CERN, the most advanced physics laboratory on earth, announced on July 2012 that they had found a particle that behaved like the Higgs boson, a particle predicted almost 50 years ago to exist. This discovery has brought with it the possibility that the Higgs boson may be responsible for all the mass in the universe and that if it does really exist scientists can unravel the mystery and origins of the universe a little more.

Until the 18th century there was no precise distinction between philosophers and scientists. Philosophy and science merged when the ancient philosophers shaped science and improved scientific methods as we know today. Confucius, Plato, Aristotle, Avicenna (Ibn-i Sina) and Descartes are a few of the greatest known philosophers in history. Most of the prospering scientists in different disciplines have been inspired by their works. For instance, Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilee, Isaac Newton, James Clerk Maxwell and Albert Einstein, all highly regarded physicists, were heavily influenced by the works of ancient philosophers. All of the aforementioned physicists tried to understand the physical laws that governed energy, time, and space. Even now, modern physicists are still trying to answer some of the most important questions: What is the nature of the universe and what is it made of? Are there undiscovered physical laws of nature? Are there extra dimensions of space? How can we solve the mystery of dark energy?

Today, in order to understand the composition of matter and how the universe was created, the most prominent particle and high energy physicists are designing huge particle accelerators and detectors. Particle accelerators, also known as atom smashers, are devices that use electromagnetic fields to propel a group of charged particles (ions) to high speeds and collides them with other moving particles or a stationary target composed of a bunch of particles (http://public.web.cern.ch). Particle detectors (radiation detectors) are used to detect, track, visualize and identify particles produced from reactions in accelerators. Scientists analyze the results of the collisions and try to understand interactions between the basic constituents of matter. This is the basis of understanding the components of the universe. The largest and most complex of these scientific instruments is located at CERN, the most advanced physics laboratory on earth. Egin Lillestol, a particle physicist from the University of Bergen (Norway), says that [1] there is nothing quite like CERN anywhere else on earth.

What does CERN stand for? CERN is the French acronym of Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire which means European Council for Nuclear Research. It was founded in 1954. It attracts physicists and engineers from all over the world. According to CERN’s sources, half of the world’s particle physicists, about ten thousand scientists, are either doing active research or visiting there. They all work together toward their common goals of advancing technology, answering questions for better understanding the material world and training future scientists. CERN has also seen the development of many practical scientific applications other than those involved with high energy and particle physics. For instance, the world-wide-web was invented at CERN to allow international scientists to communicate and share their ideas more easily. From 1954 to present, scientists at CERN have received Nobel Prizes in Physics including Sam Ting, Burt Richter, Jack Steinberg and Georges Charpak.

CERN hosts the largest and highest energy particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which is twenty-seven kilometers in circumference and about one hundred meters under the ground. The LHC enables scientists to collide two groups of particles such as protons and lead ions. Physicists analyze and study the particles that are created in the collisions to study conditions just after the Big Bang, the phenomenon that is believed to form the universe 13.7 billion years ago. Many people in the world are looking forward to see the results the LHC will be producing.

CERN: Black holes

Some people have expressed concerns about the safety of the collider at CERN. The biggest concern is whether or not an atom-smasher as big as the LHC could create black holes and destroy the earth. In 2003, LHC Safety Assessment Group (LSAG) reported that the possible production of vacuum bubbles, magnetic monopoles and magnetic black holes at the LHC have no real risk. However, concerns about the safety of creating micro black holes in such a high energy particle accelerator have surfaced in the media for many years. Some media sites claimed that a black hole would be formed and destroy everything. Others announced that the LHC might cause earthquakes. According to the administrator of lhcfacts.org, a website in which scientists discuss the lack of safety at the LHC, the possibility of creating a micro black hole at CERN cannot be ignored, and there are two predictions about what that micro hole would be: according to the more optimistic outcome, the micro black hole evaporates before becoming a threat. According to the second prediction, however, the hole could grow quickly and endanger Earth. Eventually, the LSAG finished the discussion by reaffirming and publishing a second review which reports:

“The possibility of creating micro black holes at the LHC is at the rate of the order of one per second. These are harmless because they would quickly decay by hawking radiation (thermal radiation) according to standard calculations. They decay before even reaching the detector.”

Moreover, these kind of events, even with higher energies than those created in any man-made atom smasher, occur naturally and routinely in the universe. For example, ultra high energy cosmic rays (particles created in outer-space) come into contact with Earth’s atmosphere without any hazardous consequences. In brief, American physicist Karen D. Camarda said “If anything bad was going to happen, nature would have already done it.”

