The concept of matter is an electromagnetic picture of the world. Mechanical, electromagnetic and quantum-relativistic scientific picture of the world - law
At the end of the last and the beginning of the present centuries, the largest discoveries were made in natural science, which radically changed our ideas about the picture of the world. First of all, these are discoveries related to the structure of matter, and discoveries of the relationship between matter and energy. If earlier the last indivisible particles of matter, the original bricks that make up nature, were considered atoms, then at the end of the last century, electrons that make up atoms were discovered. Later, the structure of the nuclei of atoms, consisting of protons (positively charged particles) and neutrons (devoid of charge particles), was established.
According to the first model of the atom, built by the English scientist Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937), the atom was likened to a miniature solar system in which electrons revolve around the nucleus. Such a system was, however, unstable:
the spinning electrons, losing their energy, would eventually fall into the nucleus. But experience shows that atoms are very stable formations and enormous forces are required to destroy them. In this regard, the previous model of the structure of the atom was significantly improved by the outstanding Danish physicist Niels Bohr (1885-1962), who suggested that electrons do not radiate energy when rotating in so-called stationary orbits. Such energy is emitted or absorbed in the form of a quantum, or a portion of energy, only when an electron moves from one orbit to another.
Views on energy have also changed significantly. If earlier it was assumed that energy was emitted continuously, then carefully designed experiments convinced physicists that it could be emitted by individual quanta. This is evidenced, for example, by the phenomenon of the photoelectric effect, when visible light quanta cause an electric current. This phenomenon is known to be used in photometers, which are used in photography to determine the shutter speed during exposure.
In the 30s of the XX century. Another important discovery was made, which showed that the elementary particles of matter, such as electrons, have not only corpuscular, but also wave properties. In this way, it was experimentally proved that there is no impassable boundary between matter and field: under certain conditions, elementary particles of matter exhibit wave properties, and field particles exhibit properties of corpuscles. This became known as wave-particle dualism and was a notion that defied common sense. Prior to this, physicists adhered to the belief that matter, consisting of various material particles, can only have corpuscular properties, and physical fields - wave properties. The combination of corpuscular and wave properties in one object was completely excluded. But under the pressure of irrefutable experimental results, scientists were forced to admit that microparticles simultaneously possess both the properties of corpuscles and waves.
In 1925-1927. to explain the processes occurring in the world of the smallest particles of matter - the microcosm, a new wave, or quantum, mechanics was created. The last name was established for the new science. Subsequently, various other quantum theories arose: quantum electrodynamics, the theory of elementary particles, and others that explore the laws of motion in the microcosm.
Another fundamental theory of modern physics is the theory of relativity, which radically changed the scientific understanding of space and time. In the special theory of relativity, the principle of relativity established by Galileo in mechanical motion was further applied. According to this principle, in all inertial systems, i.e. reference systems moving uniformly and rectilinearly relative to each other, all mechanical processes occur in the same way, and therefore their laws have a covariant, or the same mathematical, form. Observers in such systems will not notice any difference in the course of mechanical phenomena. Later, the principle of relativity was also used to describe electromagnetic processes. More precisely, the special theory of relativity itself appeared in connection with overcoming the difficulties that arose in the description of physical phenomena.
An important methodological lesson that was learned from the special theory of relativity is that it clearly showed for the first time that all motions occurring in nature are relative. This means that in nature there is no absolute frame of reference and, therefore, no absolute motion, which Newtonian mechanics allowed.
Even more radical changes in the doctrine of space and time occurred in connection with the creation of the general theory of relativity, which is often called the new theory of gravitation, which is fundamentally different from the classical Newtonian theory. This theory for the first time clearly and clearly established the relationship between the properties of moving material bodies and their space-time metrics. Theoretical conclusions from it were experimentally confirmed during the observation of a solar eclipse. According to the predictions of the theory, a beam of light coming from a distant star and passing near the Sun should deviate from its rectilinear path and bend, which was confirmed by observations. We will explore these issues in more detail in the next chapter. Here it is enough to note that the general theory of relativity has shown a deep connection between the motion of material bodies, namely gravitating masses, and the structure of physical space-time.
The scientific and technological revolution that has unfolded in recent decades has introduced a lot of new things into our understanding of the natural-scientific picture of the world. The emergence of a systematic approach made it possible to look at the world around us as a single, holistic formation, consisting of a huge variety of systems interacting with each other.
On the other hand, the emergence of such an interdisciplinary area of research as synergetics, or the doctrine of self-organization, made it possible not only to reveal the internal mechanisms of all evolutionary processes that occur in nature, but also to present the whole world as a world of self-organizing processes. The merit of synergetics lies primarily in the fact that it was the first to show that self-organization processes can occur in the simplest systems of inorganic nature, if there are certain conditions for this (openness of the system and its non-equilibrium, sufficient distance from the equilibrium point, and some others). The more complex the system, the higher the level of self-organization processes in it. So, already at the prebiological level, autopoietic processes arise, i.e. self-renewal processes, which in living systems act as interrelated processes of assimilation and dissimilation. The main achievement of synergetics and the new concept of self-organization that emerged on its basis is that they help to look at nature as a world that is in the process of continuous evolution and development.
What is the relation of the synergetic approach to the system-wide one?
First of all, we emphasize that these two approaches do not exclude, but, on the contrary, presuppose and complement each other. Indeed, when considering a set of any objects as a system, they pay attention to their interconnection, interaction and integrity.
The synergetic approach focuses on the study of the processes of change and development of systems. He studies the processes of emergence and formation of new systems in the process of self-organization. The more complex these processes are in various systems, the higher such systems are on the evolutionary ladder. Thus, the evolution of systems is directly related to the mechanisms of self-organization. The study of specific mechanisms of self-organization and the evolution based on it is the task of specific sciences. Synergetics, on the other hand, reveals and formulates the general principles of self-organization of any systems, and in this respect it is similar to the system method, which considers the general principles of functioning, development and structure of any systems. On the whole, the systems approach is of a more general and broader nature, since, along with dynamic, developing systems, it also considers static systems.
