Matter is the content of our being. It is an objective reality, fills space and serves as the main component of all living and non-living elements. Two seemingly incompatible areas of knowledge, such as science and philosophy, agree only on one thing - that matter plays a dominant role in the life of micro and macro worlds. What is the matter that surrounds us and from which we are made? Why does it take such strange forms, many of which have not yet been revealed to us? Let's try to figure this out a bit.
How did great people understand this term?
About what matter consists of, and how it changes its forms so radically, people began to think from the time of antiquity. In those years there were no microscopes and telescopes, and even the wisest philosophers could not study any human organ or just a piece of wood from which a chair was knocked down to the atomic level. However, ancient scholars clearly knew what space-time is and how all the elements behave in it. It was they who composed the interpretation that has survived to this day. Matter was divided into two halves: things filled the space, and events - time. Due to the constant course of the latter, all objects and living objects could change their shape. A man was born, grew old and died, a tree crumbled, metal rusted. In the 17th century, the physicist and mathematician Leibniz defined matter as a subject that determines the properties of time and space. Subsequently, his writings appeared in Einstein's theory of relativity.
Looking at something under the microscope
If we turn to biological optics for help, then with our own eyes we can see that matter consists of atoms. This is the simplest characteristic of the term, which has no rebuttal and does not require further evidence. Atoms are the smallest particles of everything that surrounds us, and ourselves. The structure of each of them is identical. But at the same time, the atoms of each individual element of our world, whether it is a methane cloud in the atmosphere of Jupiter or the dog’s liver, encoded information about the properties of the carrier object. An atom consists of a nucleus, which is always positively charged, and electrons. When the number of protons and electrons coincides, this particle becomes neutral in terms of electric charge. If the equilibrium is disturbed, then the atom turns into an ion that has a positive or negative charge.
What do atoms pour into?
A molecule is formed from a cluster of two or more atoms. In addition to information about the carrier, it also contains a considerable proportion of the connecting substance. Thanks to him, molecules are able to form the very matter that we are talking about. Such compounds transmit information from different atoms through each other and thereby create an inextricable substance. The most interesting thing is that molecules of initially different components can group together. The most striking example here is water: it contains hydrogen and oxygen in a certain percentage ratio. It turns out that in order to understand what matter consists of, we only need to study the elements of the periodic table and find them in the various objects that surround us.
What do we see with the naked eye?
Having moved the telescope aside, we, having gained certain knowledge, see that matter consists of matter. Due to its structure, which can be viewed through optics, it is able to accept one of four aggregate states: gaseous, liquid, solid, and plasma. The first three of them, we can easily imagine on the example of the same water, which, being liquid, can turn into ice or gas. Some other elements can exist only in one of these four states. Going deep into ancient philosophy, it is impossible not to draw an analogy with the four elements. The sages distinguished among them water, earth, air and fire. It is obvious that the plasma, which was discovered recently, corresponds exactly to the flame.
What does any substance emit?
Those who taught physics at school know that matter consists of energy in exactly the same way as it does from matter. Atoms themselves and their smallest particles, moving and colliding, emit fields with individual frequencies. They are converted into electromagnetic, quantum and gravitational fields depending on the properties of atoms of a particular substance. Since such interaction and radiation occur everywhere, that is, in the human body, in a vacuum, and in a black hole, all our matter is filled with energy. Each object has an individual field, which has special properties. It turns out that at the energy level we all exchange information that we unconsciously perceive and process.
but on the other hand
We briefly examined what matter consists of and what fields it can possess. Now consider the aspect of dark matter. Scientists believe that it consists of 85% of the entire universe. Dark matter does not emit any fields, does not have its own gravity, but energy is emanating from it. Due to the fact that it is impossible to fix the electromagnetic waves emanating from dark matter, we cannot catch it and understand its nature. Perhaps, in the secret composition of antiparticles lies the secret of the creation of the Universe and all of us.