Abstract
A review is presented of the highlights of the natural history of the universe from the inception of space-time known as the Big Bang. The implications of this knowledge are presented in subsequent chapters that discuss cosmology, and the origin of life and sapient mind from inanimate matter. The present chapter begins an overview of classical physics with brief mention of the vital contributions of Galileo’s early studies of motion, which laid the groundwork for Newton’s far-reaching mechanics and co-discovery of Calculus. The grand achievements of Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century physics, thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, are then discussed with particular attention paid to the related concepts of entropy and information that are essential to consideration of the origin and evolution of life and mind in later chapters. After mention of James Clerk Maxwell’s theory of electromagnetism, consideration is given to some of the key elements of quantum physics, in particular, the paradox presented by the simultaneous wave-particle duality of light and matter. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the phenomenon of quantum entanglement, which in its most extreme form claims that everything is connected and has a coherent unitary nature at the deepest level of reality.
I want to know how God created this world… . I want to know God’s thoughts.
Albert Einstein ( 2000)
As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8–9
Every picture tells a story.
From the song by Rod Stewart
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Change history
22 May 2019
The book was inadvertently published with an incorrect ToC where Chapter 8 subchapter was not indented (Consilience, Truth and the Mind of God: A Synthesis). It is now corrected asRecollection and Synthesis
Notes
- 1.
The question of design is a surrogate for the question concerning whether God exists. If indeed there is a Supreme Intelligence responsible for creation, then of course design is real and even the most avowed atheist would concede that such a being is God although not perhaps the anthropomorphized God that is conceived by many believers. If God does not exist neither does design as a deliberate plan in the mind of a Creator. In the absence of design, however, the laws of physics remain unexplained.
- 2.
Translated as Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. The book was published in 1687, when physics was called natural philosophy. The title may therefore be understood as Mathematical Principles of Physics.
- 3.
From a letter to Robert Hooke, 15 February, 1676.
- 4.
Recall that the forward motion video begins after the cue ball is set in motion so it is moving at the beginning of that video and at the end of the reverse video.
- 5.
Change is signified in scientific notation by the Greek letter delta, Δ.
- 6.
Kinetic energy is the energy a mass possesses by virtue of its motion.
- 7.
Thermal equilibrium for an isolated system of gas molecules occurs when the temperature is uniform throughout the volume of gas.
- 8.
Heat therefore is expressed in units of energy, the Joule or J.
- 9.
Entropy, S, therefore has the units of Joules per degree Kelvin or J/°K.
- 10.
The temperature of the system of gas molecules is not uniform throughout when the system is not at thermal equilibrium.
- 11.
A microstate is a description of one of the possible physical configurations of all the molecules at a given time, t. A microstate is described by the position and momentum of each molecule in the system.
- 12.
Boltzmann’s constant, KB, has units of J/°K so both sides of Eq. 3.5 have the same units as required.
- 13.
In Eq.3.5 the expression log b is read as logarithm to the base b of the variable or number that follows it. Typical values that are used for the base b are 10, 2 and the constant e, where e = 2.718281828… . When e is used as the base, instead of writing log e (W) the expression ln (W) is used and referred to as the natural logarithm of the number W. The logarithmic function specifies the exponent to which the base must be raised to equal the number or variable that follows the log or ln symbol. Therefore ln (W) is the exponent to which the base e must be raised to equal W. That means that if ln (W) = x, then ex = W. Unless otherwise specified, log typically means log10. An example for the base 10 would be: log10 (100) = 2 because 102 = 10x10 = 100. More generally for any base b, log b (W) is the power or exponent to which the base b must be raised to equal W.
- 14.
For example, consider how the logarithm of a number increases as the number increases: log10 (100) = 2, but log10 (1000) = 3, and log10 (10,000) = 4 and so on. At thermal equilibrium, the measure of molecular disorder, W, has its maximum value for that particular system of gas molecules and log10 (W) = x, where x is also at its maximum value for the system.
- 15.
Probability is a number that ranges between 0 and 1 and can therefore be expressed as a fraction. The logarithm of a fraction is a negative number. The minus sign at the beginning of the expression on the right-most side of Eq. 3.7 therefore means that there are two negative quantities, −1 and logb (pi) that must be multiplied. The overall expression for entropy as a measure of atomic disorder is therefore positive, since multiplication of two negative numbers yields a positive number. Both entropy expressions in Eq. 3.7 are therefore positive quantities.
- 16.
KB has units of J/K so the right side of Eq 3.9, which is (T) [KB Σ pi logb (pi)], has units of °K (J/°K) = J.
- 17.
The relationship between entropy and information is an example of consilience, in which two apparently different aspects of nature prove to be intimately related. Other examples consist of the statistical mechanical explanation of thermodynamic variables, such as heat, in terms of molecular motion; the realization that Newton’s Theory of Gravitation is a special case of Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, to name just a few.
- 18.
Perhaps with poetic license, we also might think of the quantum matter wave as a kind of being field .
- 19.
The phenomenon of quantum tunneling demonstrates an illusory aspect of space!
- 20.
This argument does not take account adequately of the very real and profound differences between the fields of classical and quantum physics, however.
- 21.
See discussion of Einstein’s quip on this issue in Chap. 2.
- 22.
Spin is the intrinsic form of angular momentum possessed by quantum particles. It is assigned in multiples of integer, or half integer, units.
- 23.
Shielded in the sense of being blocked or prevented.
- 24.
1.616252 × 10−35 m = 0.00000000000000000000000000000000001616252 m.
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Di Rocco, R.J. (2018). Physics. In: Consilience, Truth and the Mind of God. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01869-6_3
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