The origin of life and the origin of the universe are similar in that scientists have many theories but no provable answers for either origin.
What is life?It is carbon and water based, has a capacity to grow and reproduce.The great mystery in science is the process by which life originated on Earth from non-living matter.
The earliest evidence for life on Earth are fossilized mats of bacteria, that have been analyzed to be about 3.4 billion years old.This type of bacteria is still around now and have survived and thrived for 3.4 billion years and have the same basic structure and chemistry.Even though this bacteria are single cell, while we have billions, their structure,chemistry and reproductive process are so complex,scientist say they could not be possibly be first life.Scientist theorize an intermittent process between non-living matter and bacteria. So far, none have been found.
There are many theories for the origin of life.One of the oldest and since discredited is Spontaneous generation. Their premise was that life could be produced from decaying organic matter. For example:maggots would magically appear on dead meat. This was disproven when it was demonstrated that flies laid eggs in the meat which gave birth to maggots.Scientists have tried everything to produce life from non-living matter. They have tried to duplicate the chemistry that may have existed in pools of water billions of years ago. When that didn't work, they shot electricity through it, they shot micro waves through it. Nothing, during all recorded history, there has never been a case of a living thing produced by anything other than another living thing.
A current theory is organic molecules raining down from outer space, but the one that interest me the most is the quantum theory of life.This theory suggests that quantum mechanics enabled life to emerge directly from the atomic world, without the need for complex chemistry. We have looked at the crazy, magical quantum world,(see"A Smoking Gun).and the answer may lay there in some way.
Next , we will look at DNA,that blueprint for all life and direct evidence of design.
reference #1
reference#2
Monday, November 29, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Building the Nest part 2
What have we examined so far?After a few billion years of the elements smashing into each other and being tugged by gravity, we have the Earth ready for life to arrive on the scene.
Mindless elements with no will of their own, somehow gain a will.What am I saying?Think of a rock. It is made up of many elements, it will stay in the same spot for eternity unless a external force moves it. That rock will sit there unless wind or some other collection of elements hits it.
Life has a will of it's own. It will change direction according to it's needs. But somehow made of the same elements as the rock.Where is the connection between physics and biology?
Next we will examine the origin of life.
Mindless elements with no will of their own, somehow gain a will.What am I saying?Think of a rock. It is made up of many elements, it will stay in the same spot for eternity unless a external force moves it. That rock will sit there unless wind or some other collection of elements hits it.
Life has a will of it's own. It will change direction according to it's needs. But somehow made of the same elements as the rock.Where is the connection between physics and biology?
Next we will examine the origin of life.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Building the Nest
I have been itching to get into the origin of life but first I want to elaborate on the environment that allowed life to flourish.
10 billion years after the Big bang, our Solar System,which is our sun and the other planets, began to form from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud made up of mostly hydrogen. See " A Smoking Gun).This happened in the outer reaches of our galaxy, The Milky Way.
http://www.godandscience.org/images/spiralgalaxym81.jpg
Lucky for us, our Solar System's location,within the galaxy,is a factor in the origin of life on Earth. Our Solar System rotates at the same speed of the spiral arms of the galaxy and rarely passes thru them.This means our solar system is not too close to the other stars and not affected by the intense radiation from supernovas, stars blowing up.
Of the planets in our Solar System, only Earth has the proper environment for life to thrive. The Earth is the 3rd planet from the sun and Venus,the 2nd planet from the sun, has been called our sister planet.This is because the mass, density and volume are similar.The similarity ends there.
Venus has no surface water and a toxic heavy atmosphere made up of almost entirely of carbon dioxide and clouds of sulphuric acid. This causes a catastrophic greenhouse affect as sunlight is trapped and cannot radiate back into space.Yet,this deadly hell is the most beautiful object when looking up at the early evening sky.
Mars,although smaller in size and mass, is the only other planet in the Solar System that could support life but it lacks a magnetic field like Earth has, that stops it's atmosphere from being stripped away by the solar wind. Recent observations have indicated that Mars may have frozen water.It is also the best bet for eventual colonization, which may become necessary in the future , to preserve life if a cosmic catastrophe would make the Earth uninhabitable.
The other planet I want to mention is Jupiter. It is a massive gas giant dwarfing the Earth and revolves around the sun at the outer reaches of the Solar System. I want to point out that recent observations of other solar systems, show massive gas giants similar to Jupiter BUT revolve close to the star.This is important because Jupiter's tremendous gravity protects the Earth by capturing comets and asteroids from entering the inner Solar System ,inhabited by Earth,Mars,Venus and Mercury, and flings them back out into space. This action spares us from being bombarded by comets traveling through out the galaxy. Without Jupiter comets and asteroids would collide with our planet 1000 times more frequently.
For the first 100 million years , the Earth was totally inhospitable to life. Rain was a corrosive acid and the atmosphere of sulphurous fumes were very similar to conditions on Venus.
