Matter, A Mode of Motion 



By R. V. L. HARTLEY 



{Manuscript Received Feb. 28, 1950) 



Both the relativistic and wave mechanical properties of particles appear to 

 be consistent with a i)icture in which particles are represented Idv localized oscil- 

 latory disturbances in a mechanical ether of the MacCullagh-Kelvin type. Gyro- 

 static forces impart to such a medium an elasticity to rotation, such that, for 

 very small velocities, its approximate equations are identical with those of Max- 

 well for free space. The important results, however, follow from the inherent 

 non-linearity of the complete equations and the time dependence of the elas- 

 ticity associated w-ith finite displacements. These lead to reflections which permit 

 of a wave of finite energy remaining localized. Because of the non-linearity, the 

 amplitude and energy of a stable mode, as well as the frequency, are determined 

 by the constants of the medium. Such a stable mode is capable of translational 

 motion and so is suitable to represent a particle. The mass assigned to it is de- 

 rived from its energy by the relativity relation. While this mass is dimensionally 

 the same as that of the medium it is differently related to the energy and so 

 need not conform to the classical laws which the latter is assumed to obey. 



Exchanges of energy between particles and between a particle and radiation 

 involve frequency changes as in the quantum theory. The experimental detection 

 of a uniform velocity relative to the medium is not to be expected. Besides pro- 

 viding a new approach to the problems of particle mechanics, the theory ofifers 

 the prospect of incorporating the present pictures into a more comprehensive 

 one, with a material reduction in the number and complexity of the independent 

 assumptions. 



Introduction 



THE following quotation states a conclusion which is widely held: "But 

 in view of the more recent development of electrodynamics and optics 

 it became more and more evident that classical mechanics afifords an in- 

 sufficient foundation for the physical description of all natural phenomena."^ 

 This impUes that classical mechanics and classical electromagnetics are so 

 alike that one may be condemned for the shortcomings of the other. Actu- 

 ally, classical electromagnetics is in open disagreement with classical mech- 

 anics particularly with respect to those features for which it has been most 

 criticized. According to the mechanical principle of relativity,- the equations 

 of any mechanical system are invariant under the Newtonian transformation, 

 X = x' -\- Vt',y = y',z = z', t = t', where F isa constant velocity in the x 

 direction. Since the classical electromagnetic equations are not invariant 

 under this transformation, they cannot describe the performance of any 

 classical mechanical system. Their failures, therefore, should not stand in 

 the way of a study of the possibilities of such systems. 

 The system considered here is the so-called rotational ether, suggested 



> A. Einstein, The Theory of Relativity, Mcthuen & Co., Ltd., London, 1921, p. 13. 

 ^ Haas, Introduction to Theoretical Physics, 2nd Ed., Vol. I, p. 46. 



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