AgentFain

I am asking every proton to be continously attached to a single electron and for the line of connection to be strictly routed. Chemists regularly say chemistry is all about electrons. They are saying that the nuclear structure does not affect electron configuration. In my model its paramount. I say we have to get the nuclear structure right then build electron shells in consideration of that structure. I would not know if a quadrupole moment came up and bit me. And I don't really know how to test this, at least not the rigorous test that science would require.

I was at a folk dance when my eureka moment came. When the MC announced the next dance some of us did not find a partner before taking to the floor. He said, "Pair off," then he could instantly see that one set was missing several men, and called for extras. My sudden realization was this could apply to atoms and specifically the question: How does an atom count exactly the right number of electrons to confer neutrality? Conventionally the nucleus has a net positive charge acting at a point and diffusely attracts all the electrons in the vicinity. Electrons arrange themselves into shells according to the aufbau principle, and the periodic table is the result. This puts all responsibility for forming the electron shells onto the electrons. And this shell structure has been assumed for the nucleus. One shell builds on another like russian dolls, and to overcome repulsion between protons, the strong force is short range attractive between nucleons. What is needed is one rule that, rigorously applied, leads to the structures we know as nuclei and atoms. I suggest this following: What if every proton wanted to pair off to exactly one electron? Could that be the organizing principle for all atomic matter? I suggest neutrons do not repel neutrons because the electron part neutralizes the proton part. I submit that a proton in the nucleus and an electron in the electron shells also form a neutral entity. The electron 'caps' the positive charge, and the proton has no further interest in repelling other protons. So we have the proton whizzing about in the nucleus and in some ordered way remaining constantly in direct communication with exactly one electron. Imagine a thread or line extending from the proton in the nucleus to the electron in the electron shells. The thread should never tangle with other threads. It is made of real substance that forbids ghostly transitions through other threads. Think of a trumpet shape. The proton orbital is the rim of the trumpet mouthpiece. The electron orbital is the rim of the trumpet bell. And the sweep of the line of continuous connection is the trumpet tube. This trumpet shape is the neutral entity from which I submit we can form the entire periodic table. A proton in the nucleus need only orient its electron seeking line, or the sweep of it, the trumpet tube, towards the electron shells. So we need only arrange the nucleus such that the proton orients its electron seeking tube outwards. Later, when we have sorted nuclear structure, we can fit electron shells. The electron shells will be a response to the nuclear structure beneath them. The role for neutrons in the nucleus is to confer rotational stability. Protons and neutrons are arranged like gears in mesh on the surface of a sphere. Protons on axes that point outward and neutrons on axes that point inward rotate in the same sense around their respective axes. A proton deeper in the nucleus will find itself directly beneath a proton in an outer shell. The deeper proton will send its trumpet tube outward by becoming coaxial with the outer trumpet tube. We can have several protons on the same axis, all in a coaxial arrangement. And in every nuclear shell, nucleons rotate like gears in mesh. The size of orbitals scales with the size of shells. There are very few possible configurations for full shells with the gear meshing characteristic. For elements between boron and lower isotopes of calcium the same shell can be used -- proton axes at tetrahedral corners and neutron axes at tetrahedral face centers. Of course I mean the projections of these positions from the nuclear center onto to the shell sphere. Oxygen 16 nucleus is easily constructed from two of my full tetrahedral shells. Calcium 40 is five full shells. For elements where the number of protons is not divisible by 4 one axis can be made longer, like say carbon's special axis has three protons, and nitrogen's special axis has four. This applies whichever isotope is considered. There is a void at the nuclear center. This is because the inner shells and outer shells all have the same type of configuration. The outer shell is always filled, then any irregularities are in the void. Therefore I will number nuclear shells from the outside toward the inside. We are to be particularly interested in events within the void. For example, a neutron on the inner end of a neutron axis may beta decay. The proton product of beta decay (ppbd) can remain on the neutron axis for eons or moments. It sends its electron seeking tube across the void to become coaxial with a proton axis. The special axis may have bridged the void, and that blocks other neutron axes from a similar decay. That is why there is only one special axis, or bridge, in this mass range. Tetrahedral corners are selected corners of a cube. The remaining cube corners are at tetrahedral face centers. Only the direction is outward in the one case and inward in the other. From the heavier calcium isotopes to barium a new shell configuration allows proportionally more neutrons. Proton axes are at corners of a cube and neutron axes are at the middle of every edge. All these orbitals are the same diameter within a shell, but scale as the shell size is increased. We still have the void at the nuclear center and the outer shell is filled and spherical. However, we no longer have proton axes directly opposite neutron axes, and therefore a bridge cannot form. There is no special axis in this mass range. A proton on the inner end of a neutron axis may be vulnerable to beta decay. It sends its trumpet tube across the void to become coaxial with a proton axis. Except that here the tube has bent, even within the confines of the void, from inpointing neutron axis to outpointing proton axis. In general I will always allow any necessary bend in the trumpet tube. Generally speaking stable natural isotopes are just a few less neutrons than several filled shells in the cube corners and edges configuration. Which means that proton axes often have one more proton than the neutron axes in the same element have neutrons. Any nucleus that is a collision product cannot be expected to comply to this generalization. Tin with its 50 protons is not in any way magic. It obeys the same rules as all the rest. For