God and the Perfect Proton: Not proof, just awe.

Getting a clear picture of the beginning of the Universe is not easy. About the only thing scientists are sure of is that the entire universe was at one time all scrunched up into an area smaller than the point of a pin, and very, very, very hot. And then it exploded smoothly outward, expanding and evolving into the universe we see today, filled with galaxies and stars and black holes and comets. As far back in time as scientists go, back to time Zero, the beginning, some speculate and wonder who made the rules for this universe, this elegant universe.

Cosmologists, physicists who study the beginning of the Universe, tend to steer clear of religion, so God lurks in the Big Bang only at the edges. Steven Hawking and Alan Guth, two of the century’s greatest cosmologists, hint that the rules of the Universe came from somewhere, perhaps God. Even Einstein suggested with respect to the creation that ‘God doesn’t roll the dice.’ But these public queries regarding God are minimal, so God is placed on the sidelines in Physics, and generally on the sideline closest to the beginning of the Universe where so much shock and awe exist.

There are some items, though, about our Universe that are just truly amazing to leave to leave at the edges of science or religion, and should be plopped right in our laps for consideration.

The Proton for instance. Protons have spin and charge and are made up of three quarks. Yes, these facts are interesting, but not at all amazing. There are approximately 10⁶⁴ protons in the Universe. You bet, that is a bunch of protons, but still not amazing considering all the stars that can be seen with the naked eye, which seem considerable. But what is truly astonishing about the proton is that each and every one is identical. Now that is amazing. What are the chances that so many Protons could be created, that they would all be perfectly identical? No chance. It seems that it would be unbelievably and stunningly impossible.

Dr. Lee Smolin suggests that the chances for creating a Universe that would support life is 1 in 10²⁴⁰. Those odds are pretty slim. But what about all these perfect Protons? What are the chances of creating 10⁶⁴ protons and they are all identical - one in never? I can’t even get two pancakes the same size. Heck, the chances of winning the lottery look pretty darn good compared to making two exact replicas of proton.

Imagine in the first moments of the Universe, the Big Bang, that unimaginably large and smooth explosion of energy could create over the course of seconds and minutes, a titanic flood of Protons that are all identical. Consider the heat alone – a trillion degrees – wouldn’t that make a mess of everything. A fire of a few thousand degrees will turn your home into ashes. Wouldn’t that hot stew have some imperfections? You bet. But no, not for protons – nothing but perfection – it’s just really hard to imagine. Were there some bad Protons that wound up on the scrap heap? If so, where is that heap? I want to know about the rejects. But, alas, there appear to be none. To make matters even more astonishing the Proton has identical cousins as well: Neutrons and Electrons suffer the same perfection. In fact everything with which the Universe is built has the same kind of perfection built in.

While taking chemistry and physics in high school, none of this was mentioned, which I now find disturbing. It would have made these classes vastly more interesting and me more mindful of the perfection I studied. Also, knowing that without this perfection that most matter could not exist as we know it would have made me pay a bit more attention. Knowing that stuff like water and steel and Coke could not exist unless every Proton were exactly the same is important. If protons were not perfect there would not likely be any elements, compounds or solutions. Forget Coke, there would be no me! Hey, Mr. Whitaker (my 11^th grade Chemistry teacher), you should have let on to this perfection. I would have paid more attention.

I am now. There is more, though. Even more amazing.

Cosmology is not a new science. Speculation about the creation has gone on for centuries. Over the last century, with big telescopes and bigger cyclotrons, scientists have sought to understand the nature of stars on a grand scale and the building blocks of matter on tiny scale. In the small world, our understanding of the tiny has gone from atoms, to point particles like the Proton, to quarks and now to ‘strings’ as the basic building blocks of matter and energy.

Somewhere inside the Proton is a string. Strings are a bit esoteric. They vibrate with discrete rhythm. They are one-dimensional. (Yep, that is pretty hard to imagine.) They are so small it would take a cyclotron the size of our solar system to create enough energy to create a collision between two Protons to see a string. Physicists ram protons and neutrons into one another, like billiard balls, to see what happens. Generally, unlike billiard balls, matter comes apart and show us what is inside. In the ‘70s scientists found quarks, maybe someday they will see strings.

But given all the energy required, Hell will likely freeze over before we see a string. This not withstanding, strings, too, appear to have the malady of perfection. They too, as the building blocks of matter, must all be perfect. If the string is the primogenitor for matter and energy, then how do strings become the perfect precursor to the perfect Proton. Like Einstein suggests, “God doesn’t roll the dice.” Perfection takes a plan, and plan way better than required to build the highly reliable Honda or Toyota.

God certainly is not the manager of a Proton factory. I don’t think He is the kind of ‘creator’ that would build one Proton at a time in preparation for the creation of the Universe. But working with what appears to be nothing at all, no length, width or height – no matter or energy – from nothing at all, He generated a massively perfect universe from four forces – gravity, the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, and electro-magnetism. And these laws, like the Proton, are immutable and the same everywhere. The rules for gravity are the same everywhere as are the rules for all the forces. And with these four forces, the superstructure of the Proton and its kin were formed, to perfection.

Does all this perfection really mean God exists? The perfection that exists is no proof of God. But what are we left with to believe in. Chance as the creator of such perfection. There are many secularists who believe in chance Most certainly, this is an extraordinary Garden of Eden we live in and are about to explore. Consider the perfection of everything that exists. Chance perfection. Holy moly. I think not. It’s no proof, but consider - A perfect Proton every time, that is truly amazing.