Mechanical Medium Dictionary
A Plain-Language Guide to the Ontology Used on This Site
How to Use This Dictionary
This page explains what words mean on this site.
It does not derive equations, defend claims, or replace standard physics formalisms.
Its purpose is to translate familiar physics language into the mechanical interpretation used throughout the Mechanical Medium framework.
If a term here sounds unfamiliar, it usually means the interpretation has changed — not the observation.
Ontological Starting Point
Core assumption:
Reality consists of a continuous mechanical medium.
Density, stiffness, stress, and flow are physically real.
Fields, forces, curvature, and probabilities are descriptive summaries of how that medium behaves.
This is an ontological shift, not a new set of equations.
What Is Physically Real (Primitive)
These are treated as ontic — they exist independently of how we describe them.
- Medium density
How much of the vacuum medium exists locally. - Stress / pressure
How the medium is loaded, stretched, or compressed. - Stiffness
How strongly the medium resists deformation. - Flow
How the medium moves or circulates.
Everything else on this site is interpreted as a description of these quantities.
What Is Descriptive (Derived)
These are useful, predictive concepts — but not physically fundamental.
- Fields
Summaries of stress or flow patterns. - Forces
Bookkeeping tools for stress redistribution. - Spacetime curvature
A geometric map of constitutive variation. - Particles
Persistent defect configurations. - Probability
A measure of sensitivity to constraints.
Translation Table: Conventional Physics → Mechanical Meaning
| Conventional Term | Mechanical Interpretation |
|---|---|
| Vacuum | A continuous elastic medium |
| Particle | A stable topological defect |
| Mass | Displaced volume of the medium |
| Inertia | Resistance from entrained medium |
| Force | Result of stress redistribution |
| Electric field | Pressure-gradient acceleration |
| Magnetic field | Rotational shear (circulation) |
| Charge | Net inflow or outflow of the medium |
| Light | Transverse shear wave |
| Gravity | Stiffness gradient in the medium |
| Spacetime curvature | Refractive description of material variation |
| Quantum probability | Constraint-consistent ensemble behavior |
| Entanglement | Global constraint enforcement |
This table captures the entire interpretive shift used across the blog.
Wave Descriptions — Mechanical Equivalences
| Conventional Description | Mechanical Meaning | Energy Transport | Typical Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transverse wave | Sideways (shear) deformation of the medium | Yes | Light, EM radiation |
| Longitudinal wave | Compression / expansion of the medium | Sometimes | Sound, constraint modes |
| Standing wave | Spatially fixed stress geometry | No (stored) | Atomic structure, resonances |
| Electromagnetic wave | Propagating shear deformation | Yes | Light, radio waves |
| Electric field | Longitudinal pressure gradient | No (descriptive) | Static charge fields |
| Magnetic field | Stored rotational shear (circulation) | No (stored stress) | Magnetostatics |
| Radiation | Traveling elastic deformation | Yes | Photons |
| Quantum wavefunction | Constraint-compatible stress configuration | No | Bound states |
| Entanglement | Global constraint enforcement | No | Bell correlations |
| Gravitational wave | Large-scale shear disturbance of stiffness | Yes | Astrophysical events |
Minimal Mental Models
These are intuition anchors, not analogies to be pushed too far.
- Vacuum behaves like an ultra-stiff elastic solid
- Matter behaves like a stable vortex in that solid
- Charge behaves like a pump moving the medium
- Magnetism behaves like stored circulation
- Gravity behaves like softening around defects
- Light behaves like a ripple in stiffness
If a phenomenon can’t be described this way, it does not belong to the framework.
What This Framework Does Not Claim
To avoid confusion:
- It does not discard Maxwell’s equations
- It does not reject General Relativity’s predictions
- It does not deny quantum experimental results
- It does not introduce new particles or dimensions
- It does not allow faster-than-light signaling
Instead, it changes what those equations are about.
Where the Math Lives
This dictionary is intentionally non-technical.
- Formal derivations → see the Papers page
- Applications and experiments → see Engineering the Vacuum
- Conceptual diagnostics → see the Anomalies Playbook
If a definition requires an equation, it does not belong here.
Editorial Design Rule
Equations explain how nature behaves.
Ontology explains what nature is.
This page only does the second.
This dictionary is meant to be read alongside the blog, not in isolation.
Terms are defined once here so they don’t have to be re-explained in every post.