These new worldview approaches to the study of the natural-scientific picture of the world had a significant impact both on the specific nature of knowledge in certain branches of natural science and on understanding the nature of scientific revolutions in natural science. But it is precisely with the revolutionary transformations in natural science that the change in ideas about the picture of the world is connected.
To the greatest extent, changes in the nature of concrete knowledge have affected the sciences that study living nature. The transition from research at the cellular level to the molecular level was marked by major discoveries in biology related to the deciphering of the genetic code, the revision of previous views on the evolution of living organisms, the clarification of old and the emergence of new hypotheses of the origin of life, and much more. Such a transition became possible as a result of the interaction of various natural sciences, the widespread use in biology of the exact methods of physics, chemistry, informatics and computer technology.
In turn, living systems served as a natural laboratory for chemistry, the experience of which scientists sought to embody in their research on the synthesis of complex compounds. The teachings and principles of biology seem to have influenced physics to no lesser extent. Indeed, as we will show in subsequent chapters, the concept of closed systems and their evolution towards disorder and destruction was in clear contradiction with Darwin's evolutionary theory, which proved that in living nature new species of plants and animals arise, their improvement and adaptation to environment. This contradiction was resolved due to the emergence of non-equilibrium thermodynamics, based on new fundamental concepts of open systems and the principle of irreversibility.
The advancement of biological problems to the forefront of natural science, as well as the special specificity of living systems, gave rise to a number of scientists to declare a change in the leader of modern natural science. If earlier physics was considered such an undisputed leader, now biology is increasingly acting as such. The basis of the structure of the surrounding world is now recognized not as a mechanism and a machine, but as a living organism. However, numerous opponents of such a view, not without reason, declare that since a living organism consists of the same molecules, atoms, elementary particles and quarks, physics should still remain the leader of natural science.
Apparently, the issue of leadership in natural science depends on a variety of factors, among which the decisive role is played by: the importance of the leading science for society, the accuracy, elaboration and generality of its research methods, the possibility of their application in other sciences. Undoubtedly, however, the most impressive for contemporaries are the largest discoveries made in leading science and the prospects for its further development. From this point of view, biology of the second half of the 20th century can be regarded as the leader of modern natural science, because it was within its framework that the most revolutionary discoveries were made.
The difference in ways of considering the organization of the sphere of nature leads to the formation of different concepts of describing nature, which also corresponds to the existence of similar ways of considering the economy. Thus, the corpuscular and conceptual concepts of describing nature are displayed, respectively, in micro- and macroeconomics through the presence of general algorithms for the study of nature and economics, either as consisting of separate elements, or as representing a single whole. At the same time, the concepts of the existence of order or disorder in nature are also reflected in the sphere of economics, where they distinguish between the concept of the self-sufficiency of the economic system that does not need to be regulated by the state, and the concept of the need for state regulation of the economic system that is incapable of automatically establishing equilibrium (order ).
The scientific method is a vivid embodiment of the unity of all forms of knowledge about the world. The fact that knowledge in the natural, technical, social and human sciences as a whole is carried out according to some general principles, rules and methods of activity, testifies, on the one hand, to the interconnection and unity of these sciences, and on the other hand, to a common, single source of their knowledge, which is served by the objective real world around us: nature and society.
The widespread dissemination of ideas and principles of the systemic method contributed to the emergence of a number of new problems of an ideological nature. Moreover, some Western leaders of the systems approach began to consider it as a new scientific philosophy, which, in contrast to the previously dominant philosophy of positivism, which emphasized the priority of analysis and reduction, focuses on synthesis and anti-reductionism. In this regard, the old philosophical problem of the relationship between the part and the whole is of particular relevance.
Many supporters of mechanism and physicalism argue that the parts play a decisive role in this relationship, since it is from them that the whole arises. But at the same time, they ignore the indisputable fact that, within the framework of the whole, the parts not only interact with each other, but also experience the action of the whole. The attempt to understand the whole by reducing it to an analysis of parts fails precisely because it ignores the synthesis that plays a decisive role in the emergence of any system. Any complex substance or chemical compound differs in its properties from the properties of its constituent simple substances or elements. Each atom has properties that are different from the properties of its constituent elementary particles. In short, any system is characterized by special holistic, integral properties that are absent from its components.
The opposite approach, based on the priority of the whole over the part, has not received wide distribution in science because it cannot rationally explain the process of the emergence of the whole. Often, therefore, his supporters resorted to the assumption of irrational forces, such as entelechy, vitality, and other similar factors. In philosophy, such views are defended by supporters of holism (from the Greek holos - the whole), who believe that the whole always precedes the parts and is always more important than the parts. When applied to social systems, such principles justify the suppression of the individual by society, ignoring his desire for freedom and independence.
At first glance, it may seem that the concept of holism about the priority of the whole over the part is consistent with the principles of the system method, which also emphasizes the great importance of the ideas of integrity, integration and unity in the knowledge of the phenomena and processes of nature and society. But on closer examination, it turns out that holism exaggerates the role of the whole in comparison with the part, the importance of synthesis in relation to analysis. Therefore, it is the same one-sided concept as atomism and reductionism.
The systems approach avoids these extremes in the knowledge of the world. He proceeds from the fact that the system as a whole does not arise in some mystical and irrational way, but as a result of a specific, specific interaction of quite specific real parts. It is due to this interaction of parts that new integral properties of the system are formed. But the newly emerged integrity, in turn, begins to influence the parts, subordinating their functioning to the tasks and goals of a single integral system.
