March 6 Science & Religion Discussion

On March. 6 I talked about chapter 2 in our book re astronomy and what the current thinking is on how astronomers & cosmologists view the universe and the Big Bang. Included was a PowerPoint talk.

Before the Ppt talk, I reviewed parts of Ch. 2 that spoke to me - how science is a great tool for us to figure it all out, what a gift from God that life is for all of us, and how we'll never be able to explain things like awe, wonder, and love - God's gifts to us.

Fact: the universe began 13.7 by ago in a Big Bang, There was with a sudden "inflation" or huge expansion of the universe caused by dark energy,the four forces emerged (strong force, weak force, and gravity).

Quarks united to form the first simple atomic nuclei (hydrogen, helium, lithium). Later the universe cooled enough for electrons to unite with the nuclei to form atoms.
Neutral hydrogen atoms (one proton and one electron)would not unite to form the first stars until 100 my later. Those stars would form galaxies 1 by later.

The first generation of stars were H and He only. The largest of those had to explode, and in that process protons and neutrons were so compressed that heavier elements formed. The supernova explosions spewed out those elements to form 2nd then 3rd gernation stars with planets like our own.

The make up of the universe is 73% dark energy, 23% dark matter, and 4% visible-tangible, the stuff out there we see.

The universe is flat and is expanding and will continue to expand under the force of dark energy which no one can explain.
Dark matter, again unexplained, surrounds galaxies and keeps rotating stars from flying off into space.

Speculation: since quantum mechanics and gen. relativity do not work at the time of the Big Bang, cosmologists have invented "string theory" which says that all fundamental partilces are really tiny strings that vibrate. The frequency of vibration determines what the particle is.

There are 5 string theories and one attempt to unify them - called M or "Matrix" theory but few really understand it. The search continues for a simple explanation of the universe called the Theory of Everything (TOE) or Grand Unification Theory (GUT).

They also postulate that our universe has 11 dimensions - the 3 we experience daily, 7 that are curled up and invisible, and time.

There is no way to prove strings, it would take an atom smasher the size of our solar system. But the big accelerator being built in Cern (French-Swiss border) may be able to smash particles and anti particles with enough energy to create the conditions right after the Big Bang - an instant in time called "super symmetry" a time before the 4 forces separated.

Cosmologists also postulate that there are multiverses that are flat like membranes or "branes" that periodically collide to create new Big Bangs.

Not all universes will end up exactly like ours which depends on the exact properties we see with fundamental partilces.

It is all so mind boggling that we realize we will all die surrounded by the wonder of God's works. The fun part is having God's gift of curiosity and trying to figure it all out.

Next subject 3/20- quantum physics by Don Liebich. (we are a bold group, no?)
Steve Pauley