Microcosmology Atom in Jain Philosophy and Modern Science

Author(s): Jethalal S Zaveri, Mahendramuni
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati

Page 211

A Critique
193
heavy-weight particles. They were called leptons (the light ones), mesons (the medium ones), and baryons (the heavy ones).
Some of the subatomic particles compared with Jain Physics. Particle's name mass elect. charge sparsa Electron
- ve rūķşa, laghu Positron
+ve snigdha, laghu Proton
+ve snigdha, guru Neutron
neutral snigdha-rūkşa,
guru Photon
neutral snigdha-rūksa,
agurulaghut (?) Pion +ve
+ve
snigdha, laghu Pion - ve
- ve rūkşa, laghu Pion neutral
neutral snigdha, rūkşa,
laghu
A-light (lepton]
B=medium (meson) C-heavy (baryon)
Thus, electron, which is one of the lightest particles is a lepton, while proton which is the lightest of the heavy ones is a baryon. However, a few particles do not fit into the leptonmeson-baryon framework. Some of them are well-known (like the photon) and others have been theorized but not discovered yet (like the gravitation). All of them have, in common, the fact that they are massless particles. A particle that has, zero rest-mass is a massless particle. All its energy is energy of motion. Though physicists know exactly what they mean by 'massless' in a mathematical structure, it is difficult to describe it in nonmathematical language because the very term ‘particle means 'some thing that has mass'.
1. See p. 200 of this book.