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Unified Fluid-Based Theory of Physics
Thomas G. Lang, Ph.D.
417 Loma Larga Dr., Solana Beach, CA, 92075
e-mail address: tom@tglang.com; Web: tglang.com
An unusual new theory of physics is described that provides a physical understanding and unification of physics. This relatively simple theory reverses a century of increasingly complex mathbased physics that leaves a trail of unanswered questions. This new theory is based on fluid dynamics. It is very different from the ether theory of the 1800s, Einstein’s Relativity, quantum mechanics, the Standard Theory, string theories, and M-Theory. This theory solves the major mysteries in current physics, and provides a much-needed physical understanding of the world around
us. Background for this paper is presented in the second edition of my book published in 2013, titled Unified Fluid Dynamic Theory of Physics.
1. Questions in Physics
The following are some of the more basic questions that remain unanswered in current theoretical physics:
 How can space physically warp with time?
 How can length, mass, and time physically vary with speed?
 How do energy and matter transform into each other?
 What do photons and neutrinos look like?
 What do electrons, protons, and neutrons look like?
 What is electricity, and what is magnetism?
 What causes the nuclear strong and weak forces?
 What causes quantum behavior?
 What causes gravity?
 Is it possible to physically unify physics?
This paper answers these questions, and many more.
2. Space and Spatial Fluid
In this new theory, space is like a huge three-dimensional
empty room that has forever been filled with spatial fluid. Spatial fluid acts much like air or water. It has mass, density, and
pressure. It flows like a normal fluid, and contains vortices. Spatial fluid has a speed of light that acts much like the speed of
sound in either air or water. However, unlike any other fluid,
spatial fluid is hypothesized here to transform into everything
else in the universe.
3. Time
In regard to the meaning of time, the following is a quote
from my original 3-part paper on this theory that appeared in
Galilean Electrodynamics in 2000, 2002, and 2003 (which is reproduced in the appendices of the above-referenced book):
“If the speed of light is zero, then an infinite time is
needed for light to travel any given distance; no action
can take place, and there is no meaning to time. Alternatively, if the speed of light is infinite, then action takes
place simultaneously, so again there is no meaning to
time. Therefore, a finite speed of light permits the sequencing of events that leads to the idea of time.”
I now believe that the rate of time is exactly proportional to the
local speed of light, which is discussed next.
4. Photons
Photons consist of pure energy, and travel through spatial
fluid at a local speed of light that changes with the density and
pressure of spatial fluid. Details on the formation and behavior
of photons in this theory are discussed in the referenced book.
All photons are known to be alike except for their frequency
and spin direction. Photon spin is much like the spin of rifle bullets; however, unlike bullets, photons spin each way in equal
numbers throughout the universe.
Here, photons have a frequency that is caused by a unique
“pulsing action” that is missing in current physics. Photons are
hypothesized to pulse by periodically “expanding and contracting” as they travel forward. The invisible path of a photon is
visualized as a series of dots that are spaced one wavelength
apart. During expansion, a photon returns its mass to the surrounding spatial fluid; it then recovers its mass as it compresses
back into a dot. This expansion and contraction while moving
forward vaguely resembles the action of a squid or a jellyfish.
Every photon has a mass that is “averaged over each cycle”.
This mass is surrounded by a region in space whose mass is reduced by the mass of that photon. Also, like any wave in any
fluid medium, a photon leaves essentially no trail because it always consists of new fluid, and its characteristics move with it.
5. Neutrinos
Neutrinos are like photons because they travel at, or close to,
the speed of light. However, neutrinos are difficult to detect, and
are not well understood. I hypothesize that a neutrino consists of
a tandem pair of gamma photons that spin in opposite directions.
Due to their lack of net spin, such a neutrino will interact very
little with matter, and would be very difficult to detect. Recent
experiments suggest that neutrinos might travel slightly faster
than the local speed of light.
6. Electrons and Positrons
Electrons are the lightest stable form of matter. Here, electrons are hypothesized to form from two gamma photons that
spin counter-clockwise. If two such photons approach each other
closely enough, their now-opposing spins will cause them fluidly
attract, and orbit. Once in orbit, these pulsing photons are hypothesized to fluidly elongate along their common orbital path,
and transform into a full ring whose fluid spins and pulses.
