and easily intelligible form. But it will only be
easily intelligible to those who have gone through the labour of
learning to think in terms of modern physical notions rather than in
terms of the notions derived from common sense and embodied in
traditional physics. In the last chapter of this book we shall try to
indicate the sort of way in which this may affect the quantum
principle.
It is necessary, however, to utter a word of warning, in case
readers should accept as a dogmatic ultimate truth the atomic
structure of the world which we have been describing, and which
seems at present probable. It should not be forgotten that there is
another order of ideas, temporarily out of fashion, which may at any
moment come back into favour if it is found to afford the best
explanation of the phenomena. The charge on an electron, the equal
and opposite charge on a hydrogen atom, the mass of an electron,
the mass of a hydrogen nucleus, and Planck’s quantum, all appear in
modern physics as absolute constants, which are just brute facts for
which no reason can be imagined. The æther, which used to play a
great part in physics, has sunk into the background, and has become
as shadowy as Mrs. Harris. It may be found, however, as a result of
further research, that the æther is after all what is really
fundamental, and that electrons and hydrogen nuclei are merely
states of strain in the æther, or something of the sort. If so, the two
“elements” with which modern physics operates may be reduced to
one, and the atomic character of matter may turn out to be not the
ultimate truth. This suggestion is purely speculative; there is nothing
in the existing state of physics to justify it. But the past history of
science shows that it should be borne in mind as a possibility to be
tested hereafter. If the possibility should be realized, it would not
mean that the present theory is false; it would merely mean that a
new interpretation had been found for its results. Our imagination is
so incurably concrete and pictorial that we have to express scientific
laws, as soon as we depart from the language of mathematics, in
language which asserts much more than we mean to assert. We
speak of an electron as if it were a little hard lump of matter, but no
physicist really means to assert that it is. We speak of it as if it had a
certain size, but that also is more than we really mean. It may be
something more analogous to a noise, which is spread throughout a
certain region, but with diminishing intensity as we travel away from
the source of the noise. So it is possible that an electron is a certain
kind of disturbance in the æther, most intense at one spot, and
diminishing very rapidly in intensity as we move away from the spot.
If a disturbance of this sort could be discovered which would move
and change as the electron does, and have the same amount of
energy as the electron has, and have periodic changes of the same
frequency as those of the electron, physics could regard it as what
an electron really is without contradicting anything that present-day
physics means to assert. And of course it is equally possible that a
hydrogen nucleus may come to be explained in a similar way. All this
is however, merely a speculative possibility; there is not as yet any
evidence making it either probable or improbable. The only thing
that is probable is that there will be such evidence, one way or other,
before many years have passed.
[11] Report on Radiation and the Quantum Theory, p. 87.
XIII.
THE NEW PHYSICS AND
RELATIVITY
THE theory of quanta and the theory of relativity have been
derived from very different classes of phenomena. The theory of
quanta is concerned with the smallest quantities known to science,
the theory of relativity with the largest. Distances too small for the
microscope are concerned in the theory of quanta; distances too
large for the telescope are concerned in the theory of relativity.
Relativity came, in the first instance, from astronomy and the study
of the propagation of light in astronomical spaces, and its most
noteworthy triumphs have been in regard to astronomical
phenomena—the motion of the perihelion of Mercury, and the
bending of light from the stars when it passes near the sun. The
material of the quantum theory, on the contrary, is mainly derived
from small quantities of very rarefied gases in laboratories, and from
tiny particles running about in a vacuum as nearly perfect as we can
make it. In the theory of relativity, 300,000 kilometres counts as a
small distance; in the theory of quanta, a thousandth of a centimetre
counts as infinitely great. The result of this divergence is that two
theories have been pursued by different investigators, because they
required different apparatus and different methods. In this final
chapter, we shall consider what bearing the two theories have on
each other, and, in particular, whether there is anything in relativity
that makes the theory of quanta seem less odd and irrational.
The theory of relativity, as every one knows, was discovered by
Einstein in two stages, of which the first is called the special theory
and the second the general theory. The first dates from 1905, the
second from 1915. The first is not superseded by the second, but
absorbed into it as a part. We shall not attempt to explain the theory
of relativity, which has been done popularly (so far as is possible) in
a multitude of books and scientifically in two books which should be
read by all who have sufficient mathematical equipment: Hermann
Weyl’s Space, Time, Matter, and Eddington’s Mathematical Theory of
Relativity. We are only concerned with the points where this theory
touches the problem of atomic structure.
The special theory of relativity, as we have already seen, is
relevant to the problems we have been considering at several points.
It is relevant through its doctrine that mass, as measured by our
instruments, varies with velocity, and is, in fact, merely a part of the
energy of a body. It is part of the theory of relativity to show that
the results of measurement, in a great many cases do not yield
physical facts about the quantities intended to be measured, but are