CERN: Higgs Boson

Another case which has dominated world news headlines mid-2012 was the Higgs boson, otherwise known as the “God particle.” What exactly is the Higgs boson and why is it called the God particle? The Higgs boson is a yet undiscovered particle which is taught to be a mechanism for how subatomic particles acquire mass. Most likely, it has a mass between the regions 115-130 GeV of energy. The Higgs mechanism was postulated by British physicist Peter Higgs in 1960s. The theory hypothesizes that the Higgs field, a kind of three dimensional frameworks, fills the universe. A particle borrows mass from the Higgs field when it moves through it. This is similar to the process that an electron undergoes as it gains mass when it passes through a positively charged crystal lattice of atoms. The “God particle” was coined as a nickname of the Higgs boson after Nobel prize winning physicist Leon Lederman published his popular science book in 1993 with the title of The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question? Lederman said he gave the particle this nickname because it is “so central to the state of physics today, so crucial to our understanding of the structure of matter” [2]. To explain further, the term “God particle” is more applicable to marketing than to science and theology. According to many scientists, calling it the “God particle” is inappropriate because it does not have any connection with God or any religion. Many wonder what will happen if scientists find the Higgs boson. Brad Hirschfield, President of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership said in his article [3] in The Washington Post:

“While not exactly a theory of creation, finding the God Particle would bring us closer to an understanding of the fundamental processes that govern physical existence.”

Furthermore, some scientists admit that exploration in this field will be far from over even after the Higgs boson is found. Instead, the discovery will open doors to newer and more complex questions. For instance, Michio Kaku, the co-founder of String Theory, asserts [4] that finding the Higgs boson is not enough. He says that “we are at the beginning, not the end of physics. The adventure continues.” In spite of these sentiments, some people, including myself, believe that the discovery of the Higgs boson might reveal a very large missing piece in the physics puzzle.

Acknowledgment: This article is produced at Mergeous [5], an online article and project development service for authors and publishers dedicated to the advancement of technologies in the merging realms of science and religion.

Kara is a freelance pop-sci writer pursuing a PhD in Physics.

References

[1] CERN, “A Unique Experience,” http://user.web.cern.ch/

[2] Lederman, Leon M. 1993. The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question?: A Tale of Two Particles and the Ultimate T-Shirt, Bantam Doubleday Publishing Group.

[3] Hirschfield, Brad. 2011. “The ‘God Particle’ and God,” The Washington Post.

[4] Kaku, Michio. 2011. “The ‘God Particle’ and the Origins of the Universe,” The Wall Street Journal.

[5] Mergeous, Online article and project development platform, http://www.mergeous.com

[11] DOE/NSF, High Energy Physics Advisory Panel, Quantum Universe, The Revolution in 23st Century Particle Physics, 2003.

The world may not have ended on December 21, 2012, but that does not mean it won’t end at all. So what will be the force that will disperse this robust system of ours, rendering all forces including gravity obsolete, and forcing the sun and planets out of their orbits?

The universe contains billions of heavenly systems that travel interdependently in a perfect and harmonious fashion. What could be the obvious cause or force that could disrupt this great arrangement, deorbit the stars and planets, and make every other force ineffective including gravity? If we ponder upon the verses of the Holy Qur’an, “When the sun is folded up (and darkened). And when the stars fall (losing their luster)” (At-Takwir, 81:1−2), “And when the heaven is torn away (with all the truths becoming manifest)” (At-Takwir, 81:11) with our current cosmological advances, will Black holes be the cause that will likely destroy the Sun and even devour the light of stars so that they are unable to function?

Black holes are considered to have the potential to cause a universal apocalypse. It seems plausible that with such gravitational power of Black holes, mountains would be casted away, and magma displacement via volcanic eruptions could lead to major earthquakes. There are a couple of recent geologic studies pointing out the possibility that the gravity of the sun and moon play a role in development of earthquakes. The 7-8 meter rise in seas and 35-40 cm rise in land caused by lunar and solar eclipses are considered to be a possible factor among many factors that triggers an earthquake. Earthquakes of 12-15 Richter scale magnitude can occur because of the gravitational force of Black holes. The biggest earthquake ever recorded was of 9.2 magnitude; such that if it happens again, it can lead to a major catastrophe in a very short time.

Let’s not forget that we are residing on a globe filled with fire in its center. Gases that make up the atmosphere are held only with help of planetary gravity. One of the forces that will boil all the waters away and let all the gases escape the planet could be Black hole gravitation. The air in our atmosphere and resulting “air pressure” can be destroyed by Black hole gravity. Oceans would start boiling violently and then might evaporate off the planet. In this case, living things would suffer severe structural damages since all life forms are composed mostly of water (~70%). That is why astronauts wear a special space suit filled with air made up of normal atmospheric pressure when they leave the atmosphere. We should also keep in mind that trillions of heavenly bodies (asteroids, meteors, and comets) located in the two asteroid belts (Orion and Kuiper) may be freed from their gravitational control by the vacuum impact of the Black hole, causing colossal cosmic collisions.

