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3.6
What is the universe ultimately made of?
 
  If macro scientific and religious/philosophical arguments fail to adequately who? why? for what ultimate purpose was the Universe created? We may be able to identify some clues by looking at the some of the contemporary micro theories on creation such as -what is the Universe ultimately made of?  
  There are historically two main roads of human scientific thought that humans have journeyed along to try and find out "what the Universe is ultimately made of?" (1) The first road is the study of smaller and smaller objects that make up the world around us, starting with the science of Chemistry and later developing into the science of Atomic Theory. (2) The second road is the study and understanding larger and larger structures in the Universe, from the Earth, the moon, the planets, the Sun, the galaxy, other galaxies and their motions, positions, distances, magnitudes, structures, starting with the science of Astronomy and developing into Astro Physics.  
  For the moment, let us look at the first road, the study of smaller and smaller objects.  
3.6.1 The Study Of Smaller And Smaller Objects- The Oldest Science Of Humanity  
  The study of physical objects smaller than a human, their composition and behaviour is the oldest branch of human scientific thought. Early trial and error- Starting hundreds of thousands of years ago, the descendants of modern humans began to identify and classify the world around them, from rocks that could be used for spears, rocks that could be used to make fire, plants that were good for eating and healing.  
  The beginnings of categorization- With the advent of language and visual communication ( painting, alphabets), this knowledge quickly expanded to include discoveries of creating harder substances (Bronze, Iron), the mixing of various substances for building , health and food. These early discoveries remained knowledge acquired through the practical observation and trial and error of using different minerals and elements.  
  The beginnings of the rules of chemistry- By about 10,000 BC, various settlements of humanity had developed their accumulated "trial and error" knowledge of the world around them into the rudimentary rules and application of chemistry. But around 2000 to 5000 BC, human thought developed an additional field of science of the study of the behaviour of matter- theory. (For more detail, see Ch 16 History of Human Life).  
  Atomic Theory- The term "atom' is derived from the Greek word "atomos" meaning "that which cannot be divided or cut", in other words, the smallest particles possible.  
  The early Greek scientists were fascinated by the concept of matter and how it was formed and structured. Around 450 BC, a resident of the ancient Greece city of Abdera, called Leucippus wrote a treatise that all matter was broken into minute particles with space between them and Democritus. Leucippus concept of the smallest unit of matter was something with form and shape, that was hard but had no smell, taste or colour. He realised that it was so small that it was invisible.  
  Lucretius added to the Leucippus theory in his De rerum natura (On the Nature of Things) to state that atoms were indestructible and therefore eternal. For a period of human history, the "theoretical" side of the study of matter lay largely dormant while the practical application of chemistry saw more and more discoveries. It was not until around 1658 in Western civilization that the early theories of the Greeks were enhanced by Gassendi in 1658 who published a work discussing the possible application of atomic theory as well as coining the term "molecule" for groups of atoms.  
  Despite atomic theory having common ancestry as Chemistry in the study and composition of matter, it remained a poor cousin to its practical neighbour until powerful enough equipment was available to find the necessary breakthroughs and re-unify the two sciences.  
3.6.2 Major breakthroughs over the last 200 years in discovering smaller particles of matter  
  In 1808 and 1810 John Dalton published New System of Chemical Philosophy and for the first time, atomic theory could be seen to have a "practical" application in the study and analysis of matter .  
  Dalton was a chemist, and was able to approach atomic theory from the angle of accepted compounds and their structures, such as Air, Water, Salt, Iron etc. Dalton confirmed that all these compounds are made up of "elements" and that these elements are made up of groups of "atoms." He then established that all atoms of one element are the same and that the atoms in one element are different from other elements. He stated that atoms all have different weights and that atomic weights should be measured against a base of hydrogen equaling one. Dalton's discoveries succeeded in establishing atomic theory as the foundation of chemistry.  
  Beginnings of atomic physics- Following the work of Dalton, in 1897 an English physicist, J. J. Thomson developed a theory that atoms were actually made of electrons, thus suggesting that atoms could be divided into even smaller particles. But it wasn't until around 1902 and the developments of theories and experiments by New Zealander Ernest Rutherford and Englishman Frederick Soddy that suggested an atoms configuration/shape could actually be destroyed.  
  In 1919 Rutherford, succeeded in splitting nitrogen atoms into oxygen atoms using bursts of radioactivity at his laboratory at the University of Manchester in England, thus proving the theory. 2000 years after the words by Lucretius of Greece, the concept of the eternal atom was ended.  
  Classification of 1st level of sub-atomic particles- From the end of the 19th Century until 1932, scientists made a series of blazing discoveries that established names and characteristics to the 1st level of sub-atomic particles- Protons, Electrons, Neutrons. Important characteristics of 1st level-sub atomic particles and atoms began to emerge. The most startling discovery was the tremendous release of energy occurring when atoms were smashed into different configurations- leading ultimately to the atom bomb. The most graphic and terrible demonstration that atomic physics was no longer a "theoretical science."  
  The discovery of Quarks and particles smaller than 1st level- Encouraged by the growing practical application of atomic physics, and armed with more and more powerful equipment to smash atoms, scientists almost immediately upon discovering the electron, proton and neutron started to investigate if these particles were made up of even smaller particles. One of the most important discoveries then appeared around the end of the 1960's when scientists like Murray Gell-Mann helped discover the sub-atomic particle the Quark and proposed that this was the basic building block of all 1st level sub atomic shapes such as protons, electrons and neutrons. Through experiments and sophisticated theories, it was proposed that Protons were made up of three Quarks, Neutrons also of three Quarks.  
  Other scientists established the hypothesis of the existence of anti-matter- very small particles of matter that behaved differently to the sub-atomic particles such as Quarks.  
  Then with multi-million dollar atom smashing machines, scientists during the early 70's and 80's went even further to propose that Quarks were themselves made up of even smaller particles such as pions and kaons as well as a host of other smaller sub-atomic particles.  
 

