Contendens Suptilis Universitatis

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

The Old Testament reading in the Divine Liturgy for 02/11/2019 is Genesis 1:1-19 – the first four days of creation during which God created:

Light (Day 1)
Firmament (Day 2)
Land, Sea and Plants (Day 3)
Lights in the Firmament (Day 4)

Today I am going to write about the fine-tuning of the universe – yes, SCIENCE. Tomorrow I will write about the age of the universe (more science) – how the six 24 days in Genesis correlate to the 13.72 billion year age of the observable universe (yes, the Bible is 100% correct, and so is science – are you surprised?). There will be some math, so the reader will have to recall natural logarithms from high school. (PS, the language God used to create the universe is mathematics even as the language of God’s Church is Aramaic, Koine Greek and Latin – just saying 😁).

Dr. Gerald Schroeder, a physicist and an Orthodox Jew, has written many articles about the Genesis account of creation. His article on the fine tuning of the universe may be found here:

http://geraldschroeder.com/wordpress/?page_id=49

The reason why this article struck me so was because of a certain fact about nuclear fusion which I had known from my days of Naval Nuclear Power School back in 1978, but which I had never put together with the creation event. Early stars formed from clouds of hydrogen and helium produced by the Big Bang to undergo fusion (I’ll discuss the Big Bang later – fear not, for it is proof positive of a Divine Creator, not atheistic evolution). When enough helium is produced by fusion of hydrogen, then that helium itself can undergo fusion to produce beryllium via what is called the triple alpha process:

2He4 + 2He4 → 4Be8

Once formed, that beryllium can undergo fusion with leftover helium to produce the carbon so essential to life:

4Be8 + 2He4 → 6C12

Finally the carbon can continue to react with leftover helium to form oxygen which we all need to breathe:

6C12 + 2He4 → 8O16

And then subsequent fusion reactions build up all the heavy elements up to uranium out of which asteroids, moons and planets are made. Now why is this so significant? Because of the extremely short half-life of 4Be8:

6.7E-17 seconds

This means that half the amount of beryllium-8 formed out of fusion in stars will decay back to helium and hydrogen in a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a second, and after five half-lives, no beryllium would be left:

33.5E-17 seconds

All the beryllium would revert back to helium:

4Be8 → 2He4 + 2He4

Thus, if the half-life of beryllium were any shorter, then no heavy elements would form to be spread into the universe when the star goes supernova, and no plants, no moons, no asteroids would exist. And if the half-life were any longer, then too much beryllium-helium fusion would occur, and the star would collapse before it could go supernova and spread heavy elements into the universe; and in that scenario there would be no asteroids, moons or planets.

This amount of fine tuning – the half-life of beryllium-8 must be exactly 6.7E-17 seconds (no shorter and no longer) – to result in the observable universe we inhabit surely points to a Divine Creator. And that’s not the only variable fine-tuned for the existence of the universe and life therein (I got the following list from the “Evidence for God” website):

1. strong nuclear force constant
if larger: no hydrogen would form; atomic nuclei for most life-essential elements would be unstable; thus, no life chemistry
if smaller: no elements heavier than hydrogen would form: again, no life chemistry

2. weak nuclear force constant
if larger: too much hydrogen would convert to helium in big bang; hence, stars would convert too much matter into heavy elements making life chemistry impossible
if smaller: too little helium would be produced from big bang; hence, stars would convert too little matter into heavy elements making life chemistry impossible

3. gravitational force constant
if larger: stars would be too hot and would burn too rapidly and too unevenly for life chemistry
if smaller: stars would be too cool to ignite nuclear fusion; thus, many of the elements needed for life chemistry would never form

4. electromagnetic force constant
if greater: chemical bonding would be disrupted; elements more massive than boron would be unstable to fission
if lesser: chemical bonding would be insufficient for life chemistry

5. ratio of electromagnetic force constant to gravitational force constant
if larger: all stars would be at least 40% more massive than the sun; hence, stellar burning would be too brief and too uneven for life support
if smaller: all stars would be at least 20% less massive than the sun, thus incapable of producing heavy elements

6. ratio of electron to proton mass
if larger: chemical bonding would be insufficient for life chemistry
if smaller: same as above

7. ratio of number of protons to number of electrons
if larger: electromagnetism would dominate gravity, preventing galaxy, star, and planet formation
if smaller: same as above

