Part 6 - The First Replicators

So what were the early seas like? They were thick, with various chemical compounds and less salty. They had no life in them, only simple chemicals, other molecules and weren't as clear as the seas we have today. Of course there was no life in the seas as there was no life on earth then.

Not long after these seas were formed, the chemistry that was taking place between the different elements and simple chemical compounds formed more complicated molecules, which can still be found today - amino acids. These are the building blocks of all the different proteins that make up the bodies of humans, plants and animals.

Amino acids are made up of basic carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. They're like the earlier chemical compounds, only more complex, coming together naturally when the conditions are right, as hydrogen and oxygen did, combining in a relationship that gave us water.

Now these molecules got bigger and more complex in their organisation and some of these molecules found that they had an effect on other smaller molecules or parts of molecules around them. Atoms and pieces of organic molecules lined up next to the section of those large molecules they had the greatest affinity for. The molecules which have this ability are called replicators, producing either copies of themselves or mirror image of themselves, made up of different atoms which were most attracted to them.

These early atoms and molecules joined in every possible way they could, given their circumstances, some groupings becoming very stable while others unstable. The stable molecules would continue to exist and the unstable ones would break up, their atoms being used to make up the stable molecules. Meaning there were no more unstable groupings.

So molecules able to replicate themselves formed an increasingly large population of the total population of molecules in the sea. There were always new types of molecules, faster replicators, better replicators, more stable replicators.

Now, a new major characteristic came along to aid the survival of these molecules - the ability by some molecules to break up other existing molecules into their basic parts to further their own purposes. Now this in turn led to some molecules developing a protection against these predator molecules. They developed a covering which would isolate them from the surrounding environment and protect them from the predator molecules. These molecules, being able to protect themselves, developed into larger and more complex forms.

Which brings us to the first one celled living organisms...

Part 5 - The Beginning of Chemistry

So, living on the surface of the earth, belies what's taking place far below. Just like life itself. Something so obvious in our daily lives may turn out totally different when viewed from a broader perspective.

The earth at this stage was still very hot and highly pressurised. In its crust & in between the crust and the molten core, atoms in the form of gases were trapped, such as carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. When these gases travelled through space, they had remained separate, but now they're forced together in a closed environment to form new relationships. Once again, the environment determines what can take place. So the gases combine into new relationships with other gases, eg, instead of hydrogen and oxygen gas existing as separate elements, they now combine to form water vapour - two atoms of hydrogen linking up with one atom of oxygen =

H₂0. The other gases present, carbon (C), nitrogen (N) also formed simple molecules, ammonia (NH₃), methane (CH<sub>4). This is the beginning of CHEMISTRY.

These four gases, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and their compounds such as water, ammonia and methane were the main components of our planet's early atmosphere and greatly changed the surface of the earth. Much of the atmosphere was water vapour and this caused torrential rains to fall onto the colling but still vey hot surface of earth. The water would fall, only to evaporate again and this went on for millions of years. This rain contained various other chemical compounds including newly formed acids and through erosion and corrosion, some of the surface rock began to break up and the water was washed down to lower lying areas, forming seas. The early seas were nothing like what we have today - it was thick, with various chemical compounds and had no life in them whatsoever. And certainly nowhere near as clear as the seas of today.</sub>

So you see how life began through laws of physics and moved on to chemistry. They're not separate but part of the same process.

Stay tuned for more development.

Part 4 - The Birth of a Planet

So now we have all the elements, hydrogen & helium atoms, other free particles and photons in the universe. In certain places there was a higher concentration of matter and therefore gravity here would be stronger. Other bits of matter will be attracted to these areas due to the force of gravity. These concentrations of matter consisted of both gas and solid, and the centre became so hot that the solid evaporated, leaving behind a mixture of elements that began to glow, giving off heat and light. Our sun is one such star that formed in such a manner.

As the sun was forming, it was also swirling at a high speed. This caused the sun to throw off some of the substance around it. This matter that was hurled into space combined with the other matter already in space and formed our planets., which orbit the sun. The smaller inner planets are formed of heavier elements and the outer planets are larger and are largely of various gases.

This was how earth formed. Most of the heavier elements like iron and whatever was attracted to it sank to the centre and the lighter elements and whatever was attracted to it rose to the surface. With all the pressure, friction and radiation, the earth was a molten ball. But the earth cooled over millions of years, and the hot core is now miles below the surface. It ocassionally breaks through in places like volcanoes. Earth's surface cooled into a hard crust, consisting of mainly lighter materials. In fact, the different continents that we have are really just giant plates of stone floating around very slowly on the surface of that molten core.