The disruption of gravitational balance

There is a sensitive relationship between the elements of the universe, such as electromagnetic, nuclear forces and an apocalypse may result from a disruption of these.

According to the general relativity theory, the time-space plane can be rolled or wrinkled up like a paper. The gravitational force of black holes can cause the displacement of stars which are interconnected through weak web of attractions. As if a piece of net takes a specific shape when loaded with heavy objects, the web of space-time, also known as the cosmos, could be distorted and even torn apart by black holes with their infinite mass “sitting” in it. This is a characteristic of black holes. A possible explanation for this might be that via elimination of common physical laws, the black hole region could become the gateway to metaphysical dimensions. Cosmos of space and time is described as strong-built, fracture-free in the Qur’an; “You do not see any fault or incongruity in the creation of the all Merciful. Look yet again: can you see any rifts?” (Al-Mulk, 67:3). However, in verses about the apocalypse, cosmic fractures that will occur is constantly repeated; “Day will come, land to be transformed into another, skies to be converted into others” (Ibrahim, 14:48)”On the day when the earth is changed into another earth, and the heavens (also)” (Abraham, 14:48), ”And the sky split asunder, and so, on that day it will be most frail” (Al-Haqqah, 69:16), and “The sky will cleft open thereby” (Al-Muzzammil, 73:18). We can conclude from these verses that new heavens would be created from these “fractures.”

The way that doomsday will actually take place is in the knowledge and control of Our Creator who executes these acts and maintains the order of the universe. Approaches and conclusions made with current physical and cosmic sciences will enable a better understanding of the verses related to doomsday.

The Sun rising in the West and the apocalypse

Can a comet or a planet change the direction of the earth’s rotation by colliding with it? Can the earth change direction and start to rotate from East to West instead of West to East? A catastrophic event like this may cause colossal destruction and end the lives of many organisms. As a matter of fact, a comet impact in recent years was detected to slow down the rotational speed of planet Jupiter.

Venus is a mysterious planet on many levels. For example it rotates in the opposite direction compared to other planets. Sun rises in the West on Jupiter. Dense rock and dust layers of Venusian atmosphere is theorized to be formed as a result of a collision, and because of this collision, it is thought to have started spinning in the opposite direction. A day in Venus is longer than a year. In other words Venus revolves around the Sun faster than it rotates around itself.

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi explains the sun rising in the West rather metaphorically as follows:

“While God knows best, the Qur’an, which is in effect the intellect of the earth, will disappear from its head at the end of time and, as a result, the earth will go mad. With Divine leave, it will collide with another planet and its rotation will be reversed. Through Divine Will, its journey from west to east will be reversed from east to west, and the sun will start to rise in the west. Truly, if the gravity of the Qur’an, which is the firm rope of God that binds the earth to the sun and the ground to the Divine Supreme Throne, is broken, the tether holding the earth will come unfastened. The earth will consequently become dizzy and deranged: on account of the reversal of its usual motion, the sun will rise in the west. Through its collision with another planet, Doomsday will begin at the Divine command.” (The Rays, p. 365)

Whichever way the earth comes to an end, even if the universe is not destroyed by an external destructive event, an apocalypse is foretold as something that will eventually happen with some mind-blowing descriptions in the Qur’an. What science speaks of black holes and other astrophysical possibilities in the universe seems to confirm these descriptions:

When the sun is folded up, and when the stars fall, and when the mountains are set moving. (At-Takwir, 81:1-3)
When heaven is cleft open, and when the stars fall in disorder and are scattered, and when the seas burst forth. (At-Taqwir, 81:1-3)

Water has a vital role in maintaining the life of the cell. For example, 70% of the human body consists of water; also, approximately 70% of the earth is formed of water. Chemical reactions happening inside cells take place in liquid environments; in other words, life activities have been made to depend on water.

While water has such a vital importance for creatures, is there any living being that can live without water? The answer to this question is yes. For example, the African Lungfish (Protopterus), which is created with this special quality, can live without water for four years in hard times.

It is well-known that bears go into hibernation as a result of a God-given instinct during the winter cold. Storing necessary energy as fat in their bodies in order not to freeze, decreasing their body metabolism to the minimum rate, and being guided to choose a place to be protected from the cold during winter hibernation are important features bestowed on these living beings.