Lucky for us, after about 15 million years of Earth's existence, a large object the size of a planet, smashed into the Earth throwing large pieces into near space.After 100 million years these pieces coalesced and formed our moon.This event enabled the Earth to stop wobbling and settled into a stable rotation. The moon also helped create our weather and tides. Scientist have concluded that without the moon, there would be no life on Earth. None of the other inner planets,Mars,Venus and Mercury, have a satellite.
Now we come to water,H2O,this most essential molecule made op of elements of hydrogen and oxygen.While water may exist, according to recent scientific observations,on Mars and Venus and even the Moon, the amount is minuscule compared to the amount of water on Earth.Over 70% of the Earth's surface is covered by water.The current scientific theory is that life originated in water.It is essential for life as our bodies are made of 70% water.
Where did it come from?Why is it so plentiful on Earth but rare as diamonds in the rest of the Solar System. Currently there are Two scientific theories: 1(Water rich asteroids and comets raining down on the early Earth). 2 There was a thick blanket of hydrogen reacting with oxides in the Earth's mantle to form lakes and seas.
To be continued in the next post.
Origin of water
10 billion years after the Big bang, our Solar System,which is our sun and the other planets, began to form from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud made up of mostly hydrogen. See " A Smoking Gun).This happened in the outer reaches of our galaxy, The Milky Way.
http://www.godandscience.org/images/spiralgalaxym81.jpg
Lucky for us, our Solar System's location,within the galaxy,is a factor in the origin of life on Earth. Our Solar System rotates at the same speed of the spiral arms of the galaxy and rarely passes thru them.This means our solar system is not too close to the other stars and not affected by the intense radiation from supernovas, stars blowing up.
Of the planets in our Solar System, only Earth has the proper environment for life to thrive. The Earth is the 3rd planet from the sun and Venus,the 2nd planet from the sun, has been called our sister planet.This is because the mass, density and volume are similar.The similarity ends there.
Venus has no surface water and a toxic heavy atmosphere made up of almost entirely of carbon dioxide and clouds of sulphuric acid. This causes a catastrophic greenhouse affect as sunlight is trapped and cannot radiate back into space.Yet,this deadly hell is the most beautiful object when looking up at the early evening sky.
Mars,although smaller in size and mass, is the only other planet in the Solar System that could support life but it lacks a magnetic field like Earth has, that stops it's atmosphere from being stripped away by the solar wind. Recent observations have indicated that Mars may have frozen water.It is also the best bet for eventual colonization, which may become necessary in the future , to preserve life if a cosmic catastrophe would make the Earth uninhabitable.
The other planet I want to mention is Jupiter. It is a massive gas giant dwarfing the Earth and revolves around the sun at the outer reaches of the Solar System. I want to point out that recent observations of other solar systems, show massive gas giants similar to Jupiter BUT revolve close to the star.This is important because Jupiter's tremendous gravity protects the Earth by capturing comets and asteroids from entering the inner Solar System ,inhabited by Earth,Mars,Venus and Mercury, and flings them back out into space. This action spares us from being bombarded by comets traveling through out the galaxy. Without Jupiter comets and asteroids would collide with our planet 1000 times more frequently.
For the first 100 million years , the Earth was totally inhospitable to life. Rain was a corrosive acid and the atmosphere of sulphurous fumes were very similar to conditions on Venus.
Lucky for us, after about 15 million years of Earth's existence, a large object the size of a planet, smashed into the Earth throwing large pieces into near space.After 100 million years these pieces coalesced and formed our moon.This event enabled the Earth to stop wobbling and settled into a stable rotation. The moon also helped create our weather and tides. Scientist have concluded that without the moon, there would be no life on Earth. None of the other inner planets,Mars,Venus and Mercury, have a satellite.
Now we come to water,H2O,this most essential molecule made op of elements of hydrogen and oxygen.While water may exist, according to recent scientific observations,on Mars and Venus and even the Moon, the amount is minuscule compared to the amount of water on Earth.Over 70% of the Earth's surface is covered by water.The current scientific theory is that life originated in water.It is essential for life as our bodies are made of 70% water.
Where did it come from?Why is it so plentiful on Earth but rare as diamonds in the rest of the Solar System. Currently there are Two scientific theories: 1(Water rich asteroids and comets raining down on the early Earth). 2 There was a thick blanket of hydrogen reacting with oxides in the Earth's mantle to form lakes and seas.
To be continued in the next post.
Origin of water
Monday, November 8, 2010
A smoking gun!
Up til now, the evidence I presented can be contradicted by atheists as a series of lucky breaks, no matter how unlikely.But now I think I have found direct evidence of Intelligent Design.
