Perspective of the Universe

The universe has always been a mysterious topic for Mankind. Man has always tried to know about it. They want to know how did it begin, how will it end, what things are out there, how does it function, and many more.  In today’s technological world we know much about the universe. Most of the things we know are discovered in the last few decades. Some of them are based on only theory or has only theoretical or hypothetical answers (like the beginning of the universe). We will now see how we should visualize the universe.

The universe is entirely composed of energy. Everything we see around is the result of this behavior of energy.

You might want to argue that the universe is also composed of matter. In 1905, Einstein, in his Special Theory of Relativity, explained that matter and energy are related with his famous equation, E=MC². This shows that mass (magnitude of matter) and energy are indistinguishable under certain conditions. Therefore I would like to refer mass as a form of energy.

Matter is something that occupies space. Most of the things we see around are matter. But how do we understand this matter? We would refer a big rock as matter and a small stone which is broken off from the same rock as matter again. Now at what level does matter comes to its absoluteness?

For this let me give you a brief idea of how could we visualize this matter. Everything (matter) in this universe is made up of 24 things. These 24 things are very small particles. These particles are very hard to imagine because they are like one in a billion, billion, billion pieces of a small dust particle. These 24 things are building blocks of matter. Out of these 24 particles, 12 are the main particles and other 12 are the anti-particles of them or a negative copy of them. These 12 main particles are grouped in 3 families with 4 in each family. The first family forms most of the things we see around ourselves. Other particles are found in different regions of the cosmos and found through scientific experiments. These four things are up quark, down quark, electron-neutrino andelectron. The combination of them forms all the things we see around ourselves.

You might have heard that atom is the smallest thing which forms matter. Now we shall resolve this misconception. First of all, quarks cannot exist alone. They need to be combined. When 2 up quarks and 1 down quark are combined they form a new particle called proton. When 2 down quarks and 1 up quark are combined they form another particle called neutron. Together when neutron and proton are held together (or at least one proton) and at least one electron revolves around the nucleus, they form the atom. So now you see how much divisible is the atom. Many atoms of same and different kinds are held together and form a thing. Everything we see around is made like this. And with other of those 24 things are formed the other things in the universe which we don’t see. So now we know that these particles are the building blocks of matter. These 24 things are the matter in its absoluteness.

Force is the interaction between particles. In modern theory, all kinds of force are carried by force carriers. They are the absoluteness of force. These force carriers are what causes the force. Electromagnetic force, gravitational force, strong force and weak force are known as the four fundamental forces of nature. In atom, as stated earlier, quarks are held together and so are the protons and neutrons. The strong force is what holds them together. Strong force is a nuclear force. Weak force is another nuclear force. Electromagnetic force is a unification of electric and magnetic force. Gravitational force is a universal force by which everything attracts everything else. The other forces which we apply or see in our daily life are the cause of energy. When we push anything we use the energy stored in us and make an effect on another thing as force. As stated earlier, electric and magnetic force forms the unification of electromagnetic force. Electricity and magnetism are energy. Their force is caused by the energy. So all the things we see around moving is the cause of energy.

Energy exists in many forms and exists in all the places. There is always a transaction between the forms of energy. It means energy changes from one form to the other. This process is consistent and is happening everywhere and in every form. Some of these processes are noticeable to us but some are what we don’t notice but happens all the time. In our slightest move, it happens. When we blink our eyes, it happens. This process is both macroscopic and microscopic.

Energy can only change from one form to another but it cannot be destroyed and nor can it be created. It means that when huge power plants are producing energy they are not actually producing it. They are just changing one form of the energy to the other. In windmills, the kinetic energy of the wind is transformed to the electrical energy. Thus there is no such thing as the production or generation or creation of energy. Energy can neither be destroyed. When we are working for a long time we think that our energy is getting lost or exhausted. But actually while you are working, the energy inside you is getting transformed to other forms. Like if you are hitting a ball, the energy inside you is getting transformed to the kinetic energy of the ball. So in few words we can say that ‘energy can neither be created nor destroyed it can only be changed from one form to the other’.

When we talk about our perspective of the universe, we must know that how do we know this universe. Everything we know is the result of the contact we have with this universe. This contact is formed by the senses we have. These are, as you know, sight, hearing, feeling, taste and smell. Therefore our sensation is the cause of everything we know. Our contact with this universe is what forms our knowledge and everything about us. When this senses starts working, they cause a simulation in our minds. We see everything, hearing the things and touch to feel it. All of this signals our minds to believe that these are the things happening. This simulation is what we perceive as reality. Now if someone has an ability to run another simulation in our minds he could make a different reality for us. Everything we would now would be based on him. Now how can we be sure that this is not happening right now? How can we be sure that we are not controlled by another? We are so sure because the knowledge we have matches with everyone around us. Now again, many doubts are rising with this conception. This is the uncertainty with everyone and everyone is bound with this uncertainty. It is wise if we don’t think about uncertainty.

There is even one more factor we need to take into account. Forming a reality takes account of this factor. To handle some amount of water we need to have a container. Same way we need a place where everything must exist. We term it as space-time. Space is the spatial world in which we live in and time is another parameter of describing the space-time. To understand the concept of space-time we will use an example. As places have location associated with them the same way space time hasevents associated with them. Every event in space-time is denoted by four parameters. Suppose we are in a room holding a ball. Suppose to find its location we say that it is 2 m away from the right wall. Again we tell it is 3 m away from the back wall. We now can know where it can lie. But it can be on the floor or on the ceiling. So we need to specify what height it is from floor. Suppose 1 m. So we now know the exact location of it. So now the ball can be resembled with the three parameters. We have the spatial point of the ball in the space-time. But another question comes up that, suppose now this ball is in that position and after some time a book is kept there. So we are going to have a same location of the book as of the ball. So it is necessary to include another parameter which is time. These four parameters make an event in the space-time. Every event in space-time is unique; no two events can be the same in space-time. In few words we can explain that, space time is the combination of three spatial dimensions and the time dimension, the three spatial dimensions are identical and are perpendicular to each other.

Now if you visualize what you do, you will notice that there is a behavior of energy that is happening everywhere. So along with the conception of matter, energy and force if you now visualize the world, you will realize that the things which are happening are just the cause of very simple thing. It is the behavior of energy. Every complicated procedure, design and things are the cause of the behavior of energy. All the big things happening out there in the universe like the formation of stars are very simple if we have this perspective of the universe. So in few words I would like to conclude that, “It is the behavior of energy in space-time that forms reality and everything.”