The scientific claims
The Bible made a number of scientific claims in astronomy. Two of these represent cornerstones of present-day science.
1: Light
Light is electromagnetic radiation, particularly radiation of a wavelength that is visible to the human eye (about 400–700 nm, or perhaps 380–750 nm). In physics, the term light sometimes refers to electromagnetic radiation of any wavelength, whether visible or not.
Four primary properties of light are:
The speed of light is the speed that light travels in vacuum and is a fundamental physical constant. It is normally denoted by c, and is approximately 300,000 kilometres (or 186,000 miles) per second (exactly 299,792.458 kms), about a million times greater than the speed of sound.
The speed of light plays several roles in modern physics. It is the speed of travel of all electromagnetic radiation in free space, and is believed to be the speed of gravitational waves. According to Special Relativity, it connects space and time in the unified structure of spacetime, and defines the conversion between mass and energy. The speed of light is an upper bound on the speed at which matter and information can travel. It plays a role in general relativity as well.
According to special relativity, if an object is travelling close to the speed of light, a number of extraordinary phenomena should be observed as evidenced by the continuously running experiment conducted in particle accelerators such as those at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC).
Length Contraction and Time Dilation
One of the strangest parts of special relativity is the conclusion that two observers who are moving relative to one another, will get different measurements of the length of a particular object or the time that passes between two events.
Consider two observers, each in a space-ship laboratory containing clocks and meter sticks. The space ships are moving relative to each other at a speed close to the speed of light. Using Einstein's theory:
Time Dilation for Particles Particle processes have an intrinsic clock that determines the half-life of a decay process. However, the rate at which the clock ticks in a moving frame, as observed by a static observer, is slower than the rate of a static clock. Therefore, the half-life of a moving particle appears, to the static observer, to be increased by the factor gamma.
For example, let's look at a particle sometimes created at SLAC known as a tau. In the frame of reference where the tau particle is at rest, its lifetime is known to be approximately 3.05 x 10^-13 s. To calculate how far it travels before decaying, we could try to use the familiar equation distance equals speed times time. It travels so close to the speed of light that we can use c = 3 x 10^8 m/sec for the speed of the particle. If you do the calculation you find the distance traveled should be 9.15 x 10^-5 meters. However, the measured distance travelled is 1.8 x 10^-3 m! Which means that time dilation effects has enable the tau particle to travel further.
In particle accelerators, the half-life of an accelerated particle, is observed to be extended in proportion to how close its speed is to that of light. For example if we could travel so close to the speed of light, say 99.99995% of c, the gamma factor is 1000. That means that the length contraction would be 1000 times less than its normal state, the time would be 1000 times slower than at rest and energy and / or mass would increase by the same factor. This has been dubbed as the famous "Twin Paradox".
Twin Paradox: This describes a scenario where there is a pair of twin brothers. One left earth on a starship that travels close to the speed of light and returns in about 50 years Earth-time whereas the other stayed back on Earth. The latter aged by 50 years but the travelling twin aged for about 6 months only!
In this scenario we could infer that for the staying twin it is 50 years but for the travelling twin it is only 6 months! And both times (earth-time and ship-time) are correct!
Four primary properties of light are:
- Intensity
- Frequency or wavelength
- Polarization
- Phase
The speed of light is the speed that light travels in vacuum and is a fundamental physical constant. It is normally denoted by c, and is approximately 300,000 kilometres (or 186,000 miles) per second (exactly 299,792.458 kms), about a million times greater than the speed of sound.
The speed of light plays several roles in modern physics. It is the speed of travel of all electromagnetic radiation in free space, and is believed to be the speed of gravitational waves. According to Special Relativity, it connects space and time in the unified structure of spacetime, and defines the conversion between mass and energy. The speed of light is an upper bound on the speed at which matter and information can travel. It plays a role in general relativity as well.
According to special relativity, if an object is travelling close to the speed of light, a number of extraordinary phenomena should be observed as evidenced by the continuously running experiment conducted in particle accelerators such as those at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC).
Length Contraction and Time Dilation
One of the strangest parts of special relativity is the conclusion that two observers who are moving relative to one another, will get different measurements of the length of a particular object or the time that passes between two events.
Consider two observers, each in a space-ship laboratory containing clocks and meter sticks. The space ships are moving relative to each other at a speed close to the speed of light. Using Einstein's theory:
- Each observer will see the meter stick of the other as shorter than their own, by the same factor gamma. This is called length contraction.
- Each observer will see the clocks in the other laboratory as ticking more slowly than the clocks in his/her own, by a factor gamma. This is called time dilation.
Time Dilation for Particles Particle processes have an intrinsic clock that determines the half-life of a decay process. However, the rate at which the clock ticks in a moving frame, as observed by a static observer, is slower than the rate of a static clock. Therefore, the half-life of a moving particle appears, to the static observer, to be increased by the factor gamma.
For example, let's look at a particle sometimes created at SLAC known as a tau. In the frame of reference where the tau particle is at rest, its lifetime is known to be approximately 3.05 x 10^-13 s. To calculate how far it travels before decaying, we could try to use the familiar equation distance equals speed times time. It travels so close to the speed of light that we can use c = 3 x 10^8 m/sec for the speed of the particle. If you do the calculation you find the distance traveled should be 9.15 x 10^-5 meters. However, the measured distance travelled is 1.8 x 10^-3 m! Which means that time dilation effects has enable the tau particle to travel further.
