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If you would be a real seeker after truth, you must at least once in your life doubt, as far as possible, all things.

René DesCartes
Discours de la Méthode (1637)

Welcome to ClassicalMatter.org

Classical Matter is a project devoted to science education. It is intended as a resource for students, educators, and others who are curious about our universe. The general purpose is to de-mystify science, offer sensible explanations of natural phenomena, refute popular myths, and promote evidence-based reasoning. Special emphasis is on the use of classical physical models and methods to explain properties of matter which are elsewhere deemed to be 'non-classical', or counterintuitive. Topics include special and general relativity, spin 1/2 wave functions, and parity violation. If you want to truly understand how modern physics relates to classical physics, then select Contents to see Resources and Links.

For educational videos, please visit: https://www.youtube.com/user/ClassicalMatter

Selected Publications:

Plane Wave Solutions to a Proposed “Equation of Everything” by Robert A. Close

Foundations of Physics (2025) 55:27

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10701-025-00839-0

This paper presents the Dirac bispinor representation of spin density plane waves in an ideal elastic solid. Dirac operators for momentum, spin, kinetic energy, and potential energy are derived. The paper also explains the intrinsic momentum associated with the Belinfante-Rosenfeld stress-energy tensor.

Relativity Model: A stationary particle is modeled as a wave propagating in a circle. The corresponding moving particle has rotated wave crests and propagates along helical paths. This model yields relativistic frequency shift (kinetic energy), time dilation, length contraction, and the deBoglie wavelenth. The model is designed to be printed on a transparency sheet, but can be printed on paper and illuminated with a light shining through the cylindrical tube.

The Wave Basis of Special Relativity, by Robert A. Close (2^nd edition, Verum Versa, 2023)

An explanation of WHY special relativity works, not just how it works.

For additional publications, visit VerumVersa.com.

Is there an (a)ether?

...we will not be able to do without the aether in theoretical physics, that is, a continuum endowed with physical properties; for general relativity, to whose fundamental viewpoints physicists will always hold fast, rules out direct action at a distance.

Albert Einstein, Concerning the Aether (Über den Äther) 1924

Of course, this separation of the total moment of momentum into two terms ... has a direct physical meaning only for physical agencies that are endowed with inertia so that one could attach a system of reference that is at rest with respect to it.

Leon Rosenfeld (“On the energy-momentum tensor”, in Mmoires Acad. Roy. de Belgique 18:1–30.) 1940

If one examines the question in light of present-day knowledge, one finds that the aether is no longer ruled out by relativity, and good reasons can now be advanced for postulating an aether.

Paul Dirac, in Nature, 1951, vol. 168, pp. 906-907

The modern concept of the vacuum of space, confirmed by everyday experiment, is a relativistic ether. But we do not call it this because it is taboo.

Robert Laughlin, A Different Universe, p.120-121 (2005)

It has also been shown that rotational waves in an isotropic continuous elastic solid can be described within the formalism of the Dirac equation providing a classical interpretation of relativistic quantum mechanics.¹⁵

P. A. Deymier, K. Runge, N. Swinteck, and K. Muralidharan in J. Appl. Phys. 115, 163510 (2014)

¹⁵R. A. Close, Adv. Appl. Clifford Algebras 21, 273 (2011).

Classical Matter Logo: Did you know that Einstein's famous mass-energy formula E=mc² is actually a special case of the Pythagorean Theorem? The relativistic 'mass' is actually the rest mass m₀ times a factor (gamma) which represents the ratio between the hypotenuse and the third side of a right triangle. The hypotenuse is the speed of light (c), the second side is particle velocity (v), and the third side is , which represents speed in directions perpendicular to the average velocity (i.e. wave circulation). The equation can also be written as:

where is the particle momentum and E is the energy. In terms of wave variables:

with angular frequency and wave number k representing wave propagation, and the mass term represents oscillation without propagation (or with propagation in closed loops).

Contact Information

If you would like to add an educational resource or link, comment on existing resources or links, or sponsor this site, please contact Robert Close at robert.close@classicalmatter.org.

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Created: February 27, 2006; Last updated: October 5, 2024