THE BIG, BIGGER AND BIGGEST OF ALL: Imaginative Journey to the smallest and to the Biggest:
THE BIG, BIGGER AND BIGGEST OF ALL:
Imaginative
Journey to the smallest and to the Biggest:
PROF WAQAR HUSSAIN
“A moment of thinking, over the
universe, is worth than continuous meditation of 60 years”. Let obey the saying
and spare some moments to observe the universe. Keep in mind; pondering is not
that easy one might thing. One must have an extraordinary imagination power.
We regard something big or small by
making ourselves a “standard”. We, the human beings, are small as well as big.
In order to have a clear idea of “big” we shouldn't start from ourselves.
Instead, we should go to the smallest and then towards the biggest. When, we will travel towards the smallest, we
will see the smallest thing in reality but afterward, physical existence of
things will be lost for us as we cannot see the small thing, smaller than 500 nm.
Then we will have to travel the remaining journey on the vehicle of our
imagination. Let us start the journey towards the smallest! A dog is smaller
than a man; A cat is smaller than the dog; a mouse is smaller than the cat; a
fly is smaller than the mouse; a mosquito is smaller than the fly, a louse is
smaller than the mosquito; (now ride on the imaginative wheels); a bacteria is
smaller than the louse. A virus is smaller than the bacteria. (Virus is a
boundary line between living and non-living thing. It has both the properties
of living and non-living things. So, it is the smallest living thing, going further
we will encounter only non living things).
Virus is very small. It is composed of
protein coating and inner core of DNA or RNA. Protein and DNA are macro-
molecules. Protein molecule contains about 40,000 atoms. Similarly DNA consists
of thousands of atoms. So, our destination of the smallest is still far away.
So far, we have reached at a ‘mega molecular level’. Take one atom out these
thousands atoms and it will be our base camp from where we will launch our
campaign to find the smallest. Atom is not small. One can imagine the size of
atom that a dot of ball point on a paper or you can say a full stop (.)
contains 10 million (1 krore) hydrogen atoms. So in imagination divide
this dot (.) into two, then divide each half, it will be 1/4thof dot
and similarly keep on dividing into 10 millionth parts and you will reach an
atom. Your eyes will open, mouth will be widened and tongue will utter “Oh! So
small is an atom! ” But you will astonish to know that it is not the smallest.
It is the base camp and you will have to hike steeply to conquest the Mount Everest
of the smallest. Let start, journey again. At present you are standing on the
tiny particle atom. Enter the atom, you will find a new cosmos at a miniature
scale. There are mere than 100 particles inside the atom. Some are so small
where matter ends and energy corpuscle starts. For your convenient, we overlook
these ultra-small particles and focuses on slightly bigger particles which have
mass. 99% of an atom is empty and only its centre contains a tiny nucleus which
contains 99% mass of an atom and nucleus is 10,000 times smaller than atom. So,
it is hard concerted form of matter. This tiny hard core contains protons and
neutrons. Keep in mind; we have ignored the other tiny particles which are much
smaller than proton and neutron. Proton and neutron are playing table tennis match
as neutral neutron throws away a tiny ball of meson (negatively charged particle
about 2000 times smaller than proton and neutron, almost equal to an electron)
toward the positive proton. The proton on accepting this negative particle become
neutral and become neutron. The previous neutron which lost the meson becomes
positive and transform into proton. Then newly formed neutron throws the
negative meson towards the newly formed positive proton and it becomes proton
again and the proton on accepting meson becomes neutron again .So neutron and
proton keep on exchanging the particle meson like table tennis ball bouncing
between two rackets. Proton and neutrons are playing endless match, which is vital
for the existence of nucleus. Look at the organization and discipline at this
micro level. Back to the journey of the smallest; take one proton from this
tiny nucleus. This is not the smallest particle .Electrons, which are revolving
around the nucleus like planets around the sun. Here you will find another
astonishing fact that atom and solar system are similar. In solar system, sun
is central point; in an atom nucleus is the central point; 99% mass of solar
system is confined in the sun similarly 99% mass of atom is packed in a
nucleus; planets are revolving around the sun in elliptical path likewise
electrons are revolving around the nucleus in elliptical path; planets’ motion (centrifugal
force) is equal to attraction between planet and the sun (centripetal force).