Seeing an atom- Highly powerful electron microscopes have succeeded in taking the first pictures of a single atom. They aren't actual "visual" pictures because atoms are so small and move so fast to create a spherical shape, no "visible light" can actually be used by humans to "see" atoms. Even so, with sophisticated vibration detection equipment, so far, no one has been able to photograph through the shell of an atom to see exactly what is inside, without smashing it against other atoms and breaking its shape using powerful atom smashing equipment.

 
  Now, literally thousands of sub-atomic particles have been observed in atom smashing facilities. The only hitch being that the process of breaking down these sub-sub atomic particles further has proven to be so far impossible. This vacuum of experimental evidence of what actually makes up the smallest particles of matter, has therefore been filled by theories- in other words, different models.  
  The most important theory for the analysis and prediction of sub-atomic and super sub-atomic particles has been a system called Quantum Mechanics.  
3.6.3 Major breakthroughs in the discovery of rules (consistent behaviours) of sub atomic matter over the last 200 years  
  While the range of discoveries of particles smaller than the atom represent major milestones in the sciences of humanity, this is only half the picture. It is the amazing discoveries associated with rules (consistent behaviours) that has then enabled humanity to start harnessing the awesome power of smaller particle physics such as nuclear fission (atomic energy) and technologies such as laser light and fibre optic cabling for communications. Here are some of the significant breakthroughs that occurred during the same period.  
  The unified theory of the behaviour of electricity and magnetism-
The 19th Century saw tremendous advances in the study of the behaviour of electricity and magnetism. Based on observations that both electricity(electrons) and magnetism share similar properties and behaviours English scientist James Maxwell in 1856 developed the theory that the energy of the electromagnetic field is in the space around the conductors as well as in the conductors themselves. In other words, both magnetism and electricity are present both "within" atomic structures as well as "through" and "around" atomic structures behaving as fields. By 1864 he had formulated his own electromagnetic theory of light, predicting that both light and radio waves are electric and magnetic phenomena. His theories took over thirty years to be verified when in 1886, German physicist Heinrich Hertz verified the existence of electromagnetic waves traveling at the speed of light; the waves he discovered are known now as radio waves.
  
  The viewing of behaviour of energy as packets of exchange, or "quanta"
The codification of behaviours such as a hot stove, the steam of a steam engine, the sunlight of the sun as different but similar forms of "energy" represented one of the great mental breakthroughs of the 19th Century when the first law of thermodynamics began to take shape. However the concept of energy as the discrete exchange of something between two bodies was not firmed until Max Planck's formulation of the quantum hypothesis--i.e., the theory that radiant-heat energy is emitted only in finite amounts, or quanta. Plancks observations were vital in that he provided a framework by which energy exchange at an atomic level could be measured (hence Planck's constant).
  
  The interchangeability of mass into energy over time and the "Special Theory of Relativity"
While the work of Max Planck opened up a better understanding of energy and elementary particle exchange, it was the work of Albert Einstein that opened our eyes to the interchangeability of matter and energy. In essence, his theories established that within atomic matter tremendous energy is contained of far greater power than traditional forms of energy (such as burning wood in a furnace). Secondly, he established a motion/interactivity barrier for elementary particles in the form of the speed of light- that in essence nothing larger than the constituent parts of light may travel faster than it.
  This leads us to one of the most dramatic breakthroughs in rules associated with elementary particles- the science and theories associated with quantum mechanics.
   
 
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