In the last chapter we covered how the first elements ,hydrogen and helium, which are created in the belly of the first stars that formed from dust and gases, with the help of gravity.The heavier elements such as:carbon,nitrogen,oxygen,silicon,iron and many others are created from the tremendous heat and energy of a supernova.These are stars that blow up in cosmic explosions sending dust, gases made of hydrogen and helium across the universe.This stuff congregates with stuff from other supernovas forming new stars and now the heavier elements are formed. These elements formed the earth and us.In essence we are made of star stuff.
What a beautiful system and that evidence by itself could point to design.But it really gets weird when we look inside the world of atoms that are the building blocks of the elements ,which are the building blocks of everything we see and touch.It is the quantum world.
The quantum or atomic world has different laws that govern them. For example, sub-atomic particles can appear in Two different places at the same time.Scientific observations have shown that sub-atomic particles can go from one spot to another, without crossing the intervening space. In the realm of quantum physics, just observing something actually influences the physical process taking place.
What's going on here? Is this some kind of magic?This is real, I have left links to show I am not making this up. The atomic world is meta-physical. The physical laws of Newton and Einstein do not apply here.
Where is the smoking gun?The quantum world is the foundation of our world.Could some of these meta-physical properties seep into our Newtonian world.How could this wild ,magic world be our foundation, without some intelligence controlling it?
What is quantum Physics
How did the elements form
In the last chapter we covered how the first elements ,hydrogen and helium, which are created in the belly of the first stars that formed from dust and gases, with the help of gravity.The heavier elements such as:carbon,nitrogen,oxygen,silicon,iron and many others are created from the tremendous heat and energy of a supernova.These are stars that blow up in cosmic explosions sending dust, gases made of hydrogen and helium across the universe.This stuff congregates with stuff from other supernovas forming new stars and now the heavier elements are formed. These elements formed the earth and us.In essence we are made of star stuff.
What a beautiful system and that evidence by itself could point to design.But it really gets weird when we look inside the world of atoms that are the building blocks of the elements ,which are the building blocks of everything we see and touch.It is the quantum world.
The quantum or atomic world has different laws that govern them. For example, sub-atomic particles can appear in Two different places at the same time.Scientific observations have shown that sub-atomic particles can go from one spot to another, without crossing the intervening space. In the realm of quantum physics, just observing something actually influences the physical process taking place.
What's going on here? Is this some kind of magic?This is real, I have left links to show I am not making this up. The atomic world is meta-physical. The physical laws of Newton and Einstein do not apply here.
Where is the smoking gun?The quantum world is the foundation of our world.Could some of these meta-physical properties seep into our Newtonian world.How could this wild ,magic world be our foundation, without some intelligence controlling it?
What is quantum Physics
How did the elements form
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
A Star is Born!
We have explored what is known about the "Big Bang" , which is the current scientific theory for the beginning of the Universe and the immediate few seconds after.We have examined gravity and light, which I submit is further evidence of design.
Our next examination will be the beginning of the stars,galaxies and the basic elements.
After the "Big Bang" the Universe was homogeneous, as the particles formed from the Bang flew out symmetrically away from each other.Now ,before I go on, let it be clear,if the sub-atomic particles continued this way the Universe would have evaporated.But a lucky event happened or maybe intervention. Scientific observations reveal that tiny clumps of matter began to form in the early Universe. Scientist have concluded that these tiny clumps of matter started to be attracted together due to temperature differences of less than one millionth of a degree.This caused density variations, which are the seeds of all structure in the Universe, to enable our friend gravity to take over and attract gas and dust.
In about 200 million years, there was enough matter to clump together that the temperature grew hot enough for fusion to begin and the first stars began to glow and the first element to form ,hydrogen.
Where did that slight change in temperature,in the early Universe,originate?There is no answer to that, it just happened. Without that slight change of temperature of 1 millionth of a degree, the galaxies,stars, the earth and us would not exist.
Chaos or design, you decide.
Reference: galaxy formation
Our next examination will be the beginning of the stars,galaxies and the basic elements.
After the "Big Bang" the Universe was homogeneous, as the particles formed from the Bang flew out symmetrically away from each other.Now ,before I go on, let it be clear,if the sub-atomic particles continued this way the Universe would have evaporated.But a lucky event happened or maybe intervention. Scientific observations reveal that tiny clumps of matter began to form in the early Universe. Scientist have concluded that these tiny clumps of matter started to be attracted together due to temperature differences of less than one millionth of a degree.This caused density variations, which are the seeds of all structure in the Universe, to enable our friend gravity to take over and attract gas and dust.
In about 200 million years, there was enough matter to clump together that the temperature grew hot enough for fusion to begin and the first stars began to glow and the first element to form ,hydrogen.
Where did that slight change in temperature,in the early Universe,originate?There is no answer to that, it just happened. Without that slight change of temperature of 1 millionth of a degree, the galaxies,stars, the earth and us would not exist.
Chaos or design, you decide.
Reference: galaxy formation
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