We have seen that not every collection or whole forms a system, and in connection with this we introduced the concept of an aggregate. But any system is a whole formed by its interconnected and interacting parts. Thus, the process of cognition of natural and social systems can be successful only when the parts and the whole in them are studied not in opposition, but in interaction with each other, and analysis is accompanied by synthesis. one
In the process of long reflections on the essence of electrical and magnetic phenomena, M. Faraday came to the idea of the need to replace corpuscular ideas about matter with continual, continuous ones. He concluded that the electromagnetic field is completely continuous, the charges in it are point centers of force. Thus, the question of constructing a mechanical model of the ether, the discrepancy between mechanical ideas about the ether and real experimental data on the properties of light, electricity and magnetism, has disappeared. The main difficulty in explaining light using the concept of ether was the following: if the ether is a continuous medium, then it should not impede the movement of bodies in it and, therefore, should be similar to a very light gas. In experiments with light, two fundamental facts were established: light and electromagnetic oscillations are not longitudinal, but transverse, and the propagation velocity of these oscillations is very high. In mechanics, it was shown that transverse vibrations are possible only in solids, and their speed depends on the density of the body. For such a high speed as the speed of light, the density of the ether must have been many times greater than the density of steel. But then, how do bodies move?
Maxwell was one of the first to appreciate Faraday's ideas. At the same time, he emphasized that Faraday put forward new philosophical views on matter, space, time and forces, which largely changed the previous mechanical picture of the world.
Views on matter changed dramatically: the totality of indivisible atoms ceased to be the ultimate limit of the divisibility of matter, as such a single absolutely continuous infinite field with power point centers - electric charges and wave motions in it was taken.
Movement was understood not only as a simple mechanical movement, the propagation of oscillations in a field became primary in relation to this form of movement, which was described not by the laws of mechanics, but by the laws of electrodynamics.
Newton's concept of absolute space and time was not suitable for field representations. Since the field is absolutely continuous matter, there is simply no empty space. Likewise, time is inextricably linked with the processes taking place in the field. Space and time ceased to be independent entities independent of matter. The understanding of space and time as absolute has given way to a relational (relative) concept of space and time.
The new picture of the world required a new solution to the problem of interaction. The Newtonian concept of long-range action was replaced by the Faraday principle of short-range action; any interactions are transmitted by the field from point to point continuously and at a finite speed. *
Although the laws of electrodynamics, like the laws of classical mechanics, unambiguously predetermined events, and they still tried to exclude chance from the physical picture of the world, the creation of the kinetic theory of gases introduced the concept of probability into the theory, and then into the electromagnetic picture of the world. True, so far physicists have not given up hope of finding clear, unambiguous laws similar to Newton's laws behind the probabilistic characteristics.
The idea of the place and role of man in the Universe did not change in the electromagnetic picture of the world. His appearance was considered only a whim of nature. Ideas about the qualitative specifics of life and mind with great difficulty made their way into the scientific worldview.
The new electromagnetic picture of the world explained a wide range of phenomena that were incomprehensible from the point of view of the previous mechanical picture of the world. It revealed more deeply the material unity of the world, since electricity and magnetism were explained on the basis of the same laws.
However, insurmountable difficulties soon began to arise along this path. So, according to the electromagnetic picture of the world, the charge began to be considered a point center, and the facts testified to the finite extent of the particle-charge. Therefore, already in Lorentz's electronic theory, a particle-charge, contrary to the new picture of the world, was considered in the form of a solid charged ball with mass. The results of Michelson's experiments in 1881 - 1887, where he tried to detect the motion of a body by inertia with the help of instruments located on this body, turned out to be incomprehensible. According to Maxwell's theory, such a movement could be detected, but experience did not confirm this. But then physicists tried to forget about these minor troubles and inconsistencies, moreover, the conclusions of Maxwell's theory were absolutized, so that even such a prominent physicist as Kirchhoff believed that there was nothing unknown and undiscovered in physics.
But by the end of the XIX century. more and more inexplicable discrepancies between theory and experience accumulated. Some were due to the incompleteness of the electromagnetic picture of the world, others were not at all consistent with the continuum ideas about matter: difficulties in explaining the photoelectric effect, the line spectrum of atoms, the theory of thermal radiation.
Consistent application of Maxwell's theory to other moving media led to conclusions about the non-absolute nature of space and time. However, the belief in their absoluteness was so great that scientists were surprised at their conclusions, called them strange and rejected them. This is exactly what Lorentz and Poincaré did, whose work ends the pre-Einstein period in the development of physics.
Accepting the laws of electrodynamics as the basic laws of physical reality, A. Einstein introduced the idea of the relativity of space and time into the electromagnetic picture of the world and thereby eliminated the contradiction between the understanding of matter as a certain type of field and Newtonian ideas about space and time. The introduction of relativistic concepts of space and time into the electromagnetic picture of the world opened up new possibilities for its development.
This is how the general theory of relativity appeared, which became the last major theory created within the framework of the electromagnetic picture of the world. In this theory, created in 1916, Einstein for the first time gave a deep explanation of the nature of gravity, for which he introduced the Concept of the relativity of space and time and the curvature of a single four-dimensional space-time continuum, depending on the distribution of masses.
But even the creation of this theory could no longer save the electromagnetic picture of the world. From the end of the 19th century more and more irreconcilable contradictions between electromagnetic theory and facts were discovered. In 1897, the phenomenon of radioactivity was discovered and it was found that it is associated with the transformation of some chemical elements into others and is accompanied by the emission of alpha and beta rays. On this basis, empirical models of the atom appeared, contradicting the electromagnetic picture of the world. And in 1900, M. Planck, in the process of numerous attempts to construct a theory of radiation, was forced to make an assumption about the discontinuity of radiation processes.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, many questions about electrical and magnetic phenomena accumulated. It was impossible to answer these questions from the standpoint of a mechanical picture of the world. In 1865 an English physicist Maxwell developed electromagnetic field theory. After that, it became possible to create a new picture of the world called electromagnetic picture of the world.
Maxwell's theory is based on the law of electromagnetic induction Faraday. Maxwell showed that a changing magnetic field creates a vortex electric field and vice versa.
According to electromagnetic theory, the world is represented in the form of electromagnetic waves. Electromagnetic waves create alternating electric currents. Through this field, charged particles interact with each other. electric fields create not driving charges, but magnetic fields- driving charges.
The laws of interaction between electric and magnetic fields are described by four Maxwell equations. These equations show that magnetic lines of force are continuous and have no beginning or end. There are no magnetic charges in nature. The electric field is created not only by charges at rest, but also by an alternating magnetic field. The magnetic field is created not only by moving charges, but also by both electric current and an alternating electric field. Maxwell's system of equations shows spatial and temporal changes in magnetic and electric fields. Acceleratedly moving electric charges create electromagnetic waves.
