A Scientific Investigation

A Scientific Investigation, following the Scientific Method, with conclusions that support The Religious Perspective

Written by Martyn Arthur [email protected] www.adivinecreation.org.uk

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Contents Chapter 1. Introduction

Preamble Science and the nature of the Book The nature of the Book

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Chapter 2. Methodology

A historical Perspective Adopting a totally Scientific Approach Attributing causes to Events Events on the Periphery of the Rules of our science Events clearly falling outside the Rules of ours science Terminology, the use of the Words "Divine Creator" The term "Random Chance" What are the Questions? Presumptuous Questions? What do the Questions seek to establish? Concept 1. The Nature and development of the Universe Concept 2. The Nature of the Creation, and the development of Life The Hypotheses

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Chapter 3. The Big Bang and the start of the first second of time

The Start of the very First Second Atoms the core Material of the Universe Protons and Neutrons Quarks and the strong Nuclear Force Electrons and The Electrostatic Forces Assembling the Components Particle physics The atomic zest for Life 2

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The quantity of Matter and Energy Introduced into the Universe No Wood Chippings in the crafting of this Universe's Materials The complexity of Creation - v - its simplicity

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Chapter 4. The creation of the Universe

An explanation of the molecular Nature of Heat After the start of the very first Second of Time Several Hundred Thousand Years after Point Zero Almost a Million Years after Point Zero Where are we in the Universe? How do we know about the Universe's Past? The Doppler effect The Doppler effect on Light The Pudding Model of the Universe

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Chapter 5. The nature of the Universe

The Night Sky The scale of the Universe The Components of the Universe The Laws of the Universe The "timing" of the Universe

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Chapter 6. The creation of the Stars

Star formation The Nature of the Early Stars

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Chapter 7. The Solar System

The physical Solar System The position of the other Celestial Bodies relative to the Earth The location of the Earth relative to the Sun The importance of the Nature of the Solar System in the development of Mankind A simpler Solar System 3

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Chapter 8. The Earth and the Moon The Physical Moon The formation of the Moon The interaction between the Moon and the Earth Congenial Climate Examples of the effect of the Earth's twenty three degree tilt The Ocean's tides & Solar Eclipses

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Chapter 9. The formation of the Earth

The physical Earth The nature and action of Tectonic Plates Water, the Cradle of Life Water on the Earth; the Earth's Oceans The Earth's Atmosphere

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Chapter 10. The structure of Life

Definitions of Life Cells are the basics of Life Atoms, the core Materials for Life The chemical formation of Molecules Understanding the distinction between chemical and nuclear activity Organic Molecules, the Building Blocks of Life The creation of Organic Molecules is NOT the creation of Life The number and the types of Components necessary for Life The DNA Double Helix The problem of the formation of the first Cell The additional Chicken and the Egg problem What the first ever Cell shares with modern Cells

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Chapter 11. The origin of Life through to the development of Mankind

The origin of Life, the Precambrian Period before 590 Million Years ago Confirmation that all Cells without exception share the same DNA reading Mechanism The origin of aerobic (oxygen loving) Life The start of Evolution and Natural Selection The origin of animal Life, the Cambrian Period from 590 to 505 Million Years The Period from 505 to 360 Million Years ago The laying down of Fuel, the Carboniferous Period from 360 to 286 Million Years ago Reptiles and extinctions, the Permian Period from 286 to 248 Million Years ago The next Generation of Life forms, the Triassic Period from 248 to 213 Million Years ago The Great Dinosaurs, the Jurassic Period from 213 to 144 Million Years ago The End of the Dinosaurs, the Cretaceous Period from 144 to 65 Million Years ago Extinctions generally The Time of the development of the Mammals, The Tertiary and Quaternary Periods from 65 million years to some 10,000 years ago Mankind, The Holocene Period from 10,000 years ago to Date The nature of Mankind Characteristics and Abilities that define Humanity The uniqueness & the emergence of Mankind

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83 84 84 85 85 86 86 86

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Chapter 12. Conclusions

Hypothesis 1 Hypothesis 2 Hypothesis 3 Hypothesis 4

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Chapter 1. Introduction Preamble From the start of the first second of time, through to the first cell and then the emergence and the development of Mankind, the entire process of assembling the data and creating this book has been an incredibly fascinating, yet humbling experience. Expressing the various issues associated with the nature of the Universe and that of humanity’s and my presence in it has made me acutely aware what a magnificent edifice of Creation the Universe truly is! I have been exceptionally fortunate and privileged to have been born, to have grown up and to have aged, at a time when modern science has come increasingly to maturity, so that I have had the opportunity of personally experiencing progress as it occurred. From a neighbour having the first television in the street through to the first satellite to orbit the Earth, we now actually have a space station in orbit around the planet. This is manned and relatively casually visited from Earth by a tourist. As my fingers tap the keyboard there are two remotely controlled explorers, Spirit and Opportunity, driving around mars exploring that planet. They transmit information to Earth almost as if the planet mars itself were just a couple of hundred meters away in the Earth's back garden. All of this, so very much development in just half a century, it is truly incredible! Just a hundred years ago Einstein's theories of relativity, brilliant and inspired as they are, were nonetheless theories that, at that time, could not be properly tested simply because they predicted outcomes which science then lacked the resources to test. Now however, with massive advances in scientific and technological resources, those very theories have been subject to extensive practical experiment, and have been thoroughly proven. More latterly, an understanding of genetics 6

was just getting started forty years ago when I started to indulge my curiosity. Yet now, just recently, it has become possible to catalogue the entire human genome (the genetic "plan" for the makeup of the human body), and for the medical profession to undertake the most incredible genetic engineering processes! From my earliest memories I have been blessed (or perhaps cursed) with an enquiring mind. My mother told me early on that I was born with the word "why" on my lips. Early work colleagues chided me for asking far too many questions, and told me that that I should accept more without seeking the fine detail of everything. "We don't make the rules" they used to say, "we just carry them out, and you should do the same". Simple acceptance without question however has never been a philosophy to which I have subscribed, and I have indulged a lifelong fascination (and at age fifty four that's a long time to be fascinated) trying to learn as much as possible about the nature of the Universe, science and the interaction of both with Life. I have, over the last forty years, been able to stand on the sidelines and observe, explore and develop an interest in virtually every aspect of scientific advancement as it relates to my interest. References to ”exploring science” neither profess nor presume any form of expertise in any scientific discipline, my own formal qualifications being in the rather mundane field of accountancy, administration and the processing of paperwork. Rather, I have had the time and opportunity to read about, consider and understand many of the advances, discoveries and conclusions in modern science, without having become involved in the real hard work. The "nitty gritty" that all of the specialists in their individual scientific fields have to undertake. My good fortune has not however been limited to the timing of my birth. I have been additionally fortunate as to have been 7

able to organise my social, domestic and work circumstances so that there was sufficient quality time available to be able to indulge my interest and passion, and to explore all those aspects of science that are so fascinating. Like virtually everyone else I suppose, I looked up at the night sky and wondered, what is it all about, why is there so very much of everything? In the pub at night with people milling around and drink flowing, again how, why, was it planned or did it just happen? Traditionally religion and science have used different methods to attempt to find answers to these questions. Science has relied on an objective approach to consider and describe the physical Universe, attempting perhaps to answer the 'how' question. Religion however is subjective, using to a certain extent non-sensory experience or statements to understand the Universe, and thus perhaps attempting to answer the 'why' question. In the “early” days of science the two were closely linked but latterly both spheres have tended to be independent of the other. With our advances in science I wondered, might it be possible to come to some form of scientific conclusion about the nature of the Creation of the Universe, the matter in it and Life, so that science supported the religious perspective instead of, in a sense, contradicting it? My thoughts were NOT to question in any way the nature of religion, or any aspect at all of any form of Religion. Religion is far too precious and private even to consider going along that route. Rather I became increasingly interested specifically to examine closely the conclusions of as broad a range of scientific disciplines as possible. Thus to endeavour to establish just what, and how much, we actually know about these questions, across as wide a field of science as possible! 8

Science and the nature of the Book The book doesn't attempt to introduce any "new" science but, as noted, seeks to bring together in one place, data from as wide a variety of scientific disciplines as possible, It then endeavours to express that data both scientifically, but also in terms that the layperson can understand.. The nature of science is one of proposing hypotheses, testing and experimenting, and then endeavouring to come to conclusions. Even then, scientific data is valid only for as long as it is not successfully proved to be flawed. It is an interesting historical fact that many past fundamental conclusions of science have been proven incorrect or inadequate in subsequent time frames, when the means to test those conclusions became available. The early propositions that the Earth was flat and that it was located at the centre of the Solar System are but two examples of strongly held views that have since been superseded and demonstrated as incorrect. The difficulties in those earlier times were that whilst hypotheses could be proposed, the nature of the orbital motion of the planets for example, a means of testing them was generally not available. Latterly however modern science has sophisticated equipment and knowledge available to enable, sometimes, the arrival at more certain conclusions. Einstein's theories of Relativity predicted for example that time, as we know it intuitively is not as it seems. Essentially the speed of the passage of time itself actually changes by reference to the speed at which a traveller is moving, when that traveller is moving at a speed close to the speed of light. It was a proposal that could not be tested at that time, but that it is indeed the case has now been well tested and proven by extensive experiment and demonstration. An understanding of a discussion of this nature is inevitably going to require the reader to apply a certain amount of 9

endurance and concentration. In order to make the content of the book in its entirety as understandable as possible to those without a mathematical or scientific background, the use of any form of complex mathematical calculations, or scientific notation (for example 1016 ) has been avoided. Using actual numbers as opposed to scientific notation has inevitably lead to the inclusion of some pretty big numbers but that at least gives a clear indication of the incredibly massive (and sometimes incredibly tiny) scale of things. Explanations have been given in as simple a way as it has been possible to construct them, and even temperatures are expressed in degrees Celsius as opposed to the scientific Kelvin scale. Additionally, the unnecessary pedantic application of detail and scientific terminology has been avoided. There are occasions where, for the sake of clarity, terminology has been used that is not strictly contextually accurate, but where the "inaccuracy" makes no practical difference to the meaning. For example the simpler to understand concept of "weight" has generally been used where "mass" would be more correct. The nature of the Book Every chapter in the book has been written so as to be as self contained as possible. There are inevitably therefore occasions where there is some repetition of material although every attempt has been made to keep such repetitions to a minimum. The project was not actually undertaken with the intention of writing and producing a book, but rather as a personal indulgence into a lifelong curiosity. As things progressed however, it seemed from comments from friends and family, that there might be others with an interest in the conclusions being reached, and hence this book has now come about. As the book comes together I am aware that whilst the subject matter is compelling for me, I have no idea whether it will be sufficiently compelling for others to purchase it, or indeed 10

even if a publisher will be found who will print it. Being an optimist however a web site, www.adivinecreation.org.uk has been created to run in association with the book, and if readers have any corrections, updates, comments and observations they would be gratefully received by email to [email protected]. Relevant material received will be published on the web site, be it negative or positive. If there is a sufficiently large response the concept of producing a sequel to this book, incorporating views and material from that far wider audience is very appealing. In order to avoid any conflict or contention in the future would interested readers please submit commentary and data only if they are prepared both to forgo the rights to copyright of that material and also to permit it's publication.

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Chapter 2. Methodology A historical Perspective The Universe is discussed later on in the book but for now, suffice it to say, that it is incredibly vast, so vast as to be incomprehensible by reference to everyday measurements. Space itself is largely empty but populated, at vast distances, by collections of interstellar bodies of various sizes, shapes and construction. There have been, since discussion and debate first began various theories about the nature of the Universe, whether it has always existed, or whether it had an origin at some finite time in the past. Those theories have revolved around, for example, variations of the concept that the Universe had no origin and will have no end, although possibly it might have gone through different stages at different times in the past. One such theory for example was the Steady State Theory, which proposed that the Universe had no beginning and no end. It suggested an expanding Universe that stayed in perfect balance, synonymous with a pool of water, which was kept full to overflowing by a trickle of water from a stream. In the case of the Universe the stream was the continuous creation of matter, which then "flowed" into the Universe. Alternative theories suggested that perhaps the Universe had not always existed, that it had an origin, and that it had come into existence at some finite time in the past. The first significant advances in actually understanding the true nature and structure of the Universe occurred in the last century. These advances were mathematical in nature, and were based primarily on the equations contained in Albert Einstein's theory of General Relativity. They led to an increasingly strong argument that the Universe had an origin. 12

The equations in Einstein's theory made it possible to use General Relativity mathematically, to calculate the effect that gravity has had on the material from which the Universe is made. In this way it was possible to arrive at a physical description of the Universe and to extrapolate backwards in time to project how it had evolved. This led to a "Big Bang" model of the Universe and to the conclusion that the Universe is expanding. As the Universe is expanding, it follows naturally that it was previously smaller. There must therefore have been some point back in our "time" (in so far as we interpret time, for day to day purposes, as the measurement of intervals between and during events), when all the content of the Universe was very close together. Further back in time, some thirteen and a half billion years ago (a billion is one thousand million), there was a point when all the matter and energy of the Universe, space itself, and even time, was contained at one point of zero size known as a singularity. A singularity in this context is a point at which the rules of our science break down, and beyond which we cannot use mathematics to look back and "see" what was before. Whilst therefore the Big Bang model was able to suggest what had occurred at the very start of the first second of the Creation of the Universe, it was unable to consider in any way what had occurred before the start of the very first second. This distinction between events that occurred before the first second of the existence of the Universe, and those events that occurred after the start of the very first second, when the Universe had actually come into existence, is critical. Mankind has been enabled to look back physically in time with telescopes, and so to see light that started travelling through space relatively soon after the start of the first second. Additionally we have been able to discover mathematics, the science underlying the creation of the Universe, and this has enabled us to make calculations and deductions about past 13

events. Mankind does not however possess any mechanism that would enable it scientifically to undertake any from of consideration of events before the first second. That is the exclusive domain of religion. This book very specifically therefore considers only events that occurred after the start of the first second. Following on from the knowledge that the entire content of the Universe had at one time been contained in a singularity, a conclusion that the Universe had always existed was no longer a feasible one. It follows therefore that the Universe had a beginning, and that it came into existence at some finite time in the past. This expansionist "Big Bang" model is now commonly used to explain the growth and development of the Universe, and the way it is today. The Big Bang concept was a theory when it was first proposed, but there is now substantial evidence to support it, and the nature of the evidence is set out later in the book. Adopting a totally Scientific Approach The longer I pondered the more it seemed that no individual scientific discipline addressed questions about the nature of Creation, and Life, in a sufficiently broad way as to be able to propose comprehensive answers. What might become apparent if data from all the relevant scientific sectors were assembled and analysed? Many of the criticisms of research undertaken by, and documents prepared by non-scientists, are that those non-scientists propose conclusions that are not based on a formal scientific analysis. As such they are unable to achieve scientific credibility. Science can be defined as a method of learning about the physical Universe by observation and by experiment, and by applying the principles of the Scientific Method. The Scientific Method involves examining evidence, proposing hypotheses, 14