Another special features bestowed on some animals is the capacity for summer hibernation. This sleep is a marvelous quality that enables some animals to be able to live in hot and dry climates. Summer hibernation is the process of spending very hot summer days between sleep and lethargy in order to handle hard circumstances. A kind of silence is felt in the whole of nature during the extremely hot months of summer. This silence is caused by animals being in their summer sleep. Lungfish is one of those animals. There are various types of lungfish around the world: Queensland Lungfish (Neoceratodus forsteri), which is as long as 6 feet and which lives in the Burnett and Mary rivers in Australia; African Lungfish living Central Africa; 6 feet long Protopterus aethiopicus; 4 feet long P.dolloi; P. amphibious, which is written to be longer than 13 feet in some records; and Lepidosiren paradoxa living in South America.

Quite a lot is known about the summer sleep of the lungfish in Africa (Dipnoi). When the river water which flows from the treasures of God’s mercy is withdrawn during the summer months, the lungfish, which sink into wet clay by God-given instict, wait for a drawn back of water in a state of lethargy with having very low metabolisms. The fishes open a hole for themselves on the mud (down rivers and lakes) when rivers and lakes start to dry. When the mud goes into a drying process, specially featured mucous membrane that are put onto fishes’ skins start to work fast and fishes’ bodies are covered by a secreted mucus-like adhesive substance like a water-resistant cocoon. Fishes can stay alive by sleeping about 7-8 months during deadly summer hots with the amount of accumulated water inside cocoons. Although many fishes obtain the necessary oxygen through their gills, lungfish are created with an interesting special feature. The thin membrane bladders (gas bladders) that are responsible for regulating water level in other fishes are organized into a kind of breathing organ in the lungfishes by equipping with large amount of blood vessels in order to perform like lungs. God the Almighty can make different organs (analog organ) perform similar tasks as He does make similar organs (homolog organ) perform different tasks. None of these organs, which are created as the manifestation of God’s eternal knowledge and omnipotence, are characterized as being developed by their own through coincidental mutations. In contrast, every organ is created in the most appropriate character and capability to ensure maintenance of animals’ lives in the best way. Otherwise, we had to imagine those fishes that could know dry season with every aspects and that have the capacity and knowledge to change their organs as they want.

How do the fishes living in a water-resistant and durable cocoon obtain the necessary oxygen for themselves? The hole kept inside mud is used to get oxygen when oxygen inside cocoon reduced. The cocoon’s membrane made from mucus protects the little amount of water around the fish in mud but does not block the oxygen transition. While the dried mud works like a turbot against sun lights, the hole on the wall is kept. The lungfishes shrink around 1 inch during the summer sleep, since they use (burn) some of their fat and muscle tissue. When rains start and water fills lakes and rivers, the mud turbot that keeps lungfish dissolves; and the lungfish starts to continue its normal life in water.

When the sky is cleft asunder; And when the planets are dispersed, and when the oceans are poured forth. (Infitar 82:1-3)

The events that are to occur on the Day of Judgment are clearly depicted in the Qur’an. The relevant verses emphasize that the Day of Judgment is not an ending that will only involve the Earth, but one which will also incorporate other planets on a universal scale.

Insofar as causes are concerned, what could be the force that will be able to disperse a robust system, rendering all forces including gravity obsolete and forcing planets and stars out of their orbits?

The following verses seem to imply that this force will also affect “lustrous” heavenly bodies:

When the sun is folded up, and when the stars fall losing their luster; and when the mountains are set moving. (Takwir 81:1-3)

For the word kuwwirat (folded up) in the verse “When the sun is folded up,” the famous scholar Fakhreddin Razi, in concordance with a narration from the third Caliph Umar, interprets this word to mean “to darken by expunging light.” Now, how could Divine Predestination operate on the physical world, in the folding and collection of light? In the past few years, scientists have been pondering the possibility of the gravitational power of black holes in accomplishing such a role. As we know, even light, alongside matter, cannot resist the irrepressible gravitation of the black hole.

The events depicted in the verses given above may be, with the will of the Creator, dependent on the gravitational power of black holes.

It is a fact that we’re sitting on a sphere of fire, as we speak, and the gases that constitute the atmosphere are held above the Earth by the force of gravity. With the impact of the strong force of gravity however, the air we breathe will be the first thing to vanish from the Earth’s atmosphere. Thus, with the disappearance of external pressure on such an occasion, internal pressure will gain ascendance in all creatures, who are composed predominantly of water (70%), causing them to shatter into pieces.

Along with other planets, the gravitational bonds of billions of stars (asteroids, meteors and comets) found on the two asteroid zones of the Solar System, all of which are sustained by Divine Power, will perhaps be torn apart with the force of black holes.