It has been established that electromagnetic waves propagate at the speed of light. Thus, an electromagnetic picture of the world was built, according to which matter - this field(electrical, magnetic and electromagnetic). Based on the created picture of the world corpuscular nature description type replaced continuous(field) type of description of nature.
The electromagnetic picture of the world has significantly changed the ideas about the world. This painting was based on ideas continuity of matter, the materiality of electric, magnetic and electromagnetic fields, the continuity of matter and motion, matter and space, matter and time. According to the new picture of the world, space and time are absolute substances, and empty space is filled with an electromagnetic field.
At the beginning of the 20th century, it became clear limitations of the electromagnetic picture of the world, because the continuum understanding of matter did not agree with the experimental facts that confirm the discreteness of the charge, radiation and action, it was not possible to explain the stability of atoms and their radiation spectra. All these facts have shown the need to replace the electromagnetic picture of the world. It was replaced by a quantum field picture of the world.
In the 19th century, the natural sciences accumulated a huge amount of empirical material that needs to be rethought and generalized. Many scientific facts obtained as a result of research did not fit into the established mechanical ideas about the world around us. In the second half of the 19th century, on the basis of research in the field of electromagnetism, a new physical picture of the world was formed - the electromagnetic picture of the world (EMCM). In its formation, the research conducted by eminent scientists played a decisive role. M. Faraday, J. Maxwell, G. Hertz.
M. Faraday, abandoning the concept of long-range action (as a carrier of interaction), introduces the concept of a physical field, which plays a significant role in the further development of science and technology (radio communications, television, etc.).
J.Maxwell develops the theory of the electromagnetic field.
G. Hertz experimentally discovers electromagnetic waves.
A. Popov, Marconi- implemented radio communications in practical life.
In EMCM the whole world is filled with electromagnetic ether, which can be in different states. Physical fields were interpreted as states of the ether. The ether is a medium for the propagation of electromagnetic waves and, in particular, light.
Matter is considered continuous. All laws of nature are reduced to Maxwell's equations describing a continuous substance: nature does not make jumps. The substance consists of electrically charged particles interacting with each other through fields.
All known mechanical, electrical, magnetic, chemical, thermal, optical phenomena are explained on the basis of electromagnetic interactions.
The interpretation of phenomena based on electromagnetism seems elegant and complete. The whole variety of natural phenomena is reduced to a few mathematical relationships.
The concept of ether (as a carrier of light and electromagnetic waves) is slowly evolving - up to a complete rejection in the end of the very concept of ether.
EMCM expands, refines and deepens. Scientists are building more and more new models of the atom, trying to find out which of them is still closest to the truth.
The planetary model of the atom created by E. Rutherford. It was she who became the starting point for the emergence of completely new views on the structure of the world around us.
Already at the turn of the 19th...20th centuries, the experimental data obtained in the study of the micro- and mega-worlds diverged sharply from the predictions of existing natural-science theories, required the development of new, more accurate and adequate to the essence of many phenomena.
The era of the electromagnetic picture of the world was coming to an end. Despite this, the electromagnetic picture of the world has created such a science, without which it is difficult to imagine modern life - methods for obtaining and using electrical energy (electric lighting and heating, electromagnetic means of communication (radio, telephone, television), etc.
Quantum-field picture of the world
The practical needs of people, their constant interest in the question of the structure of the world and dissatisfaction in solving fundamental scientific laws led to the creation of a completely new theory - quantum field theory and, based on it, the quantum field picture of the world (QFM).
A new concept appears in the CPCM - the quantum wave field, which is the most fundamental and universal form of matter underlying all its manifestations, both wave and corpuscular. Classical fields such as the Faraday-Maxwell electromagnetic field and classical particles are being replaced by single objects - quantum fields.
The founders of the new physical picture of the world were Max Planck, Niels Bohr, Louis de Broglie, Erwin Schrödinger, Paul Dirac, Werner Heisenberg and other famous scientists.
The concepts of “quantum of energy”, “discrete states”, “particle-wave dualism” became the central concepts of the new picture of the world.
Particles have wave properties (electron diffraction), electromagnetic waves have corpuscular properties. It turned out that the laws of the macrocosm differ from the laws of the microcosm.
Quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics have come to the fore in the study of natural phenomena. In the CPCM, the exchange nature of the interaction is clarified, four types of fundamental force interactions are described, new ideas about matter, motion, force interaction arise, mass is equated with energy.
Thanks to experiments and theoretical research, physicists of the 20th century had a feeling of extraordinary power, when science made significant progress in studying the structure of the atom and the atomic nucleus, the nature of elementary particles. It is no coincidence that famous physicists are also considered the founders of molecular biology. (Erwin Schrödinger, Max Delbrück).
This feeling was strengthened in the middle and in the second half of the 20th century, when it became possible to apply the laws of modern physics to the phenomena of life, especially in conflict and crisis situations.
In the quantum-field picture of the world, phenomena that remained mysterious in the pictures of the world that arose at earlier stages of the development of science are considered, studied and explained, problems are solved that are unsolvable for thinkers of antiquity, representatives of the mechanical and electromagnetic pictures of the world.
The study of the microworld up to distances of 10 -17 m and the megaworld up to distances of 10 27 m would be impossible within the framework of the electromagnetic picture of the world. And electric current in semiconductors (the study of which has provided us with modern compact radio, television and light generating devices, compact mobile communications, high-speed computers); phenomena of superconductivity and new structural materials - all this is considered and explained by the quantum-field picture of the world.
At the same time, the development of the quantum-field picture of the world once again demonstrated to us the importance and continuity of the mechanical and electromagnetic pictures of the world, indicating that they correctly reflected many of the objective properties of the surrounding world.
Like other pictures of the world, during its existence in the 20th century, the CPCM has undergone significant development. A complete and holistic consideration of the quantum field picture of the world is a very difficult task and at this stage is practically not completed.