and testing those hypotheses in valid and reliable ways, in order to arrive at a conclusion. An early decision therefore was to ensure that a totally scientific approach was followed, and that all the relevant parameters of the consideration were defined at the outset, and redefined as necessary. It was also necessary to endeavour to put to one side any preconceived concepts and ideas, in order to approach the issue in a totally unbiased manner. Considerations were thus started and formalised, on the basis that the concept of an expanding Universe had now been adequately proved. There was a general acceptance that the Universe had indeed come into existence at some finite time in the past. As much as possible of the scientific data that I had learnt over time was assembled into a comprehensive whole, and this was then formulated into testable scientific hypotheses following the objectiveness of the scientific method. We have already touched on the fact that strongly held past conclusions of science were subsequently found to be incorrect. A further example occurred when Einstein proved that the then accepted physical laws of motion did not hold true in respect of events occurring at speeds close to the speed of light. The result of this was that the very nature of the rules of science across the whole World changed. This was because Einstein had established that the previously accepted rules of science were incorrect, and could no longer be supported. If, for example, an apple suddenly projected itself upwards from a tree without the application of any upward force, and in defiance of the force of gravity, that would be an event that did not conform to the known rules of our science. We would then have to try to account for the event by proving that it demonstrated a flaw in the existing rules of our science. If we could establish that to be the case, we could then change those 15

rules to correspond with the new situation. Alternatively if we could not attribute the event to a flaw in those rules, we would have to conclude that the event had been the subject of some unknown external influence. Fortunately, in our day-to-day lives, events of this nature tend not to happen, and we are not therefore faced with the dilemma of accounting for them. Attributing causes to Events The book considers a number of events that lay either outside, or on the periphery of the scientific rules of Mankind. In considering and attributing a cause to any such events, it is first of all necessary to establish whether that event has occurred on the periphery of those scientific rules, or whether it is clearly and unambiguously outside them. Events on the Periphery of the Rules of our science An example of such a peripheral event is the event that gave rise to the location of our Moon relative to the Earth and the Sun. There is a clear mathematical relationship between the positioning of the Earth, the Moon and the Sun and the relative sizes of the Moon and the Sun. The size of the Moon at 1/400 that of the Sun, and the distance of the Moon from Earth also at 1/400 that of the Sun is such that it provides for periodic Solar Eclipses. These have the effect of "blotting out" all or part of the Sun to observers on Earth. Solar Eclipses are caused by the passage of the moon between the Sun and Earth, obscuring the sun from viewers on Earth. I have frequently seen it stated that this relationship between the bodies “couldn’t be a coincidence”. It is thus suggested that their locations are "conclusive evidence" that the Moon must have been "put" into its specific orbit for a reason, and that fact, as such, is evidence of a an action on the part of a Divine Creator.

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There is no apparent reason for the relationship between those three bodies, and the way they are positioned and line up from time to time is indeed a most peculiar occurrence. Nonetheless, there is no test that can be applied to this relationship under the scientific method. The existence of this relationship cannot therefore be used in any way as evidence of the occurrence of a Divine act. Having said that, it became apparent, as soon as the book started to come together, that a lot of odd coincidences have occurred over time. A number of these coincidences have been cited, not as direct evidence of an event, but simply in support of some of the conclusions that have been put forward. Events clearly falling outside the Rules of ours science If an event can be demonstrated to have occurred outside the rules of our science, we have previously seen that it is necessary to further consider whether the event can be accounted for by proving that it demonstrates a flaw in those rules. If it does represent a flaw in those rules we can then change those rules to correspond with the different situation created by the event. If we are neither able to account for the event within the rules of our science, nor to change those rules because the event has demonstrated a flaw in them, then the event must be attributed to an alternative cause of some sort. Terminology, the use of the Words "Divine Creator" In trying to understand the nature of events that fall outside the rules of our science we are inevitably constrained by, and limited to the knowledge experience and vocabulary made available to all of us by the nature of our existence. In particular these factors limit how, and the extent to which we are able to visualise those things, of which we do not have a direct experience. 17

I could find no means of considering, trying to express an explanation for, or attributing a cause to such events, other than to think of, and to refer to them, as arising from the actions of some sort of an entity the nature of which within the context of our science, I do not, and cannot understand. In considering the concept of an entity, it was therefore necessary to find a description that embodied a reference to such an entity. In addition however, that description also needed to address the fact that the entity has powers, attributes and abilities, which are inevitably totally beyond those possessed by any individual members of the human race, and indeed beyond the whole of Mankind. Descriptive words such as, for example, "Intelligent Creator", were considered, but they failed altogether to address the powers, attributes and abilities possessed by the "entity". The only combination of words that adequately described the attributes of the entity was "Divine Creator". It is recognised that this is a combination of words with religious implications, but in the context of the book the use of "Divine Creator" is intended as a means of describing an entity with powers, attributes, and abilities over and above those of Mankind. The term "Random Chance" It is common to see the occurrence of events that lie outside the rules of our science attributed to a "random chance" event. Indeed there can be no objection to the consideration that such events may be attributable to random chance, provided that the material that is the subject of the random chance exists. For example the random chance event associated with the flipping of a coin can occur, but only if the coin exists. Without the coin there is nothing to flip and the event cannot occur.

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Explanations for the coming together of energy and matter in the Universe as a result of a random chance can be valid only if the material associated with that random chance event exists. The following is a fine but critical distinction. Whilst the concept of random chance could be used to account for the “coming together” of matter and energy in existence just after the start of the Universe, it cannot be used to account for the fact that the matter and energy actually came into existence, and that it is present in the Universe. The existence of the matter and energy in our Universe falls outside the rules of our science. Conclusion 2.1 A random chance event cannot account for the existence of the matter and energy in the Universe. The existence of that matter and energy falls outside the rules of our science. What are the Questions? Before being able to proceed with the quest, it was first necessary to define clearly the questions to which answers were sought. Additionally it was necessary to ensure that those questions fell within the realms of science, and did not stray into the area of religion. I therefore defined what appeared originally to have been two clear questions. 1. Am I, and the Universe around me, here intentionally, or as a result of some "accident of nature"? 2. How do I as an individual fit in with the "grand design" of things? Presumptuous Questions? Some may say that these are presumptuous questions. Nonetheless we, the human race, are both restricted by, yet at the same time entitled to function within the parameters of what is known to us. It is a straightforward fact, that, within those parameters and what is known to us, we alone, on this 19

Earth, and in the known Universe, are able to sit and ponder the nature of the Universe. To consider whether an unfathomably magnificent structure such as the Universe, with all of its beauty and majesty, could have come into existence by accident. Perhaps then to conclude that it was not an accident, and that its very existence is the result of a deliberate process of a Divine Creation. It is a fact that all of the particles in our bodies have, at some time, been part of the gas clouds and material that have pervaded the Universe for the past thirteen and a half billion years. Many of the atoms themselves, from which our bodies are made, were manufactured in stars that have burnt out long since. We are therefore all of us "Star Children", and perfectly entitled to conjecture and draw conclusions about the nature of our own origin. For whatever reason, we have the ability to do so, so why should we not do so? What do the Questions seek to establish? It soon became apparent that the questions set raised two very different issues, giving rise to two totally separate concepts. Concept 1. The Nature and development of the Universe We have seen that the singularity prevents us from looking back to a time before the Universe was created. It is worth repeating the need to draw a clear distinction between what, if anything, existed before the Universe came into being, and the nature of events that occurred after the beginning of the first second of its existence. It is a fine distinction, but a critical one. Within our science, we know nothing at all of what there was before, and what happened before is a matter strictly for religion. In the context of Concept 1 therefore, the quest is to consider and to try and attribute causes to certain events that occurred in relation to the Universe, during and after that first second. 20

Concept 2. The Nature of the Creation and the development of Life There is a widespread debate about whether, expressed here very simplistically, Life, and accordingly Mankind, developed through a process of evolution from the “primeval soup”, as suggested by Darwin, or whether Life and Mankind developed by some other means. The debate seems to revolve around just TWO concepts. EITHER there was some form of Divine act of Creation of Life, OR the evolutionist concept, that Life and Mankind evolved as a totally “natural” process of evolution, following on from some situation, possibly a random event, that gave rise to the Creation of the Universe. The evolutionist suggestion seems to be that the Creation and the development of Life was a sequential evolutionary process, and that any apparent discrepancies in that process must have an evolutionary explanation that is, as yet, undiscovered. But are the two alternatives the only options, or is a THIRD alternative possible? Could it be that a Divine Creation of Life, and natural evolution, do not offer an either, or situation, and that they are somehow interconnected? Before considering more fully the possibility of a third alternative, it is necessary first of all be clear about yet another particular and very specific distinction, this time between the nature and development of the Universe, and the actual Creation and development of Life. As we will continue to see, the Universe, whilst incredibly sophisticated, at the same time enjoys the most beautiful simplicity. Since it came into existence its development on the grand order of things has followed a set of mathematical rules that are consistent throughout its depth and breadth. Whilst we 21

are a very long way indeed from fully understanding those rules, they fall within the known laws of our science. As we will see, events associated with the Universe's development and growth have followed one another in a linear fashion, in line with what could be construed as a clearly defined plan of events. Life and its ongoing development have however involved a very different process. We shall see that Life has existed on Earth for at least three and a half billion years. Arbitrariness was inevitably present in creatures from the very first time an organism made a decision about a course of action, regardless of whether or not that decision was a conscious one. Additionally, at some later point, consciousness and freedom of choice entered the arena. It is inevitable that three and a half billion years of life, with its arbitrary actions and freedom of choice, must have involved an inconceivably massive number of possible permutations. If the Creation of Life and Mankind were orchestrated with a defined outcome, it is clear that planning and providing for that outcome, would have been a very different concept all together from planning for, and orchestrating the creation of a mathematical Universe. Might Life, and its development, have come about as a result of that third alternative? That there was a Divine Creation of Life, but that natural selection was not an alternative to that Divine Creation process, but an integral part of the ongoing development of it? More particularly, built in to the plan might there have been be a specific provision for, and the intention of, Divine Intervention and fine-tuning of natural evolution at certain stages of its progression? Thus might it be that inexplicable evolutionary discrepancies were not the result of evolutionary events awaiting an explanation, but were the result of specific interventions by the Divine Creator? 22

The Hypotheses 1. That there is a Divine Creator and that Divine Creator was responsible for the creation of the matter and energy that exists in our Universe. 2. That a Divine Creator guided and controlled the nature of the development of our Universe. 3. That a Divine Creator was responsible for the initial occurrence of Life on Earth. 4. That a Divine Creator was responsible for the progressive development of Life on Earth by a process of evolution, and that evolution followed its “natural” path. Certain otherwise inexplicable events that occurred during that evolutionary process were the result of specific interventions by the Divine Creator.

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Chapter 3. The Big Bang and the start of the first second of time The Start of the Very First Second We have seen that there was a point in time when all the matter and energy of the Universe, space itself, and even time, was contained at one point of zero size known as a singularity. As we have also seen a singularity in this context is a point at which the rules of our science break down, and beyond which we cannot use mathematics to look back and "see" what was before. The singularity prevents us from looking back further than the start of the very first second of time, and our consideration thus starts some thirteen and a half billion years ago at the very start of that very first second, of the very first day of our new Universe. The Universe was contained within that singularity which was of infinite density and heat. It exploded, not a conventional explosion as we know it like a bomb fragmenting into an existing space. Rather it was an expansion, with material spreading out in all directions, an event that created both the rapidly expanding space into which the matter was rushing along with time itself. The matter was in the form of sub atomic particles such as photons (virtually weightless "units" of light) and electrons along with protons and neutrons, sub atomic particles that are the basic building blocks of atoms, the very elements themselves. Atoms, the core Material of the Universe We will look first at the core constituents of all matter, tiny, tiny, particles. Atoms, so small that four million of them could fit in a straight line across the head of a pin. Every atom is made up of a small dense nucleolus of sub atomic particles called protons and neutrons surrounded by a cloud of other subatomic particles called electrons which circle the nucleolus. 24

There is typically one electron for each proton and the number of protons at the core of an atom determines its chemical nature. The gas hydrogen for example, has just one proton and one electron, whilst oxygen has eight protons, eight electrons (and eight neutrons). The volume of the atom itself is largely empty space. The distance of separation of the central nucleus from the orbiting electrons is vast. It is of the order of magnitude equivalent to the distance between the head of a pin, representing the nucleus, located at the centre of an athletics stadium, and the distance to the boundary of the stadium, which equates to the orbit of the electron. Whilst therefore the atom itself is tiny, we can see that those neutrons and protons that make up its core are even more minute. Protons and neutrons both weigh roughly the same and are incredibly light and tiny at one point six billion, billion, billionth of a gram. The weight of an electron is even less again at 1/1836 of that of a proton or a neutron. Protons and Neutrons The proton is an electrically charged particle with a single positive charge, whilst the neutron is a particle that is electrically neutral. As we saw above, both particles are located at the centre of the atom and weigh roughly the same. They are both constructed from members a family of yet even smaller fundamental particles called quarks. There are a number of members of the quark family of which two are named "up" and "down". (No, this isn't science fiction and the name Quark was derived from the line "Three quarks for Muster Mark" in Finnegan's Wake, a book written by James Joyce). A proton is made from two up quarks and a down quark. A neutron is made from one up quark and two down quarks. 25

Quarks and the strong Nuclear Force The quarks that make up the proton and the neutron are bound together by what is described as the "strong nuclear force", a binding force which binds all the particles in the nucleolus of an atom together. This binding force is carried by yet more tiny particles called gluons. The strong nuclear force is the most powerful of all natural and fundamental forces. It is so powerful that vast amounts of energy are involved in overcoming it, as in nuclear fusion. It is the energy liberated by nuclear fusion of the element hydrogen and some other elements, that causes the Sun and the other stars to shine. The net energy associated with the nuclear fusion process of one gram of hydrogen is the equivalent of 175,000-kilo watt-hours of energy, sufficient energy to power an electric fire for 20 years. Electrons and The Electrostatic Forces The electron is an electrically charged particle with a single negative charge, that orbits around the central core of the atom. Although the weight of an electron is 1/1836 of a proton, its electrical charge is equal in magnitude to, but the opposite of that of a proton. Electrons are fundamental particles in their own right, and belong to yet another family of particles, leptons. Electrons are unaffected by the strong nuclear force, and their location orbiting the nucleus is the result of the electrostatic attraction of the negatively charged electron, to the positively charged proton. This electrostatic force, which holds the tiny electrons in their orbits, is a million times weaker than the Strong Nuclear Force. It takes just a tiny amount of energy from a surrounding atom to dislodge an electron from its orbit.