8. expansion rate of the universe
if larger: no galaxies would form
if smaller: universe would collapse, even before stars formed

9. entropy level of the universe
if larger: stars would not form within proto-galaxies
if smaller: no proto-galaxies would form

10. mass density of the universe
if larger: overabundance of deuterium from big bang would cause stars to burn rapidly, too rapidly for life to form
if smaller: insufficient helium from big bang would result in a shortage of heavy elements

11. velocity of light
if faster: stars would be too luminous for life support if slower: stars would be insufficiently luminous for life support

12. age of the universe
if older: no solar-type stars in a stable burning phase would exist in the right (for life) part of the galaxy
if younger: solar-type stars in a stable burning phase would not yet have formed

13. initial uniformity of radiation
if more uniform: stars, star clusters, and galaxies would not have formed
if less uniform: universe by now would be mostly black holes and empty space

14. average distance between galaxies
if larger: star formation late enough in the history of the universe would be hampered by lack of material
if smaller: gravitational tug-of-wars would destabilize the sun's orbit

15. density of galaxy cluster
if denser: galaxy collisions and mergers would disrupt the sun's orbit
if less dense: star formation late enough in the history of the universe would be hampered by lack of material

16. average distance between stars
if larger: heavy element density would be too sparse for rocky planets to form
if smaller: planetary orbits would be too unstable for life

17. fine structure constant (describing the fine-structure splitting of spectral lines) if larger: all stars would be at least 30% less massive than the sun
if larger than 0.06: matter would be unstable in large magnetic fields
if smaller: all stars would be at least 80% more massive than the sun

18. decay rate of protons
if greater: life would be exterminated by the release of radiation
if smaller: universe would contain insufficient matter for life

19. 12C to 16O nuclear energy level ratio
if larger: universe would contain insufficient oxygen for life
if smaller: universe would contain insufficient carbon for life

20. ground state energy level for 4He
if larger: universe would contain insufficient carbon and oxygen for life
if smaller: same as above

21. decay rate of 8Be
if slower: heavy element fusion would generate catastrophic explosions in all the stars
if faster: no element heavier than beryllium would form; thus, no life chemistry

22. ratio of neutron mass to proton mass
if higher: neutron decay would yield too few neutrons for the formation of many life-essential elements
if lower: neutron decay would produce so many neutrons as to collapse all stars into neutron stars or black holes

23. initial excess of nucleons over anti-nucleons
if greater: radiation would prohibit planet formation
if lesser: matter would be insufficient for galaxy or star formation

24. polarity of the water molecule
if greater: heat of fusion and vaporization would be too high for life
if smaller: heat of fusion and vaporization would be too low for life; liquid water would not work as a solvent for life chemistry; ice would not float, and a runaway freeze-up would result

25. supernovae eruptions
if too close, too frequent, or too late: radiation would exterminate life on the planet
if too distant, too infrequent, or too soon: heavy elements would be too sparse for rocky planets to form

26. white dwarf binaries
if too few: insufficient fluorine would exist for life chemistry
if too many: planetary orbits would be too unstable for life
if formed too soon: insufficient fluorine production
if formed too late: fluorine would arrive too late for life chemistry

27. ratio of exotic matter mass to ordinary matter mass
if larger: universe would collapse before solar-type stars could form
if smaller: no galaxies would form

28. number of effective dimensions in the early universe
if larger: quantum mechanics, gravity, and relativity could not coexist; thus, life would be impossible
if smaller: same result

29. number of effective dimensions in the present universe
if smaller: electron, planet, and star orbits would become unstable
if larger: same result

30. mass of the neutrino
if smaller: galaxy clusters, galaxies, and stars would not form
if larger: galaxy clusters and galaxies would be too dense

31. big bang ripples
if smaller: galaxies would not form; universe would expand too rapidly
if larger: galaxies/galaxy clusters would be too dense for life; black holes would dominate; universe would collapse before life-site could form

32. size of the relativistic dilation factor
if smaller: certain life-essential chemical reactions will not function properly
if larger: same result

33. uncertainty magnitude in the Heisenberg uncertainty principle
if smaller: oxygen transport to body cells would be too small and certain life-essential elements would be unstable
if larger: oxygen transport to body cells would be too great and certain life-essential elements would be unstable

34. cosmological constant
if larger: universe would expand too quickly to form solar-type stars