So we live on the surface of the earth. And many of us don't have a clue as to how the earth came about. In fact living on the surface, things don't seem at all like what's described above.

So what was our planet like in its infancy?

Part 3 - There's a star on your finger

Gravity then played its hand. Remember, the universe at this stage was made up of hydrogen & helium atoms, sub atomic particles & photons and was still expanding & cooling. In a universe that was still considered small, gravity was a powerful force. It broke the mass of hydrogen & helium into great gaseous clouds. And gravity within these great gaseous clouds formed many billions of smaller clouds of hydrogen & helium.

These great gaseous clouds formed galaxies & the smaller ones formed stars. We live in one of these galaxies, called the Milky Way Galaxy.

And how many stars are there in the Milky Way Galaxy? 100 billion stars!

How many galaxies are there in the known universe? 100 billion galaxies!

How many stars have there been in the known universe? 10 thousand billion billion stars!

Did they all come from that original hydrogen & helium gas? Yes they did.

Most of the first stars that formed no longer exist. Since there were only two elements in the universe then, hydrogen & helium, the first stars were gigantic & made up totally of these two gases. These early stars were called first generation stars. They were so massive that they collapsed in on themselves, then blew apart in great explosions called supernovas.

Upon collapsing, the pressure was so immense that the hydrogen & helium atoms were pushed together with such great force that they merged into one another, forming larger atoms. This process is called nuclear fusion, a process that allows stars to burn for billions of years. Also the process through which virtually all other elements formed; carbon, oxygen, sulfur, lead, gold, iron, uranium....

So imagine the gold on your finger was once a piece of star. But how did it get here from way up there?

Stay tuned.

Part 2 - The First Atoms

There are 4 basic forces that govern the behaviour of these particles - strong nuclear force, electromagnetic force, weak nuclear force and gravity. These 4 laws are actually part of one primary law, but at various situations we see different aspects of that one law. It is our perception that sees these 4 laws instead of that one primary law in action.

And so, this law states that all sub atomic particles must organise themselves in the most complex arrangement possible, given the limits of their environment. What we see as the basic laws of physics are the particles going about the business of carrying out that requirement.

With the universe expanding and cooling enough, it allowed the protons and neutrons to join together to form the nuclei of all atoms. So the environment determines what can take place. In other words, the environment allows it.

Now, the universe of course kept on expanding and cooling, allowing the sub atomic particles to relate to each other. And through electromagnetic force, we get the first atoms; hydrogen and helium. Single protons captured one electron each to make hydrogen and proton/neutron pairs captured two electrons to make helium. Because there were more single protons than proton/neutron pairs, there was a lot more hydrogen than helium.

And so, the universe that started out as energy got filled up with atoms of hydrogen and helium.

Part 1 - The Beginning

What and where is the beginning?

Existence itself has no beginning. It has always been. So lets start at the beginning of the material universe.

The more you know of something, the more you know of everything. This is because there is nothing in the physical existence, no material thing, no thought or idea which did not originate from the beginning of the universe.

Big Bang - the theory that at its beginning, all the matter of the universe was together in one place. The temperature and pressure were so great that a tremendous explosion occurred and threw all that matter outwards to form the physical universe. But how did the matter get there in the first place? As stated, Big Bang refers to a time when all that matter was in one place. The further you go back in time, the smaller the universe. And if you go all the way back to the beginning of time, the universe had no size at all. So what was there before the physical universe came into existence? There was nothing. By this I mean no time, no space, no matter. Space, time and matter are related in such a way that one cannot exist without the other two.

The only existence then was Existence itself. A dimensionless singularity or point of existence was then created. Light was manifested - intense electromagnetic radiation of all frequencies confined to a tiny area. These little packages of energy are known as photons. Because the universe then was 'small' these photons would bump into one another and upon collision form sub atomic particles, the most common being protons, electrons and neutrons. But at this time, the universe was still too hot and small that these sub atomic particles would be immediately destroyed, upon forming, Physicists call it annihilated, ie changing back into energy or photons. The universe in the meantime, was expanding and cooling and at some point became big and cool enough for the photons to stop colliding. The sub atomic particles that had not been annihilated remained in existence. The universe kept on expanding and cooling but now consisted of stable electrons, protons, neutrons and other sub atomic particles.

To be continued...