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Assembling the Components The individual constituents of the atom fit together beautifully, like the parts of a jigsaw puzzle. Quarks make up protons and neutrons, which are all in turn bound together by the Strong Nuclear Force to make an atomic nucleus. The strong nuclear force that affects particles at the nucleus does not affect the electron. If it did, it would draw the electron into the core, with the result that the formation of the chemical elements (more about chemical elements later), and all that followed from that, would not have been possible. Instead the proton is permitted to experience both the strong nuclear and the electrostatic forces, whilst the electron is permitted to feel only the electrostatic force, thus allowing its orbit around the nucleus. Particle physics The point about the incredible nature, and tiny size, of this material has I suspect been adequately made, and I don't propose to go into any greater detail about it here. The subject of particle physics is an incredibly complex one, and there are numerous institutions Worldwide studying it. Whilst massive strides have been made in understanding the atomic structure of the atom, the nature of its construction and the reason for the presence of its component parts in the Universe at the start of the first second of its Creation is unknown. Conclusion 3.1 The presence of, and the nature and method of the construction of atoms, their components and the forces associated with them is unknown, and cannot be accounted for within the rules of our science. The atomic zest for Life We have seen the complex nature of the atom, the heart of all matter, yet despite that complexity its atomic structure follows a set of rules that are generally understood by our science. At 27

the very first moment, the very start of the very first second of Creation, the nature of the material introduced into the Universe was such that, as we will see later, it would readily and eagerly give itself to the development of organic molecules. These organic molecules were to be the very building blocks of Life. Coincidence 3.1 The components that would not only support life but also provide for and enable its very existence were present in the Universe at the start of the very first second. The quantity of Matter and Energy introduced into the Universe It is a fundamental rule of our science, the law of conservation of energy, that energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can only be transferred from one form to another. If you were for example to burn some wood in a sealed vessel it would radiate a little heat, and you would find that the sum of the radiated heat, and the ash and smoke that remained in the vessel had exactly the same energy / matter equivalence as the wood and the air in the bottle, before the wood was burnt. The sum total of matter and energy in the Universe is similarly an unchanging fixed amount. The vast quantities of energy and matter that exist in the Universe today, were introduced into the Universe at the time of the singularity. As has already been noted we do not know what occurred before the singularity, nor do we know the source of the vast amount of matter and energy that was introduced into the Universe at the point of the singularity. What is an indisputable fact is that this matter was introduced, and that the quantity of matter introduced was sufficient to sustain the development of the Universe, otherwise the Universe and all that it contains, as we can readily see just by looking around us, would not be here today. 28

Coincidence 3.2 The components that would not only support life but also provide for and enable its very existence were present in sufficient quantities in the Universe at the start of the very first second. No Wood Chippings in the crafting of this Universe's Materials When a human craftsman, for example, carves something from wood, there are inevitably bits left over, chippings flakes etc. There was however absolutely no extraneous material left over in the Creation of the Universe. The crafting of the atom and its component parts occurred with the finest of precision. Everything fitted together perfectly with no extraneous material. There were no other random "bits" of something. There were no loose particles that do not associate with anything else, and simply exist in space. Beta radiation and various other sub atomic particles all exist, but they all tie into the same mathematical / practical picture. If somehow the coming together of material in the Universe had been the subject of the random chance assembly of existing material, then there could, say, have been the appearance, at the origin, of element X that did not interact with any other matter introduced at that time. The matter could have been arbitrarily visible and, equally as arbitrarily, have occupied, fifty percent, one percent or whatever percent of the Universe, whilst being totally inert and disassociated with other matter. There were however no such superfluous "bits", and everything in the Universe interacts perfectly, both mathematically and practically with everything else. In coming to the conclusion that there is no extraneous material in the Universe we are not constrained by what we know of our immediate environment here on the Earth. We have a rapidly increasing, and extensive knowledge of places and events elsewhere in space. This comes from space 29

exploration, including visits to the Moon, mars and other more remote solar bodies, data from the international space station, telescopes, radio telescopes, meteors and in excess of three hundred kilograms of material brought to Earth from the Moon. Despite a detailed analysis of all this data and material, we have no reason to believe that the nature of the material elsewhere in the Universe is any different from the nature of material here on Earth. We have no reason to believe, or even to think, that any other form of material exists anywhere else. Coincidence 3.3 All of the components that were present in the Universe at the start of the very first second were relevant to life and its existence. There was no extraneous material. The complexity of Creation - v - its simplicity As I worked my way through the chapters of the book, backwards and forwards, checking here and correcting there, I became increasingly enchanted by the stark contrast between the practical complexities, and yet the conceptual simplicity of the Creation, and following on from that Life and Mankind. The structure of the atom is so very complex. The science of particle physics associated with the three building blocks, protons, neutrons and electrons is so complex that, despite extensive research throughout the World, we regard it as an achievement that we have been able to move but a few individual atoms a tiny distance. We shall see later on in the book, in more detail, how the arrangement of electrons in their orbits provides for the creation of the individual chemical elements, the reactions that occur between those elements, and the creation of massive collections of atoms, macromolecules that are the building blocks of life. It is all so integrally complex, yet a concept so simple that an individual, with absolutely no scientific knowledge, can understand it. The smallest part of an element that retains its 30

unique chemical properties is an atom. From combinations of just one hundred or so elements comes everything we know of, everywhere, from a grain of sand through the human brain to the Sun. We will also see how this theme of simplicity versus complexity repeats itself throughout the process, not only in relation to the development of the Universe, but also following through into the nature of Life itself. This concept of simplicity isn't however restricted just to atoms, but reflects itself throughout our everyday lives. Every structure, without exception, that mankind makes, starts life as something simple that is built upon either by equally simple parts, or more complex parts that themselves derive from simple ones. The nature of the Creation of the Universe has permeated itself through to our everyday lives.

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Chapter 4. The creation of the Universe An explanation of the molecular Nature of Heat When we discuss heat we are actually referring to the vibration motion of atoms and molecules. We saw in the last chapter that matter is made of atoms. These atoms are in a state of continuous energetic vibration, and the application of more energy causes them to vibrate more violently and with increased energy. A simple example is steam. It starts as water, a collection of atoms in a kettle. The electrical energy applied to the kettle is taken up by the atoms in the form of heat, thus causing them to vibrate more violently. With the increasing application of more energy the vibration increases to such a pitch that massive volumes of atoms are able to break loose from the body of water in the form of steam. If you scald your hand in steam from a kettle, what has actually happened is that the particles in the steam are moving and vibrating with such force that when they collide with you, they cause physical damage to the atomic structure of you hand. Another example of how the vibration of atoms is felt as heat occurs when an individual is present in a warm room, with the doors and windows closed. What is perceived as heat is the pressure of the atoms of the air vibrating and bouncing against the walls of the room and our bodies. Opening a window into a cooler environment releases the vibrating particles to the outside World, reducing the pressure and thus the heat in the room. This might sometimes be noticeable as a draft as the vibrating particles "rush" out. It was mentioned in the introduction that Celsius as opposed to the scientific Kelvin scale would be used in the measurement of heat. Essentially the difference between the two is that zero degrees Kelvin represents absolute zero, when atomic particles stop vibrating entirely. In degrees Celsius this equates to a 32

temperature of minus two hundred and seventy three degrees Celsius. After the Start of the very first Second of Time In the immediate aftermath of the Big Bang, after the start of the first second, the temperature of the Universe was an inconceivable thousand billion degrees Celsius. The sub atomic particles, electrons, neutrons and protons that we read about earlier had not yet formed themselves into atoms. They were still individual particles whizzing around at velocities at, or approaching the speed of light. Originally there was both matter and antimatter. The existence of antimatter incidentally is a fact and not a science fiction fantasy. It is produced and annihilated continuously in stars, and it is also produced here on Earth in laboratory particle accelerators that are able to produce high-energy antimatter particles. In the beginning, when matter and antimatter met, they cancelled each other out and annihilated each other creating photons, "particles" of light radiation. There was however an imbalance, an excess of matter over antimatter. As the interactions between them continued matter continued to annihilate antimatter and vice versa. The Universe was left with a surplus of matter, no antimatter and a vast quantity of radiated light. Over time these particles combined to form protons and neutrons, and in due course atoms. The amount of energy involved at this very early time was unimaginably vast. We have already seen that the net energy associated with the nuclear fusion of just one gram of hydrogen is sufficient to power an electric fire for 20 years. The weight of the Earth is six thousand, billion, billion kilograms. I'm not going to even start trying to work out how much energy equivalence there is in the Earth, let alone the Universe! 33

Several Hundred Thousand Years after Point Zero By several hundred thousand years after point zero the temperature of the Universe had fallen to just several thousand degrees Celsius, and the Universe continued to expand. If this rapidly increasing distribution of matter throughout the Universe had been the same in every direction, it would have lead to a universal mist of evenly distributed particles with no potential to form stars, planets or Life. But that wasn't the way that it happened. Instead as the expansion continued matter collected into distinct clumpy dust clouds that began to condense and rotate, forming the forerunners of galaxies (vast collections of stars). In some of the smaller clouds where there were the right forces, and sufficient material, the clouds began to collapse under gravity. If the material in the cloud became sufficiently compressed nuclear reactions began at its centre, and a star was born. So, what was it that caused the material to gather together in clouds? Before the completion of the first fraction of a second of the Universe's new life, tiny variations (known technically as quantum fluctuations) in the amount of matter being distributed were contained within the overall design and nature of the Universe. In some areas the density of the matter was slightly greater than others, and although incredibly minute, these small variations were nonetheless sufficiently large for gravity to start to act on them and draw them together. Tiny amounts of matter were concentrated into slightly larger amounts, and those slightly larger amounts were concentrated into larger ones again. And so the clumpy dust clouds came together. Coincidence 4.1 From the start of the first second the distribution of matter through the Universe was orchestrated 34

so as to enable the formation of vast gas clouds. This lead to the Creation of stars like our Sun, planets like the Earth and Life leading to the development of Mankind. Almost a Million Years after Point Zero Stars had already formed by this time, and the provision for the manufacture of the heavier elements up to and including iron was well underway. The formation of the interstellar bodies is covered in more detail later. We saw earlier that the components had been crafted and the plan prepared. Now we can see the assembly starting to take shape The first ever production line had moved into production, and the contrast between simplicity and complexity continued to manifest itself. The material first introduced into the Universe was in the form of tiny sub atomic particles, along with the nuclear forces needed to pull the core parts of the atomic nuclei, the quarks together. With this came the electrostatic force necessary to trap electrons into the orbits of those newly formed protons thus creating hydrogen, the simplest, most basic, naturally occurring element, formed simply from a central proton with an orbiting electron. The point here, expressed very simplistically, is that the "bits" needed to make up the atoms were designed to fit together, and the strong nuclear force, and the electrostatic force that facilitated that assembly came along with the bits. The facility for the particles to assemble themselves was such that, once assembled, they had “self-formed” themselves into the first basic hydrogen atom, a proton with an orbiting electron. Essentially, elements are classified by the number of protons in their nucleus, and this is then expressed as their weight. Hydrogen having one proton is classified as the lightest 35

element, helium with two is a little heavier, and Iron with up to twenty-six protons is much heavier. Hydrogen is also the basic fuel for nuclear fusion in stars (nuclear fusion is the fusing, squeezing together, of the nuclei of light elements to form heavier ones). Once the particles were assembled into basic hydrogen atoms, gravity started to act, creating the stars and squeezing the hydrogen cores in them together, to form helium. Once helium formed the next heaviest element was squeezed together, and thus many of the elements necessary for life were constructed in a straightforward linear fashion. The first, perfect production line was continuing its work. The fusion process just described, that takes place in living burning stars, can form only elements up to a maximum weight up to, and including that, of iron. The heavier elements, not created by the burning of the stars, are created in violent supernova explosions at the end of the star's life. These explosions also have the effect of dispersing all of the elements created throughout space. So the earlier massive stars burned the hydrogen fuel available, and then went through the process of creating the heavier elements by fusion, and then by exploding into supernovas. Yet a further beauty of the plan therefore was that the process was a cyclical one, with later generations of stars thus starting Life with increasingly large quantities of the heavier elements. Not quite a perpetual motion machine, but the perfect mechanism to provide for the ongoing generation of material. Eventually the proliferation of elements throughout the Universe was sufficient for our Sun and the rocky planet called Earth to form. Our Universe's production line came equipped with all the raw materials needed for its output, a production plan incorporated 36

into its raw material and a fully comprehensive distribution network! The design of the development of the Universe, from that very first second, was so perfect that one might perhaps envisage a Divine Creator being able to leave it to its own devices for ten billion years, until all was ready for the first appearance of Life. Coincidence 4.2 Inherent in the nature of the Universe's design were the raw materials needed for its output, a production plan, a fully comprehensive distribution network and a cyclical process to facilitate an ongoing production process. Where are we in the Univers e? We inhabit the planet Earth, orbiting our Sun, a star which is just one of a hundred billion other stars in our Galaxy, a Galaxy called the Milky Way. There are literally billions of galaxies scattered throughout the Universe. So where exactly are we in relation to the singularity and the point of origin of the Universe, and where are we located in relation to the overall Universe now? Well, all matter and energy, of which we are a part, was packed into an infinitesimally small space at the very beginning. What is certain therefore is that the material that comprises our planet and us, was packed into that space which lay at the centre of Creation. So if nothing else we are entitled to make the somewhat abstract statement that we were actually at the centre of the Creation. That aside, we simply don't have the means to assess where the Earth lies in relation to the rest of the content of the Universe. It is variously argued that we have no reason to believe that the Solar System, the Sun, or the Earth, lie at the centre of the Universe. There is however no known scientific evidence that 37

proves that we aren't located at the centre either; we simply don't know. How do we know about the Universe's Past? We have seen that the concept of the Big Bang originally derived from the equations of Einstein's theories of Relativity. Included in those equations was a prediction that because of the way matter and energy, on the grand scale, was distributed equally throughout the Universe there would be a general background heat permeated throughout space, at a temperature of approximately minus two hundred and seventy degrees Celsius. We saw earlier that although this is extremely cold it is slightly above absolute zero. At the time that the prediction about the background heat was made science lacked the ability to test it, but the heat, at almost exactly the temperature predicted, has now been detected both by instruments on man made satellites in space, and also by Earth bound equipment. It provides a very firm verification of the theory. Additional evidence comes from the fact that by analysing the light coming from other Galaxies (the Doppler effect), it has been possible to measure whether those Galaxies are moving towards us or away from us. The conclusion has been that they are indeed, generally moving away from us, and from each other, with the more distant Galaxies moving with increasing speed, thus confirming the concept of an expanding Universe. The Doppler effect Sound offers an example of the Doppler effect. A traveller standing on a train station as a fast moving train passes through will hear the pitch of the train rise as it approaches the station, and fall as it leaves. The reason for this is that sound is a series of waves travelling through the air. As the train approaches the traveller the individual sound waves are compressed by being heard by the traveller at shorter and shorter intervals, thus making the pitch rise. As the train moves away the waves are 38

heard at greater and greater intervals, stretching the wavelengths out to lower pitches. The Doppler effect on Light Light, as part of the electromagnetic spectrum is also a wave, and is thus subject to a similar Doppler effect. Colour relates to wavelength for light in the same way as pitch relates to wavelength for sound, If someone was shining a torch at you and, moving towards you at the same time, the wavelengths of the light would become compressed and the colour of the light would change. How much the colour of the light changed would depend on the speed with which the torch was approaching you, As it was moving towards you, the compression of the light would tend towards the blue end of the spectrum and would be called blueshifted light. In astronomy therefore, the Doppler Redshift results from the source of light moving away from the observer. The wavelength of the light is moving away and is stretched out and shifted towards the red end of the spectrum. Without getting into any further detail, the point to make is that the redshifting of the light from distant galaxies confirms that they are moving away from each other. The Pudding Model of the Universe An often-used explanation of the nature of this spreading and moving away of the Galaxies throughout the Universe is the "Pudding" model. Imagine that the pudding starts out resting on the baking tray as a small ball of dough with raisins in it. The expansion of the Universe is then described as analogous to that expansion. The raisins on the pudding are the Galaxies. As the pudding cooks and expands, raisins near each other will move with like speeds, whilst the raisins that are farther apart at the edge of the pudding move away with increasing speed.