We list the recent scientific directions, the development of which led to the emergence of the modern quantum paradigm of the world:
The theory of relativity has radically changed the understanding of space-time relations (especially in extreme regions of speeds and sizes);
Quantum mechanics contributed to the establishment of new causal relationships in the material world;
Cosmology, as a development of quantum mechanics, opened the way to the systemic history of the evolution of the Cosmos and a topic that is especially close to us - the Solar System, which began about 15 billion years ago, revealed the unity and integrity of the cosmos, the interconnections of fundamental physical interactions;
Synergetics has demonstrated that self-organization processes can occur not only in the living world, but also in inanimate nature.
The basic principle of holism states that the whole is always more than the sum of its parts. From the standpoint of holism, the whole world is a single whole, and separate phenomena and objects distinguished in the sciences make sense only as part of the community.
Holism has dominated the history of philosophical thought since antiquity. An example of a holistic statement from the works of Hippocrates: “man is a universal and single part of the surrounding world”, or “a microcosm in the macrocosm”. The representative of classical German idealism G. W. F. Hegel(1770 ... 1831) said: "only the whole makes sense."
However, with the development of science in the 18th-19th centuries and the spread of mechanistic and reductionist ideas close to each other in philosophy and natural science, the view of any system as a derivative of parts prevailed, and the conviction became stronger that the properties of any object can be derived from the analysis of its constituent elements. Accordingly, the holistic principle began to be perceived as a philosophical concept of no practical value, and this ideology should be used with caution.
Interest in the ideas of holism increased again in the first half of the twentieth century due to the crisis of the classical natural-scientific picture of the world. At this time, a philosophical direction appeared - “ philosophy of integrity”, developed by the South African philosopher and politician I. Smutsom (1870…1950) , who introduced the term " holism” based on the assertion early philosopher -Aristotle: "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." Smuts believed that the basis of evolutionary processes is the activity of non-material and unknowable entities, seeing in them the source of the highest moral values of mankind.
Holistic principle in modern philosophy, this is the supremacy of wholes over the sum of individual elements and the explanation of individual phenomena only in their connection with wholes. From holistic ideas comes the concept of synergy.
Synergy- this is a complex interaction of any components, in which the total effect exceeds the effect of each individual component. In physiology, synergy is a joint, combined action of any organs or systems; in pharmacology - this is the joint action of medicinal substances, mutually reinforcing the effect of the action of each of them. The practical embodiment of the idea of holism in synergetics is the concept of emergence, that is, the emergence in the system of a new system quality that is not reducible to the sum of the qualities of the elements of the system.
The concept “ system" was born in philosophy as a property of orderliness and integrity of being. The idea of consistency arose in ancient Greek philosophy in the works of Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoic philosophers. It was developed in German classical philosophy by Kant, Hegel. In the new time - the systemic nature of knowledge is the main methodological scientific principle.
Why do we need knowledge about pictures of the world? The thing is that it is this knowledge that describes the properties of such categories as matter, substance, system and time. And this basic knowledge underlies the design, creation and use of medical devices.
Already in the XIX century. physicists supplemented the mechanistic picture of the world electromagnetic. Electric and magnetic phenomena have been known for a long time, but they were studied separately from each other. Their further study showed that there is a deep relationship between them, which forced scientists to create a unified electromagnetic theory. Indeed, the Danish scientist X. Oersted(1777-1851), having placed a magnetic needle over a conductor through which an electric current flows, he found that it deviates from its original position. This led the scientist to the idea that an electric current creates a magnetic field. Later, the English physicist M. Faraday (1791-1867), rotating a closed circuit in a magnetic field, discovered that an electric current arises in it. Based on the experiments of Oersted, Faraday and other scientists, the English physicist J. Maxwell (1831-1879) created his electromagnetic theory, i.e. theory of the existence of a single electromagnetic field. In this way it was shown that in the world there is not only substance in the form of bodies, but also physical fields.
After various fields became objects of study for physicists along with matter, the picture of the world became more complex. Nevertheless, at first, scientists tried to explain electromagnetic processes, including light phenomena, using mechanical models based on the concepts and principles of the mechanistic picture of the world. This can be seen by referring to a brief history of the appearance of the first hypotheses about the nature of electricity and magnetism.
4.1. Hypotheses about weightless electric and magnetic fluids
Rudiments of old ideas about electricity are still preserved in the scientific language. We constantly hear physicists say that electric current flows through a conductor from a high potential to
lower, as if electricity were like a liquid. At the very beginning of research, electrical and magnetic phenomena were actually considered as weightless, positively and negatively charged liquids, since with the help of such hypotheses it was possible to explain the experiments known by that time. Such experiments are usually carried out when studying a physics course in high school.
If you rub an ebonite rod with a piece of woolen cloth and then bring it to the metal head of an electroscope, then its leaves diverge. From this it is concluded that as a result of friction, the ebonite rod became negatively charged and transferred this charge to the electroscope. The leaves of the electroscope, charged with the same electricity, repel each other and therefore diverge. Similarly, if you rub a glass rod with cat fur, it becomes positively charged. When you touch the electroscope, the leaves charged with positive electricity of the same name will also disperse.
The hypothesis of the existence of weightless electric fluids is based on the following assumptions:
1. Electricity is a certain substance, like a substance, namely a liquid.
2. In every uncharged body there is the same amount of positive and negative electricity, and therefore they mutually neutralize each other. At the same time, what kind of electricity to call positive or negative is a purely conditional question.
3. As a result of certain actions, such as friction, one kind of electricity can be separated from another.
4. There are two kinds of bodies, in some of them electrical fluids can move freely, and therefore they are called conductors of electricity. In others, they cannot move, and therefore they are called insulators. Conductors include metals, earth, the human body. For insulators - porcelain, glass, rubber, etc.
All these assumptions, although they explain the simplest experiments with electrical phenomena, are connected with attempts to extend the mechanistic concept of weightless liquids to phenomena that are fundamentally different from mechanical phenomena. Since the flow of a liquid occurs at its different levels, it was necessary to introduce the concepts of potential difference for electricity. However, the question arises: does the weight of a charged body differ from that of an electrically neutral body?
