Concept of Matter in Jaina Philosophy

SR No.: 001663
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: J C Sikdar
Publisher: P V Research Institute Varanasi
Publication Year: 1987
Total Pages: 412
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Philosophy, & Physics
File Size: 23 MB

Page 373

The Concept of Matter in Jaina Philosophy
them is small. It vanishes when the distance exceeds the range of molecular attraction, i.e. there is the repulsive force. "If there are no such repulsive forces, atoms would not have individual existence and would all merge into each other. So the very existence of discrete atoms is a de facto demonstration of the existence of repulsion. But we can see, a possible origin of this force in the structure of the atom as a positively changed nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negative electrons. If we consider two such atoms approaching so closely together that they overlap greatly (assuming for the purposes of this argument that this does not cause any distortion of the individual atoms) we eventually arrive at a condition in which the two are very close together, and the two spherical electronic clouds have become nearly coincident. It is obvious that the most important force under these circumstances will be the repulsion of the two positively charged nuclei upon each other, because the electronic clouds will so thoroughly mixed up that their contributions will act almost equally on both nuclei. At small distances the repulsion of unclei becomes very powerful and this is, in part at least, the origin of the general repulsive force between atoms."1
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The molecules also tend to dissociate from each other by an inherent motion to which they are subject. They are subject to the simultaneous action of two forces-the intermolecular forces of attraction tending to combine them into pact mass, while the inherent molecular motions spread them out.
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Snigdhatva (cohesiveness) and rūkṣatva (dryness) of Matter conceived in Jaina Philosophy may correspond to the force of attraction and the force of repulsion respectively as inherent properties in Matter of the physical sciences. As the attractive and repulsive forces are most indispensable for the combination and separation of atoms and the molecules in the physical sciences, so also snigdhatva (cohesiveness) and rūkṣatva (dryL. Atoms and the Universe, p. 128,