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A CRITIQUE
extension in-space although the paramauu itself is devoid of shape and has no extension By this it is meant that a single free paramanu does not occupy two or more space points The elementary particles of modern science are presumed to be spherical in shape Their diameters though very small are measurable and therefore their extension in space cover innumerable space points This, according to Jains, means that the elementary particles of science viz, protons, electrons, etc, are not indivisible but composed of innumerable paramāņus Thus an electron is infinitely more gross than a paramāņu
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QUALITIES AND ATTRIBUTES
Paramānu is eternal (nitya) indestructible (anaswar), non-transmutable (avasthita), and indivisible (avibhājya) A paramānu cannot be split or scattered or fissioned nor can it be composed or created by
fusion
When it was said that the word pudgala is derived from the properties of fission and fusion it was meant that the formation of material aggregates by the natural association of a number of paramānus is fusion and the splitting of aggregates into its components is fission Paramānu itself, though subject to mutation, is unfissionable and maintains its individual existence permanently
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The atom of a chemical element as well as its constituents, the elementary 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
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