The Conqueror Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 Hi, I am a Grade 11 Student (CBSE) from India and some questions popped up in my mind. Would be glad if you could help me out! What is the exact beginning of life? Who provided the force needed to create this massive universe, the supernovas and the Earth ? Who provided the angular velocity for earth to rotate and revolve? Does the universe continuously expand? Should the definition of 'Living Things' be redefined to objects or substances or phenomenon that possess Kinetic Energy? Lots of external factors influence life tremendously and these things have complete control over our life - Pressure,Air,etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horza2002 Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 HI there, your questions are physics based so this post might get moed there instead. At the moment, scientists do not know how life began, but there are several theories as to how this occured, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abiogenesis. Who provided the force You are implying the existance of a supernatural being (whether it be God or some other invisible being), that is not science so be careful about that. Supernovea are relatively well understood at the moment and has been known for a long time that several of the elements essential for modern life afre produced in these events. The angular velocity of the Earth was preserved when the swirling cloud of dust and rocks that made the Earth collapsed in on each other...it is simple the conservation of angluar momentum, nothing more. And no, it shouldn't be extended to inculude the air....air doeesn;t reproduce, need to eat, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Skeptic Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 Hi, I am a Grade 11 Student (CBSE) from India and some questions popped up in my mind. Would be glad if you could help me out! What is the exact beginning of life? About 4.6 billion years ago. Who provided the force needed to create this massive universe, the supernovas and the Earth ? Improper question -- it contains incorrect assumptions built in. When have you stopped beating your wife? There need not be any "who", and a force no matter how strong would never help to do any of the above. Who provided the angular velocity for earth to rotate and revolve? Improper question. When did Hindus decide that eating cows was a good idea? The angular velocity of galaxies, solar systems, and planets was due to slight turbulence in the original clouds of gas, amplified by their contraction due to the law of conservation of angular momentum. Does the universe continuously expand? Yes. This is known as Hubble's Law. Should the definition of 'Living Things' be redefined to objects or substances or phenomenon that possess Kinetic Energy? Not unless you want to call anything that moves living. Lots of external factors influence life tremendously and these things have complete control over our life - Pressure,Air,etc. Part of what life is requires living things to maintain an internal environment with as little change as possible, despite changes in the environment. This is called homeostasis. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 What is the exact beginning of life? I'm not sure that can be answered. Any evidence allowing one to know exactly (or even close to that) what went on and when would have been destroyed long ago. What science can do is investigate possibilities of abiogenesis, and go on evidence that has remained. Should the definition of 'Living Things' be redefined to objects or substances or phenomenon that possess Kinetic Energy? No. Gas molecules possess kinetic energy. A rock possesses kinetic energy as it rolls down the hill, and thermal vibrational kinetic energy of its molecules from not being at absolute zero in temperature. Much water is in motion and has kinetic energy. Basically everything would have to be alive. I hope you can see why this would be a useless definition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mississippichem Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 (edited) I would say that pre-life began as soon as a chemical system was able to selectively cut itself off from from its surroundings and maintain a state of dynamic non-equilibrium. This could be as simple as an RNA molecule getting trapped inside a lipid micelle with an internal ionic strength different from the surrounding bulk water. This would allow pre-biotic molecules to exist in strange non-native conformations and things like that. I would call that life as soon as said chemical system was able to propagate itself, metabolize and catabolize external nutrients, and pass on information with some degree of consistency to the next generation. You should do some reading on the RNA world hypothesis, which if I remember correctly, is at the forefront of our understanding of the origins of life. A short summary: RNA served as a catalyst as well as a carrier of genetic information before the advent of the more stable DNA. Edited February 26, 2011 by mississippichem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michel123456 Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 Hi, I am a Grade 11 Student (CBSE) from India and some questions popped up in my mind. Would be glad if you could help me out! Hi. Welcome Conqueror from India. What is the exact beginning of life? Do you mean "when", or "what"? Is that about the beginning of life on Earth or about the difference between living creatures and inanimate matter? Who provided the force needed to create this massive universe, the supernovas and the Earth ? That was not me! I would never create such a chaotic stuff, full of emptiness, where something exist it is a burning furnace, only to get a infinitesimal small percentage of planets able to produce water in liquid form and a mess of living beings devouring each other. Who provided the angular velocity for earth to rotate and revolve? Don't blame me for that too. I am not responsible. I did nothing. Does the universe continuously expand? That's the Theory, yes. Should the definition of 'Living Things' be redefined to objects or substances or phenomenon that possess Kinetic Energy? That could be a good question. I suppose the definition of "living thing" is something that we have to reconsider from time to time. From wikipedia: "It is still a challenge for scientists and philosophers to define life in unequivocal terms.