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Entropy

Observable and Unobservable Mechanical Motion

Gerhard Müller

Published Jul 3, 2020• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A thermodynamic approach to mechanical motion is presented, and it is shown that dissipation of energy is the key process through which mechanical motion becomes observable. By studying charged particles moving in conservative central force fields, it is shown that the process of radiation emission can be treated as a frictional process that withdraws mechanical energy from the moving particles and that dissipates the radiation energy in the environment. When the dissipation occurs inside natural (eye) or technical photon detectors, detection events are produced which form observational images of the underlying mechanical motion. As the individual events, in which radiation is emitted and detected, represent pieces of physical action that add onto the physical action associated with the mechanical motion itself, observation appears as a physical overhead that is burdened onto the mechanical motion. We show that such overheads are minimized by particles following Hamilton's equations of motion. In this way, trajectories with minimum curvature are selected and dissipative processes connected with their observation are minimized. The minimum action principles which lie at the heart of Hamilton's equations of motion thereby appear as principles of minimum energy dissipation and/or minimum information gain. Whereas these principles dominate the motion of single macroscopic particles, these principles become challenged in microscopic and intensely interacting multi-particle systems such as molecules moving inside macroscopic volumes of gas.

DOI
10.3390/e22070737

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A thermodynamic approach to mechanical motion is presented, and it is shown that dissipation of energy is the key process through which mechanical motion becomes observable. By studying charged particles moving in conservative central force fields, it is shown that the process of radiation emission can be treated as a frictional process that withdraws mechanical energy from the moving particles and that dissipates the radiation energy in the environment. When the dissipation occurs inside natural (eye) or technical photon detectors, detection events are produced which form observational images of the underlying mechanical motion. As the individual events, in which radiation is emitted and detected, represent pieces of physical action that add onto the physical action associated with the mechanical motion itself, observation appears as a physical overhead that is burdened onto the mechanical motion. We show that such overheads are minimized by particles following Hamilton's equations of motion. In this way, trajectories with minimum curvature are selected and dissipative processes connected with their observation are minimized. The minimum action principles which lie at the heart of Hamilton's equations of motion thereby appear as principles of minimum energy dissipation and/or minimum information gain. Whereas these principles dominate the motion of single macroscopic particles, these principles become challenged in microscopic and intensely interacting multi-particle systems such as molecules moving inside macroscopic volumes of gas.
This paper re-examines the mechanism of electron motion inside atoms and the causes of photon radiation and photon absorption, abandoning the inherent cognition of fixed electron orbits and quantum transitions in traditional atomic physics. It clarifies that electrons have no physical fixed orbits; orbits are only imaginary concepts constructed for convenience of description, not objective physical realities. With mass, electrons possess inertia and kinetic energy. Under the three-force equilibrium of Coulomb force, electromagnetic force and inertial effect, electrons naturally move in elliptical trajectories rather than regular circles. When an electron moves along an elliptical trajectory, it naturally passes through low-energy regions near the atomic nucleus and high-energy regions far from the nucleus. This change in position arises entirely from its own inertia, involving only the conversion between kinetic energy and potential energy. The electron neither gains nor loses total energy, so it emits no photons and undergoes no energy-level change. An electron loses total energy when emitting a photon outward, and transitions smoothly and continuously to a lower overall motion range under mechanical equilibrium and inertia. Meanwhile, an electron can also absorb external photons and gain energy; its total energy increases, and it similarly expands smoothly to a higher motion range. Photon energy is indivisible and can only be emitted or absorbed as a complete unit. This is the fundamental reason why atoms show discrete emission and absorption spectra. Electron motion is entirely smooth and continuous; instantaneous quantum transitions assumed in traditional physics do not exist. Based on classical mechanics and energy conservation, this paper unifies the laws of macroscopic celestial bodies and microscopic particles, and reconstructs an atomic motion model closer to the essential nature of physics.
Mechanics can be founded in a principle stating the uncertainty in the position of an observable particle delta-q as a function of its motion relative to the observer, expressed in a trajectory representation . From this principle, p.delta-q=const., being p the q-conjugated momentum, mechanical laws are derived and the meaning of the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian functions are discussed. The connection between the presented principle and Hamilton's Least Action Principle is examined. For a particle hidden from direct observation, the position uncertainty is determined by the enclosing boundaries, and is, thus, disengaged from its momentum. Heat, as a non-mechanical magnitude, stem from this fact, and thermodynamical magnitudes have direct expression in the presented formalism. It is finally shown that in terms of Information Theory, mechanical laws have simple interpretation. Kinetic and potential energies are expressions of the information on momentum and position respectively, and the law of conservation of energy expresses the absence of information exchange in mechanical interactions.
Using arguments originally introduced by Einstein we show that the reductionist philosophy of quantum mechanics reverses the natural order. In quantum mechanics emission is followed by observation and interpreted classically with the collapse of the wave function, whereas in nature classical absorptions of energy precede emission. Also momentum transfers leading to emissions are asymmetric with respect to spatial orientation and time, but are disregarded in quantum mechanics because molecular impulses cannot be observed. Thus despite irrefutable physical evidence that microscopic processes evolve asymmetrically the wave function is assumed to apply symmetrically in time. The deficiencies are corrected by introducing Hamilton’s principle and deriving relativistic equations of motion. The calculus of variations is then applied to the wave function to show that it is an incomplete equation of motion because it yields twice the allowable action minimum thereby allowing the concept of reality to be redefined.
It is often claimed that Einstein is wrong about quantum mechanics. However, when comparisons are made with respect to theoretical foundations rather than experimental results Einstein’s theories are found to be superior. Although quantum mechanics correctly predicts what it is possible to observe (the emissions) with remarkable accuracy it ignores the other half of natural phenomena, that which cannot be observed (the absorptions), thereby violating the conservation of energy. Similarly, the conservation of momentum is violated by disregarding unobservable molecular impulses. Despite irrefutable proof that molecular impulses transfer momentum asymmetrically as shown by Einstein’s derivation of the A and B coefficients, the wave function is assumed to apply symmetrically in time. The deficiencies are corrected by introducing Hamilton’s principle and deriving relativistic equations of motion. This allows non-relativistic quantum mechanics to be described with a physical model and wave function behavior to be interpreted as the combined action of a particle and its associated quantized field. The calculus of variations is applied to the wave function to show that it is an incomplete equation of motion because it yields twice the allowable action minimum. The concept of reality is redefined by showing that reductionism applies to classical phenomena, but not quantum phenomena.
It is argued that all physical knowledge ultimately stems from observation and that the simplest possible observation is that an event has happened at a certain space-time location . Considering historic experiments, which had been groundbreaking in the evolution of our modern ideas of matter on the atomic, nuclear and elementary particle scales, it is shown that such experiments produce as outputs macroscopically observable events which represent binary decisions with regard to simple alternatives and which accumulate in the course of time into spatio-temporal patterns whose forms allow decisions to be taken concerning conceivable alternatives of explanation. Working towards elucidating the physical and information-theoretic characteristics of those elementary pieces of information we arrive at the conclusion that - unlike the events of relativity which are mere 4-tuples of spacetime coordinates - the events of observation are pieces of information endowed with the properties of physical action, spacetime extension, and Lorentz invariance. Another important aspect is that such events are produced at the expense of irreversibly dissipating energy which can be stated in Landauer diction in the form that more energy needs to be spent in the erasure of events than had previously been invested in their initiation.