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I could write a book land story about this question that what is the origin of the gaseous matter comprising the stars and galaxies? Surely something cannot be created out of nothing .
the story will contain many definite truths.
it will have a lot of extrapolation and it might still leave out several big holes.
let me begin by first stating some things we now understand rather well . we have found out that the familiar world around us is made up of less than 100 elements. hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, iron, carbon, copper, zinc etc right up to Uranium represents examples of elements .
elements are defined through the number of protons in the nucleus. this we learnt later. first, we learnt to recognise them through their chemical properties .
it is amazing that whenever we look, the earth ,the moon and the stars or interstellar and intergalactic space is the very same Limited list of elements are found .
the richness we see on our planet is all derived from the multitude of ways in which these elements combine .
this includes oceans, rocks and little Hills And The Mighty Himalayas .
besides, it also includes all things living - the fantastic world of plants and flowers as also of butterflies and babies . tens of millions of species on earth are all ultimately made up of stuff we are familiar with .
the magic comes from differences in structure and architecture . much of this structure is the result of forces whose nature we now understand reasonably well .
this also includes the question "why has nature been constraint to have only 92 elements and not just 20, or as many as 500 "? There are no real exceptions to the rules that govern the world of things we have encountered . perhaps that is not strictly true but almost show .
we cannot fully understand do not post and ultimate violation but only represent our current inability to comprehend and calculate .
so now, let us move to question ;
how did all these things come into being?
The variety they represent does not appear to be arbitrary .there is a deep related - Ness .
therefore, the process of creation also cannot be arbitrary .
Our broad understanding in this regard is the following :
We know by now that given enough concentration of energy, various forms of matter, such as protons neutrons ,electrons etc can be created and can transmute into Each Other .
Einstein proved that theoretically exactly 100 years ago and this is now well established in a large number of experiments .
the ratio of particles produced depends on the details of interactions and of subsequent decay interactions .
we now understand a great deal in this regard, through decades of theory - making and experiments .
the question arises as to what are the conditions and sources of such concentrations of energy?
One of the moments where conditions might have existed was the moment of the big bang ,hypothesized to exist at the "beginning" of the universe .
it might also be possible under special conditions involving high concentrations of mass , a scenario favoured by scientist who are not happy with the Big Bang hypothesis .
one should not be too worried about the availability of energy, because it can be shown that the positive energy of the particles produced is balanced by the negative gravitational energy .
there is no Generally Accepted theory about the reason for the universe deciding to exist .
some people think that it was due to a Quantum fluctuation in space time! If all this is a little baffling do not feel to unhappy .
scientists are still struggling with some of these aspects . but a lot about evolution of matter and energy in subsequent epochs is well understood . we think that the light elements, like deuterium, Helium Lithium and beryllium were produced in the super hot stage like the Big Bang .
the heavier elements were synthesized through thermonuclear reactions inside stars and those heavier than iron during supernova explosion of the stars .
stars can be considered as element manufacturing factory ; they also produces heat, light and other forms of energy as a byproduct .
our sun is one such element manufacturing factory . all this is not just science fiction or a loose story ,The interactions involved and other aspects of Stellar structure and evolution are fairly well understood .
the story will contain many definite truths.
it will have a lot of extrapolation and it might still leave out several big holes.
let me begin by first stating some things we now understand rather well . we have found out that the familiar world around us is made up of less than 100 elements. hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, iron, carbon, copper, zinc etc right up to Uranium represents examples of elements .
elements are defined through the number of protons in the nucleus. this we learnt later. first, we learnt to recognise them through their chemical properties .
it is amazing that whenever we look, the earth ,the moon and the stars or interstellar and intergalactic space is the very same Limited list of elements are found .
the richness we see on our planet is all derived from the multitude of ways in which these elements combine .
this includes oceans, rocks and little Hills And The Mighty Himalayas .
besides, it also includes all things living - the fantastic world of plants and flowers as also of butterflies and babies . tens of millions of species on earth are all ultimately made up of stuff we are familiar with .
the magic comes from differences in structure and architecture . much of this structure is the result of forces whose nature we now understand reasonably well .
this also includes the question "why has nature been constraint to have only 92 elements and not just 20, or as many as 500 "? There are no real exceptions to the rules that govern the world of things we have encountered . perhaps that is not strictly true but almost show .
we cannot fully understand do not post and ultimate violation but only represent our current inability to comprehend and calculate .
so now, let us move to question ;
how did all these things come into being?
The variety they represent does not appear to be arbitrary .there is a deep related - Ness .
therefore, the process of creation also cannot be arbitrary .
Our broad understanding in this regard is the following :
We know by now that given enough concentration of energy, various forms of matter, such as protons neutrons ,electrons etc can be created and can transmute into Each Other .
Einstein proved that theoretically exactly 100 years ago and this is now well established in a large number of experiments .
the ratio of particles produced depends on the details of interactions and of subsequent decay interactions .
we now understand a great deal in this regard, through decades of theory - making and experiments .
the question arises as to what are the conditions and sources of such concentrations of energy?
One of the moments where conditions might have existed was the moment of the big bang ,hypothesized to exist at the "beginning" of the universe .
it might also be possible under special conditions involving high concentrations of mass , a scenario favoured by scientist who are not happy with the Big Bang hypothesis .
one should not be too worried about the availability of energy, because it can be shown that the positive energy of the particles produced is balanced by the negative gravitational energy .
there is no Generally Accepted theory about the reason for the universe deciding to exist .
some people think that it was due to a Quantum fluctuation in space time! If all this is a little baffling do not feel to unhappy .
scientists are still struggling with some of these aspects . but a lot about evolution of matter and energy in subsequent epochs is well understood . we think that the light elements, like deuterium, Helium Lithium and beryllium were produced in the super hot stage like the Big Bang .
the heavier elements were synthesized through thermonuclear reactions inside stars and those heavier than iron during supernova explosion of the stars .
stars can be considered as element manufacturing factory ; they also produces heat, light and other forms of energy as a byproduct .
our sun is one such element manufacturing factory . all this is not just science fiction or a loose story ,The interactions involved and other aspects of Stellar structure and evolution are fairly well understood .
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