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The Concept of Matter in Jaioa Philosophy
In the physical sciences the transformation of Matter is explained by the chemical behaviour of it in the following manner "why molecules can sometimes inter-change atoms and form new substances, and why molecules already formed can sometimes dissociate again into separate atom."? These questions correspond to the Jaina Sūtras “Bhedasanghātebhyaḥ utpadyante”; “Bhedādanuh" (Molecules are formed by division, combination and division-cum-combination); the atom is produced only by division). «The answer is to be found by considering in rather more detailed, the significance of the energy relationships involved and the role of temperature. Without defining temperature rigorously, we can assert that the most important consequence of change of temperature is that the amount of energy associated with an atom, molecule, crystal, droplet, or other system changes in the same sense. High temperature means high energy and low temperature means low energy, although in any collection of atoms or molecules the different particles do not all have the same energy; there is a distribution of energies over a range. In a gas, for example, the average velocity will be higher at high temperatures. The tendency of a pair of atoms to approach to the distance of lowest energy of interaction will clearly be affected by what the temperature actually is. If we consider as an example a mixture of sodium and ffuorine at such a high temperature that both elements are gaseous, we can safely assert that there will be molecules rambhe eva anekārambhakatvaniyama iti cet na pariņāmābhyupagamāt, tadeva tu dravyaṁ visesavadavasthāntaram apadyamānas kāryam nāmābhyupagamyate, tacca kvacit anekam pariņamate mrdbijānkurādibhāvena kvacidekam parinamate kştrādi-dadhyādibhāvena neśvaraśāsanam asti anekam eva kāraṇam janayati iti, SBhā., Sarsraka-Bhāsya, Sūtra, 7, pāda III, Adh., 3, Vide The Positive Sciences of the Ancient Hindus, p. 92. 1. Atoms and the Universe, p. 132.
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