dependent upon the relative motion of the observer and what is
observed. Since motion is a purely relative thing, we cannot say that
the observer is standing still while the object observed is moving; we
can only say that the two are moving relatively to each other. It
follows that any quantity which depends upon the motion of a body
relatively to the observer cannot be regarded as an intrinsic property
of the body. Mass, as commonly measured, is such a property; if the
body is moving with a velocity which approaches that of light, its
measured mass increases, and as the velocity gets nearer to that of
light, the measured mass increases without limit. But this increase of
mass is only apparent; it would not exist for an observer moving
with the body whose mass is being measured. The mass as
measured by an observer moving with the body is what counts as
the true mass, and it is easily inferred from the measured mass
when we know how the body concerned is moving relatively to
ourselves. When we say that any two electrons have the same mass,
or that any two hydrogen nuclei have the same mass, we are
speaking of the true mass. The apparent mass of an electron which
is shot out in the form of a -ray may be several times as great as
the true mass.
There are two other points where the variability of apparent
mass is relevant in the theory of atoms. One concerns the “fine
structure” and the analogy between the electron in a hydrogen atom
and the planet Mercury; this was considered in Chapter VII. The
other is the explanation of the fact that the helium nucleus is less
than four times as heavy as the hydrogen nucleus, which concerned
us in Chapter XI. On both these points, as we have seen, the theory
of relativity provides admirably satisfactory explanations of facts
which would otherwise remain obscure. Both, however, raise the
question of the relativity of energy, which might be thought awkward
for the quantum theory, because this theory uses the conservation of
energy, and something merely relative to the observer cannot be
expected to be conserved.
In elementary dynamics, as every one knows, energy consists of
two parts, kinetic and potential. Ignoring the latter, let us consider
the former. The kinetic energy depends upon the mass and the
velocity, but the velocity depends upon the observer, and is not an
intrinsic property of a body. The result is that energy has to be
defined in the theory of relativity. It turns out that we can identify
the energy of a body with its mass as measured by the observer (or,
in ordinary units, with this mass multiplied by the square of the
velocity of light). Although, for a particular body, this mass varies
with the observer, its sum throughout the universe will be constant
for a given observer, however he may be moving.[12]
In the theory of relativity, there are two kinds of variation of
mass to be distinguished, of which so far we have only considered
one.
We have considered the change of measured mass (as we have
called it) which is brought about by a change in the relative motion
of the observer and the body whose mass is being measured. This is
not a change in the body itself, but merely in its relation to the
observer. It is this change which has to be allowed for in deducing
from experimental data that all electrons have the same mass. We
allow for it by means of a formula, which enables us to infer what
we may call the “proper mass” of the body. This is the mass which it
will be found to have by an observer who shares its motion. In all
ordinary cases, in which we determine mass (or weight) by means of
a balance, we and the body which we are weighing share the same
motion, namely that of the earth in its rotation and revolution; thus
weighing with a balance gives the “proper mass.” But in the case of
swiftly-moving electrons and -particles we have to adopt other
ways of measuring their mass, because we cannot make ourselves
move as fast as they do; thus in these cases we only arrive at the
“proper mass” by a calculation. The “proper mass” is a genuine
property of a body, not relative to the observer. As a rule, the proper
mass is constant, or very nearly so, but it is not always strictly
constant. When a body absorbs radiant energy, its proper mass is
increased; when it radiates out energy, its proper mass is
diminished. When four hydrogen nuclei and two electrons combine
to form a helium nucleus, they radiate out energy. The loss of mass
involved is loss of proper mass, and is quite a different kind of
phenomenon from the variation of measured mass when an electron
changes its velocity.
There is another point, not easy to explain clearly, and as yet
amounting to no more than a suggestion, but capable of proving
very important in the future. We saw that Planck’s quantum is not
a certain amount of energy, but a certain amount of what is called
“action.” Now the theory of relativity would lead us to expect that
action would be more important than energy. The reason for this is
derived from the fact that relativity diminishes the gulf between
space and time which exists in popular thought and in traditional
physics. How this affects our question we must now try to
understand.
Consider two events, one of which happens at noon on one day
in London, while the other happens at noon the next day in
Edinburgh. Common sense would say that there are two kinds of
intervals between these two events, an interval of 24 hours in time,
and an interval of 400 miles in space. The theory of relativity says
that this is a mistake, and that there is only one kind of interval
between them, which may be analyzed into a space-part and a time-
part in a number of different ways. One way will be adopted by a
person who is not moving relatively to the events concerned, while
other ways will be adopted by persons moving in various ways. If a
comet were passing near the earth when our two events happened,
and were moving very fast relatively to the earth, an observer on the
comet would divide the interval of our two events differently
between space and time, although, if he knew the theory of
relativity, he would arrive at the same estimate of the total interval
