Air, water,
mountains, animals, plants, your body, the chair
on which you sit, in short, everything you see,
touch, and feel, from the heaviest to the lightest
is formed of atoms. Each page of the book you
hold in your hand comprises billions of atoms.
Atoms are particles so minute that it is impossible
to view one even with the most powerful microscopes.
The diameter of an atom is only of the order
of one millionth of a millimetre.
It is not possible
for a human being to visualize this size. Therefore,
let us try to explain it with an example:
Think that
you have a key in your hand. No doubt, it is
impossible for you to see the atoms in this
key. If you say you must see the atoms, then
you have to magnify the key in your hand to
the proportions of the world. Once the key in
your hand becomes as large as the earth, then
each atom inside the key is the size of a cherry.1
Let us give
another example to comprehend this minuteness
and how everywhere and everything is full of
atoms:
Let us suppose
that we want to count all the atoms in a single
grain of salt and let us assume that we are
able to count one billion (1,000,000,000) atoms
per second. Despite our considerable deftness,
we would need over five hundred years to count
the number of atoms inside this tiny grain of
salt.2
What, then, is there inside such a small structure?
Despite its
exceedingly small size, there is a flawless,
unique and complex system inside the atom comparable
in sophistication to the system we see in the
universe at large.
Each atom is
made up of a nucleus and a number of electrons
moving in orbital shells at great distances
from the nucleus. Inside the nucleus are other
particles called protons and neutrons.
In this chapter,
we will look at the extraordinary structure
of the atom that constitutes the basis of everything
animate and inanimate, and see how the atoms
combine to form molecules and ultimately, matter.
The
Power Hidden in the Nucleus
The nucleus
is located right at the centre of the atom and
is made up of a certain number of protons and
neutrons depending on the properties of that
atom. The radius of the nucleus is about ten
thousandth of the radius of the atom. To express
that in numbers, the radius of the atom is 10-8
(0.00000001) cm, the radius of the nucleus is
10-12 (0.000000000001) cm. Therefore, the volume
of the nucleus is equal to a ten billionth of
the volume of the atom.
 |
|
Protons and
electrons are made up of groups
of three quarks |
A
set of three quarks-these
make up a proton-would have
strings at their heart |
|
Since we cannot visualize
this vastness (better to say, minuteness),
let us take our example of the cherry. Let
us look for the nucleus inside the atoms that
we had visualised as the size of cherries
when the key in your hand was magnified to
be the size of the earth. But such a search
would be inconclusive because even at that
scale, it is absolutely impossible for us
to view the nucleus, which is still exceedingly
small. If we really want to see it, then we
would have to change the scale again. The
cherry representing our atom must again expand
and become a large ball two hundred metres
in diameter. Even at this unbelievable scale,
the nucleus of our atom would not become any
bigger than a very tiny grain of dust.3
So much so that when we compare the diameter
of the nucleus that is 10-13 cm and the diameter
of the atom that is 10-8 cm, we come to the
following result: if we assume the atom to
be a sphere, if we wished to fill this sphere
totally with nuclei, then we would need 1015
(1,000,000,000,000,000) nuclei to fill it.4
Yet there is one thing even
more surprising than that: although its size
is one ten billionth of an atom's size, the
nucleus' mass comprises 99.95% of the mass
of the atom. How is it that something constitutes
almost all of a given mass, while, on the
other hand, occupying almost no space?
The reason is that the density comprising
the mass of the atom is not distributed evenly
throughout the whole atom. That is, almost
the entire mass of the atom is accumulated
in the nucleus. Say, you have a house of 10
billion square metres and you have to put
all the furniture in the house in a room of
one square metre. Can you do this? Of course
you cannot. Yet, the atomic nucleus is able
to do this thanks to a tremendous force unlike
any other force in the universe. This force
is the "strong nuclear force", one
of the four fundamental forces in the universe
we mentioned in the previous chapter.
We had noted that this force,
the most powerful of the forces in nature,
keeps the nucleus of an atom intact and keeps
it from fragmenting. All the protons in the
nucleus have positive charges and they repel
each other because of the electro-magnetic
force. However, due to the strong nuclear
force, which is 100 times stronger than the
repulsive force of the protons, the electro-magnetic
force becomes ineffective, and thus the protons
are held together.
To sum up, there are two great forces interacting
with each other inside an atom so small as
to be unseen to us. The nucleus is able to
stay together as a whole owing to the precise
values of these forces.
When we consider the size
of the atom and the number of atoms in the
universe, it is impossible to fail to notice
that there is tremendous equilibrium and design
at work. It is crystal clear that the fundamental
forces in the universe have been created in
a very special way with great wisdom and power.
The only thing those who reject faith resort
to is nothing other than claiming that all
of these came into being as a result of "coincidences".
Probabilistic calculations, however, scientifically
put the probability of the equilibriums in
the universe being formed "coincidentally"
at "0". All these are clear evidence
of the existence of Allah and the perfection
of His creation.
…My Lord encompasses
all things in His knowledge so will you not
pay heed? (Surat
al-An'am: 80)
| Notes |
 |
1.
Jean Guitton, Dieu et La Science:Vers
Le Métaréalisme, Paris:Grasset, 1991,
p. 62
2.Jean Guitton, Dieu et La Science:Vers
Le Métaréalisme, Paris:Grasset, 1991,
p. 62
3. Jean Guitton, Dieu et La Science:Vers
Le Métaréalisme, Paris:Grasset, 1991,
p. 62
4. Ümit Simsek, Atom (The Atom), Yeni
Asya Yayinlari, p.7
5. Taskin Tuna, Uzayin Ötesi (Beyond Space),
Bogaziçi Yayinlari, 1995, p. 53
6.Jean Guitton, Dieu et La Science:Vers
Le Métaréalisme, Paris:Grasset, 1991,
p. 62 |
