The
breath of life, which converts inanimate material into living and breathing
animals,
is
still concealed from our knowledge.
In
ordinary circumstances we are conscious of various elements and conditions that
directly affect our lives, especially light, space, time, temperature, sound and
matter, although in fact most are only transient or insubstantial states. When
considering the creation event, we find that space and time were the essential
boundaries that define what is called the initial singularity, which preceded
the primeval explosion by which the universe was created. For a minuscule period
immediately after that space-time boundary of the creation, all matter was in a
state of chaos, when time and space were indistinguishable. In everyday life on
planet earth, space and time appear to be separate entities, which they are for
all practical purposes under ordinary circumstances. However, when the theory of
relativity is applied in relation to the universe as a whole, time and space no
longer have their individual identities, but are inextricably interwoven into a
composite entity or dimension called space-time.
The
beginning
referred to in Genesis took place about 15,000 million years ago, when "the earth (that is the
universe) was void and darkness covered the face of the deep (that is
space)". The Creator said "let
there be light", introducing energy into the space‑time
abyss, precipitating the primeval explosion and giving birth to the universe.
The generally accepted theory is that all matter comprising the universe was
infinitely compressed under immeasurable pressure before the primeval explosion,
producing an incredible amount of energy when released. Whilst under extreme
compression matter could only have existed as sub‑atomic particles, when
quantum mechanics would have been of the utmost importance and the prime
determinants governing the initial evolutionary processes that began immediately
thereafter. Quantum mechanics relate to the behaviour of the smallest particles
that can possibly exist for something, like the photons or particles of light
that are the quanta of light energy.
Because
space and time are acknowledged as constituting the boundaries of the initial
singularity that preceded the creation, many attempts have been made to measure
any energy field, akin to gravity or a magnetic field, which might derive from
space‑time. Although none has yet been discovered, this does not preclude
the possibility that space‑time energy fields could exist. Should they
exist their influence on the ultimate devolution of the universe and the destiny
of humans might be profound. A great deal of research has been carried out in
relation to what is usually called "the
passage of time", searching for a time‑flux or field
like magnetism, though none has been discovered. Time is a mysterious and
apparently irreversible phenomenon encompassing the past, present and future,
seemingly having neither motion nor energy. As with space‑time, the
possibility that related energy fields do exist is not precluded, however
unlikely that may seem at present. If they should exist their ultimate
consequences, which at present are unknown, could be dramatic. The relationship
between matter and space‑time is extremely complex.
If
space and matter were infinitely compressed at the initial singularity, then a
transition must have occurred during an extremely short period thereafter, when
some element of time began turning into space to form the space‑time
continuum. When researching sub‑atomic matter to determine what its state
would have been shortly after the primeval explosion, physicists have conducted
experiments that have enabled them to observe quantum fluctuations over
distances as short as about 10-16
centimetres and for intervals of time as brief as 10-26
seconds, in what essentially were fixed space‑time environments. These
fluctuations were found to affect both the positions and the momenta of the
particles, which therefore would also have affected space‑time itself
under the conditions pertaining during an infinitesimal period after the
primeval explosion. These experiments confirm that space, time and matter must
have passed through a critical boundary almost immediately after the primeval
explosion, but before the evolutionary processes commenced, during which period
space and time were indistinguishable and matter was chaotic.
This
boundary has been assessed as occurring at about one Planck time after the
primeval explosion. The Planck scale comprises elements called the Planck time,
distance, density and mass, named after, Max Planck (1858-1947), the German
theoretical physicist who formulated the quantum theory in 1900. One Planck time
is about 10-43 seconds, the
shortest period of time that has any meaning, when the typical horizon volume
contains only one particle. One Planck time after the primeval explosion the
universe was not more than 2 x 10-33
centimetres across, a minuscule distance called the Planck distance, which is
the distance that light can travel in one Planck time. At that instant had the
incredible density of 1094 grams
per cubic centimetre, which is called the Planck density. The Planck mass is the
mass of the material that could be contained in a black hole having a diameter
equal to the Planck distance, which is only a minuscule 10-20
of the diameter of a proton. A black hole is a region in which the gravitational
field is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape from it. The Planck
mass is calculated to be about 2 x 10-5
gram.
In
the fifth century BCE a Greek philosopher, Leucippus, was the first who
postulated that matter is composed of separate particles that can move about in
space and combine together. His pupil Democritus (c.460‑c.370 BCE)
developed the concept and called the particles atomos meaning indivisible.
