Tuesday, September 11, 2012

12 Particles of Matter...4 Forces of Nature

One of my favorite quotes (probably because it's so easy to remember) is from Prof. Cox..."The Universe is made of...twelve particles of matter...four forces of nature."

These twelve particles (fermions) are divided into two sets: six quarks and six leptons. The quarks are called up, down, strange, charm, top and bottom. The leptons are called the electron, electron neutrino, muon, muon neutrino, tau and tau neutrino.

The four forces of nature are: gravity, electromagnetism, the weak nuclear force and the strong nuclear force.

In addition to Matter and Dark Matter these tiny, invisible particles and forces define our very existence in this Universe. Think about that a moment, we are literally held together by the attraction and repulsion of things we can't even see. Sounds a lot like belief to me. I don't understand why religion and science don't get on, to me, science is simply a way of expressing God's (and I take that term loosely) creation. Like a painter or photographer trying to capture the visual beauty or horror of our world.


6 comments:

  1. Thanks! Very concise and a springboard for further study.

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  2. from the electron to the outer universe - we are no different.

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  3. It's all about intelligent generous symphony of science ....but the problem is exactly and precisely we do not know ...some constant ..to measure the fixed moment ..when the Univarse...Will start contracting....towards a huge potential of singularity

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  4. This is what we Hindus have in all our scriptures, not trying to prove superiority or inferiority of anyone, it's just the hardwork and perseverance of our ancestors, irrespective of colour, creed. Instead of ignoring a whole section of our existence, we can just look into what they passed onto us, we learn so much, and we add on more for the coming generations! Science and religion are same on this side of the planet.

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