The geometrical gravity balances could perhaps also play a role in setting the Day of Judgment in motion. As can be observed in the General Theory of Relativity, the space-time levelness of the universe could, to quote the Qur’an, be folded and scrunched akin to a piece of paper, in which case, the stars, having been moved out of their places, will plummet from their positions.

Similar to how a cloth or net is elongated or pulled down under the impact of heavy objects, the universe (the net of space-time) will also stretch and yield, and in fact rip and crack, or more precisely be punctured, from the dense objects placed inside it, that is the black holes. The puncture, in this case, denotes the invalidation of physical laws.

It can be assumed that the black holes, placed at the center of the universe, will gradually expand, until the entire galaxy virtually becomes a black hole, and with the unification of every black hole, the whole universe will effectively be rendered a black hole itself.

When the camel goes through the eye of the needle…

Those who deny our revelations and scorn them, for them the gates of heaven will not be opened nor will they enter the Garden until the camel goes through the eye of the needle. Such is how we penalize the guilty! (A’raf 7:40)

A camel going through the eye of a needle calls to mind how the universal bodies will be passed through the singularity, the tiny openings of black holes. This comparison is reminiscent of how a giant sphere that comes within the swallowing vicinity of the black hole, may become stretched out to the point of becoming a virtual string, eventually becoming ingested by an object much smaller than itself.

A star, hundreds of thousands times bigger than the sun, could be reduced to the head of a needle once it begins to be warped by the black holes, phenomena in which space and time themselves are compelled to twist and turn.

The central area where the gravity force of the black hole is at its peak is described as “the event horizon.” The black holes could in fact be passages that allow us to enter other universes. In such a situation, we can hypothetically evaluate what will become of an astronaut who falls into a black hole.

We align our watches in correspondence with the astronaut’s, and bid him farewell towards the event horizon. As the astronaut approaches the event horizon where gravity gradually increases, we notice his watch is starting to operate more slowly. In the vicinity of the event horizon of a black hole the size of our sun, while our watches indicate that 1 second has passed, the astronaut’s watch will show that 3.3 seconds have passed, as time, where he is, flows much slower.

As our astronaut draws near to the event horizon, the 33 seconds indicated by his watch (10 times slower than before) will be equivalent again to our 1 second, and when he eventually and completely enters the event horizon, time will have frozen, halting the disparity between each second.

How would the space traveler perceive this hypothetical journey?

Not only will the space traveler become cognizant of the slower elapse of time, he may also witness an elongation of his body as he draws nearer to the event horizon. Since the force of gravity will take more of a toll on the extremities, that is the head and the feet, by the time the astronaut asks the question “What is happening?” he would already have begun to be extended like a string. The passing second for the astronaut progressively approaching the event horizon, will begin to become one month or one year later in the Universe. A pace away from the horizon the entire future of the Universe will fit into a single second of the astronaut, who, by now, is swiftly being pulled in to the point of singularity, finding himself on the other side. In this area, the Special Relativity Theory, essentially based on the thesis that the velocity of light is absolute velocity, i.e. the greatest velocity in the Universe, loses its validity, in that, as one approaches the singularity, the gravitational force affecting the astronaut or space ship will become so intense that the actual speed will surpass the velocity of light itself. Thus, the tangibility of a velocity greater than that of light will render all principles of causality obsolete, during which a regressive journey in time becomes practically possible. The interpretations of this issue are as such: A person plummeting into the well of singularity may live the whole history of the universe in the blink of an eye. They now have become a time traveler; the present, past, and future are all presented to their vision. As if passing through the eye of a needle, they may have passed through to another universe.

Imam Ghazzali, while interpreting the verses concerning the Day of Judgment, in his epistle Kashf al-Ulum al-Akhirah, puts the accent on Universal cessation:

“When God wills the commencement of the Judgment with the blowing of the Horn, you will see the mountains flying and moving about like clouds, seas amalgamating with one another, the Sun folded and being blacked out, the stars scattering around like beads disengaged from their strings, the sky rotating ferociously like a millstone, the ground trembling terrifyingly, stretching and expanding like leather. In that God will decree the dismissal of the orbits and no living thing will remain alive on earth or in the heavens. The spirited will surrender their spirits. The Earth and Heavens will be availed of their inhabitants.”