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Conclusion 4.1 The presence of the predicted background heat, and confirmation that the galaxies are moving away from each other ratifies the Big Bang theory, and provides firm evidence that the Universe had an origin.

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Chapter 5. The nature of the Universe The Night Sky To an Earth based observer, the night sky looks like a hemispherical dome bounded by the horizon. Stars rise on the eastern horizon and move across the sky in a westerly direction. As the night progresses, they continue their motion, eventually setting below the western horizon. We now know of course that the perceived motion of the stars is not real, but is due to the rotation of the Earth from west to east every twentyfour hours. For the purpose of defining the positions of the stellar bodies, stars galaxies etc, it can be imagined however that the they are fixed to the inside of a sphere that rotates around the Earth once daily, and observers from the Earth define the positions of the bodies by reference to their view from Earth. Early observers concluded that all the lights in the sky were stars, but with the advent of increasingly powerful telescopes, the true nature of the night sky started to reveal itself. They weren't seeing just stars, but planets, comets and also distant galaxies, with vast collections of stars many billions of miles away from other galaxies also containing billions of stars. When we observe a distant point of light we see it not as it is now, but as it was at a certain time in the past, at the very moment that the light left it. The scale of the Universe Before taking a more detailed look at the nature of the objects in the Universe, and also the nature of their Creation, we need to understand just how very vast our Universe really is. When considering the astronomical distances involved here, we can't really think in terms of conventional units like miles, meters or kilometres. We need to think in terms of much bigger 41

dimensions, and the distance light can travel over a period of time has become the accepted unit of measurement of distances of this kind of magnitude. Light in the vacuum (emptiness) of space, travels at three hundred thousand kilometres per second, and can circle the Earth some seven times in one second. Thus light can travel ten thousand million kilometres in one year, and it is this unit of measurement, described as a light year, that is used to describe distances in the Universe. For example our observable Universe is estimated as some fifteen billion light years (or more) across, that's one hundred and fifty billion, billion, billion kilometres. Essentially, with the exception of comets that land on Earth, and the three hundred or so kilograms of rocks shipped down from the Moon, everything we know, and have learnt about the Universe and its contents, comes to us in the form of electromagnetic radiation, and indeed, from every form of radiation in the Electromagnetic spectrum from low energy radio waves through to the high-energy gamma rays. Included in the Electromagnetic Spectrum, although only a very small part of it, is visible light. Until fairly recently this has been our only means of observing the night sky. Even then, particles and other material in the Earth's atmosphere prevented a large part of that visible light from reaching us. It is only during the last century that developments in electronics, and advances in space travel and space based monitoring equipment have enabled us to significantly enhance our knowledge of the night skies. The Components of the Universe Our planet Earth and the Solar System to which it belongs is contained within a Galaxy, the Milky Way, a swirling spiral System of one hundred billion stars, of the order of one 42

hundred thousand light years in diameter. Galaxies are not the ultimate collections of stars, and galaxies themselves are grouped into clusters of up to several thousand members. The space between stars and galaxies is often described as a empty, and although this is true by reference to the density of the Earth's atmosphere, interstellar space actually contains a tiny mixture of gas and dust at one hundred million, million, millionths of the Earth's atmosphere. We are going to look only very briefly, and then just for completeness, at the nature of the various interstellar bodies on the grand scale. They are not directly relevant to the content of the book and are more than adequately covered in other publications. 1. Galaxies There are billions of galaxies of widely different types in the Universe. There are different ways of classifying those galaxies, the simplest being their arrangement into three fundamental types, spiral with spiral arms emerging from them, elliptical, and irregular galaxies with no defined nucleus or structure. Galaxies range in diameter from three thousand to one hundred and fifty thousand light years. 2. Black Holes A black hole is an area of space into which material has fallen and from which nothing, not even light, can escape. As matter is compressed its gravitational attraction increases, and thus the escape velocity at its surface increases. If the compression of matter becomes sufficiently great, so that the escape velocity exceeds the speed of light, gravity overcomes all other forces, and the body collapses to a black hole. This is then a point of infinite density and, like the origin of the Universe, is known as a singularity where the rules of our science fail. 43

3. Pulsars A Pulsar is the central core of neutrons of a dying star that has exploded in a supernova. 4. Stars We have already touched briefly on stars. Our very close neighbour the Sun, itself a star, plays such a critical role in our Life that a discussion on stars has been accorded a chapter of its own. The Laws of the Universe Although there are very, very many aspects of the Creation of the Universe that are not clear to us, it is known that with some exceptions, black holes for example, the Universe is governed by a set of laws. As far as we have been able to establish these laws are homogenous (operate equally everywhere) through space. Whilst seeking to avoid the complexities of mathematics, we must just touch on a couple of these laws. The Universal Law of Gravitation provides that all bodies in the Universe attract each other with a force that depends on the weights of those bodies. That attraction increases proportionally; the closer the bodies are to each other. Consider that the closer two billiard balls are to each other the more gravity makes them want to get closer. The reason that they don't actually move closer together is because they are prevented from doing so by the friction of the table, and the overpowering gravitational attraction of the Earth and the other bodies around them. Left alone in some remote corner of the Universe, devoid of gravitational attraction from other bodies and on a frictionless table, they would indeed get together under gravity.

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Another Universal law, one we have already discussed, is that light travels at a fixed speed of three hundred thousand kilometres per second. Conclusion 5.1 The design, the development and the nature of the Universe are governed by a distinct set of rules of science, for example that light in a vacuum must travel at three hundred thousand kilometres per second. Whilst we can, to a certain extent, understand those rules we are bound by them. Within the rules of our science we are neither able to account for the existence of those rules nor to circumvent them in any way. The "timing" of the Universe We have seen that the tiny variations in the original distribution of matter caused gravity to concentrate tiny amounts of matter into larger amounts of matter, and those larger amounts of matter into even larger clumps of matter and so on. The end results of the influence of this gravitational force were the galaxies, the stars and the planets. The initial variations in the distribution of particles were very small, so that large scale changes took a relatively long time to manifest themselves. During the first nine billion years the stars were creating the abundance of elements needed to create the rocky mineral rich planet that is Earth. Over the next four and a half billion years the oxygen rich atmosphere on Earth, and subsequently Life as we know it, were developing. If the original fluctuations in the distribution of matter had been smaller, there might not, by now, have been sufficient time for the overall abundance of elements necessary for our existence to have been manufactured. If the fluctuations had been larger, or even much larger the Universe might have collapsed before the Earth even formed. 45

Coincidence 5.1 The size of the random fluctuations of matter introduced into the Universe was appropriate for the timing of the Creation of Earth and Life on it.

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Chapter 6. The creation of the Stars Star formation At the start of the Universe the elements necessary for Life, oxygen, nitrogen and iron for example, didn't exist and had to wait to be created in the furnaces of the stars. We know that the only element present in the early Universe was hydrogen, and the first stars were therefore composed almost entirely from this. Star formation is a complex process and no two stars are the same. Their construction is for example dependent, amongst other things, on the volume of material in their vicinity available for their formation. Following the Big Bang huge interstellar clouds consisting of gas and tiny particles of solid material formed, and these were the basis of the formation of the first stars. Concentrations of material broke loose from those huge clouds in clumps. A clump of material that has broken free from the other parts of the dust cloud, and has its own unique gravity and identity, is known as a protostar. As a protostar develops loose gas and dust fall into its centre under the increasing gravitational attraction of the growing star. The protostar star, at first, has only a small percentage of its final mass and the envelope of the star continues to grow as inflowing material is accreted. After a few million years, nuclear fusion begins in its core, Over a period of time the protostar starts increasingly to generate a stellar wind, an out rushing of sub atomic particles, and when this outgoing force exceeds the pressure of the in flowing material that inflow of material stops. The star is then considered a young star with a fixed mass, and its future evolution is set. During the early stages the residue of the original broken away clump of gas and dust cloud surround the 47

young star. Some of these remains dissipate under the force of the stellar wind, whilst some of it may come together under gravity, in the process possibly creating objects such as planets. A star therefore is essentially a ball of gas held together by the interaction between its own gravity, and the pressure emanating from the centre. The force of gravity is continually trying to force the star to collapse towards its centre, whilst outward pressure produced by the energy from the Star's interior resists this. You will recall that Hydrogen is the lightest element, with one proton and an orbiting electron. When a star burns, gravity forces the individual hydrogen atoms together until they combine to form the heavier element helium. The energy associated with the process of fusing atoms in this way is the energy that we see radiating from the Sun and the other stars. When all the hydrogen atoms have been converted to helium, helium is then similarly fused together to form the next heaviest element, until, eventually, all the lighter elements that are capable of being fused in the normal process of a stars Life have been fused together to form a core of the heavier elements. Once the star reaches this point there is therefore no more fuel to be processed, and the continuing generation of power is no longer possible. Consequently there is no more outgoing pressure resisting the inwards gravitational attraction, and the star starts to collapse in on itself under the force of gravity. The eventual fate of a star depends on its size and mass. Stars around the size of our Sun will tend to collapse in on themselves and become white dwarfs, hot bodies of a size of the order of magnitude of Earth, and densities of hundreds of millions of kilograms per cubic meter. 48

In the larger more massive stars the collapse in on themselves is extremely rapid, fusing the atoms at the core into even heavier elements with massive fusion reactions. The dying star explodes releasing a vast amount of energy, sufficient to blow away all the outer parts of the star in a violent explosion, and the star thus becomes a supernova. The light of this one star is then as bright as that from all the other one hundred billion stars in that galaxy. During this explosive phase those heavier elements that were formed within the collapsing star, together with the rest of the content of the outer regions of the star, are blown into interstellar space at a speed approaching ten thousand kilometres per second. Left behind is a neutron star of even greater density than a white dwarf. In other cases, the process is slower. Instead of an explosion, elements from the star's interior zones rise to the surface and are then lost to space when the outer layers blow off. The end results are similar. The space between the stars is enriched with increasingly heavy elements. All of the naturally occurring elements in the Universe with weights greater than hydrogen were thus produced inside stars, and spread throughout space by supernovae. It took generations of stars, each processing the debris left by earlier ones and thus starting off with a greater quantity of heavier elements than the last, and then redistributing more elements through further supernovae, to produce the present abundance of elements found in the Universe. Each successive generation of stars thus started off with a greater quantity of heavy elements than the previous generation. These elements that are generated in stars, and through the death of stars, don't however make up only the massive interstellar bodies. They make up every single part of all of our bodies, and everything else that we see about us. So we are, all 49

of us, made up of material much of which has been processed at least once, and possibly several times, inside stars. The Nature of the Early Stars The very first stars were nothing like our Sun. They were massive, perhaps ten times bigger than our Sun, white-hot stars, burning for only a few million years. When those first stars came to the end of their lives many exploded as supernovae, and began the seeding process in the Universe, spreading vital heavier elements like carbon and oxygen, which served as planetary building blocks. It was the design of these early stars however that caused them to be so short-lived. The more massive a star the more space there is for nuclear reactions to occur, thus the more quickly it burns up its hydrogen and hence the brighter and hotter it is. The rapid conversion of hydrogen into helium also means that the hydrogen gets used up at a greater rate in the more massive stars than the smaller ones. This of course leads to a much faster creation of the heavier elements than if the stars had been smaller. For a star like the Sun, the main stage of its Life lasts about ten thousand million years, whereas a star ten times as massive will be ten thousand times as bright and will last only one hundred thousand years. Thus another feature of the design of the Universe was that, in its early years, the production of the elements necessary for Life occurred quickly. Coincidence 6.1 The nature of the early stars of the Universe was such that it provided for a relatively fast creation of the elements needed to develop and sustain Life.

