"Science" literally means "knowledge."
And our current knowledge tells us that our entire universe was once a super-dense point that exploded into the Big Bang. I marveled over that in a previous post, a long time ago.
Following this incredible event, sparked by who knows what -- God if you are a believer -- there was still nothing recognizable in the universe, not even the basic atoms that underlie all that we now see and experience. There were only tiny particles (is that the correct term?) which we call quarks. And then they began to bind to form neutrons and protons ... which would eventually lead to the formation of atoms.
So is anything smaller than a quark? This sort of thing is fascinating to me.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
How we got here
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8 comments:
me too
and I love the quirky names given to sub-atomic particles
a good read is The Elegant Universe about string theory...the lead up to it, explaining the science of the day, was well-written, illuminating
BANG!
I've never read The Elegant Universe -- I'll add it to my list.
Hawkings I read in college and liked him so much I kept all the books. Truth is, I kept all my college books except the math manuals.
I think we always seem to forget about the space between these small building blocks of life.
Whatever the smallest unit is, there will always be an empty space between things.
I am in the midst of trying to read a science book on the topic. It is called "The Fabric of the Cosmos" by Brian Greene. He explains things in easy to understand way. He even has a T.V. program called "The Elegant Universe"
Those are called little itty bitty teeny tiny quark-ettes.
Ack, Chase, no more books to read! I have six great ones half read at the moment and I fear I will soon lose all semblance of control and require time in a rubber room.
Leslie: A quarkette sounds like a cross between a duck and a Daisy Scout. If you listen really closely, you can hear tiny voices imploring you to buy cookies-quack-buy cookies-quack.
I know how you feel ECD. It always seems that there are too many books that I want to read, too many books that I'd like to read, and not enough books that I actually do get to read.
Chase: And let's not forget the magazines that most of us subscribe to, and the good parts of the daily newspaper, and all the intriguing stuff on line, too.
But it is delicious surfeit nonetheless.
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