6. The Forgotten Dimension

Henri Poincaré, one of the pioneers of relativity theory predicted that, for the sake of simplicity, physicists would never abandon Euclidean geometry. It is argued here that chemical theory has stagnated for the same reason. It is pointed out how a fresh approach in four-dimensional non-Euclidean space-time could eliminate most of the conceptual stumbling blocks that inhibit the growth of a non-classical theory for chemistry. Immediately foreseen benefits include an understanding of four-dimensional action, recognized as the spin function, to replace the unrealistic concept of orbital angular momentum associated with standing electron waves. The controversial issues of non-local interaction and the discrepancy with relativity resolve themselves, giving new meaning to the concept of quantum potential energy. Without the debilitating assumption of point particles problematical issues such as the exclusion principle, wave-particle duality, quantum probability, the measurement problem, uncertainty principle, molecular shape and the mysterious fine-structure constant, also disappear. An alternative wave model is introduced and shown to be consistent with elemental periodicity as it occurs in projective space-time, which is briefly discussed.