Part 2
In this series of articles the most popular scientific topics have been selected. Each article deals with a particular topic, followed by one or two relevant Qur’anic verses. The general idea of this exercise is to show that the scientific information in the Qur’an is not the result of human imagination, but comes from a transcendent intelligence.
The origin of the universe according to science
Introduction
Since the dawn of time, man has wondered about the mystery of existence. Where do the stars come from? Who created the sun? How did life originate? Ancient cultures lacked scientific information. They were unable to explain natural phenomena which generated highly imaginative ideas. The oldest documented creation myth appeared in 2000 BC in Egypt. The deities arose from a primeval ocean: they mated with each other and produced offspring deities such as earth, sky, and ocean. A Chinese myth dating back to 600 B.C. C. affirms that the deity Phan Ku was born from an egg and created the world. When she died, her body played an important role in the creation of the earth and the sky. Her bones formed rock, her skull the dome-shaped sky, her blood the oceans, and her flesh the soil. We must respect people’s beliefs, but any reasonable person will agree that these are not satisfactory accounts of creation.
Big Bang Theory
Currently, the most widely accepted scientific explanation for the origin of the universe is based on what is known as the Big Bang model. He proposes that about 13.7 billion years ago the singularity (a dimensionless point of unimaginable compression and temperature) arose. This eruption created energy, matter, space and time. This was no ordinary explosion that occurred at a particular place in space and at a particular time. There was nothing before or rather beyond the singularity. The singularity explosion created space and time, signaled the beginning of space and time. As the singularity expanded, it cooled (expansion causes cooling while compression causes heat). As the temperature dropped, energy was transformed into matter, and matter itself underwent a series of transformations creating protons, neutrons, electrons, and other particles. These in turn interacted to form the simplest elements, hydrogen and helium, which make up more than 99 percent of the cosmic material. At this stage (a few minutes after the Big Bang), the universe is featureless and comprises a formless cloud of hydrogen and helium gas. There is a close interaction between protons, neutrons, electrons and photons (particles of light). This tight interaction traps the photons preventing them from flooding the cosmos with light. This makes the early universe opaque. An observer of the time would have perceived the universe as a sea of fog. For the next few hundred thousand years, the universe continues to expand and cool until half a million years after the Big Bang, when something dramatic happens. The universe is now cool enough (approximately 6,000 K, which is roughly equal to 6,000 degrees Celsius), allowing matter and light particles (photons) to decoupling. This releases the photons that stream in all directions lighting up the universe.
construction of structures
Local clouds of hydrogen and helium gas begin to collapse under the weight of their own gravity. As a cloud condenses and contracts, it heats up to a critical temperature, thermonuclear reactions begin, and the star ignites. Stars take millions of years to form: the first batch only emerged 400 million years after the Big Bang, and the young galaxies (star clusters) 400 million years later. Modern galaxies began to take shape 2 billion years after the Big Bang. Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, assumed its final form 10 billion years ago. About 5 billion years ago, our solar system became recognizable in one of the Milky Way’s spiral arms, and Earth formed about half a million years later. Gradually, the modern universe began to take shape. This, in a nutshell, is the essence of the Big Bang theory.
To be continued (The next article is about the proof of the Big Bang)