Said Nursi, alternatively, lays emphasis on the deterioration of the finely tuned connections, such as gravity, electromagnetic and nuclear forces, etc., attaching universal entities together, depicting the Day of Judgment in the following words:

“Consider the Qur’anic description of the minute and precise interrelationship of the universe’s constituent parts. Consider their sublime and delicate organization into a system. If any heavenly body were told to leave its axis, the universe would be thrown into the throes of death. Stars would collide, planets would be scattered, and the sound of exploding spheres would fill space. Mountains would begin to move, and Earth would be flattened. Eternal Power will bring about the next life in just this way, and the elements of Paradise and Hell will be separated from each other.”1

Regardless of how the Armageddon occurs, Nursi asserts that what has been repeatedly highlighted by the Qur’an will be realized:

“If the universe is not destroyed by an external destructive event, with the Eternal Will’s permission, it eventually will begin to die. Even scientists say this. According to the Qur’an, it will give a sharp cry, and then the following things will happen:

When the sun is folded up, and when the stars fall losing their luster; and when the mountains are set moving. (Takwir, 81:1-3)

When the sky is cleft asunder; and when the planets are dispersed, and when the oceans are poured forth. (Infitar 82:1-3)”2

Our aim here is to evaluate the incredible events miraculously foretold by the Qur’an from the cognitive perspective bestowed upon us by God through contemporary sciences and to gain broader points of view. Only God, however, can know the exact form of present and future events.

Notes

1. Nursi, Said. The Words, The Light, Inc., New Jersey: 2005, p. 546.

2. Ibid, p. 545.

The appeal of the Golden Ratio to the human eye and brain has been scientifically tested. When subjects are presented with a range of rectangles, people invariably pick out as most pleasing ones those whose sides are of the Golden Ratio. This golden number is the basic number at work in aesthetics; there are even claims that the Golden Ratio was used by Leonardo da Vinci when painting the Mona Lisa, and by the Greeks in building the Parthenon. But the surprising thing is that a number deemed aesthetically pleasing by human beings also crops up in nature and science. In a newly published article in Physical Review B, it is stated that the Golden Ratio appears in the structures of some metals. The Golden Ratio is seen in the arrangement of seeds on flower heads, in the spirals of sea shells and galaxies, even in black holes. This ratio can be found almost everywhere in the universe.

Although the Greek mathematician Euclid first defined the Golden Ratio in around 300 BC, the followers of Pythagoras probably knew of it two centuries earlier. Euclid defined it as a line that can be divided into two unequal parts (Figure 1), where the ratio of the smaller part of the line to the longer part is the same as the ratio of the longer part to the whole. This ratio is 1.6180339887…, the Golden Number.

What makes the Golden Ratio special is the number of mathematical properties it possesses. The Golden Ratio is the only number whose square can be produced simply by adding 1 and the reciprocal of which can be arrived at by subtracting 1. If you take a Golden Rectangle – that is a rectangle where the length-to-breadth ratio is equal to the Golden Ratio, and take out a square, what remains is another, smaller Golden Rectangle. Also, think of any two numbers. Make a third by adding the first and second, a fourth by adding the second and third, and so on. If you start with 7 and 11, then what you have is:

7, 11, 18, 29, 47, 76… When you have written down approximately 20 numbers, calculate the ratio of the last to the penultimate: the answer should approximate the Golden Number.

In mathematical terminology it is (an/an-1) equals to the Golden Ratio.

Another example of the Golden Ratio is the Fibonacci Numbers, that is a number series where each number is simply the sum of the previous two numbers. These numbers are 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55… The ratio between any two successive Fibonacci numbers approaches the Golden Ratio as the numbers get larger. We can find the Fibonacci series particularly in the spirals of sea shells and in the arrangement of seeds on sunflower heads.

It was the elusive nature of the Golden Ratio that led the Italian friar and mathematician Luca Pacioli to equate it with the incomprehensibility of God. In the 15th century, he wrote a three-volume treatise, Divina Proportione (Divine Proportion), that was crucial in the dissemination of the Golden Ratio beyond the world of mathematics. After him, many artists, architects, and musicians used the Golden Ratio in their works; for example, musicians such as Debussy and Bartok and the architect Le Corbusier.

Let’s examine the arrangement of leaves on the stem of the plant Phyllotaxis. As each new leaf grows, it does so at an angle offset from the leaf below. The most common angle between successive leaves is 137.5 degrees – the Golden Angle; 137.5=3d 360-360/G, where G is the Golden Ratio. Why does the Golden Ratio play a role in the arrangement of leaves? It is all down to the irrationality of the number. A new leaf must collect sunlight without throwing too much of a shadow on the leaves below. A plant must arrange its leaves in such a way that the greatest number can spiral around the stem before a new leaf can sprout immediately above a lower one – that is at 360 degrees. If the leaves were arranged at an angle of 120 degrees, then the leaves would grow as 3 separate columns with large gaps between them. This would effectively block out the sunlight to the lower leaves. If the angle were 50 degrees, then there would be spaces between the leaves. But, with an angle of 137.5, the maximum amount of leaves can be arranged with a minimum of space being left between the leaves.

