MATTER IN EVOLUTION
CHAPTER XXXXVII
part IV - Freemasonry, Science and Mankind
THE SQUARE AND COMPASSES
W.
M. Don Falconer PM, PDGDC
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.
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