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Chapter 7. The Solar System The physical Solar System Earth, the planet on which we live, is located in the Solar System, a collection of nine planets and other bodies such as Moons rotating around the central body the Sun. The Solar System in turn is located in our own Milky Way Galaxy, which was formed, like the others, from the massive clouds of gas and dust in the Universe. There are various theories and a great deal of uncertainty about how the Solar System was formed. For the purpose of this book the nature of the Solar System’s formation isn’t important, as we are more concerned with its nature and the consequences of its formation, as opposed to the fine detail of its construction. One way or another it is believed that the Sun and the other bodies in the Solar System all originated at or about the same time, from of a single cloud of gas and dust that itself had broken off from a larger cloud. Once it had broken loose from the main cloud the broken off clump of dust would have started to rotate under its own acquired gravity, and then, later, started to collapse in on itself causing material from the cloud to flow towards the centre. The speeding up of the rotation caused the cloud to flatten out into a disk, with the densest part in the centre. Material from the cloud of dust and gas continued to flow into the centre of the disk under gravity, releasing energy in the form of heat as it did so. The temperature and pressure at the centre increased until it enabled nuclear reactions to start at the core. The pressure at the centre further increased as a consequence of these nuclear reactions until, at some point, the outgoing pressure exceeded the inflowing force of material, 51

and the outgoing pressure became visible as radiated heat. The centre of the disk had become a star, our Sun. There was a cloud of dust around the outskirts of the evolving Sun, some of the particles of which collided and hung together forming larger and larger fragments. There were more and more collisions, until the dust that had not been either drawn into the Sun, or blown away by a stellar wind generated by the Sun, came together to form the nine planets, and the other bodies in the Solar System. These planets are now well spaced from each other and in, as far as we know, stable orbits maintaining their respective orbital distances around the Solar System under the gravitational force of the centrally located Sun. The Sun weighs almost a thousand times as much as the rest of the Solar System put together, and its massive gravitational force controls and guides its family of planets, satellites, comets, and many hundreds of thousands of asteroids and other bodies of varying sizes from tiny dust specks upwards. The path of each of these bodies around the Sun is determined primarily by a balance between the inward attraction of the Sun's gravity, and the gravitational effects of the bodies themselves, although the Sun's attraction is the most predominant force. We shall soon see that once the Solar System, and with it the Sun and the Earth, had come into being, life was so eager to get going that it came into existence within a relatively short space of time. Coincidence 7.1 The nature of the matter in the Universe was such that it was eager and ready for the formation of Life. By the very nature of the process of the ongoing creation of heavier elements, we can see that the Universe will progress to a state where increasingly heavy elements will abound, and the 52

presence of lighter elements will become increasingly rare. Here on Earth we have sufficient, but not an excess, of all the elements necessary for Life. We might make a judgement that similar criteria about the eagerness of the formation of life applied also to the Solar System itself, and that it formed as soon as the appropriate necessary ratios of elements needed for Life existed. Coincidence 7.2 The nature of the Solar System is such that it came into existence at a time when the distribution of elements was appropriate for the formation of Life on Earth. The position of the other Celestial Bodies relative to Earth It is a fact that the spacing of a number of planets (interspaced with an asteroid, Ceres) out from the Sun follows a specific mathematical order, for which there is no apparent reason or explanation. A scientist named Bode discovered the rule and the relationship has become known as Bode’s law. The mathematics of this is readily available on the Internet and has been omitted. A table setting out the results of the application of this rule is set out below. Bode’s Number sequence Planet

Bode Actual Error

Mercury 0.40 0.39

0.01

Venus

0.70 0.72

0.02

Earth

1.00 1.00

0.00

Mars

1.60 1.52

0.08

Ceres

2.80 2.77

0.03

Jupiter

5.20 5.20

0.00

Saturn

10.00 9.58

0.42

Uranus

19.60 19.20

0.40

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This is one of a number of coincidences of numbers that occur, and, although it is not of any particular significance within our current knowledge, it is nonetheless another oddity of Creation. Coincidence 7.3 The spacing of the first seven planets (interspaced with an asteroid) out from the Sun follows a specific mathematical order for which there is no apparent reason or explanation. The location of the Earth relative to the Sun The only other relevant thing to say about the physical formation of the Solar System is that, one way or another, it ended up with a balanced distribution of material such that the Earth was of exactly the correct weight, size and location relative to the Sun, to facilitate the development of Life on Earth. By reference to the position of Mars and Venus, both of which are uninhabitable, if the location of the Earth had been just midway between that of Mars and its current location it too would have been uninhabitable, and unable to sustain Life. By reference therefore to the overall diameter of the Solar System, the location of the Earth relative to the Sun is precise to 0.000005%, as far as its location is necessary in order to sustain Life. Coincidence 7.4 The position of the Earth relative to the other bodies in the Solar System was ideal for the development of Life. Coincidence 7.5 By reference to the overall diameter of the Solar System the location of the Earth relative to the Sun is precise to 0.000005% as far as its location is necessary in order to sustain Life. 54

We shall however see in the next chapter that there was another Solar System "player", the Moon, the existence and positioning of which was very relevant to Life on the Earth. Without its influence the relatively clement seasons that we enjoy on Earth would have been very different. The importance of the Nature of the Solar System in the development of Mankind Long before the early Greeks concluded that the Earth was round civilisations were studying the movements of the Moon, Sun, and planets, and using the information about those movements to calculate the seasons. By studying the movement of these celestial bodies those early observers created the first calendars. With a calendar it became possible to calculate the arrival of the planting seasons. The measurement of land was necessary if it was to be shared and divided accurately, and the measurements of amounts of seeds or grain were also a factor in farming. Later came the need to measure value as bartering and subsequently money transactions came about. The main factor that made it possible for Mankind to settle in permanent communities, and to develop as it has, was agriculture. After farming was developed some ten thousand years ago, people living in tribes or family units did not have to be on the move continually searching for food, or herding their animals. Once people controlled food production and were reasonably sure of a reliable supply of it, the nature of life changed completely. Coincidence 7.6 The development of agriculture necessary for a progressively developing civilisation was a direct result of the nature of the Solar System and the orbits of the bodies in it. The science of mathematics is often described as having been developed by mankind, but its existence was actually inherent 55

in the nature of the creation of the Universe. Mankind simply discovered it, in the same was as it has been enabled to discover so many other things. The discovery of mathematics came about through agriculture, and without mathematics there would have been no means for the successful development of agriculture. Without agriculture, which came about as a result of the nature of the Solar System, it is questionable whether mathematics itself would have been discovered. Coincidence 7.7 The discovery of mathematics, the forerunner of all science, went hand in hand with the development of agriculture, and was the result of the nature of the orbits of the bodies in the Solar System. A simpler Solar System How easy it would be to imagine a much simpler Solar System created by a random chance, from the matter in the evolving Universe. It could perhaps have provided for just one planet, Earth, rotating at a fixed distance from the Sun, and ideally suited for the formation of Life, and with no other heavenly Solar System bodies. Then there would have been the distant light points of galaxies and stars. Life might then have come into existence in just the same way as we will see in later chapters, but without the features of the Solar System, the civilisation that is Mankind could not have developed. Coincidence 7.8 The nature of the distribution of the bodies in the Solar Stem other than Earth, was fundamental to the development of mankind.

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Chapter 8. The Earth and the Moon The physical Moon With the exception of mercury and venus, all the planets of our Solar System have natural satellites or Moons revolving around them. The Earth has one such Moon. Our Moon is the Earth's only satellite. It orbits the Earth in an elliptical orbit varying from four hundred thousand kilometres to three hundred and fifty thousand kilometres, with an orbital period around the Earth of approximately twenty-seven and a half days. It rotates on its own axis in exactly the same time that it takes to travel around the Earth, so that the same face of the Moon is always facing the Earth. The Earth / Moon system also revolves around the Sun, taking approximately 365 days, a calendar year, to complete one orbit. The formation of the Moon A popular theory about the development of the moon is that it was part of the ongoing process of collision and accretion of Solar bodies that occurred around the time of the formation of the planets. It is believed that, at a time when the Earth had achieved a relatively high degree of stability, a body of the order of the size of Mars collided with it at high speed. Following on from this collision the Moon formed either as a direct result of some of the material from the collision being ejected directly into space, or, over a period of time, from the debris from the collision accreting together to form the body of the Moon. Another, alternative theory, is that the velocity of the object was such that it was just right to be captured by the Earth's gravity and pulled into orbit around the Earth.

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The interaction between the Moon and the Earth Congenial Climate We have already seen how the Earth found itself in a unique location, a narrow habitable zone around the Sun. Venus is too close to the Sun and hence is too hot for Life. Mars is too far from the Sun. Only the Earth has the proper size and composition of matter to be habitable. A planet's axis, about which it rotates, is an imaginary line through both of the planet's poles. The Earth makes one full orbit around the Sun each year but the axis around which it rotates is not at right angles to the Sun, but points away from it by approximately twenty three degrees. The Earth can be considered as being "split" at the equator into the Northern hemisphere, the top half of the Earth, and the Southern hemisphere, the bottom half of the Earth. This twenty three degree tilt is very important, and is very significant in causing differential seasons, and varying climatic conditions throughout the year. The gravitational interaction between the Moon and the Earth is responsible for maintaining the Earth's twenty three degree tilt. Examples of the effect of the Earth's twenty three degree tilt Because the tilt is permanent it causes the Northern Hemisphere to be tilted towards the Sun during the summer, and it is thus in a more direct path of the Sun's energy. The Sun's rays have less distance to travel through the atmosphere resulting in less Sunlight being scattered before reaching the ground. Additionally a high Sun angle produces long days. The heat of the Sun penetrates only a little way into the solid surface of the land, so that its temperature changes easily. For example at night the desert is cold, fifteen degrees Celsius or lower, but when the Sun rises in the morning the temperature increases rapidly to forty degrees Celsius or more. There is 58

significantly more land than water in the northern hemispheres, and in the summer therefore the Northern landmasses become extremely warm during the summer days. Heat however has a totally different effect on the waters of the oceans, which it penetrates more deeply than the land. The oceans heat up more slowly than the land, but retain the heat for much longer, so that during the night they might loose just a few degrees of heat, far less than land. In the winter the southern hemisphere with its mass of slowly warming water leans towards the Sun, and the sunlight is spread thorough the mass of water so that Southern summers in January are cooler than Northern Summers in July. Coincidence 8.1 The specific location of the Moon in its orbit around the Earth is largely responsible for the Earth’s congenial climate and varying seasons. The Ocean's tides The gravitational attraction of the Moon is primarily responsible for the daily ocean tides, which are caused by the gravitational forces between the Earth and the Moon. The Moon's gravitational attraction is stronger on the side of the Earth nearest to the Moon, and weaker on the opposite side. Since the Earth, and particularly the oceans on it are not rigid, the planet is stretched out slightly along a line toward the Moon and we see two bulges in the oceans, the tides. It is believed that these tides may have contributed to the original mixing and assembly of organic molecules, which as we shall soon see, were the building blocks of Life (although not Life itself). Coincidence 8.2 The specific location of the Moon in its orbit around the Earth is believed to have played a significant part in the formation of organic molecules. 59

Solar Eclipses A Solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth and can result in the Moon totally obscuring the Sun. Both the Moon and the Sun are almost perfect spheres a vast distance apart and yet are capable of creating Solar Eclipses. This is possible only because; ?? The Moon is 1/400th the size of the Sun ?? The Moon is and 1/400th the distance of Earth from the Sun ?? The Moon and the Sun are perfectly aligned on the same plane as the Earth and Sun. Coincidence 8.3 There is a clear mathematical relationship between the positioning of the Earth, the Moon and the Sun and the relative sizes of the Moon and the Sun. The size of the Moon at 1/400 that of the Sun, and the distance of the Moon from Earth at 1/400 that of the Sun, cause periodic Solar Eclipses that can have the effect of ""blotting out" the Sun to observers on Earth. There is no apparent reason for this relationship. Coincidence 8.4 The mathematical relationship between the positioning of the Earth, the Moon and the Sun and the relative sizes of the Moon and the Sun causes periodic solar eclipses to occur which can completely obscure the view of the Sun from the Earth.

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Chapter 9. The formation of the Earth The physical Earth The Earth formed in a similar fashion to the other planets in the Solar System in a process of accretion, by which gravity caused clouds of dust to form into rubble, which then formed a central point of attraction for material to the newly forming planet. The growth of accumulated matter compressed the interior, produced heat and increased the Earth's temperature. The Earth wasn't the only body to form, and other bodies of various sizes also formed and then collided with the Earth adding to its size and making the planet hot and molten. As the temperature continued to increase the heavier elements such as iron flowed to centre of the Earth, whilst the lighter substances such as silicon and aluminium rose to the surface. The Earth has a central core that is divided into two parts, a solid inner core with a radius of one thousand kilometres, where the pressure is more than a million times greater than at the surface. It is estimated that the temperature at the core is in the region of five thousand degrees Celsius, similar to the temperature at the surface of the Sun. Beyond the central core is a liquid outer core, extending beyond centre of the planet to a radius of some three thousand kilometres. It is believed that this is made up of liquid iron, mixed with liquid nickel and trace amounts of lighter elements. Convection in the outer core, combined with the effects of the Earth's rotation, gives rise to the Earth's magnetic field. The next outward layer, the Earth's mantle, makes up seventy percent of the total volume of the Earth. The inner part of this region is solid, while the upper, outer mantle is plastic and very hot. The material in the mantle is close to the melting point of rocks so that it flows almost like a liquid. 61

Finally a crust ranging from five to seventy kilometres in thickness covers the mantle. The thinner parts tend to be oceanic crust, whilst the thicker crust is continental crust. Coincidence 9.1 The nature of the formation of the Earth was such that it has a protective crust, which is just five kilometres thick in some places. The crust is all that lies between Life and the heat of the inner Earth. The nature and action of Tectonic Plates As the Earth cooled from its original molten state the surface cracked, to become a collection of huge rafts of rock called tectonic plates. It is believed that these tectonic plates are unique in the Solar System. The continents lie on top of some of the plates, which "float" slowly over the surface of the planet. At one time all the continents were joined together, forming a huge continent called Pangea, surrounded by one ocean. They drifted apart, and eventually came to be where they are today. The continental movement continues even today, and the plates move relative to one another by a few inches a year. Although in the short term this isn't much over time it brings about great changes. Coincidence 9.2 The existence of Tectonic Plates on Earth is believed to be unique occurrence in the Solar System. When these plates meet they may slide under each other in a process called subduction, and as the material of the plates sinks more deeply the heat from the centre begins to melt it. This process causes Earthquakes and the formation of volcanoes. Alternatively plates may collide and as the rocks are pushed together they pile up creating mountains. 62

Most of the World's volcanoes are located near active or previously active plate boundaries, and the majority of the Earth's physical resources of energy, minerals, and rich soil that are available to man are concentrated near past or present plate boundaries. The relative ease of availability of these resources has been a significant feature in Mankind's development. Oil and natural gas are the products of the deep burial and decomposition of accumulated organic material in geologic basins and mountain ranges formed by tectonic plate activity. Heat and pressure at depth transform the decomposed organic material into pockets of gas and oil. These often migrate upwards through openings in surrounding rocks, and collect in reservoirs which are often close to the Earth's surface and accessible by the drilling of wells. Coal is also a product of accumulated decomposed plant debris, buried under overlaying sediments. Most coal originated as peat in ancient swamps and bogs created many millions of years ago. The existence of these waterlogged areas is associated with the flooding and drainage of the land resulting from fluctuations in the level of water on the surface of the planet. These fluctuations are associated with plate tectonics and other geologic processes. Plate tectonics therefore, whilst not directly responsible for the coal deposits themselves played a very significant part in their being laid down. Coincidence 9.2 The presence and the activity of the Tectonic Plates has resulted directly in the availability to mankind of the majority of the Earth's natural resources of energy, minerals, and rich soil.

