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p The philosophical concept of matter must be distinguished from the picture of the world given by natural science, from the views on the structure, state and properties of concrete forms of matter which are elaborated by natural science in the course of its development. These views constantly change, develop and at times undergo a radical transformation. This, however, does not affect the truth of the philosophical understanding of matter as objective reality existing independent of our consciousness.

p In an effort to refute materialism idealists deliberately confuse the philosophical concept of matter with the views of natural science on the structure of concrete material bodies. A change in these views, renunciation of old ideas and their replacement by new, more exact and improved ideas, is held up by them as the “disappearance” of matter, as the “collapse” of materialism.

p For many centuries, for example, many materialists, metaphysically identified matter with the atom, which they regarded as impenetrable and indivisible. But at the end of the 19th century scientists discovered the electron, a minute integral part of the atom, and then other particles. As a result, the atom, which for centuries had been regarded as the ultimate, indivisible unit of the world, proved to be an extremely complex phenomenon. The properties of the electron, it was discovered, were entirely unlike the formerly accepted conceptions of the properties of the atom. This confused metaphysically-thinking physicists, while idealist philosophers, who took advantage of the ensuing difficulties, gained a pretext for speaking about the “dematerialisation" of the atom and the “disappearance” of matter.

p In Materialism and Empirio-Criticism Lenin proved the 42 untenability of these assertions. He showed that the latest discoveries of natural science do not result in the disappearance of matter, but only of obsolete knowledge of it. Yesterday the limit of our knowledge was the.atom, today it is the electron, while tomorrow this limit too will disappear. Our knowledge reaches deep into matter, revealing more and more of its properties, its ever deeper and finer formations. The electron which was discovered in its time is precisely such form of matter. Lenin, referring to the latest achievements of science, concluded that “the electron is as inexhaustible as the atom, nature is infinite”.  [42•* 

p Lenin’s ideas of the qualitative diversity of matter and the inexhaustible diversity of its structure and properties have been fully corroborated by the findings of contemporary science, and of physics in particular.

p Substance is a form of matter known in modern physics. Everything that has a mechanical mass or, as physicists say, a rest mass, is a substance. All visible or, as they are also called, macroscopic bodies that surround man are substantive. These bodies consist of molecules which in turn contain atoms. Bodies, molecules and atoms are exceptionally diverse. This, however, does not exhaust the qualitative diversity of substance. The atoms themselves have a very intricate structure, consisting of so-called elementary particles—protons and neutrons, which make up the nucleus of the atom, and electrons that revolve around the nucleus at a tremendous speed. The enumerated particles and also other “elementary” particles known to science (mesons, hyperons, neutrinos, etc.) are the smallest particles of substance known today. They are called elementary, because so far scientists have not succeeded in splitting them into smaller material formations. There is no doubt, however, that they too, like the atom, have an intricate structure. It is worth noting that elementary particles exist not only as part of atoms and nuclei, but also in a free state. Many of these particles, for example, are contained in cosmic radiation.

p In recent years, antiparticles (positrons, antiprotons and others) have been discovered; they differ from the corresponding particles of substance (electron, proton) by their 43 opposite electrical charge.

p When Lenin wrote Materialism and Empirio-Criticism only one elementary particle was known, the electron. Today there are dozens of elementary particles and antiparticles known to science. Physicists have discovered not only numerous particles of the atom but, by establishing their diverse properties, have also demonstrated that these particles, like the atom, are inexhaustible. Today the electron can no longer be conceived as some kind of an unchanging tiny sphere. It possesses properties of discontinuity and continuity, or properties of both a particle and a wave, and also a mass, an electrical charge, a magnetic moment, etc. Other elementary particles, too, possess a wide range of properties.

p Substance exists in a variety of states. In our everyday life we usually deal with solid, liquid or gaseous substances. And yet the most widespread state of substance in the world is plasma, a gaseous condition created by electrically charged particles—electrons and ions. Stars, nebulae, interstellar gas are in a state of plasma, while solid, liquid and gaseous bodies, which are so widespread on the Earth, are, on the whole, a great rarity in the Universe.

p Plasma resembles gas, but it has different properties: under the influence of a powerful magnetic field the movement of its particles acquires a specific, so-called spiral character. The magnetic field acts as the walls of a vessel capable of retaining plasma in a set condition and volume. In view of these properties plasma is also regarded as yet another, fourth form of matter.