Experience shows that their weight is the same. To reconcile this fact with the assumption of the existence of electric fluids, it was necessary to declare them weightless substances, and thereby move away from the mechanistic concept.
Weightless substances used to be invented in large numbers to explain a number of new phenomena of a non-mechanical nature. So, for example, heat was also considered as an imponderable substance, like a liquid that flows from a hot body to a cold one, if they are brought into contact. As a result, their temperature will become the same. However, it is completely different with electricity, because when interacting with oppositely charged bodies, they become electrically neutral.
With the further development of research on the phenomena of electricity, attempts to explain them with the help of mechanistic ideas ran into more serious difficulties. Even at the end of the XVIII century. the Italian scientist A. Volta (1745-1827) built a device that is now known as a voltaic column, consisting of several elements. Each such element is a battery in which copper and zinc plates are lowered into a vessel where water and a little sulfuric acid are poured. If you connect these plates with a wire, then an electric current will appear in the circuit. Between the copper and zinc plates, according to the hypothesis of electric fluid, a potential difference should arise, which, in the case of two charged bodies connected by a wire, quickly disappears, but continues to be preserved in the battery. This led Volta to suggest that the plates "supply an unlimited charge or produce a continuous action or impulse of the electrical fluid". Please note that Volta still considers electricity as a liquid. He does not reveal and does not analyze the cause of the potential difference on the plates as a result of the occurrence of chemical processes in the solution, and thus does not consider it as a process of converting chemical energy into electrical energy.
At the end of the XIX century. the place of hypothetical electric and magnetic fluids was taken by a new concept of a single electromagnetic field. If in mechanics changes and movement of material particles are made with the help of external forces applied to particles or a body formed from them, then in electrodynamics changes are made under the influence of field forces.
4.2. Electromagnetic field and its features
Initially, in the studies of M. Faraday, the concept of an electromagnetic field played an auxiliary role and served as a visual illustration for demonstrating the forces of the field. However, later it became the same fundamental concept as the concept of things.
stva. It is based, as we have noted, on two major discoveries that linked electrical and magnetic phenomena into one whole. As we already know, Oersted established that a magnetic field arises around a conductor through which an electric current flows. In subsequent studies of physicists, it was found that the new force arising under the influence of current depends on the speed of movement of the electric charge and is directed perpendicular to the plane of this movement.
Later, Faraday discovered the completely opposite phenomenon of electromagnetic induction, which indicated that a changing magnetic field creates an electric field and, therefore, causes an electric current.
Thus, the electric and magnetic fields are not isolated objects, but form an interconnected, unified electromagnetic field. Where there is an electric field, there must be a magnetic field, and a magnetic field creates an electric field.
However, this important conclusion applies only to changing fields. Indeed, an electric charge moving through a conductor, or current, is a changing, alternating field. It is this that creates a magnetic field around the conductor. If there is no movement of electric charges, then there will be no magnetic field. For example, a static electric field exists around a motionless, electrically charged ball, but since the ball remains motionless, no magnetic field is formed around it. As soon as the ball is set in motion, a magnetic field will appear around it. Similarly, a stationary magnet around which there is a static magnetic field does not create an electric field in a closed conductor located nearby, and thus no electric current. Consequently, static electric and magnetic fields that do not change in space and over time do not create a single electromagnetic field. Only when we are dealing with moving electric and magnetic charges, i.e. with alternating fields, an interaction occurs between them and a single electromagnetic field appears.
The establishment of a deep inner connection and unity between previously isolated electrical and magnetic phenomena, which were previously considered as a special kind of weightless liquids, was an outstanding achievement in physics. The concept of the electromagnetic field, which arose on this basis, put an end to numerous attempts at the mechanical interpretation of electromagnetic phenomena. Even the interpretation of lines of force as mechanical tension
field, which was used even by Faraday, lost its meaning after the great English physicist J. Maxwell built the mathematical theory of the electromagnetic field.
This theory is a generalization of all empirical relationships established by Oersted, Faraday and other scientists in the study of electrical and magnetic phenomena. But this generalization is by no means reduced to summing up their results, but presupposes the idealization of the processes under study. Maxwell in his imagination imagined an ideal case of Faraday's experiment, when a closed curve, which is crossed by magnetic lines, contracts to a certain point in space. In this limiting case, the magnitude and shape of the closed curve do not play any significant role, and therefore it becomes possible to consider the laws that relate changes in the magnetic and electric fields at any point in space and at any moment in time. The same imaginary case can be done with Oersted's experiment and consider the laws that relate changes in the electric and magnetic fields at any moment in time and at any point in space.
There is a certain connection between the laws of the electromagnetic field, expressed in Maxwell's equations, and the laws of Newton's mechanics. When studying mechanical laws, we found out that, knowing the coordinates of a body, its speed and the equation of motion, it is possible to accurately determine its position and speed at any point in space at any moment in the future or past. For this, as is known, ordinary differential equations are used.
Maxwell's equations make it possible, knowing the state of the field at any point in time, to determine how it will change over time. But there is also a significant difference between the laws of mechanics and electromagnetism. If, for a given state of motion of a material point, the laws of mechanics make it possible to determine its trajectory and position at any arbitrary moment in time in any place, then Maxwell's laws make it possible to determine the state of the electromagnetic field in close proximity to its previous state. Relatively speaking, in mechanics, when determining the state of motion of a system, they rely on the idea of long-range action. According to the principle of long-range action, the author of which was the French scientist and philosopher R. Descartes, a force effect can be transmitted instantly to any distance through empty space. In the theory of the electromagnetic field, such a possibility is denied, and therefore it is based on the principle of short-range action. This allows you to follow step by step the change in the electromagnetic field over time.
When studying the motion of material particles or systems formed from them, the history of changes in their states can be studied along their trajectories. In the electromagnetic theory, one has to turn to the changes that occur with the field in space. Therefore, for the mathematical description of the electromagnetic field, one turns to differential equations with partial derivatives. If in mechanics change and movement are always considered taking into account the interaction of the bodies themselves, which are the source of movement, i.e. an external force that causes this movement, then in the theory of the electromagnetic field they abstract from such sources and consider only the change in the field in space over time as a whole. Moreover, the source that creates the field may eventually cease to operate, although the field generated by it continues to exist.
