From galaxies and stars, down to atoms and subatomic particles, the very structure of our universe is determined by these numbers: * Speed of Light: c=299,792,458 m s-1 * Plancks Constant: 1.05457148 x 10-34 m2 kg s-2 * Planck Mass-Energy: 1.2209 x 1022 MeV * Mass of Electron, Proton, Neutron: 0.511; 938.3; 939.6 MeV * Mass of Up, Down, Strange Quark: 2.4; 4.8; 104 MeV (Approx.) * Ratio of Electron to Proton Mass: (1836.15)-1 * Gravitational Coupling Constant: 5.9 x 10-39 * Cosmological Constant: (2.3 x 10-3 eV) * Hubble Constant: 71 km/s/Mpc (today) * Higgs Vacuum Expectation Value: 246.2 GeV These are the fundamental constants and quantities of the universe. Scientists have come to the shocking realization that each of these numbers have been carefully dialed to an astonishingly precise value - a value that falls within an exceedingly narrow, life-permitting range. If any one of these numbers were altered by even a hairs breadth, no physical, interactive life of any kind could exist anywhere. Thered be no stars, no life, no planets, no chemistry. Consider gravity, for example. The force of gravity is determined by the gravitational constant (Gravitational Constant: G=6.673 x 10-11 m3 kg-1 s-2). If this constant varied by just one in 10^60 parts, none of us would exist. To understand how exceedingly narrow this life-permitting range is, imagine a dial divided into 10^60 increments. To get a handle on how many tiny points on the dial this is, compare it to the number of cells in your body (10^14) or the number of seconds that have ticked by since time began (10^20). If the gravitational constant had been out of tune by just one of these infinitesimally small increments, the universe would either have expanded and thinned out so rapidly that no stars could form and life couldnt exist, or it would have collapsed back on itself with the same result: no stars, no planets, no life. The laws of science, as we know them at present, contain many fundamental numbers, like the size of the electric charge of the electron and the ratio of the masses of the proton and the electron. ... The remarkable fact is that the values of these numbers seem to have been very finely adjusted to make possible the development of life. Stephen Hawking, 1988. A Brief History of Time, Bantam Books, ISBN 0-553-05340-X, p. 125.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 04:46:15 +0000
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