The universe appears to have been mathematically designed. Greek mathematician Pythagoras, who taught that the universe was built upon numbers, is known to have said: “Nature geometrizes.”1
Sir
Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi, United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth,
is awed: “The believer might wonder, as does Lord Rees, president of the Royal
Society, in his Just Six Numbers, at the extraordinary precision of the six
mathematical constants that determine the shape of the Universe, such that if
even one were fractionally different neither we nor the Universe would exist.”2
Nobel
laureate for physics Steven Weinberg concurs: “Life as we know it would be
impossible if any one of several physical quantities had slightly different
values… One constant does seem to require incredible fine tuning.” He
quantifies the tuning as one part in 10120!3
Sir
James Jeans, knighted British physicist, once remarked: “From the intrinsic
evidence of His creation, the Great Architect of the Universe now begins to
appear as a pure mathematician.”4
Isaiah
expresses the same thought in enigmatic terms: “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, Measured heaven
with a span And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the
mountains in scales And the hills in a balance? (Isa 40:12, NKJV).
“Anthropic” planet
Earth,
a tiny planet, is just one of the countless objects in the vastness of space,
yet it is the only one known to support life. Scientists are puzzled by the
numerous “accidents” that favor life on earth. Many conclude that Earth is
“anthropic” -- that is, “specially made for man.”
Size of the Earth.
The scientific data suggest that the
Earth did not randomly come into existence. It has precise measurements that
look like the product of careful planning and design. So said God to Job: "Where were you when I laid the
foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined
its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?” (Job
38:4-5, NKJV).
If the Earth were larger, gravity would
be stronger. Hydrogen would be unable to escape from the surface and collect in
the atmosphere, rendering the planet inhospitable to life. If the Earth were smaller,
gravity would be weaker. Oxygen would escape into space, and animals could have
never emerged on the planet.
Location and motion.
Astrophysicist
Paul Davies, in his book The Goldilocks
Enigma (2007), nicknamed the Earth “the Goldilocks Planet.” It has just the
right temperature, neither too hot nor too cold.5
Distance from the sun. The Earth lies at an ideal distance
from the Sun: 93,000,000 miles (150,000,000 km) away. If the distance changed
by as little as 2%, all life on Earth would perish. If the Earth were a bit
farther from the sun, water would freeze; a little closer, water would
evaporate. Consider our neighbors: Venus, closer to the Sun, is too hot; while
Mars, farther away, is too cold.
Earth’s
orbit. The Earth’s orbit
around the Sun is just about 3% off a perfect circle – just right to keep water
liquid. If its orbit were as elliptical as that of Mars, water would
alternately boil when we are nearest to the Sun and freeze when we are
farthest.
The
Earth orbits the sun at a speed of about 66,600 miles per hour. That velocity
is perfect to offset the gravitational pull of the sun, as well as keep the
earth at an ideal distance. If the speed were slower, the Earth would be
gradually pulled toward the sun, eventually having all life scorched to
extinction. If faster, the Earth would move farther and farther away from the
sun, and eventually become a frozen wasteland.
Rotation
and axis.
The Earth’s rotation period cannot be changed by even just a few percent. Too
slow, the temperature differences between night and day would be too great. Too
fast, wind velocities would become disastrous.
The tilt of the Earth’s axis is at a 23.5o angle
relative to the sun. Greater, summers would be much hotter and winters much
colder, wreaking havoc on plant cycles and agriculture.
Neighboring
objects. For a satellite,
the moon is too big for the Earth. And, yet, it is just the right size. Its gravitational
pull produces the tides that prevent the oceans from either boiling or
freezing. Coastal waters are cleansed, oxygen and nutrients which sustain
marine life are replenished, and the tilt of the Earth is stabilized.
The gargantuan planet Jupiter, with its
massive gravitational force, occupies a nearby location that is favorable to
our planet. Otherwise, Earth would be struck about a thousand times more
frequently by asteroids, comets, and space debris.
Atmosphere and magnetosphere.
Oxygen. This life-sustaining gas comprises
21% of the Earth’s atmosphere. Much more than that would be harmful – oxygen
could be toxic if breathed too long, as well as make the environment fire-prone.
Ozone, an unstable oxygen molecule,
forms a layer in the top level of the atmosphere. The ozone layer blocks most
of the sun’s ultraviolet radiation that can burn sensitive skin, damage eyes,
and cause cancer.
Nitrogen. This constitutes 78% of the gases
surrounding the planet. It dilutes the oxygen, serving as a fertilizer for
plant life. Lightning bolts around the world mix nitrogen with oxygen each day,
producing compounds that come down to earth with rain and enrich the soil.
Carbon dioxide. The amount of this gas in the
atmosphere (3/100 of 1%) is just right – less would not be enough to keep
vegetation thriving; more, say 10%, would be fatal to both animals and humans.
All
the other necessary elements are present – carbon, hydrogen, phosphorous,
sulfur, as well as liquid water -- in the right proportions, as though
deliberately combined. Science writer Stuart Clark wonders: “Chemically
speaking, Earth is simply better set up for life than its neighbors. So how come
we got all the good stuff?”6
Magnetosphere. The Earth has just enough internal radioactivity
to maintain its iron core in a molten state,7 thus creating a
protective force field surrounding the planet as far as 40,000 miles out. The magnetosphere
protects the Earth against cosmic radiation.