The conservation laws apply during transformation. Photon
speed transforms into “ring rotation speed”, photon spin becomes “fluid spin”, and photon pulsing becomes “fluid pulsing”.
All rings whose fluid spins counter-clockwise are analogous
to a negative electric charge, and all rings whose fluid spins
clockwise are analogous to a positive electric charge. Since pho-
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Lang: Unified Fluid-Based Theory of Physics
ton spin is equally distributed each way throughout the universe,
equal numbers of electron rings and positron rings are formed.
Although all of these fluid rings rotate at the speed of light,
they can remain at rest, unlike photons. Fluid rings are particles
of matter because they now have a rest mass.
What happens when an electron ring and a positron ring annihilate? I’ll not describe the details, and will instead refer readers to Section 5.1 in the referenced book. The answer is that annihilation results in a mixture of photons and/or neutrinos. The
point here is that matter and energy can transform back and forth
into each other.
7. Matter and Energy
The previous section shows that matter is a special form of
energy. More specifically, “matter is energy moving in circles”.
Matter can be held, while pure energy, in the form of photons, cannot be held. Otherwise, matter and energy are found
here to be basically the very same thing.
Einstein’s famous equation is:
Enuc = mc2
where “Enuc” is the at-rest “nuclear energy” of mass “m”, where
“c” is now the local speed of light.
The energy of a photon whose moving mass is “mph” is found
here to be:
Eph = mphc2
In other words, if matter at rest transforms into a photon,
these equations show that particle mass “m” becomes photon
mass “mph”. Therefore, particle mass is treated here to be essentially the same as photon mass.
Additionally, the well-known kinetic energy “Eke” of a mass
“m” moving at speed “V” is:
Eke = ½mV2
These three equations together show the general relationship
between mass, energy, matter, and photons. Key to this relationship is that all matter consists of fluid rings.
The nuclear energy of all fluid rings, Enuc, consists of all three
kinds of energy in motion: ring kinetic energy, fluid spinning
energy, and fluid pulsing energy. The first of these three energies
is defined as ½mc2. Therefore, the first equation above indicates
that fluid spinning energy and fluid pulsing energy must provide the remaining ½mc2.
Similarly, the energy of photons must physically consist half
of kinetic energy, and half of fluid spinning energy combined
with fluid pulsing energy.
8. Protons
It is known that protons are 1,836.15 times more massive than
positrons or electrons. It is hypothesized that 919 positron rings
combine with 918 electron rings to form a proton ring. (The
small difference in mass between 1837 and 1,836.15 is called
“binding energy”.)
Proton growth is hypothesized to occur in stages. Formation
begins when a single positron ring attracts a counter-rotating
electron ring on each side. It is envisioned that the three rings
will mesh, much like three meshing gears, causing all of the fluid
to drain from the outer rings into the center ring. This merging
follows the conservation laws. Note that fluid spin reverses,
transforming the positron ring into what I call an e-3 ring.
The fluid in this new e-3 ring has the same fluid spin as an
electron ring; however, this new ring is three times more massive, and is therefore 1/3 the size of an electron ring.
This e-3 ring is then hypothesized to attract and combine
with two positron rings to form a p-5 ring. Merging is hypothesized to continue until a P-1837 ring is formed, which is a proton.
Note that the number of new proton rings, together with the
number of remaining positron rings in the universe, will always
equal the number of remaining electron rings, thereby keeping
electric charge balanced.
9. Electric Fields and Forces
Here, fluid fields replace all electric fields; and fluid rings
replace all charged particles.
The referenced book explains how and why any two fluid
rings will dynamically align until they lie in the same plane and
“point” in the same direction. (Rings are said to point in the direction of the fluid flow that is induced through their centers.)
This dynamic alignment results from the direction of fluid spin in
the different rings.
For example, an electron ring and a positron ring will align,
causing their closest sides to move in the same direction. This
alignment causes the flow between the two rings to speed up,
which reduces fluid pressure (according to Bernoulli’s law), causing the rings to attract.
Similarly, two electron rings, or two positron rings, will align
and repel because the sides nearest each other to move in opposite directions, causing the flow to slow down, which increases
pressure.
