Essay Abstract
Quantum Physics has its historical beginnings with Planck's derivation of his formula for blackbody radiation, more than one hundred years ago. In his derivation, Planck used what latter became known as 'energy quanta'. In spite of the best efforts at the time and for decades later, a more 'classical approach' to derive this formula has not been found. Along with Einstein's Photon Hypothesis, the Quantization of Energy Hypothesis became the foundation for all the Physics that followed. This 'physical reality' has shaped our view of the Universe and has resulted in mathematical certainties of Quantum Mechanics that are counter-intuitive and contradict our experience. We are told that 'this is how the world is' and are asked by physicists to simply accept such 'facts of Nature'. That we need to mentally adjust to this 'view' of the Universe (the 'metaphysics of physics') and change our 'sense and reason' accordingly. We argue in this essay for a world without quanta. To the question, "Is the Universe Continuous or Discrete? ", we argue that we cannot know 'what is' and strike a philosophical balance and answer, "it is neither and both". In this essay I will present a mathematical derivation of Planck's Law that uses simple continuous processes, without using energy quanta and discrete statistics. This mathematical derivation shows that Planck's Law is an exact mathematical identity (a tautology) that describes the interaction of energy. Planck's Law viewed in this way becomes a Rosetta Stone that is used to translate known physics into a simple and consistent formulation. We are able to define such physical quantities as energy, force, momentum, temperature and entropy consistently in terms of the prime 'physis' quantity η -- the same as Planck's constant h. Basic Law can thus be mathematically derived and not be physically postulated.
Author Bio
Constantinos Ragazas thinks a lot, but sensibly. He was born in the mountains of Western Macedonia, Greece, but considers the Universe his home. Among his many interests are Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness. He can be reached through telepathy or by email only.