In particle accelerators, the half-life of an accelerated particle, is observed to be extended in proportion to how close its speed is to that of light. For example if we could travel so close to the speed of light, say 99.99995% of c, the gamma factor is 1000. That means that the length contraction would be 1000 times less than its normal state, the time would be 1000 times slower than at rest and energy and / or mass would increase by the same factor. This has been dubbed as the famous "Twin Paradox".
Twin Paradox: This describes a scenario where there is a pair of twin brothers. One left earth on a starship that travels close to the speed of light and returns in about 50 years Earth-time whereas the other stayed back on Earth. The latter aged by 50 years but the travelling twin aged for about 6 months only!
In this scenario we could infer that for the staying twin it is 50 years but for the travelling twin it is only 6 months! And both times (earth-time and ship-time) are correct!
What does the Bible say?
II Peter 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
But what would happen at the very speed of light?
At the speed of light, time literally stops, length is not applicable and energy and / or mass is literally infinite!
This is a description of God in a mathematical / physics sense. God is supposed to be infinite in power, timeless and omnipresent.
At the speed of light, time literally stops, length is not applicable and energy and / or mass is literally infinite!
This is a description of God in a mathematical / physics sense. God is supposed to be infinite in power, timeless and omnipresent.
What did Jesus Christ say?
John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
2: Universe
General relativity or the general theory of relativity is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1916. It is the current description of gravitation in modern physics. It unifies special relativity and Newton's law of universal gravitation, and describes gravity as a geometric property of space and time or spacetime. In particular, the curvature of spacetime is directly related to the four-momentum (mass-energy and linear momentum) of whatever matter and radiation are present. The relation is specified by the Einstein field equations, a system of partial differential equations.
Soon after publishing the special theory of relativity in 1905, Einstein started thinking about how to incorporate gravity into his new relativistic framework. In 1907, beginning with a simple thought experiment involving an observer in free fall, he embarked on what would be an eight-year search for a relativistic theory of gravity. After numerous detours and false starts, his work culminated in the November, 1915 presentation to the Prussian Academy of Science of what are now known as the Einstein field equations. These equations specify how the geometry of space and time is influenced by whatever matter is present, and form the core of Einstein's general theory of relativity.
The Einstein field equations are nonlinear and very difficult to solve. Einstein used approximation methods in working out initial predictions of the theory. But as early as 1916, the astrophysicist Karl Schwarzschild found the first non-trivial exact solution to the Einstein field equations, the so-called Schwarzschild metric. This solution laid the groundwork for the description of the final stages of gravitational collapse, and the objects known today as black holes. In the same year, the first steps towards generalizing Schwarzschild's solution to electrically charged objects were taken, which eventually resulted in the Reissner-Nordstrom solution, now associated with charged black holes. In 1917, Einstein applied his theory to the universe as a whole, initiating the field of relativistic cosmology. In line with contemporary thinking, he assumed a static universe, adding a new parameter to his original field equations—the cosmological constant—to reproduce that "observation". By 1929, however, the work of Hubble and others had shown that our universe is expanding. This is readily described by the expanding cosmological solutions found by Friedmann in 1922, which do not require a cosmological constant. Lemaitre used these solutions to formulate the earliest version of the big bang models, in which our universe has evolved from an extremely hot and dense earlier state. Einstein later declared the cosmological constant the biggest blunder of his life.
Soon after publishing the special theory of relativity in 1905, Einstein started thinking about how to incorporate gravity into his new relativistic framework. In 1907, beginning with a simple thought experiment involving an observer in free fall, he embarked on what would be an eight-year search for a relativistic theory of gravity. After numerous detours and false starts, his work culminated in the November, 1915 presentation to the Prussian Academy of Science of what are now known as the Einstein field equations. These equations specify how the geometry of space and time is influenced by whatever matter is present, and form the core of Einstein's general theory of relativity.
The Einstein field equations are nonlinear and very difficult to solve. Einstein used approximation methods in working out initial predictions of the theory. But as early as 1916, the astrophysicist Karl Schwarzschild found the first non-trivial exact solution to the Einstein field equations, the so-called Schwarzschild metric. This solution laid the groundwork for the description of the final stages of gravitational collapse, and the objects known today as black holes. In the same year, the first steps towards generalizing Schwarzschild's solution to electrically charged objects were taken, which eventually resulted in the Reissner-Nordstrom solution, now associated with charged black holes. In 1917, Einstein applied his theory to the universe as a whole, initiating the field of relativistic cosmology. In line with contemporary thinking, he assumed a static universe, adding a new parameter to his original field equations—the cosmological constant—to reproduce that "observation". By 1929, however, the work of Hubble and others had shown that our universe is expanding. This is readily described by the expanding cosmological solutions found by Friedmann in 1922, which do not require a cosmological constant. Lemaitre used these solutions to formulate the earliest version of the big bang models, in which our universe has evolved from an extremely hot and dense earlier state. Einstein later declared the cosmological constant the biggest blunder of his life.
What does the Bible say?
Jeremiah 10:12 He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion.
We see both the special theory of relativity and the general theory of relativity expressed in clear and concise English in the words of the Bible that was penned between 3500 and 2000 years ago even before 1915 the date Einstein formulated his theories.