Generalizing, in fluid theory any two objects that spin in opposite directions will attract, while any two objects that spin in
the same direction will repel.
Overall, note that electric charge is equalized throughout the
universe because photon spin direction is equal throughout the
universe. We now know why electric charge is equalized.
10.
Magnetic fields and Forces
Magnetic fields result from aligning equal numbers of electron rings and proton rings in a bar magnet so that they all
“point” toward the north end. Note that any fluid ring that is
held stationary in spatial fluid will act like a fluid pump. Therefore, this alignment of rings causes spatial fluid to be drawn into
the south end of a bar magnet, and to be ejected out from its
north end. The return fluid flow will lie outside of a bar magnet,
and can be seen by sprinkling iron filings on paper placed above
the magnet.
Any two bar magnets will repel if either south or north ends
are held near each other; the reason is that either two inwardmoving, or two outward-moving, fluid jets will repel. Opposite
ends of magnets attract because outward-moving jets will fluidly
attract inward-moving jets.
11.
Neutrons and neutral particles
Neutrons have no electric charge, have a mass that exceeds a
proton mass by about three electron or positron masses; also,
neutrons strangely have regions of negative and positive charge.
Here, neutrons are found to consist of a proton ring that lies
exactly inside of an e-3 ring. Both rings rotate in the same direction around the same axis, and lie in the same plane. This geometry is fluid-dynamically marginally stable, which explains why
an isolated neutron can remain intact for as long as 10 to 15
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minutes. The measured electric field in a neutron supports this
two-ring model.
An important overall finding here is that all neutral particles
are combinations of fluid rings.
12.
Proton-Neutron Pairs
By physically combining my models of a proton ring and a
neutron, it is found that a proton-neutron pair consists of an e-3
ring that is sandwiched between two proton rings. All three
rings rotate in the same direction around the same axis. Note
that the spinning fluids in each of the three rings lie close to each
other. As a result, the spinning fluid in the large e-3 ring is
strongly attracted to the counter-spinning fluid in the smaller
proton rings, while the spinning fluid in each proton ring causes
them to repel, keeping them on opposite sides of the center e-3
ring. This 3-ring geometry is fluid-dynamically extremely stable.
13.
Nuclear Strong Force
The nuclear strong force is well known to be thousands of
times greater than electric forces. The above-mentioned forces
that act between the spinning fluids in the three rings are thousands of times stronger than electric forces; this finding solves
the mystery of the nuclear strong force. I call these spin-spin
forces because they act between the entire lengths of fluid rings
whose spinning fluids lie very close together. In contrast, I call
all fluid forces that act between fluid rings (that are analogous to
electric forces) “ring-ring forces”. Ring-ring forces are far weaker
than spin-spin forces because they act between the “thicknesses”
of fluid rings instead of the “entire lengths” of fluid rings.
14.
Natural Ring Speed
Because of their fluid spin and circular shape, and the fact
that ring size is inversely proportional to ring mass, all fluid
rings here have the very same natural speed. This natural speed
is like the (variable) natural speeds of smoke rings, which are
called “circular vortices” in fluid theory. This natural ring speed
is fluidly induced on itself by its fluid spin. All fluid rings in this
theory have a natural speed of c/ = c/137.037, where “” is a
non-dimensional constant in physics called the fine structure
constant. (For derivation, see Section 14 in the appendix of the
above-referenced book.)
15.
Ring elasticity
Every fluid ring consists of compressed spatial fluid, and is
therefore elastic. Proton rings are very small, and are held together by far stronger hydrodynamic attraction forces than the
much larger, low-mass electron rings, and what I call e-3 rings.
Ring elasticity is found in the referenced book to be inversely
proportional to the square root of ring mass. During the formation of a neutron, for example, the outer and more-rubbery e-3
ring will shrink 25 times more than the smaller and stiffer proton
ring expands.
16.
Atoms
Atoms consist of a nucleus of protons and neutrons that is
surrounded at a very large distance by orbiting electrons. The
number of electrons in atoms is always equal to the number of
protons, and each such number corresponds to a different atomic
element. This number determines the characteristics of each of
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the 92 elements that are found in nature, together with the morethan-20 manufactured elements that are radioactive.
