electric units The same situation arises in the subsequent additions, and the increase in magnetic displacement must therefore take place

in full 2n2 equivalents. Thus the succession of inert gas elements is not 2,10,16,26,36,50,64, as it would be if 2(«+l)2 replaces 2n2 in the same manner that n+ 1 replaces n in the electric series, but 2,10,18,36,54, 86,118. For reasons which will be developed later, element 118 is unstable, and disintegrates if formed. The preceding six members of this series constitute the inert gas family of elements.

The number of mathematically possible combinations of rotations is greatly increased when electric displacement is added to these magnetic combinations, but the combinations that can actually exist as elements are limited by probability considerations, as noted in Chapter 9. The magnetic displacement is numerically less than the equivalent electric displacement, and is more probable for this reason. Its status as the essential basic rotation also gives it precedence over the electric rotation. Any increment of displacement consequently adds to the magnetic rotation if possible, rather than to the rotation in the electric dimension. This means that the role of the electric displacement is confined to filling in the intervals between the inert gas elements.

On this basis, if all rotational displacement in the material system were positive, the series of elements would start at the lowest possible magnetic combination, helium, and the electric displacement would increase step by step until it reached a total of In2 units, at which point the relative probabilities would result in a conversion of these

2n2 electric units into one additional unit of magnetic displacement, whereupon the building up of the electric displacement would be resumed. This behavior is modified, however, by the fact that electric displacement in ordinary matter, unlike magnetic displacement, may be negative instead of positive.

The restrictions on the kinds of motions that can be combined do not apply to minor components of a system of motions of the same type, such as rotations. The net effective rotation of a material atom must be in space in order to give rise to those properties which are characteristic of ordinary matter. It necessarily follows that the magnetic displacement, which is the major component of the total, must be positive. But as long as the larger component is positive, the system as a whole can meet the requirement that the net rotation be in space (positive

displacement) even if the smaller component, the electric displacement, is negative. It is possible, therefore, to increase the net positive displace­ ment a given amount either by direct addition of the required number of positive electric units, or by adding a magnetic unit and then adjusting to the desired intermediate level by adding the appropriate number of negative units.

Which of these alternatives will actually prevail is affected to a considerable degree by the conditions that exist in the atomic environment, but in the absence of any bias due to these conditions, the determining factor is the size of the electric displacement, lower displacement values being more probable than higher values. In the first half of each group intermediate between two inert gas elements, the electric displacement is minimized if the increase in atomic number (equivalent electric displacement) is accomplished by direct addition of positive displacement. When n units have been added, the probabilities are nearly equal, and as the atomic number increases still further, the alternate arrangement becomes more probable. In the latter half of each group, therefore, the increase in atomic number is normally attained by adding one unit of magnetic displacement, and then reducing to the required net total by adding negative electric displacement, eliminating successive units of the latter to move up the atomic series.

By reason of the availability of negative electric displacement as a component of the atomic rotation, an element with a net displacement less than that of helium becomes possible. This element, 2-l-(l), which we identify as hydrogen, is produced by adding one negative electric displacement unit to helium, and thereby, in effect, subtracting one positive electric unit from the equivalent of two units (above the rotational base) that helium possesses. Hydrogen is the first in the ascending series of elements, and we may therefore give it the atomic number 1. The atomic number of any other material element is its net equivalent electric displacement.

Above helium, 2-1-0, we find lithium, 2-1-1, beryllium, 2-1-2, boron, 2-1-3, and carbon, 2-1-4. Since this is an 8-atom group, the probabilities are nearly even at this point, and carbon can also exist as 2-2-(4). The elements that follow move up the atomic series by reducing the negative displacements: nitrogen, 2-2-(3), oxygen, 2-2-(2), fluorine, 2-2-(l), and finally the next inert gas, neon, 2-2-0.

Another similar 8-element group follows, adding a second magnetic unit in the other magnetic dimension. This carries the series up to another inert gas element, argon, 3-2-0. Table 1 shows the normal displacements of the elements to, and including, argon.

At element 18, argon, the magnetic displacement has reached a level of two units above the rotational base in each of the magnetic dimensions.

132 Nothing but Motion

TABLE 1