It was not until the beginning of the nineteenth century that John Dalton
(1766‑1844), the British chemist and physicist who first defined colour
blindness, was able to establish a scientific basis for the combining of atoms
taking part in a chemical reaction. In 1897 the English physicist, Sir Joseph
Thomson (1856‑1940), first succeeded in tearing electrons from atoms by
applying electrical and magnetic forces. The next important breakthrough did not
come until Lord Ernest Rutherford (1871‑1937), a New Zealand born British
physicist who was one of the greatest pioneers of subatomic physics, discovered
the similarity between atoms and the solar system, from which he derived the
nuclear theory of atoms published in 1917. The theory was pursued by an English
physicist, Sir John Cockroft (1897‑1967) and an Irish physicist Ernest
Walton (1903- ), who spent years developing a voltage multiplier at Cambridge
University, enabling them to be the first to disintegrate atomic nuclei in 1932.
Chemical elements number at least 105, but more may be found. Atomic weights are
expressed to the nearest integer, some of the familiar elements ranging from 1
for hydrogen, through 56 for iron, 100 for silver, 197 for gold and 238 for
uranium, although a few very rare elements exceed 250.
An
atom comprises a central nucleus surrounded by a cloud of orbiting electrons.
The nucleus is a collection of protons and neutrons held together by the
stronger of the two active nuclear forces. A nucleus typically is about 10-13
of a centimetre across, which is about 100,000 times smaller than the external
diameter of the whole atom. Protons are composite particles carrying one unit of
positive electric charge, comprised of quarks that are invariably combined as
doublets or triplets. Neutrons are electrically neutral particles of similar
composition to protons and about the same mass. Protons have a mass about 2,000
times greater than that of an electron. Electrons are fundamental particles of
the lepton family carrying one unit of negative electric charge and having a
mass of about 9 x 10-28
gram. The electrical forces acting between the particles of an atom are about 1040
times more powerful than the forces of gravity acting between them.
All
quarks and leptons are fundamental particles that are point-like and have no
structure. Quarks can have a positive or negative electric charge, which
invariably is one‑third or two‑thirds of a unit, but leptons have
either one unit of negative electric charge or no charge. The weaker of the two
nuclear forces affect all members of the lepton family and cause some unstable
nuclear particles to decay. Hundreds of different subatomic particles have been
discovered, all of which are subject to the rules of quantum mechanics.
Furthermore, whole atoms also display features of wave interference, so that the
entire universe is really an interconnected arrangement of quantum mechanical
systems, which proves that a purely clockwork universe of Newtonian simplicity
cannot exist.
About
one Planck time after the primeval explosion, when space was beginning to emerge
from time, the initially chaotic and inflationary state of matter was becoming
more orderly. Microwave radiations arriving from outer space indicate that,
during the early period of rapid expansion following the primeval explosion of
the birth of the universe, the ambient temperature must have fallen from an
estimated 1022 degrees
centigrade at one Planck time to about 3° above absolute zero about 300,000
years later. This supercooling process allowed subatomic particles to combine
and form atoms and then gases. Thus began the evolutionary state of matter that
initiated the progressive formation of the universe. Because the earth is
estimated to have come into existence about 4,500 million years ago, its age is
less than one‑third the age of the universe. Even in the evolutionary
state, particles of matter in the subatomic and atomic realms were subject to
quantum uncertainties, blurring the distinction between matter and motion. A
characteristic of these quantum processes is the spontaneous appearance of
energy, which rapidly disappears while generating transient physical forces that
have been measured and are found to affect atoms and the subatomic particles. An
English mathematical physicist, Paul Dirac (1902‑1984), studied quantum
mechanics in an attempt to reconcile the theory of quantum mechanics with the
general theory of relativity, which he achieved in 1929 by utilising the wave
nature of electrons in conjunction with the relativity of motion.
Paul
Dirac’s work led to a complete mathematical formulation of the special and
general theories of relativity, which the German-Swiss-American mathematical
physicist, Albert Einstein (1879‑1955), published in 1905 and 1916
respectively. Paul Dirac also proved that the formula relating mass and energy
is E2
= m2c4,
the positive square root of which is the familiar formula E
= mc2. However it is the negative solution of this equation, E
= -mc2, which presaged the existence of antimatter.
Scientists have since discovered antimatter and have assessed that in our galaxy
it has an extreme upper limit of about one part per million. An important aspect
of this discovery is that it confirms other evidence that the universe is in an
extremely fine state of balance. Star counts have shown that, on average, the
density of our universe is remarkably uniform. This is the logical outcome of
the initial inflationary state, which by its very nature almost certainly would
produce a closed universe.