Finally, the consequence of the existence of electromagnetic waves and the speed of their propagation follows from Maxwell's equations. Indeed, an oscillating electric charge creates a changing electric field, which is accompanied by a changing magnetic field. If there is a closed conductor nearby, then an electric current arises in it, which creates a magnetic field, etc. As a result of oscillations of electric charges, a certain energy is radiated into the surrounding space in the form electromagnetic waves, that propagate at a certain speed. Since the direction of energy propagation is perpendicular to the direction of the field lines of force, electromagnetic waves are transverse.
Experimental studies have established that the propagation velocity of electromagnetic waves is 300,000 km/s. Since light propagates at the same speed, it was logical to assume that there is a certain commonality between electromagnetic and light phenomena.
4.3. Relationship between electromagnetism and optics
The establishment of equality between the speed of light and the speed of propagation of electromagnetic waves was a new major step in revealing the unity between outwardly different phenomena of nature.
On the question of the nature of light, before the discovery of Maxwell's electromagnetic theory, there were two competing hypotheses: corpuscular and wave.
Supporters corpuscular hypotheses, beginning with Newton, considered light as a stream of light corpuscles, or discrete particles. Such a hypothesis was in good agreement with the principles of the mechanistic worldview, whose supporters quite convincingly explained the rectilinear propagation of light, its refraction, or refraction during the transition from one medium to another, and even dispersion, or the decomposition of white light into its constituent colors, etc. However, the corpuscular hypothesis failed to explain more complex phenomena such as interference and diffraction of light.
Wave interference is the superposition of coherent light waves. When at the same time the crests of the waves coincide, then their amplitudes add up and the light is amplified. If the crest of one wave coincides with the trough of another, then the amplitude of one wave is subtracted from the other, and instead of light, a weakening of light or even darkness appears in this place. This experience at the very beginning of the XIX century. produced by the English physician T. Jung. If light beams are passed through two closely spaced pinholes, then behind a dark screen one can observe the alternation of light and dark rings. Light rings appear in those places where the crests of the waves coincide, dark ones - in the places where the crests and troughs of the waves coincide. Thus, under interference understand the amplification or attenuation of light when superimposed light waves. It is clear that the phenomenon of interference cannot be explained with the help of corpuscular concepts of light.
The same must be said about another phenomenon called diffraction, arising from the deviation of light from a rectilinear direction. This phenomenon is observed when light passes through narrow gaps or around obstacles. On a screen placed behind them, one can observe alternating light and dark circles, which should not be, according to the corpuscular theory.
Defenders wave hypotheses consider light as a process of wave propagation, similar to the movement of waves on the surface of a liquid. With the help of this hypothesis, they were able to explain not only all the phenomena that the corpuscular hypothesis explained, but also those that were difficult or not at all to be explained using the previous hypothesis (interference and diffraction). That is why in the 19th century the wave hypothesis of light supplanted the corpuscular hypothesis from optics.
Light waves, like waves on the surface of a liquid, propagate perpendicular to the oscillatory process and, therefore, belong to transverse waves. In contrast to them, sound waves are called longitudinal waves, since the direction of their propagation coincides with the direction of air movement. By-
Since light waves, like waves on the surface of a liquid, arise as a result of vertical oscillations of their particles, the question inevitably arises: what medium serves as a source of light oscillations? As an answer to it, a hypothesis was put forward about the existence of a light ether that fills the entire world space and has the properties of elasticity. As a result, the transmission of light was associated with the vibrations of the ether. However, the existence of such an ether was not discovered by any experiments, and therefore, in the future, it was completely abandoned.
After the discovery of electromagnetic waves, the propagation speed of which was equal to the speed of light, scientists came to the conclusion that light is a special kind of electromagnetic waves. It differs from ordinary electromagnetic waves in its extremely small wavelength, which is 4.7 10 -5 cm for visible and 10 -6 cm for invisible, ultraviolet light. Long electromagnetic waves, such as radio waves, can travel thousands of kilometers.
Thus, the first important result of the electromagnetic concept was the rejection of the hypothesis of the existence of the light ether as a special medium for the propagation of light. This role began to play the very space in which the propagation of electromagnetic waves.
The second result is the unification of light phenomena with electromagnetic processes, thanks to which optics has become part of the theory of electromagnetism. However, at the beginning of the XX century. phenomenon was discovered photoelectric effect, which is the emission of electrons by a substance when exposed to light. The electromagnetic theory of light was unable to explain the independence of the energy of the photoelectric effect from the intensity of illumination. Even at the end of the XIX century. Russian physicist A.G. Stoletov found that the energy of the photoelectric effect increases with the frequency of light, but does not depend on its intensity. This result clearly contradicted the predictions of electromagnetic theory.
To explain the photoelectric effect, A. Einstein had to abandon the wave concepts of light and turn to its quantum nature, i.e. in a modified form to revive again the corpuscular point of view on light. For the first time, they started talking about quanta in 1900, when the famous German physicist M. Planck proved that energy is emitted and absorbed not continuously, but in separate portions, or quanta. In 1905, Einstein showed that light propagates in the form of a stream of light quanta, which were called photons. The energy of photons depends on their frequency, i.e. E= hv , where h is Planck's constant, v - frequency.
The quantum view of the nature of light could not completely refute the idea of its wave nature, as evidenced by the phenomena of interference and diffraction. How could quantum and wave representations be combined in a single picture? We will learn about this later, when we get acquainted with quantum mechanics and the theory of elementary particles.
4.4. Field and substance
The introduction of the concept of an electromagnetic field has expanded the scientific understanding of the forms of matter studied in physics. Classical, Newtonian physics dealt with only one single form of physical matter - a substance that was built from material particles and was a system of such particles, which were considered either material points (mechanics) or atoms (the doctrine of heat).