as would be made by our relativity physicists. Thus the division of
the interval into a space portion and a time portion does not belong
to the physical relation of the two events, but is something
subjective, contributed by the observer. It cannot, therefore, enter
into the correct statement of any law of the physical world.
The importance of this principle (which is supported by a
multitude of empirical facts) is impossible to exaggerate. It means,
in the first place, that the ultimate facts in physics must be events,
rather than bodies in motion. A body is supposed to persist through
a certain length of time, and its motion is only definite when we
have fixed upon one way of dividing intervals between space and
time. Therefore any physical statement in terms of the motions of
bodies is in part conventional and subjective, and must contain an
element not belonging to the physical occurrence. We have therefore
to deal with events, whose relative positions, in the conventional
space-time system that we have adopted, are fixed by four
quantities, three giving their relations in space (e.g. east-and-west,
north-and-south, up-and-down), while the fourth gives their relation
in time. The true interval between them can be calculated from
these, and is the same whatever conventional system we adopt; just
as the time-interval between two historical events would be the
same whether we dated both by the Christian era or by the
Mohammedan, only that the calculation is not so simple.
It follows from these considerations that, when we wish to
consider what is happening in some very small region (as we have to
do whenever we apply the differential or integral calculus), we must
not take merely a small region of space, but a small region of space-
time, i.e. in conventional language, what is happening in a small
volume of space during a very short time. This leads us to consider,
not merely the energy at an instant, but the effect of energy
operating for a very short time; and this, as we saw, is of the nature
of action (in the technical sense). A quotation from Eddington[13]
will help to make the point clear:
“After mass and energy there is one physical quantity which plays
a very fundamental part in modern physics, known as Action. Action
here is a very technical term, and is not to be confused with
Newton’s ‘Action and Reaction.’ In the relativity theory in particular
this seems in many respects to be the most fundamental thing of all.
The reason is not difficult to see. If we wish to speak of the
continuous matter present at any particular point of space and time,
we must use the term density. Density multiplied by volume in space
gives us mass or, what appears to be the same thing, energy. But
from our space-time point of view, a far more important thing is
density multiplied by a four-dimensional volume of space and time;
this is action. The multiplication by three dimensions gives mass or
energy; and the fourth multiplication gives mass or energy multiplied
by time. Action is thus mass multiplied by time, or energy multiplied
by time, and is more fundamental than either.”
It is a fact which must be significant that action thus turns out to
be fundamental both in relativity theory and in the theory of quanta.
But as yet it is impossible to say what is the interpretation to be put
upon this fact; we shall probably have to wait for some new and
more fundamental way of stating the quantum theory.
There is one other respect in which some of the later
developments of relativity suggest the possibility of answers to
questions which have hitherto seemed quite unanswerable. Our
theory, so far, leads us to brute facts which have to be merely
accepted. We do not know why there are two kinds of electricity, or
why opposite kinds attract each other while similar kinds repel each
other. This dualism is one of the things which is intellectually
unsatisfying about the present condition of physics. Another thing is
the conflict between the discontinuous process by which energy is
radiated from the atom into the surrounding medium, and the
continuous process by which it is transmitted through the
surrounding medium. Relativity throws very little light on these
points, but there is another point upon which it throws at least a
glimmer. We find it hard to rest content with the existence of
unrelated absolute constants, such as Planck’s quantum and the size
of an electron, which, so far as we can see, might just as easily have
had any different magnitude. To the scientific mind, such facts are a
challenge, leading to a search for some way of inter-relating them
and making them seem less accidental. As regards the quantum, no
plausible suggestion has yet been made. But as regards the size of
an electron, Eddington makes some suggestive observations, which,
however, require some preliminary explanations.
We saw that, according to the theory of relativity, the interval
between two events may be separated into a time-part and a space-
part in various ways, all of which are equally legitimate, and each of
which will seem natural to an observer who is moving suitably. The
first effect of this is to diminish the sharpness of the distinction
between space and time. But the distinction comes back in a new
form. It is found that the interval between two events can, in some
cases, be regarded as merely a space-interval; this will happen if an
observer who is moving suitably would regard them as
simultaneous. Whenever this does not happen, the interval can be
regarded as merely a time-interval; this will be the case when an
observer could travel so as to be present at both events. It takes
eight minutes for light to travel from the sun to the earth, and
nothing can travel faster than light; therefore if we consider some
event which happens on the earth at 12 noon, any event which
happens on the sun between 11.52 a. m. and 12.8 p. m. could not
have happened in the presence of anything which was present at the
event on earth at 12 noon. Events happening on the sun during
these 16 minutes have an interval from the event on earth which
will, for a suitable observer, seem to be a spatial separation between
simultaneous events; such intervals are called space-like. Events
