Don't say I didn't warn you, bro. The Universe is mostly beige. That is, the Universe is mostly outside the spectrum of visible light, both infrared (microwave, radio) and ultraviolet (x-ray, gamma ray). There's no temperature in space, as space by definition is empty and matterless, and temperature by definition is an average energy of motion of particles in matter. Yet these are the measurements we primarily take of the Cosmos, in hopes of gaining some understanding of our origins. All of the light, though not visible by Human eye, is known to travel at the same speed,
c, and every bit of technology constructed to observe the open sky is an extension of the eyes' seemingly insignificant sense, and a comparison with what we know about light's behavior over time. (Evolutionarily, there's good reason we only see during hours of sunlight, but that's eight other nines.)
How Science was made:
"In the beginning," there was either something, or nothing, but there was also physics, which is "always" calculating, and that requires mathematics, which are "constant," and this means nothing, considering "the beginning" could be the ordinary middle part of something else. Or, that nothing is what it seems in regards to our understanding of "time," which may in turn have no real meaning, rendering "the beginning," and, in fact, all of "the past" to be illusory patterns promising a "future" of nothing at all. That means something to me. Nothing can kill the Grimace. Deep Blue Something.
The atoms of all elements are built of hydrogen atoms, bound together, and presumably, have at one time been formed from hydrogen. The electrically neutral hydrogen atom contains a single positively-charged proton (composed of two up quarks and one down quark) and a single negatively-charged electron, bound to the nucleus by the Coulomb force.
For the first 400 hot millennia, atomic nuclei with no electrons: 90% hydrogen, most of the rest helium (which contains the same subatomic particles in different amounts, plus neutrons, which have no net electric charge and are composed of one up quark and two down quarks), and small amounts of Lithium, jiggled around in space. Upon cooling enough, and capturing electrons, thus becoming full atoms, the possibility of chemistry was born.
Molecules formed such as H2 and LiH formed in clouds of gas which brewed as the Universe grew and cooled more and more, allowing the particles to settle onto one another, the lower temperature meaning less/slower movement and calmer collisions. As the gravity of these clouds of particles grew large enough, stars formed, burning the elements as fuel until exhausting and exploding as it collapses from its own exaggerated gravity, creating heavier elements in their cores in the process. Astronomy was in the making.
These first generation stars burn until their cores collapse under the gravitational force, heating up more, fusing hydrogen and helium nuclei into carbon cores. Burning gives off energy to resist collapse under its own gravity, but after using up enough fuel in its core, it collapses yet again, producing enough heat to fuse the carbon into such popular films as: nitrogen, oxygen, sodium, magnesium, silicon, iron.
Fusing iron no longer gives off the energy needed to resist gravity; the process now consumes energy, collapsing the star once more, and now manufacturing a supernova, which explodes with enough energy to create even heavier atoms. The previous, lighter atoms, however, are now scattered and distributed to gas clouds, left to mingle and create relationships as more complex molecules as they cool. This time, however, the atoms present happen to be the simplest ingredients of life as we know it.
Gravity will build many carbon and silicon based molecules as the temperature continues to drop and particles are passing each other more slowly. Molecules such as CO and more H2, then H2O, CO2 form, and cooler and cooler clouds allow for larger and more complex molecules.
As soon as there is a dense enough center in the cloud, gravity forces the cool particles together into a star again, undoing all the chemical bonds in that area and forming yet again into a nuclear furnace. The outer regions of the cloud, however, may remain in their dusty states. But the matter that is close enough to the new star's gravity, yet far enough to escape consumption, swirls into a new solar system! While this excites me greatly, it means the possibility of Earth science was born. Bo-RING!
There are still existing molecules in the new solar system, as well as cool enough temperatures to continue building new ones. Planets and comets can form and continue to orbit their star, absorbing its light energy, while manufacturing abundant molecular structures. Amino acids, and therefore proteins (eventually) form. The possibility of biology is born.
The bigger the molecule, the more intricate its particle bonds. But each has its own pattern of light. We can now determine which part of where is made of what. We come to conclusions based on interactions and observations of...everything, over time, and we realize we are reasoning, and examining causality, and that therefore time must exist... or must it? ...Do we? ...and the possibility of philosophical logic is born.
inspired by Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries by Neil deGrasse Tyson
"I know that the molecules in my body are traceable to phenomena in the Cosmos.
That makes me want to grab people in the street, and say, 'have you heard this?!'"