[11][12][13] Defining life is difficult—in part—because life is a process, not a pure substance.[14] Any definition must be sufficiently broad to encompass all life with which we are familiar, and it should be sufficiently general that, with it, scientists would not miss life that may be fundamentally different from life on Earth." Lots of external factors influence life tremendously and these things have complete control over our life - Pressure,Air,etc. I don't understand what you want to discuss here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Conqueror Posted February 27, 2011 Author Share Posted February 27, 2011 (edited) The picture below on the left represents our part of the cosmos. Each of the disk shaped objects is a galaxy like our Milky Way. All of these galaxies are moving relative to each other. Their movement has a very distinct pattern which causes the distance between the galaxies to get greater with every passing day. If we had three galaxies located at positions A, B. and C in the second diagram below, and if they are located as shown, tomorrow they will be further apart. The triangle they form will be bigger. The day after tomorrow the triangle will be bigger yet. We live in an expanding universe that gets bigger and bigger and bigger with every passing day. Now let us suppose that we made time run backwards! If we are located at a certain distance today, then yesterday we were closer together. The day before that, we were still closer. Ultimately, where must all the galaxies have been? At a point! At the beginning! At what scientists call a singularity! In 1999, it was discovered that the galaxies are accelerating in their expansion. Any notion that we live in an oscillating or pulsating universe has been dispelled by this discovery. The universe is not slowing down, but speeding up in its motion. Based on the above theory which I have quoted, it seems that the universe , if it continuously expands would have started from a particular point or as they call it singularity. That Point Mass - How could it have been formed is the biggest question. If there exists - UFOs or Aliens or foreign creatures they could be very well be restricted by their own atmosphere - which essentially means that neither we nor they would be able to see each other. Right? Thank you everyone for the wonderful and thought-provoking replies. Hi. Welcome Conqueror from India. Do you mean "when", or "what"? Is that about the beginning of life on Earth or about the difference between living creatures and inanimate matter? The Beginning of Life on Earth I have not been as specific here, and my queries are rather mixed up. Edited February 27, 2011 by The Conqueror Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benburrows Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Who provided the force Simple.... Yoda Seriously... read 'A brief history of time' by Stephen Hawking, and then one of numerous books on evolution (The greatest show on earth, by Richard Dawkins is quite good) That should give you some answers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michel123456 Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Simple.... Yoda Seriously... read 'A brief history of time' by Stephen Hawking, and then one of numerous books on evolution (The greatest show on earth, by Richard Dawkins is quite good) That should give you some answers You look confident. The Beginning of Life on Earth Can you honestly answer this question? IMHO the only honest answer is "working on it, there are theories but basically we don't know". If I am wrong, please inform me on how life appeared on Earth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edtharan Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Based on the above theory which I have quoted, it seems that the universe , if it continuously expands would have started from a particular point or as they call it singularity. That Point Mass - How could it have been formed is the biggest question. There is a problem with singularities: Maths dons't work with them. A Singularity has not size or shape and is infinitely dense. This means that the maths we use to work out what would happen in them gives results that are either infinite or zero. They don't allow us to make any meaningful predictions about what would occur. However, we know that according to quantum theory, the more precise you know something (say the position of a particle) the less precise you know other aspects of it (say the energy of the particle). When you get to a distance known as the Planck Length ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_length ) this uncertainty means that even what we consider past, present and future could become uncertain. What this could mean is that an effect can come before a cause. What it ultimately means is that the Universe could have caused itself. That the effect (the creation of the