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Water, the Cradle of Life Water is far from being “just water”. It is a very special, unique, substance that is involved in virtually every process that occurs in Life. It is quite literally the stuff that Life is made of. Eighty percent of our bodies are made from it and water is all around us in the air. Water is the only substance that occurs as a solid, a liquid and a gas at the relatively ordinary temperatures found on the Planet’s surface. It is this that makes it very special indeed. Water is a chemical compound. A chemical compound is a chemical substance formed from two or more elements. The normal pattern for most compounds is that as they cool the vibration motion of their atoms reduces, and they become more closely packed together. Conversely as the compound’s temperature increases the atoms vibrate more and spread out from each other thinning out the compound as they do so. The word density is used to describe how closely the atoms are packed together, and a substance in a mixture floats on its surface if it is less dense than the other materials in the mixture. Think of an oily film floating on water for example. Another example is the presence of stones and wood in a bucket of water. The stones, which are denser than water push the water out of the way and sink. Wood is less dense than both the stones and the water and floats. Most substances become increasingly dense as they cool. Pure water, unlike other substances, is at its densest at four degrees Celsius. If it cools further and freezes into ice its atoms spread out, and it becomes less dense, and so lighter than the water itself. Thus the heavier water sinks below the lighter ice and the ice floats above it. A significant consequence of this is that lakes 64

and rivers freeze from top to bottom, allowing underwater life to survive even when the surface of a body of water has frozen over. If, like other substances, ice was denser than water and sank, more water would rise to the top. This would then become exposed to the colder air and form more ice, filling the bodies of water with ice and freezing them solidly. A similar consideration applies to the waters of the oceans, although their salinity provides for slightly different effects. Not only does ice thus prevent bodies of water from freezing solidly, but it is also an insulator helping to maintain the temperature of the water below it. Coincidence 9.3 The nature of water is unique and very special. It enables the existence of life in it, in conditions that cause water to freeze and solidify. Water on the Earth; the Earth's Oceans Earth is unique in the Solar System in having a sufficient abundance of water not only to sustain Life itself, but also to help to regulate the climate and the relationship between the oceans, the land and the atmosphere. Evaporation, precipitation, freezing and melting make up the cyclical process of water circulation from the ocean to the clouds, from the clouds to the land, and then back to the oceans and the clouds again. This cycle plays a major role in regulating the temperature of the Planet and preventing it from overheating. The ocean holds almost ninety eight per cent of the Earth's water. Sunlight warms the surfaces of the oceans, which then give up that heat by evaporation, which in turn is then carried away as water vapour and distributed by the winds. When the vapour reaches land it condenses as rain not only moistening the soil for growth but also releasing its heat, which warms the air, and so the cycle continues. It has been estimated that without the presence of the oceans and their regulating effect, the temperature at the surface of the 65

planet would rise to almost seventy degrees Celsius. Whilst, as we will see later, certain Life forms even today exist at these temperatures, Mankind could not. Coincidence 9.4 The Earth's abundance of water is unique in the Solar System and without it Life could not have developed. The Earth's Atmosphere The Earth’s atmosphere can be divided into layers, although there are no distinct boundaries as such. The different layers fulfil different functions in relation to Life. The lowermost layer, the Troposphere, reaches upwards from the Earth to an altitude of some ten kilometres. It is the layer where we live, where the weather and climate occur and where some eighty per cent of the atmosphere is located. The temperature at the surface of the planet can be fifty degrees Celsius or more. As the distance from the planet increases, the atmospheric temperature decreases until, at the limit of the Troposphere, it is minus sixty degrees Celsius. This temperature drop is important, because it forms a cold trap, a region where water vapour turns to ice and stops ascending. Water is made from oxygen and hydrogen, and if the water wasn’t prevented from rising further it would continue to rise until it broke down into individual oxygen and hydrogen atoms. The small relatively light hydrogen atoms would then be blown into space and would leave our atmosphere. Without this cold trap the Earth would loose its water. Coincidence 9.5 The nature of Earth's Troposphere is unique in the Solar System and enables the Earth to retain its water. The next forty kilometres of the atmosphere is called the Stratosphere, and this is where almost all of the remainder of 66

the Earth's atmosphere is located. This layer is also critical to Mankind as it is the "ozone" layer that absorbs the harmful ultraviolet rays of the Sun. Ultraviolet radiation is harmful to living tissue. It can cause skin cancer and eye damage and can also cause mutations in species by causing cells to make mistakes during their duplication process. The mutation process however, is also a significant and important factor in the ongoing changes in species on Earth, and has been so from the time of creation of life. The level of radiation that the planet has been subjected to since its creation has been significantly responsible for the nature of Mankind, and the other forms of Life that exist on it. If there had been a different level of Ultraviolet radiation striking the planet, then life may not have developed at all, or it would have developed very differently. Coincidence 9.6 The nature of Earth's Stratosphere is such that its interaction with ultra violet radiation from the Sun has been a significant factor in determining the nature of Life and Mankind as it is today. Additionally the Earth's atmosphere contains chemical compounds, "greenhouse gases", which allow Sunlight to enter the atmosphere freely. When Sunlight strikes the Earth's surface, some of it is reflected back towards space as heat. Greenhouse gases absorb this heat and trap it in the atmosphere, keeping the Earth's temperature considerably warmer and more stable than it would otherwise be. Coincidence 9.7 The nature of the greenhouse gases on Earth is unique in the Solar System. They contribute substantially to the fact that the Earth is habitable by the civilisation that is Mankind.

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Chapter 10. The structure of Life Definitions of Life Before we move on to consider what is involved in the Creation of Life we should understand what is it that makes something alive? All known organisms share certain properties which to a very great extent can serve to define the meaning of Life. Some of the properties that clearly distinguish Life from everything else, are set out as follows. 1. An end of existence All Life forms on Earth experience an end to their active existence on Earth. 2. Carbon The element Carbon is always present in living matter. 3. Order Every living organism is cellular. As a minimum it comprises at least one cell with ordered structures therein. Large molecules, made up of atoms, make up individual components of the cell. 4. Homeostasis The simplest form that Life can take is a single cell. Every cell is bounded by its own outer membrane and employs homeostasis, the maintenance of relatively stable internal conditions, which are different from the organism's external environment. 5. Regulation All organisms have mechanisms for regulating their internal activities.

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6. Reproduction All living things reproduce themselves. They have both the encoded instructions and the machinery necessary for reproduction. 7. Sensitivity All organisms respond to stimuli. Skin for example is sensitive to being touched. Cells are the basics of Life The simplest entity that can represent Life is a single cell, and single celled creatures are distributed across the whole planet. Atoms, the core Materials for Life We shall now consider the complexities involved in the creation of the components that make up an individual cell. These components are present in ALL cells, even those that are the simplest and most primitive. The smallest components, atoms and sub atomic particles, were discussed in detail previously but the following is a brief reminder. Every atom is made up of a small dense core of sub atomic particles called protons and neutrons surrounded by a cloud of other subatomic particles called electrons which circle the atom. There is typically one electron for each proton and the number of protons at the core of an atom determines its chemical nature. The gas hydrogen for example has just one proton and one electron whilst oxygen has eight protons eight electrons and eight neutrons. The strong nuclear force binds the neutrons and protons to the core of the atom whilst the electrostatic force holds the electrons loosely in their orbits around the central core. 69

The chemical formation of Molecules We have seen that electrons are only loosely bound to individual atoms, and can be easily dislodged by other forces from surrounding atoms. In doing so a recipient atom becomes negatively electrically charged having a surplus of electrons over protons and the converse applies to the donating atom, which becomes positively charged. Those two atoms can then become attracted to each other by virtue of the opposite electrostatic charges that they now possess and temporary transitional bonds form. You can experience this your self by rubbing a balloon along your sleeve. Some of the electrons temporarily come off the atoms of the balloon and your sleeve, causing the two to be attracted to each other. They will briefly stick together until the balance of electrons readjusts itself. The example in the previous paragraph considered temporary bonds between atoms, but groups of atoms can also become bonded together in permanent arrangements by a process of sharing electrons with surrounding atoms. Such a group of atoms is called a molecule and the formation and breaking of such bonds by the interaction of electrons is called a chemical reaction. Chemical reactions of this nature are the essence of chemistry. An example of a chemical reaction is the evaporation of the water from a mixture of dissolved salt and water, so that as the water evaporates the salt bonds together to form salt crystals. Atoms with the same number of protons have the same chemical properties and belong to the same element, of which there are of the order of one hundred naturally occurring ones. An element is a chemical substance that cannot readily be broken down to another substance by chemical means

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Understanding the distinction between chemical and nuclear activity For the avoidance of confusion it might be useful to clarify the difference between nuclear and chemical reactions. The difference in the energy implications is vast, because of the very significant strength of the strong nuclear force at the core of the atom. Chemical reactions, as we have just seen, relate to the sharing and borrowing of electrons. For example burning a piece of coal in the conventional fashion involves chemical reactions such as those identified above. The process involves breaking down the electron structures of the coal and air and converting them to ash and smoke. In the process a little heat is also be radiated for a short while. The sum total of the heat energy radiated along with the residual smoke and ash equates exactly with the original components. Nuclear reactions however are totally different. They are reactions that occur at the core of an atom, and involve the proton and the neutron. Processing the nuclear forces in that same piece of coal, by nuclear fusion in a star, would involve sufficient energy to heat the UK for a long time. Organic Molecules, the Building Blocks of Life The organic matter from which all living organisms are constructed is made from elements. Virtually all the elements from which living creatures are made are based on the element carbon, which is why life forms on Earth are often described as "carbon-based" creatures. The nature of the electrons orbiting the carbon atom is such that carbon lends itself readily to bonding with a variety of other atoms to create large and very complex molecules. The molecules formed in this manner are called organic molecules, 71

and these organic molecules are the building blocks from which cells are constructed. The creation of Organic Molecules is NOT the creation of Life It is important to understand that the creation of organic molecules is very specifically NOT the creation of Life. Rather the creation of those molecules is the assimilation of the basic building blocks of Life, the core materials. A not too serious analogy perhaps is having all the components necessary for the manufacture of a car in a heap. The bits are there, but they have either to be assembled, or to assemble themselves into a car. Even if the car were assembled or able to assemble itself, it would still need an underlying driving force to enable it to function. The number and the types of Components necessary for Life It all starts with amino acids, which are organic molecules as described above, composed primarily of mixtures of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur and phosphorous. There are just twenty types of amino acid, and these are arranged into specific sequences of complex chains that are often hundreds of units long, in order to create massive organic molecules known as macromolecules. There are four distinct groups of macromolecules of which proteins are one. Proteins are responsible for the chemical functions of the cell, and the order of the individual sequences of amino acids in the chains determines the biological properties and functionality of the protein. All proteins constructed in the cell have a specific three dimensional structure based on the arrangement of the amino acids in the chain. There are many different types of protein, which, aside from water, are the main constituents of the cell. Some proteins, 72

enzymes, assist the creation of the protein chains within the cell. The formation process is monitored and incorrectly formed chains are destroyed by cellular processes. Different proteins assist another type of macromolecule, carbohydrates, in the formation and maintenance of the cell wall, a membrane that encloses the contents of the cell. The cell wall is in itself a very complex piece of engineering that is responsible for the selective permeability that permits the passage of nutrients into the cell, and waste products out of it. The construction of complex structures such as a cell requires detailed plans, the genetic information of the cell itself. The DNA Double Helix Genetics is the science of heredity, inheritance and the variation of organisms. Virtually all cells contain the complete instructions, all the genetic information, and the cellular machinery necessary to reproduce itself. In the case of multi cellular creatures like us almost every cell in our bodies carries not only the instructions and means to duplicate itself, but also the complete genome (genetic plan) for the whole living organism. DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is another macromolecule. It is made up of strands that comprise a backbone with a line of chemicals attached to it. A rough analogy can be found by comparison with strands of Velcro where the back of the Velcro is the backbone and the links in the material are the equivalent of the chemicals attached to the DNA backbone. Two single DNA strands bind together with the backbones on the outside, and the lines of chemicals attached to each other on the inside, to form a double stranded structure consisting of two exactly complementary sequences of chemicals twisted together into a double helix. Specific groups of chemicals 73

attached to the inside of the backbone carry the instructions for the creation of specific pieces of cellular material. Again similarly to Velcro the bonds between the chemicals are weaker than the backbones allowing the strands to come apart without the breakage of the backbones in much the same way that Velcro is “unzipped”. When a cell needs to create new material the strands “unzip” themselves. The revealed lines of chemicals (the links in our Velcro) then serve as a template, which the cell uses to create, by duplication, a strand of material identical to the unzipped portion. After use, the strands recombine ready to be used next time the creation by duplication of another unit of that particular type of material is required. By way of an analogous explanation consider the way in which we can store data in, and then copy it from a spreadsheet. We (the cell) open the spreadsheet (unwind the DNA helix) and select and copy the data (as the cell selects and copies the strand of DNA). We can then past the data into a new file, say a word processor document, in much the same way as the cell creates a new but separate piece of material. Closing the spreadsheet is the equivalent of the double helix rewinding. The individual cell however is "smarter" than us in the sense we are limited to actually working on one file at a time, whereas the cell can work simultaneously on numbers of strands of DNA The nature of DNA is such that it comprises an alphabet of just four different chemicals that make up the genetic language. The chemical chains are coded into complex sequences to form the words, sentences and paragraphs that are the instructions that guide the cell in carrying out its functions. In addition to specific instructions the chain also has the necessary punctuation to enable the cell to identify, for example, starting and finishing points. 74