Isaiah tells us why God did all these: “For this is what the LORD says -- he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited…” (Isa 45:18a, NIV).
The
air we breathe
When the Earth became a solid body, about
4.6 billion years ago, the atmosphere is believed to have consisted solely of
volcanic emissions -- a mixture of water vapor (85%), carbon dioxide (10%),
sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen, with almost no oxygen.8
Rise of oxygen.
Around
2.4 billion years ago, new marine microorganisms capable of photosynthesis (primitive
plants) began splitting water molecules to produce oxygen using the sun's
energy.9
Subsequently,
oxygen escaped from the oceans to the atmosphere, starting the formation of the
ozone layer, which acted as a sunscreen that reduced harmful ultraviolet rays striking
the oceans. This allowed photosynthetic bacteria that previously lived in the
depths to move up to the surface and increase the output of oxygen.10
About
100 million years later, organisms with 2-3 different cell types and deriving
energy from oxygen appeared. Then followed more complex cells equipped with
mitochondria (sausage-shaped structures that produce energy in cells).11
Further increases of oxygen in the air led to the
emergence of new air-breathing marine animals approximately 570 million years
ago.12
Bigger creatures.
The
availability of more oxygen greatly enhanced the metabolic efficiency of
organisms in extracting nutrients from food and converting them to energy. Many
marine creatures grew to enormous sizes. Chambered nautiluses that are eight
inches wide today measured nine feet across.13 On land, cockroaches
were about a foot long. Dragonflies had wings almost three feet in span.14
Air
bubbles in amber (fossil resin from trees) strongly suggest that oxygen in the
atmosphere might have been as high as 25%.15 Then, in the last 10
million years, atmospheric oxygen went down to its present level of 21%. Why?
Some
scientists speculate that great fires burned over the earth about 10 million
years ago, reducing the number of trees and, consequently, the amount of
photosynthesis and oxygen.16
The
wonders of water
Earth is the only planet positively
known to have liquid water. The most abundant substance on earth, water covers approximately
71% of the planet’s surface.
Water
is essential to life. Combined with carbon and certain other key elements,
water is the basis of almost all the molecules of living organisms. Fluids
primarily made up of water, like sap and blood, carry the vital materials that plants,
animals, and humans need to live. Water is an ideal solvent for metabolism as it
dissolves the food that sustains living organisms.
Where
all the water came from remains an enigma. If the solar
system and the Earth had formed from clouds of gases and dust, hardly any water
would be found on Earth. Any water this close to the Sun would have been vaporized
and blown away by the solar wind, like water vapor in the tails of comets.
Law
of nature altered?
Most
liquids contract as their temperature goes down. So, too, water. As it gets
colder, water in rivers, lakes, and seas becomes denser and heavier, sinking and
forcing the lighter, warmer water beneath to rise to the top. Yet, on reaching
precisely 7oF (4oC) above zero, the process is
inexplicably reversed! Water begins to expand until frozen into ice, its volume
increasing by 10%. Being lighter, ice floats above liquid water.
The
ice on the surface serves as an insulator that keeps the water below from
freezing, protecting organisms beneath. If water did not stop contracting just
before freezing point, ice would be heavier and sink to the bottom, where the
sun's heat could not melt it. Eventually, layers upon layers of ice would pile
up, turning the Earth into an ice planet.
Did
God recalibrate a law of nature to make Earth hospitable to life? This reminds
us of what He said through Jeremiah: “For
I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to
prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jer
29:11, NIV).
____________________
1Quoted by Migene
Gonzalez-Wippler, A Kabbalah for the
Modern World, 1974, p. 16
2Jonathan Sacks,
“Genesis and the origin of the Origin of the species,” The Times (London), August
29, 2008
3Steven Weinberg,
“Life in the Universe,” Scientific
American, October 1994
4Sir James Jeans, The Mysterious Universe, 1930
5Paul Davies, The Goldilocks Enigma, 2007
6Stuart Clark,
“Unknown Earth: Our Planet’s Seven Biggest Mysteries,” New Scientist, Sept. 7, 2008
7Gerald Schroeder, The Science of God, 1997, p. 191
8Atmosphere, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2004
9ScienceDaily,
Mar. 22, 2006, Internet
1“Rise Of Oxygen
Caused Earth's Earliest Ice Age,” ScienceDaily, May 7, 2009, Internet
11“Oxygen
Triggered The Evolution Of Complex Life Forms,” Exo Life, Jan
29, 2004, Internet
12Atmosphere, loc. cit.
13National Geographic, January 1976; quoted by Dennis
Petersen, Unlocking the Mysteries of
Creation, p. 100
14Dennis Petersen, Unlocking the Mysteries of Creation,
2002, pp. 32-33
15Petersen, op. cit., p. 35
16“Oxygen Increase
Caused Mammals To Triumph, Researchers Say,” ScienceDaily, Oct. 3, 2005, Internet
(Excerpted from
Chapter 5, Early Earth Enigmas, THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD: A Primer on the
Secrets of Heaven and Earth by M.M. Tauson, Amazon.com)