The number of neutrons in the nucleus of all stable atoms
either equals or somewhat exceeds the number of protons. The
reason is that protons must pair with neutrons in order to neutralize their normal repulsion. Here, theory shows that additional neutrons can easily bond to any existing proton-neutron pair;
this bonding explains why neutrons can exceed the number of
protons in nuclei.
The sole exception to nuclear pairing is the hydrogen atom;
its single proton is stable by itself.
Here, electron rings tend to orbit nuclei at their natural speed.
However, if an electron ring gains energy, then it can orbit farther out from a nucleus. As a consequence, sets of electrons rings
can orbit nuclei at different radii.
In any case, an orbiting electron ring will always point in the
direction of its movement. Since an electron ring is a tiny gyroscope, and because its fluid rotates counter clockwise in the direction of fluid flow, a gyroscopic force will cause it to continuously turn left. Therefore, an electron ring will never sequentially follow the same orbital path. Consequently, an orbiting-andpulsing electron ring, or any set of such rings, will always appear
as cloudy spherical shells, exactly as found in experiments.
17. Quantum Behavior and the Wave-Particle
Paradox
Here, every photon and particle of matter is “quantized” by
its pulsing action. Except in its particle state, which occurs only
briefly during each cycle, every photon and particle of matter
expands out so far that it cannot be stopped, or found, until it
reappears in its particle state. This universal pulsing action provides all photons and particles of matter with their quantum behaviors. As mentioned earlier, this very important pulsing property is missing in current physics.
The wave-particle paradox is also solved here because all
photons and particles of matter really are a particle, and really
are a wave, at different times during each and every cycle. As
mentioned earlier, the path of a photon can be visualized as a
series of dots spaced one wavelength apart. The paths of these
dots act like billiard balls because they will lie in a straight line
unless a force acts on them. Matter behaves similarly, except it
can remain at rest.
“Pulsing” causes every photon and particle of matter to expand and contract once per cycle. This pulsing action also causes
fluid outside of each photon or particle to also move outward
and inward during each cycle. If spatial fluid were incompressible, these pulsing movements could theoretically be immediately
sensed out to infinity.
Now consider a diffraction plate experiment where photons
are fired at a plate that has slits cut in it. Fluid theory shows that
the path of a photon is theoretically affected by every slit in this
diffraction plate whether or not that photon is still moving toward the plate, or has passed beyond it. The reason is that “pulsing” causes fluid outside of a photon to also pulse outward and
inward. In any case, a photon must physically pass through one
of the slits in order to be detected. Detected photons form a “diffraction pattern” which incorrectly leads physicists to believe
that all quantum phenomena are based on probability theory.
18.
Gravity
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Lang: Unified Fluid-Based Theory of Physics
As discussed earlier in Section 4, every photon is surrounded
by a region of spatial fluid whose mass is reduced by the mass of
that photon. Every particle of matter inherits this property from
photons. It is this surrounding region of reduced mass that causes gravity in this new theory. In other words, gravity is found
here to be inherently associated with every mass. Also note that
the masses of all photons and all matter are treated the same.
The reduction of mass in the region of space that surrounds
every photon and every particle of matter causes the pressure
and density in this region to dynamically reduce. This reduction
is repeated during each and every cycle. Ignoring density for
now, the pressure gradient in this region is found to be proportional to the associated mass; also, this gradient is further found
here to be inversely proportional to the square of distance.
In other words, the pressure gradient that surrounds any
mass “M1” is proportional to M1/d2, where “d” is the distance
from M1.
In fluid theory, the pressure force exerted on any submerged
body is calculated by multiplying its displacement by the local
pressure gradient. Assuming that fluid displacement is proportional to mass in any given region in space, the attraction force
between mass M1 and any other mass M2 is:
F = G*M2*M1/d2
Where “G” is a gravitational constant that is obtained experimentally. The above equation is the well-known universal force of
gravity. In view of this new physical description, gravity should
act almost instantly. Also, the range of gravity could be very
large, but it will depend on the compressibility of spatial fluid.
19.
Superconductivity
Pairs of electrons, called Cooper pairs, are found to be involved in superconductivity. In this new theory, if electron rings
can pair in such a way that their rings rotate in opposite directions, and their fluids spin in opposite directions, then any such
pair would interact very little with surrounding matter. Such
pairs might be candidates for Cooper pairs. Two possible geometries come to mind.