Despite the volume of information that they contain DNA molecules are so small that they cannot be seen with an optical microscope, and even an electron microscope that can image structures as small as a few dozen atoms wide cannot resolve the individual atoms of a DNA strand. The problem of the formation of the first Cell We saw in the chapter about the formation of the Earth that it was molten in its early stages of development. Following on from that it started to stabilise and the temperature fell and continued to fall until, at some point about four billion years ago, the temperature fell to the region of ninety degrees Celsius. It is believed that Life first came into existence at this time. The earliest fossil yet discovered was found in rocks in Australia that were formed three and a half billion years ago. This microfossil represents a completely formed cell, the first evidence of Life on Earth. In considering the original development of this cell we need to reflect that by three and a half billion years ago the cell was formed, and existed as an actual life form. As we have seen temperatures low enough to sustain Life occurred at some point approximately four billion years ago. Taking one from the other we can see that there was only a relatively short timescale of a maximum of half a billion years for the creation of the first fully developed cell. During this time, but before the formation of the cell, the organic molecules that would facilitate the creation of this first cell also had to come into existence. Both the organic molecules necessary for Life, and Life itself on Earth therefore formed within a maximum timescale of some half a billion years of the surface temperature cooling to ninety degrees Celsius. 75

We saw earlier in this chapter the complexities and the nature and volume of components involved in the Creation of a single cell. Either the Life that the oldest, three and a half billion year old fossil represents came into existence from non-Life to a complete living entity spontaneously, or some form of intermediate Life-type existed before it. There is no fossil or other evidence whatsoever to suggest the existence of any type of intermediate Life form between the development of organic molecules, and the coming into existence of the first cell. More particularly science is unable to offer any form of evidence or, to suggest any way in which the first cell might have come into existence through a process of evolution. Conclusion 10.1 The means by which the existence of the first cell, representing the first ever Life form on Earth, occurred, lies outside the rules of our science. The additional Chicken and the Egg problem There is a further, and a very fundamental problem, in trying to account for how the first cell might have developed spontaneously, and without some form of Divine Intervention. The problem lies in trying to understand how the components of cells that relied on other parts of the cell for their existence could have come into being before those other parts themselves came into existence. Without the cell wall there would be nowhere discreet for the cell to perform its reproductive function, to have the order and regulation necessary for existence and to provide for the creation of the materials necessary for cellular Life. That cell wall necessary for homeostasis couldn't however have been the first structure. Apart from the fact that it wouldn't have had anything to contain and thus no function to 76

fulfil it is made of carbohydrates and proteins, and is planned for by DNA. None of these could have existed to contribute towards the presence of the cell wall without the presence of the cell wall itself. The carbohydrates and proteins couldn’t have come about first because without the cell wall there would have been no discreet location for their creation. The proteins, also necessary for homeostasis and a host of other functions, couldn't have come about first because genetic material needed to guide the construction of proteins is itself, in part, made from proteins. The genetic material necessary for the planning of the proteins couldn't have come about first as genetic material could not exist without those proteins first having been created. There is no way in which science is able to offer any form of explanation of how the first cell could have been formed spontaneously without external direction and intervention. Conclusion 10.2 The means by which the assembly of the first cell, the first ever Life form on Earth, occurred lies outside the rules of our science. The concept of Natural Selection could not, by definition, have functioned before the first living cell existed, as before that there was no basis for anything to have been selected. Conclusion 10.3 There is, by definition, no facility within the rules of our science for natural selection to have played any part in the Creation of the first form of life.

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What the first ever Cell shares with modern Cells The cells of all the known creatures on Earth, without exception share the following. 1. The same identical mechanism for reading DNA. DNA from any creature, from the tiniest single celled one, can be inserted into the cell of any other creature, the largest creature on Earth for example, the Blue Whale, and the recipient cell can successfully read and interpret the inserted data. 2. The same templated method of replicating information. 3. The use of use DNA and ribonucleic acid (RNA), a similar nucleic acid to DNA, in the heredity process. 4. The use of proteins as chemical catalysts to facilitate chemical reactions in the cell. 5. Enclosure within a semi permeable membrane through which, selectively, waste products can pass out of the cell and nutrients can pass into it. The primitive first cell, created some three and half billon years ago, possessed all of these features found in all modern cells. In particular ALL modern cells could read and interpret genetic material that was contained in that very first cell and vice versa. Not only was that first cell, the ancestor of all of us, sufficiently robust to survive in itself, but also, its design was adequate to provide for all that followed for the next three and a half billion years! That cell’s method of reproduction was so sophisticated that it was to survive essentially unchanged to the 78

present day and provide for the creation of all creatures on Earth. Coincidence 10.1 The first cell to form on Earth, three and a half billion years ago was the first ancestor of all life and the whole of Mankind. Its construction and method of reproduction was so sophisticated that it was to survive essentially unchanged to the present day, and provide for the creation of all creatures on Earth. Modern cells could read the genetic material from that first cell and vice versa.

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Chapter 11. The origin of Life through to the development of Mankind The origin of Life, the Precambrian Period before 590 Million years ago Four billion years ago as the planet became relatively stable and its crust formed, the Earth's atmosphere was steamy and rich with water released from volcanoes, and from collisions with comets and other bodies that were continuing to strike the planet. As the bombardment of bodies diminished and the Earth started to cool, torrential rain fell that turned first to steam on hitting the still hot surface, and which then finally collected into warm seas and oceans above and around the cooling rock. The atmosphere of the early Earth was thus composed largely of water, along with carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen, hydrogen, and traces of oxygen. The light element hydrogen was soon lost to space, and the oxygen reacted with other gases and surface rocks to remove itself from the atmosphere in a chemical process known as reduction. For a long time, until later forms of Life started respiring oxygen into the air, the Earth’s atmosphere was devoid of oxygen and would have been toxic to Mankind and most of Life, as we now know it. We know from the nature of the early atmosphere that the organisms represented by that first fossil lived in this oxygen free environment. They were anaerobic (oxygen hating) and thrived in an environment that would be toxic to later Life. Of this we can be certain not only because of what we know of the atmosphere at that time, but also because we also have direct and living evidence of the nature of that Life.

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This is NOT mere speculation and those anaerobic, oxygen hating Life forms, still exist today in vents on the seafloor where hot water, at extremely high temperatures similar to those on Earth all those years ago, comes out from the Earth's crust. Around these vents are bacteria called archaebacteria. They live in an oxygen free environment, which it is believed is very similar to that of the early Earth. They convert water and hydrogen into methane gas; oxygen would actually poison them. They are living fossils, relics of Life in those very early days. Confirmation that all Cells without exception share the same DNA reading Mechanism An examination of these living "fossils" has revealed that although they live in an environment that would be toxic to other Life forms on the planet they resemble other bacteria to an incredible extent. They have provided confirmation that the concept of a common cellular process, which was discussed in the last chapter, is indeed valid. A cell from a modern human would be able to read, interpret and duplicate the DNA data contained in that very first ever fossil. The origin of aerobic (oxygen loving) Life With the passage of time other, aerobic (oxygen loving), life forms, cyanobacteria, developed into an atmosphere that was toxic to them. Coincidence 11.1 Aerobic Life forms developed into an environment that was hostile and toxic to them in opposition to anaerobic life forms for which the environment was ideal. These tiny microbes with the ability to produce oxygen and to which oxygen was not toxic became widespread, and released large quantities of oxygen into the oceans and the atmosphere. The activity of these aerobic organisms was so prodigious that they converted the atmosphere of the entire planet to one that contained twenty one percent oxygen, the exact correct 81

quantity necessary for human Life. Oxygen incidentally is far from an innocuous substance and an excess of oxygen can be toxic and even lethal to oxygen breathing creatures. Coincidence 11.2 Aerobic, oxygen loving microbes, came into existence and populated the planet with exactly the correct amount of oxygen necessary for human life. The start of Evolution and Natural Selection These cyanobacteria were the World’s first conquerors. They flourished and ousted the archaebacteria to the extremes of the planet. Evolution and Natural Selection had come about with the appearance of the Earth’s second life form. Conclusion 11.1 Evolution and Natural Selection came about with the appearance of the Earth’s second life form. At the time when their presence was essential if the Earth was to have just the right amount of oxygen for future Life the cyanobacteria flourished, and paved the way for Life, as we know it. They were there in exactly the right place and at the right time. Even though the cyanobacteria had ousted the archaebacteria there were no predators to oust the cyanobacteria until their work was done. Coincidence 11.3 Although the cyanobacteria had ousted the archaebacteria there were no predators to oust the cyanobacteria until their work was done. When the work of the cyanobacteria was done they became obsolete and were almost entirely superseded by other organisms although some of these early microbes continue to exist today.

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Coincidence 11.4 When the work of the cyanobacteria was done they became obsolete and were almost entirely superseded by other organisms. The origin of animal Life, the Cambrian Period from 590 to 505 Million Years Please note that we move here from timescales generally of billions and larger, to those of millions and smaller. Marine and animal Life as we "know" it first appeared during this period almost six hundred million years ago. In the blink of an evolutionary eyelid, a period of just ten million years, a short period of geological time, the nature of life on Earth changed radically. It changed from a situation where it was inhabited by simple cellular creatures, to one, which involved the unique and sudden appearance of all the major animal groups, complete with organs and the necessary physiology to support a competitive Life. Creatures with skeletons first appeared at this time, and the fossil record shows perfect species with incredible variation. Yet whilst one might expect some evidence, in the form of fossils, of the transition from the softbodied creatures that existed during the Precambrian Life period to the very different ones of the Cambrian Period not one single fossil representing a transitional creature has been found. There are various suggested explanations for the absence of such fossils. These include suggestions that the creatures hadn't formed hard parts that left actual fossils, yet our earliest fossil three and a half billion years earlier hadn't formed any hard parts either and still left the evidence. Conclusion 11.2 We are unable, within the rules of our science, to account for the unique and sudden appearance of 83

all the major animal groups. They appeared fully formed, without any evidence of intermediate life forms between them, and the extremely simple creatures that existed before. The Period from 505 to 360 Million Years ago I have not been able to identify any developments that are relevant to the concept of this book during the period from 505 to 360 million years ago (although that isn't to say that there weren't any) and that period is not therefore considered in this book. The laying down of Fuel, the Carboniferous Period from 360 to 286 Million Years ago The Carboniferous Period which started three hundred and sixty million years ago was not the only period in history when fossil fuels were formed, but much production started and occurred during that period. Fossil fuels were once living prehistoric plants and organisms that previously inhabited the Earth. The landmasses we now live on were continuing to form, there were swamps and bogs, the climate was warmer and ancient trees and plants flourished. During the years that passed dead Life forms decomposed and formed our fossil fuels. Different types of fossil fuels formed depending on the combination of animal and plant debris that was present, where and for how long the material was buried, and the conditions that existed when it was decomposing and becoming covered. Coal, originally in the form of peat, a mass of decomposing plant material, formed from the remains of the trees, ferns and other plants that lived then. Oil and gas were created largely from organisms that lived in water and were buried by sediment. Heat, pressure and bacteria combined to compress and process the material under layers of silt. As these layers were subjected to heat and pressure over millions of years the sediments were transformed into beds of 84

rock, and the plant and animal remains underwent chemical change and formed oil and gas. Oil and gas do not generally stay in the rock in which they originally formed. They tend to migrate upward through cracks and pores within permeable rocks toward the surface where there is less pressure, and where they often thus are available to be extracted by mankind. Coincidence 11.5 During the Carboniferous Period the process of transforming the abundance of organic material into fuel and material that would be needed by Mankind as it moved into the twentieth century was underway. The construction of this material went hand in hand with the action of the tectonic plates, which were then responsible for making the material available for Mankind. Reptiles and amphibians first came into existence in this period. Reptiles and extinctions, the Permian Period from 286 to 248 Million Years ago Reptiles and amphibians first came into existence in the Carboniferous Period and continued to develop dominance during this time. The Permian Period saw the biggest mass extinction to date although several smaller ones had occurred in earlier periods. The extinction of a various species is an ongoing process of life but during the early evolution of Life there were several mass extinctions when large percentages of Life forms went out of existence. By the end of the Permian Period it is variously estimated that from half to as much as ninety five percent of the animal and plant families that had been alive at the beginning of the period were extinct. The next Generation of Life forms, the Triassic Period from 248 to 213 Million Years ago During this period, whilst the chief vertebrates (animals with a spinal column or backbone) were still amphibians and reptiles, 85

many new and different types of them appeared, whilst dinosaurs increased also. The very first mammals, shrew like creatures appeared for the first time. It is believed that these early mammals developed from the reptiles. A further mass extinction of many of the non-dinosaur reptiles also occurred at the end of this period. The Great Dinosaurs, the Jurassic Period from 213 to 144 Million Years ago Amongst the vertebrates the reptiles continued in dominance, whilst the massive Dinosaurs, bigger than their predecessors, came into existence. More coal was laid and the small mammals continued to develop, although their time for dominance in the form of Mankind was yet a long time away. The end of the Dinosaurs, the Cretaceous Period from 144 to 65 Million Years ago The dinosaurs now grew to their peak size, but at the end of the Cretaceous period another mass extinction occurred, resulting in the destruction of something of the order of 80% of Life forms. Land, sea and freshwater Life forms were all equally as effected. There are numbers of theories as to why this occurred but no firm evidence. Coincidence 11.6 Dinosaurs dominated the Earth but they were reptiles. The mass extinction that occurred during the Cretaceous Period spared the lives of those mammals that were the forerunners of Mankind. Extinctions generally Coincidence 11.7 No conclusions can be drawn or inferred from the fact that there were several mass extinctions during the half a million years since fully formed creatures first appeared. Nonetheless they did occur and there can be little if 86

any doubt that those extinctions were integral in the development of mankind. The Time of the development of the Mammals, the Tertiary and Quaternary Periods from 66 million years to some 10,000 years ago The demise of the giant reptiles left the planet open and ready for the mammalian explosion. In just sixty million years or so mammals developed from simple primitive creatures to Mankind, as we now know it. Mankind, the Holocene Period from 10,000 Years ago to Date The nature of Mankind Before considering in detail of the nature of human existence we need to be aware of those characteristics and abilities that define the nature of humanity. What it is that makes human beings different from other creatures on the planet? The list that follows shortly is certainly not an exhaustive one, and given the incredibly diverse nature of humanity, I rather doubt that it would be possible to construct one that was truly exhaustive. The list reflects skills, characteristics and abilities that are readily perceived, in varying degrees, in other animals. These include communication, cooperation and social skills, and the formation of cooperative groups based on mutual protection, genetic inheritance, and food gathering. Some of these traits found in other creatures represent skills that have been learnt and handed down. For example the use, by certain creatures, of various tools for gathering food, and the dropping by seagulls of shells from a height to break them open. These skills, characteristics and abilities however are so rudimentary and limited that they do not fall into the same 87

category as those of humans’. In particular these other creatures, having achieved the skill level necessary for their survival, do not demonstrate any form of ongoing development or initiative to progress them beyond the basic needs for survival at their particular "level". The achievements of Mankind however, are all around us, and need no introduction or explanation from me. Additionally, humans are very different from every other type of creature. We possess a curiosity and an underlying driving force over and above the need to exist, that facilitates ongoing invention and the development of the many human characteristics over and above those necessary for rudimentary survival. In addition, much of what we do is over and above the individual or group quest for survival. We do not form groups only out of self-interest for example. Individuals may choose to belong to such groups not only, or perhaps not even, for benefits that they may themselves derive from such groups, but rather from a desire selflessly to assist other members of the group. Characteristics and Abilities that define the nature of Humanity 1. Humanity Love and Compassion There is so much scope for exemplifying this that it could constitute a huge volume of books in itself. Just a few of the countless examples of the uniqueness of mans scope for love and compassion are the capacity for an underlying selflessness, a desire to do good, a shared sadness at the sadness of others and the compassion, by various groups and individuals Worldwide, towards virtually every living thing on this planet.