happening earlier or later than these 16 minutes will be separated
from the event on earth at noon by an interval which would appear
to be purely temporal to an observer who had spent the interval in
travelling from the sun to the earth, or vice versa as the case may
be; such intervals are called time-like. Two parts of one light-ray are
on the borderland between time-like and space-like intervals, and in
fact the interval between them is zero. But in all other cases there is
a separation which is either time-like or space-like, and in this way
we find that there is still a distinction between what is to be called
temporal and what is to be called spatial, though the distinction is
different from that of every-day life.
For reasons which we cannot go into, Einstein and others have
suggested that the universe has a “curvature,” so that we could
theoretically go all round it and come back to our starting-point, in
the sort of way in which we go round the earth. All the way round
the universe, in that case, must be a certain length, fixed in nature.
Eddington suggests that some relation will probably be found
between this, the greatest length in nature, and the radius of the
electron, which is the least length in nature. As he humorously puts
it: “An electron could never decide how large it ought to be unless
there existed some length independent of itself for it to compare
itself with.”
He goes on to make another application of this principle, which is
suggestive, though perhaps not intended to be treated too solemnly.
The curvature of the universe, if it exists, is only in space, not in
time. This leads him to say:[14]
“By consideration of extension in time-like directions we obtain a
confirmation of these views which is, I think, not entirely fantastic.
We have said that an electron would not know how large it ought to
be unless there existed independent lengths in space for it to
measure itself against. Similarly it would not know how long it ought
to exist unless there existed a length in time for it to measure itself
against. But there is not radius of curvature in a time-like direction;
so the electron does not know how long it ought to exist. Therefore
it just goes on existing indefinitely.”
But even if the size of an electron should ultimately prove, in this
way, to be related to the size of the universe, that would leave a
number of unexplained brute facts, notably the quantum itself, which
has so far defied all attempts to make it seem anything but
accidental. It is possible that the desire for rational explanation may
be carried too far. This is suggested by some remarks, also by
Eddington, in his book, Space, Time and Gravitation (p. 200). The
theory of relativity has shown that most of traditional dynamics,
which was supposed to contain scientific laws, really consisted of
conventions as to measurement, and was strictly analogous to the
“great law” that there are always three feet to a yard. In particular,
this applies to the conservation of energy. This makes it plausible to
suppose that every apparent law of nature which strikes us as
reasonable is not really a law of nature, but a concealed convention,
plastered on to nature by our love of what we, in our arrogance,
choose to consider rational. Eddington hints that a real law of nature
is likely to stand out by the fact that it appears to us irrational, since
in that case it is less likely that we have invented it to satisfy our
intellectual taste. And from this point of view he inclines to the belief
that the quantum-principle is the first real law of nature that has
been discovered in physics.
This raises a somewhat important question: Is the world
“rational,” i.e., such as to conform to our intellectual habits? Or is it
“irrational,” i.e., not such as we should have made it if we had been
in the position of the Creator? I do not propose to suggest an
answer to this question.
[12] Eddington, op. cit., pp. 30-32.
[13] Space, Time and Gravitation, p. 147.
[14] The Mathematical Theory of Relativity, p. 155.
APPENDIX
BOHR’S THEORY OF THE
HYDROGEN SPECTRUM
THE mathematics involved in this theory is so simple that only a
very slight acquaintance with elementary dynamics is required in
order to understand it.
Let us consider an electron revolving in a circle about the
nucleus. Let be the mass of the electron, a the radius of its orbit,
its angular velocity. Also let be the (negative) charge on the
electron and the (positive) charge on the nucleus.
Then according to elementary dynamics, the centrifugal force of
the electron in its orbit is

while the force attracting it to the nucleus is

by Coulomb’s Law. These two must be equal, so that

So far, we have been proceeding on traditional lines. But we come


now to the application of the quantum theory.
The kinetic energy of the electron is ; the potential

energy is . In virtue of the above equation, is double

, so that the total energy is equal to the kinetic energy with


its sign changed. The impulse corresponding to is , and this
has to be taken round one complete circuit of the orbit. This yields
the value , which must be put equal to a multiple of , say
, where is an integer. Thus we have the equation

Now and and are known; thus (1) and (2) determine and
as soon as is fixed. We have

The smallest possible orbit is got by putting ; thus its radius is


, where

The next possible radius is

The kinetic energy in the orbit is


Since the total energy is the kinetic energy with its sign changed,
the loss of energy in passing from the to the orbit is

If this transition is to give rise to a wave of frequency , we must


have

by the principle of quanta. That is to say is given by the equation

If is the velocity of light, this gives a wave-number . Now the


empirical formula for the wave-numbers of the lines of the hydrogen
spectrum is

where is Rydberg’s constant. This shows that, if our theory is


right, we ought to have

By substituting the observed values for , , , and , it is found


that this equation is satisfied. This was perhaps the most sensational
evidence in favour of Bohr’s theory when it was first published.
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