Observations made of the visible galaxies indicate an average density that is
substantially less than the critical, but evidence derived by observing the
gravitational influences of invisible matter, such as dark stars and black
holes, suggests that the average density must be very close to the critical.
Although the masses of individual stars and planets within galaxies vary
enormously, as also do the densities within individual bodies, galaxies interact
substantially as entities, so that it is their average densities that are of
greatest importance in relation to the universe as a whole.
Since
the birth of the universe it has been expanding under the influence of gravity,
which progressively retards expansion at a rate decreasing in proportion to the
square of the expansion. The present recessional velocity increases at the rate
of 32 kilometres per second per million light years, but discoveries made in
2002 indicate that the rate of expansion of the universe is accelerating.
Einstein's general theory of relativity implies that the universe occupies a closed space in the form
of a finite curved space‑time continuum that is expanding. The least
density required to ensure that the universe is closed
is called the critical density, which has been calculated to be equivalent to
about one atom of hydrogen in every cubic metre of space, or about 10‑30gram
per cubic centimetre. Hydrogen is the most abundant element found in the
universe, accounting for two‑thirds of its mass. Hydrogen and oxygen are
essential elements in all living matter. An English natural philosopher and
chemist, Henry Cavendish (1731‑1810), first recognised and isolated
hydrogen in 1766. Then in 1774 an English Presbyterian minister, Joseph
Priestley (1733‑1804), became a pioneer in the chemistry of gases by
developing the production of oxygen.
The
Reverend John Michell (1724‑1793), an English geologist, established the
science of seismology. He was renowned as a scientist before he studied
divinity. John Michell was the first to propose the existence of dark stars, in
his paper read to the Royal Society by Henry Cavendish, his close friend and
associate, in 1783. John Michell established that huge astronomical bodies are
able to produce gravitational forces sufficiently powerful to prevent light
particles from escaping, so that those bodies would be invisible to external
observers. A French mathematician and astronomer, Pierre Laplace
(1749‑1827), derived a similar theory independently in 1796. Then Johann
von Soldner, a German astronomer, calculated that rays of light passing near a
star would bend under gravity, as a result of which he postulated in 1801 that
the stars making up the Milky Way might be orbiting a very massive dark star.
Evidence now suggests that there is a black hole located in the centre of the
Milky Way, equivalent to a mass of about a million of our suns. Dark stars,
black holes and wormholes are now accepted as an essential part of the fabric of
the universe, intrinsic to the general theory of relativity. Black holes are
regions in space, usually formed by the collapse of a huge star or supernova
under its own gravity, where the gravitational force is so strong that nothing
can escape, not even light. In-falling matter cannot come to rest within a black
hole until reaching the singularity of the space-time boundary that is at or
near its centre. A wormhole is a tunnel through space-time interconnecting a
black hole in one galaxy with a black hole in another galaxy that necessarily is
in a different time frame, because it is in a different part of the universe.
The deflections of light rays from distant bright stars are useful to detect
dark stars and black holes.
An
enigma of the creation is that, whilst on the one hand the more that science
discovers the more it seems plausible that the universe could have evolved
spontaneously without the need for a creator, yet on the other hand the less
likely it seems that such a complex system could evolve and continue without the
influence of some supreme force. An incredible aspect of the evolution of the
universe is the diversity of astronomical bodies and the enormous range of
inanimate materials that constitute it, coupled with the remarkable spectrum of
plant and animal life that have evolved on planet earth, all from only a hundred
or so elements of matter. Even more incredible is the breath of life that
converts inanimate material into living and breathing animals, the substance of
which is still concealed from our knowledge, thus preventing replication. Recent
scientific investigations seem to preclude a purely clockwork universe and also
indicate an extremely fine state of balance in the universe and on earth in
particular. The following examples further illustrate how critical this state of
balance is.
If
the nuclear forces in atoms were marginally weaker, quantum forces would disrupt
the tenuous links between particles and allow atoms to disintegrate, as a result
of which the sun and all other stars would die out. If the nuclear forces were
marginally stronger, protons would adhere in pairs and one proton of each pair
would decay to a neutron. Thus the pairs of protons would progressively convert
into deuterium and thence to helium, effectively using up all of the hydrogen,
as a result of which stars like the sun could not exist, nor could liquid water.
Equally critical requirements for the existing plant and animal life are oxygen
and hydrogen, coupled with delicate ranges of ambient temperature, moisture and
sunlight. These factors combine with those mentioned earlier to provide the most
compelling evidence that the universe did not come into existence by mere
chance, but that it was designed with such care and precision as could only be
achieved by the ingenuity of an omniscient Creator, whose omnipresence seems
essential for its continuing survival.