________________
190
Microcosmology : Atom The atom of a chemical element as well as its constituents, the subatomic particles -electrons, protons, etc., - are on the other hand, fissionable, and fusionable: radioactive elements emit alpha and other particles and lose energy by radiation. Protons and neutrons are mutually transformable by losing or acquiring a positive charge. Other elementary particles get transformed into electromagnetic waves and radiation. Thus according to the Jain view, the elementary particles are not fundamental units of matfer but masses composed of infinite number of paramānus.
The totality of paramānus in universe cannot be expressed by numbers. It is infinite. Since a paramāņu can neither be destroyed nor created, totality of paramāņus in the universe is unchangeable. This is comparable to the 'law of conservation of matter and energy' which states that the total amount of matter and energy in the universe is constant and unchangeable. Modification of this law is mooted as a result of some very recent observations and we shall revert to this point in the succeeding paragraphs.
Earlier, we had seen that colour, taste, smell and touch, etc., are intrinsic qualities of all material objects. A paramāņu being the fundamental unit of matter must also possess each of these qualities. Thus a paramāņu will possess the following five qualities:
One (either good or bad) smell, One of the five elementary colours, One of the five elementary tastes, and
Two of the four elementary sparśa viz., either hot or cold and dry or unctuous.
Thus in respect to the quality of sparsa alone there are four types of paramānus :
1. Unctuous-cold 2. Unctuous-hot 3. Dry-cold 4. Dry-hot