p Today scientists devote especially great attention to plasma. Its study creates infinite opportunities for technical progress; in particular, it opens the way for controlling thermonuclear reactions and thus obtaining a practically inexhaustible source of energy.

p If an ordinary solid substance is compressed to an exceptionally great density, the electrons of its atoms penetrate the atomic nucleus and by uniting with its protons turn into neutrons. This creates another, neutron condition of substance. The distinguishing properties of a substance in a neutron form is its enormous (tens of thousands of times greater than in metals which are the best conductors) electric conductivity, the appearance of powerful magnetic fields when electricity passes through it, and amazing, 44 unparalleled density. Suffice it to say that just one cubic centimetre of a substance in its neutron state weighs not less than a million tons.

p The field is another basic form of matter known to modem science. The physical field is a material formation which interconnects bodies and transmits action from one body to another. The gravitational field (gravity) and the electromagnetic field (light is one of its varieties) were known already in the 19th century. Photons are particles of the electromagnetic field, which differ from particles of substance in that they have no rest mass characteristic of the latter. Moreover, in a vacuum photons always travel at a constant velocity of 300,000 kilometres per second, whereas the velocity of particles of substance can vary greatly, but cannot be higher than that of photons.

p In addition to the gravitational and electromagnetic fields there are also the nuclear, meson and electron-positron fields. Corresponding to each field are definite particles, whose properties are not identical with the properties of photons.

p Thus, both substance and field are diverse and inexhaustible in their structure and properties.

p The boundaries between substance and field are distinct only in the macroscopic, visible world. In the sphere of micro-processes, however, these boundaries are relative. Some particles of substance (for example, mesons) are at the same time also particles (quanta) of the corresponding field. Substance and field are inextricably connected; they interact and under certain circumstances are capable of being transformed one into another. In certain conditions two particles of substance (electron and positron) can be transformed into photons, particles of the electromagnetic field. The practical realisation of this experiment was one of the greatest achievements of physics, which once again demonstrated the material unity of the world, its changeability and mobility.

p Studies of the particles larger than molecules, known as polymeric chemical compounds (rubber, proteins, cellulose, starch and others), have provided an important contribution to the theory of the structure of matter. The main distinction of these compounds is that they are formed through numerous repetitions of similar groups of atoms bound into 45 chains or other more complex formations.

p By the discovery of polymers, the human mind penetrated a field which really lies on the boundary between the micro- and the macro-world. Since many of the polymeric compounds, particularly proteins, serve as material for the formation of living substance, their successful study is an important step in ascertaining the essence of the phenomena of life, in mastering and controlling vital processes.

p All the achievements of modern physics, chemistry and other sciences thus confirm the theses of dialectical materialism concerning the objectivity of matter, the unity and diversity of the world, the infinity of matter and boundlessness of human knowledge. It should be noted, however, that each science, notwithstanding its great achievements, also has its difficulties and unsolved problems which are used by the enemies of materialism in order to discredit it.

p For instance, some bourgeois philosophers and idealistically-minded physicists take advantage of the fact that elementary particles cannot be directly observed and say that they are logical (reasoned) substances and not material bodies.

p Actually, however, the atomic particles are just as material and objective as the atom itself, as the molecules formed from atoms and the bodies formed from molecules. All of them are only elements of one nature, the material world. If the atom and the particles comprising it did not exist, then the atomic power stations, the first of which was built by the Soviet people, would not have functioned, and the atomic icebreakers, the first of which bears the name of great Lenin, would not have sailed the seas.

p And so our knowledge about the structure and properties of definite material formations, whether electron, atom, molecule or any other body, is relative, and subject to change. It changed in the past and will change again in the future. But for all that matter remains an objective reality. It is the categorical, unqualified recognition of the existence of matter outside man’s consciousness and sensations that sets dialectical materialism apart from all forms of idealism, including agnosticism.

The world by its nature, as we have seen, is material: all that exists represents various forms and kinds of matter. But matter is not something inert and stagnant. It constantly 46 moves in time and space. Motion, space and time are the basic forms of being of matter. For a deeper understanding of the material essence of the world we have to examine these forms. We shall begin with motion.