The Golden Ratio also crops up in hard sciences. Let’s take a look at the growth of “quasi-crystals.” These maintain a five-fold symmetry, which means that they make a pattern that looks the same when rotated by multiples of one-fifth of 360 degrees. Since the time when these crystals were discovered in 1984, many physicists have been researching their properties. In Brookhaven National Lab in New York State, Tanhong Cai imaged the microscopic terrain of the surface of such crystals made from alloys of aluminum-copper-iron and aluminum-palladium-manganese. It is found that flat terraces are punctuated by abrupt vertical steps. The steps come in two predominant sizes, with the ratio of the heights of these two steps being the Golden Ratio. This fact was discovered in 2002.

The most surprising place where the Golden Ratio appears is in black holes, a discovery made by Paul Davies of the University of Adelaide in 1989. Black holes and other self-gravitating bodies, such as the sun, have a negative specific heat. This means that they get hotter as they lose heat. In a spinning black hole there is an outward centrifugal force acting to prevent any shrinkage of the hole. The force depends on how fast the black hole is spinning. It turns out that at a critical value of the spin (when the ratio between the square root of the mass value and the square root of the spinning parameter is equal to the golden ratio), a black hole flips from having negative to positive specific heat. In other words, the Golden Ratio determines the character of the black hole.

Figure 2 shows the finger bones of a hand. The ratio of each bone at the top of the hand to the bones at the bottom of the fingers is the Golden Ratio. Pine-cones show the Golden Ratio spiral clearly (Figure 3). If one looks carefully at an ordinary cauliflower, one can see a center point where the florets are smallest, and the florets are organized in spirals around this center in both directions (Figure 4). The flower, Echinacea Purpura, has the same spirals (Figure 5).

With the help of developing science, new examples of the Golden Ratio are waiting to be discovered in the universe. The latest discoveries demonstrate that by using this ratio in technology, new products which make our lives easier will soon be available to all. This mystery that is spread throughout the universe may be an opportunity to renew and change our points of view on life.

Reference

• Chown, Marcus, “Why Should Nature Have a Favorite Number,” New Scientist, 21-28 December 2002, 55-56.

Every soul shall have a taste of death (Quran 3:185). Like everything else, stars live and die. Would it make any difference if you knew that the iron in your blood and the calcium in your bones had been assembled inside stars? Atoms heavier than iron are formed by rapid nuclear reactions that can only occur when a massive star explodes. Gold, which is not crucial for our lives, and iodine, which is important for our health, are available, thanks to the violent deaths of massive stars.

The death of a star leads to one of three final states. Most stars, including our Sun, will become white dwarfs, stars about the size of the Earth, with no usable fuels. But the most massive stars explode and leave extraordinary objects behind; either a neutron star or a black hole.

The Sun resists its own gravity by generating energy through nuclear fusion. Under extreme conditions, four hydrogen atoms are combined to form a helium atom, and the mass difference between these atoms are converted to energy which can be calculated by Einsteins famous equation, E=mc², where m is the amount of mass converted to energy and c is the speed of light. In 4.5 billion years, the Sun will exhaust the fuel, hydrogen and helium stored in its core. This will start the chain of events that will result in its death. Since it will not be able to generate any energy to balance the huge weight of its outer layers, it will collapse. This will result in an increase in the temperature around its core. This temperature increase in the shell around the core will start new reactions which will produce excess amounts of energy. This extra energy will cause the Sun to expand and become a red giant. Its size will increase to such an extent that it will swallow Mercury and Venus, and maybe even our planet, Earth. As a giant star, it will have a strong solar wind that carries gas into space. Eventually, it will lose its outer layers, and produce a beautiful planetary nebula.¹ Soon the remains of the Sun will collapse and form a very compact object; a white dwarf. Imagine squeezing the Sun into a planet the size of the Earth. Gravity on a white dwarf is 10 million times greater than it is on Earth. Thus, a person weighing 150 pounds will weigh 1.5 billion pounds on a white dwarf. The white dwarf will burn 100 times fainter than our Sun; if the Earth survives the red giant phase, it will fall into a deadly deep freeze, and would not be a pleasant place to live.²

