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Discussion

Addition of the masses of any material's protons and neutrons yields an extremely close estimate of the mass of that material. If one assumes that a neutron is a combination of a proton and an electron, the mass of any material is very close to the masses of the protons it contains. This led me to suspect there is an attraction between protons that becomes dominant when the electrical forces of the protons are cancelled by electrons. Could this force be gravity?

Lord Rutherford's group passed alpha particles (helium nuclei) through gold leaf and based on scattering of the alpha particles, concluded that that the nucleus of gold was extremely tiny compared to the spaces between the gold nuclei in the gold leaf. More recent experiments indicate that the diameter of any nucleus is about 1/10000 times the diameter of its atom.

Since a nucleus contains protons and electrons, their diameters are, likely, smaller than that of all nuclei, with the possible exception of hydrogen.

Bose-Einstein condensed atoms are believed to have zero viscosity. Condensates of elements heavier than hydrogen (lithium, sodium and rubidium) transfer light at slower velocities than space. Bose-Einstein condensed hydrogen might be expected to transfer light much faster than condensates of heavier atoms.

The distance between nuclei of solids and liquids are vast gaps to Bose-Einstein condensed hydrogen. Any material would be expected to move through the proposed matrix with no resistance. A sieve moves through water similarly, but with some resistance.

Picture a nucleus as a positively charged sphere. Such a sphere in the proposed matrix would attract electrons of the matrix and repel protons of the matrix. Since the atom is electrically neutral the distortion of the matrix must balance the charge of the nucleus. If so, the exterior of the atom has a positive charge. Perhaps the distorted matrix in the vicinity of the nucleus is required to stabilize the nucleus.

Now picture two atoms as they approach each other, through the matrix. If protons attract each other, that attraction will dominate, until the positive outer portions of the atoms are involved. At some distance, the attraction of the protons balances the repulsion of the positive outer surfaces. Could this define the actual bond distance? If so, the structure of chemical compounds may depend greatly on gravitational attraction.

If alpha particles are helium nuclei surrounded by the proposed matrix, they should affect the matrix to the same distance as a helium nucleus and should be scattered much differently than observed by Lord Rutherord, unless the matrix adapts to a moving nucleus. If the matrix has no viscosity, any moving nucleus may pass through the matrix much as a fish moves through water. That is, the matrix may adapt to the nucleus as the nucleus moves through it. This is consistent with Rutherford's observations.