In the same way, velocity of electron and attraction between electron and nucleus
are equal. So both the planets and electron remain in the circle; neither going
away nor moving inwards. So, one find solar system in a miniature scale in an
atom or one can say solar system is an atomic structure on mega scale. Famous
Urdu poet Iqbal has rightly said “Lahoo Khursheed ka tapkay ha, jo cherain
zaray ka dil”. If one look into an atom, he will see the glimpses of the
sun. Oh! Our elders were so knowledgeable and wise people.
Come back to our journey to find the smallest.
Proton is not the smallest particle; electron is 1836 times lighter than a proton.
Electron has mass of 9.1× 10-31 Kg. Is the electron is smallest? The
answer is “no”. In particle Physics, electron are further classified into fermions
and within the fermions’ group, electron are further classified as lepton. Or
in simple word, electrons are not the smallest particle. Its further division
will create confusion and chaos in ordinary mind so it is not advisable to go further.
We have already put a great stress on our minds; as in imagination we have
divided dot by 10 million times to get to an atom, then we divided atom to the
tune of 10,000 times to reach nucleus. We divided nucleus many times to reach a
proton. One proton is then divided 1836 times to get the idea of electron and
now physicists are advocating electron is not the smallest particle! We are tired, exhausted and pooped and cannot
go further; even our imagination is tiring out. So, if we suppose electron as
the smallest, it is enough for us for the time being. We have reached our
destination of the smallest. Now we are going to start our journey towards the
biggest. Drink a glass of water or take a cup of tea, relax and get ready for
voyage towards the biggest.
A man is about 6 feet tall, 2 feet wide
and 1 foot deep. The entire volume comes to be 12 feet3. He is too
big as compared to electron, proton, nucleus, atom, molecule, macro molecule,
virus, bacteria, louse, fly, mosquito; mouse, cat, dog. But house is much bigger
than a man; street than the house; block than the street; city than the block;
province than the city; country than the province; continent than the country;
Earth than the continent. So earth is very big as compared to man. One has to
covers 25000 miles (40,000 km) to takes its one round. If a person walks around
it, he will have to take about 4 ½ krore (44 million) strides of one yard to
encircle round the earth. How big is the earth! But earth is one of eight
planets revolving around the sun. Earth is the fifth largest planet. Then
largest planet is Jupiter which is about 1000 times larger than earth. But all
planets and other bodies in solar system make only 1% mass and the rest of 99%
mass of solar system is confined in the sun. The sun is about 1.3 million (13 lack)
times larger than the earth. So, sun is the largest. It has diameter of 1392,684
km, around 109 times that of earth and it has mass of 1.989×1030 kg
which is about 3,30,000 times mass of earth. So the sun is the largest. Astonishingly,
the Sun is star of average size. There are many stars much bigger than the sun.
Betelgeuse is 30 times larger than the sun and W-26 (Westerlund-1) is 1500 times
larger than sun. It is red super giant. Is W-26 is the largest thing? Answer is
‘no’. Galaxy is larger than a star. Galaxy is the fundamental unit of the
universe. It consists of several hundred thousands of stars along with interstellar
gas and dust.
Before, we step ahead in the
journey for the biggest. We must know certain units of measurement. The
distance between stars, size of galaxies, etc are measured by different scales.
First is astronomic unit,
it is the distance between earth and the sun that is roughly about 150 million
km. It is used to measure distance between planets and the distance of a planet
from the sun.
Second is light year,
it is still even bigger unit of distance. It is defined as the distance traveled by light in one year. Light travel at a speed of 3×108 metre/s
(i.e.3 lack km/s or 1, 86,000 mile/s).This unit is used to measure distance
between stars, galaxies, etc. Light year is equal to ten million million
(neelum km) or 1013 km or 5.81×106 miles.
Third is Parsec, it is the unit of
distance to measure separation of stars, galaxies, etc. It is equal to 3.26
light years.
From here onward, we will be using unit
of light year or parsec to imagine the size of galaxies, distance between
galaxies, etc. So get the idea of light year in imagination. Light takes just 8
minutes and 20 seconds to reach from the sun to earth and the sun is about 150
million km from the earth. And there are 525600 minutes in one year. Here you
can imagine how much distance light will travel in one year.