In the first geometry, two electron rings lie side-by-side in the
same plane, but point and move in opposite directions around an
axis that lies midway between them in the same plane. The ringring attraction force between these two electrons will keep them
in orbit. This geometry is like a rotating bar bell whose weights
are replaced by electron rings that point and move in opposite
directions.
The second geometry consists of two electron rings that lie in
closely spaced parallel planes, and point either towards or away
from each other. These rings will orbit very rapidly about an axis
that lies in a plane midway between them. The closely spaced,
opposite-spinning fluids in each ring will attract with a spin-spin
(strong) force that keeps them in orbit. The energy stored in this
rotating pair would be unusually large.
20.
Alternative Universes
If the Red Shift is at least partly caused by a photon energy
loss with distance, as I believe, then our universe will be different
from the Big Bang universe. Our universe could instead be either: (1) infinite, (2) finite and steady state, or (3) one of an infinite variety of Big Bang universes that depend on the fraction of
Red Shift caused by photon energy loss which ranges from zero
(for the Big Bang) to one.
I tend to believe that space is three dimensional, possibly
infinite, and that it has forever been filled with spatial fluid. If
this is so, then space would be large enough to contain other 3dimensional universes without adding new dimensions.
Note that spatial fluid is unique because it is “something that
is almost nothing” because it has no structure; yet it contains
everything that is needed to form a universe at any time.
The simplest of all possible universes, but not necessarily the
best, is an infinite universe that has existed forever. In this case,
the Red Shift can be caused only by a photon energy loss.
Alternatively, our universe could be finite and steady state;
again, the Red Shift must be caused by a photon energy loss.
I intuitively tend to favor what could be called a “steady-state
expanding universe”. This is a universe whose rate of photon
energy loss, rate of new star formation, and whose rate of expansion, all combine to form a steady state expanding universe.
Much more thought is needed to solve this puzzle of our universe whose solution I will leave an exercise for readers, at least
for now.
21.
Summary
The following is a summary of these new findings:
• Space is assumed to be 3-dimensional, and is filled with spatial fluid. This fluid transforms into energy and matter, each of
which can then transform into the other, and which can also
transform back into spatial fluid. Furthermore, all fields and
forces result from movements of spatial fluid.
• Photons are pulsing spheres of spatial fluid that travel at a
local speed of light while spinning one way or the other about
their travel axes in equal numbers throughout the universe.
Their pulsing action quantizes photons, and provides them with
mass, gravity, and quantum properties.
• Matter consists of pulsing rings of spatial fluid that result
from photons. All such rings rotate at a local speed of light, and
consist of compressed spatial fluid that spins and pulses. Pulsing
fluid rings inherit their properties from pulsing photons. All
fluid rings are geometrically and dynamically similar, and have
the same “natural speed”. Fluid rings come in many different
sizes, each of which is inversely proportional to its mass. Rings
whose fluid spins counterclockwise are analogous to negative
electric charges, and rings whose fluid spins clockwise are analogous to positive electric charges.
• Proton rings are formed from hundreds of pairs of positron
and electron rings, starting with a positron ring. A neutron consists of a proton ring that lies inside a heavy electron ring that is
here called an e-3 ring. Protons and neutrons form very strong
bonds that result from “spin-spin” attraction forces that physically solve the mystery of the nuclear strong force. All neutral particles are found to be combinations of fluid rings.
• Electric forces are fluid forces that result from the rotation of
fluid rings, and that are called “ring-ring” forces. Gravitational
fields and forces are found here to be an inherent property of the
mass of every photon and particle of matter; this property stems
from the new pulsing feature that is mentioned above.
• Lastly, I believe that the Red Shift is caused, at least in part,
by a photon energy loss with distance. If so, then our universe is
not the Big Bang.
In conclusion, these new concepts together provide a physical
understanding of all aspects of physics. This new fluid-based
theory of physics reverses a century of increasingly complex
math-based physics that has left an ever-lengthening trail of unanswered physical questions. This theory not only answers these
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questions, but it provides a much-needed physical understanding of all aspects of physics, and of the world around us.
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