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It must be said that affection is certainly a trait that is apparent in other creatures, but not having ever experienced the thought processes of any of them I cannot speak with any certainty of the nature of the displayed affection. Those traits that can be examined however, suggest that other creatures do not experience affection in the way that we do. A parrot for example will join with a "partner" for Life but that partner does not have to be another parrot and can equally as well be a human being. A duckling introduced to a car tyre at birth will bond with the tyre and afford it the same affection that it would otherwise have afforded its “real” mother. And of course dogs are our best friends and shower us with affection. But that behaviour is of course down to us. We made them behave that way. We domesticated them millions of years ago and through successive generations have trained them to be affectionate towards us. 2. Wisdom and Knowledge A possession of knowledge is an awareness of data, information gained in the form of experience or learning and an ability to assemble details, which, in isolation, are of lesser value. The possession of knowledge is not just what the individual knows, but represents the collective knowledge of Mankind built up over time and shared and enhanced by society worldwide. Without this collective and shared knowledge, organisations responsible for, for example, public services, food distribution and transport could not function, and society would not exist as it does today. Society's knowledge has grown and grown, and is such that via telescopes we can see back in time, virtually to the time of the creation of our Universe. With the aid of spectacular "microscopes" we can visualise and manipulate the very atoms 89

from which we are made. The World of Mankind has become a knowledgeable and global community with, in the overall picture, the wisdom for the wise application of its knowledge. 3. The ability to communicate through the spoken Word Many creatures communicate but the ability of Mankind to speak as it does is unique. 4. The ability to commit thought to the written word The written word is an ongoing development from the spoken word, and conveys thoughts and ideas with little ambiguity, and significantly less scope for error, than the use of the spoken word alone. 5. The possession of Freedom of Choice Individuals possess the ability to consider and compare options, and to make choices based on those options, as opposed to being driven by an underlying instinct just for immediate survival. 6. An understanding of the passage of Time We have an understanding of the passage of time, when time is understood as the measurement of intervals between and during events. This was a critical factor in a huge variety of areas such as, for example, agriculture and the ability to recognise seasons. 7. The development of Technology The development of technology is the development of a means to solving problems and issues associated with the ongoing development of Mankind. It has applications in the design, manufacture and distribution of materials, equipment, and processes to address the ongoing needs of humanity. 8. The possession of Planetary Sovereignty and responsibility 90

We alone amongst the creatures on the planet have sole conscious responsibility for our World. Whilst we, questionably, probably do not have the overall ability to totally destroy our planet, nor indeed all of the Life forms on and in it, we are certainly in a position where we could wreak enormous damage in both of those respects. We have the ability to "make or break" our environment and with our collective knowledge we are aware of the consequences of our actions. We are fully aware for example that known resources of fossil fuels are being depleted. 9. The possession of self-awareness Self-awareness is the ability of an individual to perceive his or her own existence, and within that ability, to perceive the associated feelings and behaviours that are experienced. It is this understanding that is at the core of an individual's own identity and is the basis for human behaviour and accountability. 10. The ability of self reflection Self-reflection follows on from self-awareness and relates to the need of individuals to discover and understand more about their individual makeup and that of society in general. 11. The ability to consider and to decide whether or not to believe The ability to consider and to believe is the ability to consider an unproven idea and to conclude whether or not the idea proposed is true. 12. The possession of Morality We understand the concept of morality, a set of principles based on, religious, ethical, cultural and philosophical concepts and beliefs, by which an individual determines whether his or her actions are right or wrong. Morality is also represented by the rules of conduct appropriate to the society in which we 91

live. Different races and creeds have individual moralities and what is morally acceptable to one race may not be so for another. 13. An understanding of right and wrong Individuals possess the ability to reason, to understand the difference between right and wrong and to make intelligent choices on the basis of this reasoning. 14. The ability to practice Philosophy Philosophy in its broadest sense is the quest for knowledge or wisdom about matters, which are fundamental to aspects of Life in relation to meaning, being and truth.

15. An understanding of the finite nature of Life on Earth as we know it Mankind understands that the nature of Life as we know it on Earth is finite and that death is the natural conclusion of it. This contributes towards an individual’s purpose, direction and responsibility. We have the awareness that what we do now will affect what follows later, and we are thus capable of looking beyond our current situation and planning for the future. 16. The demonstration of Symbolic Behaviour Symbolic behaviour manifests itself for example in the form of burials, personal ornaments, and art. The benefits of symbolic behaviour are not restricted to aesthetics and when used, for example in conjunction with language, aid in the conceptualisation of ideas The uniqueness of Mankind It has been estimated that as many as a billion, or even more different types of organism have developed on the Earth since the first appearance of Life, amongst which Mankind ALONE 92

is unique. Mankind however is not just unique in relation to the items included in the previous list but in such a magnitude of different ways that render the bridge between our nature and that of all other creatures vast and unbridgeable. The emergence of Mankind There is a general consensus that bipedalism (walking on two legs in a semi upright position) was first seen about six million years ago with various types of semi erect species coming and then disappearing.. The first appearance of "modern" homo sapiens, our ancestors, occurred about a hundred thousand years ago. We know with reasonably certainty from archaeological evidence that those modern homo sapiens were our ancestors and that they differentiated themselves from the rest of the animal kingdom. They made decorative jewellery from shells, shaped bones for artefacts such as needles and constructed hearths for fires. Ten thousand years ago husbandry, the cultivation of land or raising stock started, with the domestication of animals. Some five thousand years ago saw the occurrence of the first Egyptian writing. More recently the fossil fuels laid down during the carboniferous and other periods came into their own and provided the means for Mankind to drive itself forward. Coal was at the core of the eighteenth century Industrial Revolution with the application of power-driven machinery to manufacturing. Without coal the developments of the period could not have come about. Today oil and coal are the primary source of power for our society. These fossil fuels however are used for more than just fuel for vehicles and the generation of electricity. They have many industrial and chemical uses including the production of plastics, synthetic rubber, detergent, fertilizer, medicine, food additives, and much more. 93

Chapter 12. Conclusions Conclusion Hypothesis 1 That there is a Divine Creator and that Divine Creator was responsible for the creation of the matter and energy that exists in our Universe. Confirmation of this hypothesis follows from the Conclusions below. Conclusions Conclusion 2.1 A random chance event cannot account for the existence of the matter and energy in the Universe. The existence of that matter and energy falls outside the rules of our science. Conclusion 3.1 The presence of, and the nature and method of the construction of atoms, their components and the forces associated with them is unknown, and cannot be accounted for within the rules of our science. Conclusion 4.1 The presence of the predicted background heat, and confirmation that the galaxies are moving away from each other ratifies the Big Bang theory, and provides firm evidence that the Universe had an origin. Conclusion Hypothesis 2 That a Divine Creator guided and controlled the nature of the development of our Universe. Confirmation of this hypothesis follows from Conclusion 5.1 below and is supported by the coincidence also listed below.

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Conclusion Conclusion 5.1 The design, the development and the nature of the Universe are governed by a distinct set of rules of science, for example that light in a vacuum must travel at three hundred thousand kilometres per second. Whilst we can, to a certain extent, understand those rules we are bound by them. Within the rules of our science we are neither able to account for the existence of those rules nor to circumvent them in any way. Supporting Coincidence Coincidence 4.2 Inherent in the nature of the Universe's design were the raw materials needed for its output, a production plan, a fully comprehensive distribution network and a cyclical process to facilitate an ongoing production process. Conclusion Hypothesis 3 That a Divine Creator was responsible for the initial occurrence of Life on Earth. Confirmation of this hypothesis follows from the conclusions listed below and is supported by the coincidences also listed.. Conclusions Conclusion 10.1 The means by which the existence of the first cell, representing the first ever Life form on Earth, occurred, lies outside the rules of our science. Conclusion 10.2 The means by which the assembly of the first cell, the first ever Life form on Earth, occurred lies outside the rules of our science. Conclusion 10.3 There is, by definition, no facility within the rules of our science for natural selection to have played any part in the Creation of the first form of life. 95

Supporting Coincidences Coincidence 3.1 The components that would not only support life but also provide for and enable its very existence were present in the Universe at the start of the very first second. Coincidence 3.2 The components that would not only support life but also provide for and enable its very existence were present in sufficient quantities in the Universe at the start of the very first second. Coincidence 3.3 All of the components that were present in the Universe at the start of the very first second were relevant to life and its existence. There was no extraneous material. Coincidence 4.1 From the start of the first second the distribution of matter through the Universe was orchestrated so as to enable the formation of vast gas clouds. This lead to the Creation of stars like our Sun, planets like the Earth and Life leading to the development of Mankind. Coincidence 5.1 The size of the random fluctuations of matter introduced into the Universe was appropriate for the timing of the Creation of Earth and Life on it. Coincidence 6.1 The nature of the early stars of the Universe was such that it provided for a relatively fast creation of the elements needed to develop and sustain Life. Coincidence 7.1 The nature of the matter in the Universe was such that it was eager and ready for the formation of Life. Coincidence 7.2 The nature of the Solar System is such that it came into existence at a time when the distribution of elements was appropriate for the formation of Life on Earth.

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Coincidence 7.3 The spacing of the first six planets (interspaced with an asteroid) out from the Sun follows a specific mathematical order for which there is no apparent reason or explanation. Coincidence 7.4 The position of the Earth relative to the other bodies in the Solar System was ideal for the development of Life. Coincidence 7.5 By reference to the overall diameter of the Solar System the location of the Earth relative to the Sun is precise to 0.000005% as far as its location is necessary in order to sustain Life. Coincidence 8.2 The specific location of the Moon in its orbit around the Earth is believed to have played a significant part in the formation of organic molecules. Coincidence 9.1 The nature of the formation of the Earth was such that it has a protective crust, which is just five kilometres thick in some places. The crust is all that lies between Life and the heat of the inner Earth. Coincidence 9.3 The nature of water is unique and very special. It enables the existence of life in it, in conditions that cause water to freeze and solidify. Coincidence 9.4 The Earth's abundance of water is unique in the Solar System and without it Life could not have developed. Coincidence 9.5 The nature of Earth's Troposphere is unique in the Solar System and enables the Earth to retain its water. Coincidence 9.6 The nature of Earth's Stratosphere is such that its interaction with ultra violet radiation from the Sun has 97

been a significant factor in determining the nature of Life and Mankind as it is today. Coincidence 9.7 The nature of the greenhouse gases on Earth is unique in the Solar System. They contribute substantially to the fact that the Earth is habitable by the civilisation that is Mankind. Coincidence 10.1 The first cell to form on Earth, three and a half billion years ago was the first ancestor of all life and the whole of Mankind. Its construction and method of reproduction was so sophisticated that it was to survive essentially unchanged to the present day, and provide for the creation of all creatures on Earth. Modern cells could read the genetic material from that first cell and vice versa. Conclusion Hypothesis 4 That a Divine Creator was responsible for the progressive development of Life on Earth by a process of evolution, and that evolution followed its “natural” path. Certain otherwise inexplicable events that occurred during that evolutionary process were the result of specific interventions by the Divine Creator. Confirmation of this hypothesis follows from the Conclusions listed below and is supported by the coincidences also listed. Conclusions Conclusion 11.1 Evolution and Natural Selection came about with the appearance of the Earth’s second life form. Conclusion 11.2 We are unable, within the rules of our science, to account for the unique and sudden appearance of all the major animal groups. They appeared fully formed, without any evidence of intermediate life forms between them, and the extremely simple creatures that existed before. 98

Supporting Coincidences Coincidence 7.6 The development of agriculture necessary for a progressively developing civilisation was a direct result of the nature of the Solar System and the orbits of the bodies in it. Coincidence 7.7 The discovery of mathematics, the forerunner of all science, went hand in hand with the development of agriculture, and was the result of the nature of the orbits of the bodies in the Solar System. Coincidence 7.8 The nature of the distribution of the bodies in the Solar Stem other than Earth, was fundamental to the development of mankind. Coincidence 8.1 The specific location of the Moon in its orbit around the Earth is largely responsible for the Earth’s congenial climate and varying seasons. Coincidence 8.3 There is a clear mathematical relationship between the positioning of the Earth, the Moon and the Sun and the relative sizes of the Moon and the Sun. Coincidence 8.4 The mathematical relationship between the positioning of the Earth, the Moon and the Sun and the relative sizes of the Moon and the Sun causes periodic solar eclipses to occur which can completely obscure the view of the Sun from the Earth. Coincidence 9.2 The existence of Tectonic Plates on Earth is believed to be unique occurrence in the Solar System. Coincidence 9.2 The presence and the activity of the Tectonic Plates has resulted directly in the availability to mankind of the majority of the Earth's natural resources of energy, minerals, and rich soil. 99

Coincidence 11.1 Aerobic Life forms developed into an environment that was hostile and toxic to them in opposition to anaerobic life forms for which the environment was ideal. Coincidence 11.2 Aerobic, oxygen loving microbes, came into existence and populated the planet with exactly the correct amount of oxygen necessary for human life. Coincidence 11.3 Although the cyanobacteria had ousted the archaebacteria there were no predators to oust the cyanobacteria until their work was done. Coincidence 11.4 When the work of the cyanobacteria was done they became obsolete and were almost entirely superseded by other organisms. Coincidence 11.5 During the Carboniferous Period the process of transforming the abundance of organic material into fuel and material that would be needed by Mankind as it moved into the twentieth century was underway. The construction of this material went hand in hand with the action of the tectonic plates, which were then responsible for making the material available for Mankind. Coincidence 11.6 Dinosaurs dominated the Earth but they were reptiles. The mass extinction that occurred during the Cretaceous Period spared the lives of those mammals that were the forerunners of Mankind. Coincidence 11.7 No conclusions can be drawn or inferred from the fact that there were several mass extinctions during the half a million years since fully formed creatures first appeared. Nonetheless they did occur and there can be little if any doubt that those extinctions were integral in the development of mankind. 100