Universe) could come before the cause (the laws of physics in the universe). Of course, this is pure theory because we have neither the means or the compete theory to describe the Universe at a singularity, but if reality matches these theories, then the Universe could have caused itself. If there exists - UFOs or Aliens or foreign creatures they could be very well be restricted by their own atmosphere - which essentially means that neither we nor they would be able to see each other. Right? Have you ever been on (or just seen) a glass bottomed boat? These are boats that have a glass window in the bottom that allows you to see and bee seen by creatures that can not exist in our atmosphere (and us in theirs). So, if Aliens did come to Earth, then all they need is an enclosed room with a window and we could see each other. The Beginning of Life on Earth Check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/user/cdk007#p/c/0696457CAFD6D7C9/0/U6QYDdgP9eg The main reason we don't know how life got started on earth is because we have too many ways it could have got started. We just don't know which one was the one that started it. Or, if there was more than one way it did get started. Personally, I think the way presented in the video is the most likely way, as each of the steps has been confirmed to occur in the lab and it doesn't require much in the way of special circumstances for it to occur (all the chemicals involved are know to be common, and the situations like underwater volcanic vents existed - and still do). The other reason I think it is the most likely is that it involves evolution acting on the chemicals, and there is a clear evolutionary pathway to go from the basic structures to what would consider a living organism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sigurdV Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Hi, I am a Grade 11 Student (CBSE) from India and some questions popped up in my mind. Would be glad if you could help me out! What is the exact beginning of life? Who provided the force needed to create this massive universe, the supernovas and the Earth ? Who provided the angular velocity for earth to rotate and revolve? Does the universe continuously expand? Should the definition of 'Living Things' be redefined to objects or substances or phenomenon that possess Kinetic Energy? Lots of external factors influence life tremendously and these things have complete control over our life - Pressure,Air,etc. Ilya prigogine defined life as a dissipative system far from equilibrium...A thermodynamic picture! Otherwise theres not much news on theese old questions. About 4.6 billion years ago. Part of what life is requires living things to maintain an internal environment with as little change as possible, despite changes in the environment. This is called homeostasis. One minor criticism: Theres no proof life started on earth...It might have come from elsewhere! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
too-open-minded Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Personally I think the beginning of life is evolution and evolution is the beginning of life. Your perception on life is relative to you, which gives room for illusion. Can something that isn't conscious be alive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randomc Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Personally I think the beginning of life is evolution and evolution is the beginning of life. That's a crappy definition of life because it places the origin at the big bang. It equates life with just any other stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stardust Enigma Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Who provided the force needed to create this massive universe ......................................................................................... Correction: What provided the force needed to create this massive universe. Any inference of a "Who" is mans blind ignorance and arrogance of the facts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randomc Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Who provided the force needed to create this massive universe ......................................................................................... Correction: What provided the force needed to create this massive universe. Any inference of a "Who" is mans blind ignorance and arrogance of the facts. What facts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stardust Enigma Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 (edited) Precisely! Edited July 13, 2012 by Stardust Enigma Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp255 Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 What facts? It doesn't really matter what the facts are. Simply asking "Who" suggests you already know that a creator is a requirement, that all other potential possibilities are not possible... the burden of proof falls on those asking "who" in the first place. Anyway, The definition of life I go by is "Something which can self-replicate and natural selection/evolution can act upon.". This definition, when applied to the abiogenesis theory, would mean that life began in the early stages when replicators were battling it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmaiski Posted September 13, 2012 Share Posted September 13, 2012 if you are asking for the begining of evrything, the simple answere is noone really knows that i would sugest going to study string theory, and learning to think in at least 12 dimentions (the universe is theorized to contain at least 12) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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