elements heavier than barium extra axes are required. We can add proton axes at every cube face center. Let them be the same diameter orbitals as cube corner and edge orbitals. Then on the diagonal line between every corner and face center axis a neutron axis. These orbitals, we can call them diagonals for their position, are half the diameter of other orbitals in the same shell. Name a face axis and its four surrounding diagonals a 'face group'. That is fifty axes for elements in this heavy mass range -- 14 proton axes and 36 neutron axes. Proportionally, that is far too many neutrons to have filled shells top to bottom. We must do all the adjustments within the void while keeping the outer shell filled. For a real challenge let us build a uranium 238 nucleus and decay it to lead. During decay the face groups will be eroded. The important events are within the void. A consequence of giving diagonals exactly half the diameter of the other orbitals within a shell is that the face group is flattened. The diagonal orbital is tilted so that the axis of each nucleon's rotation is not coincident with the axis of its placement, so every face group is flattened from the spherical and the face center orbital is just a little nearer the nuclear center. A neutron on the inner end of a diagonal axis is vulnerable to beta decay. The proton product of beta decay (ppbd) can remain in place for eons or moments. It sends its electron seeking tube across the void to become coaxial with a face center axis. The face center axis can only accept one tube from a ppbd so this is a constraint on possible beta decays from other diagonal axes. If a ppbd loses its hold on its orbital it will be pulled via its trumpet tube towards the base of the face axis it has become coaxial with. There it may emit energy and expand to run between adjacent edge neutron axes in that shell. Some of the energy may be passed one way or another up the face axis to the surface of the nucleus. Alpha is emitted from the face axis. Adjacent diagonal neutron axes supply the neutrons in the alpha. The surface of the nucleus heals by many nucleons moving upward, emitting gamma. Alpha only occurs if the emitting face axis is primed, see below. In uranium 238 four faces are primed. Let us go to barium. In my model, in general, just by looking at a list of stable isotopes, it seems quite stable for a neutron axis to be surrounded, or mostly surrounded, by proton axes that are one proton longer. From my model, about the minimum number of nucleons that can form barium is eight corner proton axes each carrying seven protons, and twelve edge neutron axes each carrying six neutrons. These will be rare isotopes and considering that every nucleus is a product of its history, may never occur in nature. Let all heavy elements involved in alpha and beta decays have that minimum barium configuration on their corner and edge axes. Call it the minimum barium cage of 56p + 72n. Decay in these heavy elements does not alter the cage. That leaves 36 protons and 74 neutrons to place in the face groups of U238. Considering now only the face groups. Let the outer three shells on every face be filled proton at face center and neutron at every diagonal. That has used 18p and 72n. The two neutrons remaining can go on diagonal neutrons anywhere on two faces in the fourth shell. Put six ppbd to fill the same faces. Now all diagonal orbitals in those two faces are filled either with a ppbd or a neutron. On these faces also a proton on the fifth layer is small diameter. On the four remaining faces, layers four and five, face center axis protons are expanded to run between edge neutron axes. That is every nucleon placed for U238. Expanded protons hide their adjacent diagonal axes from the void so diagonal axes adjacent to these four faces cannot beta decay. The other two faces have neutrons that cannot decay because there is no exit from the void for their tubes. However, the ppbd can lose their positions on diagonal axes and cross to the base of a primed axis. The face loses alpha at the surface, nucleons move up to heal the surface, the face now carries only one expanded proton and there are empty neutron orbitals on diagonal axes. And now the inner end of the face center axis is open to the void so one of the vulnerable neutrons can beta decay, cross the void and run expanded between edge neutrons. Then the second vulnerable neutron can decay, send its tube to the same axis. The face is reprimed for alpha. The exact order of decay is constrained by initial configuration and previous moves. A nucleus is a product of its history. The nucleus is stable when no more moves are possible. In stable isotopes of lead every face has at least one innermost face proton is expanded between edges. That prevents all future beta decays. And since no axis is primed, prevents all alpha decays. To the outside world a U238 nucleus will seem to have seven coaxial proton tubes emerging at each cube corner and six proton tubes emerging at each face center. That is 14 proton axes. The above is sufficient to generate all natural nuclei. Next is to generate the electron shells. Like uranium, radon nucleus has 14 proton axes. Yet we all know the outer shell of electrons comprises eight electrons. How do we match that up? And neon nucleus with four proton axes has the same outer electron shell of eight electrons. Recall that tetrahedral corners are selected corners of a cube. So in radon select four cube corners to be at tetrahedral corners. Recall also that, within my model, the tubes from protons can bend. In oxygen, the two tetrahedral layered nucleus, two coaxial protons emerge at each corner. Let the outermost coaxially find an electron orbital directly above its nuclear position. The innermost trumpet bends through 251 degrees to point inward at a tetrahedral face and links to the electron orbital it finds there. Electrons are then rotating like gears in mesh against each other. This is not quite the same as saying as in convention there is a spin up and a spin down in the same orbital. My spin up and spin down are in adjacent gear meshing orbitals. In radon only two tubes innermost coaxially on the four selected cube corners participate in this outer shell. Other corners return toward the nucleus in a lower electron shell toward the edge axis. The face center axes also return toward the edge axes. And there are other options for a returning coaxis that is more involved. Where convention has it that the electron shells organize themselves over a nucleus whose structure is irrelevant, my hypothesis every set of electron shells is an individual response to the nucleus beneath it. My starting point is to make the assumption that every proton wants to pair to exactly one electron. The rest of it is a game of what if that starting point is true.