The Material- Formal Cause of the Body of the Universe #Two

 

The present point of emphasis is that here in an article of Scientific American, a professor of Theoretical Physics at Cambridge,  England, is describing for us, very precisely and beautifully, the material cause; but this material cause only of the universal substance with its accidents of the body of the universe. This body of the universe is also the first of all secondary causes, created on Day One of Creation week.

With these facts in mind, listen to the words of David Tong, Cambridge physicist:

"Wilhelm Oswald...pointed out that the laws of thermodynamics refer only to continuous quantities such as energy. Similarly, Maxwell's theory of electromagnetism describes electric and magnetic fields as continuous. Max Planck, who would later pioneer quantum mechanics,...Despite the great success that the atomic theory has so far enjoyed, ultimately it will have to be abandoned in favor of the assumption of continuous matter." (p.48) Two important points here:

1. Discrete or digital matter will never be abandoned, as Tong later shows, because all accidents are beautifully discrete and..... 2). even continuous matter is still quantitative; in fact, measurable.


What makes it stable, even immutable, is its form. The formal principle (and thus causes) of the universe is its sphericity within which all realities are hierarchically arranged. The first and fourth ways of St. Thomas' demonstrations of God's existence manifest these two formal principles of the substantial form of the universe. But for all corporeal beings, of which the universe is the first, quantity or measurability is the very essence of its being along with its spherical-hierarchical form.

The next quote to give is the following: "The integers labeling chemical elements - are objective....The integers in atomic physics are here to stay...Another example occurs in spectroscopy - the study of light emitted and absorbed by matter. An atom of a particular type can emit only very specific colors of light, resulting in a distinctive fingerprint for each atom. Unlike human fingerprints, the spectra of atoms obey fixed mathematical rules. And these rules are governed by integers...But in the functioning of the system, see what happens. Tong says it is a little bit of mathematical magic...Take the hydrogen atom: the electron orbits the proton at very specific distances. These fixed orbits translate into the spectrum of the atom. The atom is analogous to an organ pipe, which produces a discrete series of notes even though the air movement is continuous." (p.48)

Tong is obliged to describe the integers in terms of evolutionary, emergent quantities. But form precedes function, the entire body or system is present, by creation ex nihilo and in toto, with all parts present, before functional processes begin, and therefore: "In systems such as the hydrogen atom, the processes described....mold discreteners from underlying continuity. (p.48)