Medium mass stars, like the Sun, die relatively quietly as they exhaust their fuel and form white dwarfs. In contrast, massive stars live spectacular lives and destroy themselves in violent explosions. Massive stars have too great a mass to die as white dwarfs. They consume hydrogen and become red giants, but unlike the medium mass stars, their core temperature is high enough, about 1 billion degrees, to ignite carbon fusion. After they fuse carbon, they burn oxygen, neon, and magnesium to make silicon and sulfur, and then the silicon fuses to make iron. Iron is the most tightly bound of all atomic nuclei. Nuclear fusion is able to produce energy by combining less tightly bound nuclei into a more tightly bound nucleus, but iron is the limit. Once the core of the star has been converted to iron, there are no nuclear reactions that can burn iron and release the energy. Thus, the iron core is a dead end. The iron core sucks energy from the rest of the star. Since the star cannot produce any energy, it cannot resist its own gravity. In a fraction of a second, the star collapses in on itself. The collapsing core of the massive star quickly becomes a neutron star or a black hole. This collapse happens so rapidly that our most powerful computers are unable to predict the details. The envelope of the star collapses and bounces back off the dense core, which triggers a violent supernova explosion that expels the outer layers of the star to form an expanding supernova remnant. This explosion enriches the neighboring media with iron and other metals. If you throw a water balloon at your friend, your friend will get wet. Massive stars are not water balloons, but they are iron, silver, and metal balloons. When they explode, they seed the interstellar medium³ with metals. If there had not been a massive star death near our solar system when the Sun and the Earth were forming, our solar system would be iron-poor, and we would not be living today. Massive stars die so that we might live. The Quranic verse We have sent down iron, with its mighty strength and diverse uses for mankind (57:25) sheds light on this fact 14 centuries before it was discovered. Only in the past century, with the utilization of modern telescopes, have we had evidence of this. Nursi explained the above verse as iron is sent down together with the globe of the Earth from the Supreme Treasury, as a tremendous bounty. That is to say, the thing most necessary for the house of the Earth is iron, for when the All-Glorious Creator separated the Earth from the Sun and sent it down for mankind, He sent down iron together with it, and met most of mankinds needs with it. The All-Wise Quran decrees in a miraculous fashion: Use this iron in your works and try to excavate it and take advantage of it.⁴

A neutron star, on average, is 1.4 times more massive than the Sun, and is compressed to a radius of about 6 miles. Its density is so high that matter is stable only as a fluid of neutrons. An atom is mostly empty space. The nucleus of an atom is very small compared to the size of the atom. If we represent the nucleus of an atom with a blueberry, then the distance between the nucleus and the electrons would be as great as the height of the Empire State building. If you could eliminate the empty space in atoms, you would be able to squeeze stars larger than the Sun into a radius of about 6 miles (the radius of a neutron star). A neutron star spins several times a second, and has a magnetic field a trillion times stronger than that of the Earth. Observational evidence for neutron stars was first found in 1967 when astronomers found a neutron star (pulsar) rotating around itself in 1.3 seconds and sending radio pulses to Earth. If you have a large enough antenna, you can pick up periodic radio signals from pulsars. On Earth, a teaspoon of the material from a neutron star would weigh 100 million tons.

Another scenario for the end product of the death of a massive star is a black hole. When the core of a star contains more than 3 times the mass of the Sun no known force can stop it when it collapses. The object will not stop collapsing when it reaches the size of a white dwarf or a neutron star, because the electrons or neutrons cannot support the weight of the star. The object will collapse to zero radius (or almost zero radius) and form a black hole. Objects need high speeds to be able to leave another object, to be able to resist falling back due to the gravitational pull of the other object. For example, a space shuttle must reach a speed of 11.2 km/s to to be able to leave the gravitational pull of the Earth in order to go into space. Gravity is so strong near black holes that the escape speed from a black hole is greater than the speed of light. Thus, even light cannot escape; this is the reason why these phenomena are called black holes.

As an object collapses, its gravity increases. If it collapses to zero radius, its density and gravity become infinite. Such a point is called a singularity. Clocks slow down near a singularity. If we were able to watch a person falling into a black hole, we would see them moving more slowly as they came closer to the black hole. In fact, the person would never disappear from sight. From where we were standing, this person would fall more and more slowly, until finally they would hardly seem to move at all. Generations later, our grandchildren would be able to look at this friend approaching the black hole, but never crossing the event horizon (the boundary of the black hole). Black holes are not giant vacuum cleaners that will pull in everything in the universe. A black hole has a huge gravity pull, but its force is quite small if you are not near it. If the sun were replaced by a black hole of a similar mass, the orbits of the planets in our solar system would not change at all. The gravity of a black hole becomes extreme only when approached. There are many black holes in the universe, but they do not pose any threat for us as long as we stay away from them. Next time you advise your children to stay away from strangers, remember to tell them to stay away from black holes, as well.

Footnotes

1. A planetary nebula is an expanding shell of gas ejected from a star, and it has nothing to do with planets.
2. Seeds, M.A., Horizons: Exploring the Universe, 2002, Brooks/Cole
3. The gas and dust between stars.
4. Nursi, S., Flashes, Sozler Yayinevi, 28th Flash