If the main characteristic of a substance is mass, since it is precisely this that appears in the basic law of mechanics F = that then in electrodynamics the concept of field energy is fundamental. In other words, when studying motion in mechanics, first of all, they pay attention to the movement of bodies with mass, and when studying the electromagnetic field, to the propagation of electromagnetic waves in space over time. Another difference between a substance and a field is also the nature of the transfer of influences. In mechanics, such an action is transmitted by force, and it can be carried out in principle over any distance, while in electrodynamics, the energy action of the field is transmitted from one point to another.
Finally, one should also note the important fact that, after the source of electromagnetic waves ceases to operate, the resulting electromagnetic waves continue to propagate in space. It turns out that electromagnetic waves can exist autonomously, without direct connection with an energy source.
Historically, the approach to the study of nature from the point of view of matter and the mass associated with it found a clear expression in the mechanistic picture of the world, which tried to explain other, non-mechanical phenomena using the concepts and principles of mechanics. It is based on the idea of the discrete nature of matter, which in mechanics was considered as a system of material parts.
tyts, and in other sciences - a set of atoms or molecules. In this way, discreteness can be regarded as the final divisibility of matter into separate, ever-decreasing parts. Even the ancient Greeks understood that such divisibility cannot continue indefinitely, because then matter itself will disappear. Therefore, they put forward the assumption that the last indivisible particles of matter are atoms.
From a discrete point of view, the structure of matter can be represented as such a structure, which implies the possibility of its final division into ever-decreasing separate parts, starting from molecules and atoms and ending with elementary particles and quarks.
From point of view continuity matter is represented as a certain integrity and unity. A clear image of such continuity is any continuous medium that fills a certain space. The properties of such a medium, such as a liquid, change from one point to another continuously, without interruption of gradualness and jumps. Using the example of an electromagnetic field, we have seen that the force effect of such a field is transmitted from the nearby previous point to the next one, i.e. continuously.
In the classical theory, there was an explicit opposition between discreteness and continuity, when any interaction between them was excluded in the study of matter and field. In modern physics, as we will see later, it is the relationship and interaction of discreteness and continuity, corpuscular and wave properties of matter in the study of the properties and laws of motion of its smallest particles that serves as the basis for an adequate description of the studied phenomena and processes. Such microparticles of matter are characterized by corpuscular-wave dualism, i.e. they simultaneously possess both the properties of corpuscles (substance) and waves (field).
Such a representation is completely alien to classical physics, in which the discrete and corpuscular approach was used in the study of some phenomena, and the continuous and field approach was used in the study of others. Moreover, we now know that the mechanistic interpretation of the phenomena of electricity and magnetism was ultimately based on their discrete and corpuscular interpretation, when they were considered as special substances, i.e. when identified with a kind of substance.
A more universal approach to a unified explanation of all physical phenomena from the point of view of a unified field theory was put forward as a grandiose program by the creator of the theory of relativity, A. Einstein, but remained unrealized. Its main
ideas will become clear after we get acquainted with the theory of relativity.
The dialectical interaction of discreteness and continuity finds its vivid embodiment in modern quantum field theories. Indeed, the interaction in the quantum theory of the electromagnetic field occurs as a result of the mutual exchange of photons, quanta of this field. The same can be said about the gravitational field, where such interaction is carried out with the help of gravitons, hypothetical particles of such a field. Particles, or quanta, of the field at each point in space create a field of forces that has its effect on other particles.
The field itself has been interpreted in different ways in the history of physics. In the first concepts of electromagnetism, the field was considered purely mechanically, namely, as a tension of lines of force between charges, and in optics as an elastic oscillation of a special, all penetrating medium - the world ether. After the rejection of such an assumption, first in the theory of the electromagnetic field, and then in the theory of relativity, the role of a kind of ether in modern physics is apparently claimed by physical vacuum. In quantum field theory, it is considered as the lowest energy state of quantized fields, in which there are no real particles. However, the possibility of virtual processes in vacuum leads to certain effects when it interacts with real particles. In quantum field theory, the concept of physical vacuum is considered the main one, since its properties determine the properties of all other states of the system.
Thus, with the development of physics, ideas about matter and field have changed radically. Their former opposition in classical physics has given way to an understanding of their relationship and interaction in modern physics. On the one hand, matter is considered as a certain discrete system of interacting elementary particles. On the other hand, the field as a continuous integrity consists of field quanta that exchange energy with each other and thus ensure the existence and movement of the system itself.
Basic concepts and questions
short range long range
Vacuum (physical) Resolution
Substance Diffraction
Wave Interference
Quantum of energy Photoelectric effect
Optics Electromagnetic induction
Radio waves Electromagnetic field
Light Electromagnetic vibrations
1. How were the phenomena of electricity and magnetism originally explained?
2. What discoveries became the basis for the creation of the theory of the electromagnetic field?
3. In what cases do electric charges create a magnetic field?
4. What is a static electric field?
5. In what case can a static field turn into a dynamic field and form a magnetic field?
6. When does a magnet create an electric field?
7. What is the relationship between electricity and magnetism?
8. What discoveries did Maxwell rely on when creating his theory of the electromagnetic field?
9. What new consequences were obtained from Maxwell's theory?
10. Why did optical phenomena come to be regarded as electromagnetic?
11. What is the nature of electromagnetic waves?
12. How do light waves differ from other electromagnetic waves?
13. How is the transfer of energy in an electromagnetic field?
14. What is the difference between a field and a substance?
Literature
Main:
Philosophy of Science. Modern philosophical problems of scientific fields
knowledge. M., 2005. Einstein A., Infeld L. Evolution of physics // Einstein A. Sobr. scientific
Proceedings: In 4 vols. T. 4. S. 401-452. 100 years of quantum theory. History. Physics. Philosophy. M., 2002.
Additional:
Feynman Lectures on Physics. Issue. 3. Radiation. Waves. Quanta. M.,
1966. Ch. 28. Feynman lectures on physics. Issue. 5. Electricity and magnetism. M.,
1966. Ch. 1. Philosophy: encyclopedic dictionary / Ed. A.A. Ivin. M., 2004.