For
instant, Proxima Centauri is the next nearest star to earth apart from the sun.
It is 4.22 light year from the earth. (42200000000000 km or 42.2 million
million years).It means if someone travel on a machine moving with speed of
light (Light Machine). One will take 4.22 years of time to reach the Proxima Centauri.
How far is our neighboring star!
Now imagine those two stars; the sun and the
Proxima Centauri and get a rough clue of distance between any two stars which
in naked eye looks as near as the dots of colon(:). Our Milky Way contains 100
billion stars i.e. 1011(one Kharab). Now keeping in mind the
distance between two stars, as mentioned above, you can imagine the size of
Milky Way which has 100 billion (1 kharab) stars (100000000000). For
your convenient, the diameter of the Milky Way is 0.1 million years (or 1 lack
light year). It means if someone is travelling on ‘light machine’, he will
simply cross the Milky Way in 0.1 million years. How big is our Milky Way? Is
it the biggest? The answer is “No”. The Milky Way is an average size galaxy and
there are many galaxies. Our neighboring galaxy is Andromeda which is present
at a distance of about 2.2 million (i.e.22 lack) light years. Is galaxy is the
largest? A galaxy is much smaller than cluster. What is cluster? Cluster is the
group of nearby galaxies. The name of our cluster is “local group” which
contains 54 galaxies. So, local group cluster is the biggest? The answer is
‘No’; local group cluster is an average sized Cluster. Many clusters combine to
form Super Cluster. There exists Super cluster which is much larger than ordinary
clusters.
For example, Virgo Super cluster
contain Virgo cluster in addition to local group. It contains 100 galaxies,
groups and clusters within a diameter of 33 mega parsecs (110 million light
years). It is one of the million of super clusters in observable universe. The
millions of super clusters constitute to form the colossal Universe.
For your convenience, there are
about 200 billion galaxies containing about 1024 stars. For clear
imagination, there are 1000000000000000000000000 stars. First imagine single
average size star the sun and its solar system of planets, planetoids,
satellites, meteorites, visiting comets, etc, then imagine the above written
figure. It is the size of our universe which is about 1024 km. Now a
new issue arises that it is not the definite size of our universe because it is
expanding .Take a simple example, the distance between the earth and the moon
increases 9 inches per year. So every heavenly body is drifting away from the
others and the universe is inflating like a balloon. Every new sun sees new
boundaries of universe as the Universe is expanding! So, for the time being, we
assume that the universe is the biggest thing.
Do you agree with this result or
not?
But a
poet Nazar Hussain doesn’t agree with above statement. What he says in his
famous English poem is stated below:
THE BIG
§ Big is not Big, I beg to state
§ It just consists of three letters of
alphabet
§ Big powers, big towers are not all
big
§ If thou happen to see them from
lunar surface
§ The earth is as big, a fig on a twig
§ It’s what we know through Apollo the
eight
§ Big is ONE, the Biggest of ALL
§ I bow before him and you too prostrate
§ Blessing for me and you are craved
§ Blessing for this earth blessings
for that space
No doubt, not the universe, but God
is the Big, Bigger and Biggest of all. God created this universe some 15-20
billion years ago in Big Bang Blast. Allah Himself says Allah’s Akbar
(God is the Big). He ordained to say it 4 times in Azan (call of prayer)
Perhaps He invites mankind to look in four directions; east, west, north and
south and you will find no one big except Him. That is why every prayer starts
with Allah’s Akbar and on every change of posture during prayer; it is ordered
to pronounce Allah’s Akbar. Allah repeatedly says, “I am Big so follow Me,
prostrate before Me and obey My injunctions and believe only and only One God”.
But our irony of fate is: “Hum Allah ko aik tu mantay hain, magar uski
aik nahi mantay” (We believe in One God but don’t obey One of His injunctions).
May Allah guide us!
The journey from the smallest
electron to the biggest universe and the Biggest of all- is meant to give you
an idea “How Big is God!” and “how petty we are!” and we are destined to make
Him, our first priority. So Aik Allah ko mano, aur Uski ki aik aik mano.
(Believe on One God, believe Him as a Sole Entity and obey His all injunctions)
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