MWD The Fundamentals of the Universe

“I cannot violate the laws of physics” is a famous saying of Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott in “Star Trek”. And so, it is, – you cannot violate the laws of physics, you cannot compensate for the laws of physics, and you cannot ignore the laws of physics. You must always cognizant of the Laws of Physics and obey them. And so, it is with all of The Fundamentals of the Universe. This article outlines the Fundamentals of the Universe in language that the layperson can understand.

I should point out that I am NOT a scientist or engineer, nor have I received any education or training in science or engineering. This paper is the result of my readings on this subject in the past decades. Many academics, scientists, and engineers would critique what I have written here as not accurate nor through. I freely acknowledge that these critiques are correct. It was not my intentions to be accurate or through, as I am not qualified to give an accurate nor through description. My intention was to be understandable to a layperson so that they can grasp the concepts. Academics, scientists and engineers’ entire education and training is based on accuracy and thoroughness, and as such, they strive for this accuracy and thoroughness. When writing for the general public this accuracy and thoroughness can often lead to less understandability. I believe it is essential for all laypersons to grasp the concepts of within this paper, so they make more informed decisions on those areas of human endeavors that deal with this subject. As such, I did not strive for accuracy and thoroughness, only understandability.

Fundamentals of the Universe

Familiarity with the fundamentals of the Universe is needed to understand the workings of the Universe. The Fundamentals of the Universe are the physical properties, and the physical constants of the Universe as outlined below. Within these fundamentals there are many subtopics, a few of the more important subtopics for the purposes of this article are listed below the fundamentals:

Physical Properties:

Physical Constants:

A physical constant, sometimes fundamental physical constant or universal constant, is a physical quantity that is generally believed to be both universal in nature and have constant value in time. It is contrasted with a mathematical constant, which has a fixed numerical value, but does not directly involve any physical measurement.

There are many physical constants in science, some of the most widely recognized being the speed of light in vacuum c, the gravitational constant G, the Planck constant h, the electric constant ε₀, and the elementary charge e. It is known that the Universe would be very different if these constants took values significantly different from those we observe. The last sentence is critical in any scientific theory, hypothesis, or discussion involving our Universe. For if any of these Fundamental Physical Constants of the Universe is changed or ignored the Universe as we know cannot exist.

Important Bounds and Limits

Scientific Theories and Laws

The scientific method and science, in general, can be frustrating. In science, a scientific theory is a proven framework that fully explains the observations, experiments, and all the known facts. However, a theory is almost never proven, as new observations and experiments may reveal new facts or reveal previous facts to be incorrect or incomplete. There are, however, a few theories that are considered incontestable but subject to modification as new facts are revealed. A scientific law is a statement that describes or predicts a range of natural phenomena based on repeated experiments or observations. Unlike theories, scientific laws do not explain why something happens; they simply summarize what has been observed under specific conditions. Scientific Laws are generally considered to be without exception, though some laws have been modified over time after further observations and experiments found discrepancies.

This does not mean that scientific theories and laws are not meaningful. Saying something is “just a theory” is a layperson’s term that has no relationship to science. To most people, a theory is a hunch. The Fundamentals of the Universe are based on Scientific Theories and Laws that have been “proven” by scientific observations and experiments. They are the basis for understanding and explaining how the Universe functions. However, as new scientific experiments and observations occur, or older facts are discarded as faulty or incomplete, the Scientific Theories and Laws may be modified or replaced.

The Limits of Human Knowledge

The first thing to keep in mind when dealing with any scientific or engineering subject is that it is very important to remember three things about the limitations of human knowledge:

The limits of human knowledge are expanding, but there is much more that we don’t know than there is what we do know. Indeed, even when we know what we know, what we know may be incorrect. What we know that we don’t know always leads to ambiguity, mistakes, and false conclusions. That which we don't know that we don't know is the killer in any scientific or engineering endeavor. Always be cognizant of these three items when dealing with any scientific or engineering subject.

Relativity

General Relativity

General relativity is a theory of gravitation that was developed by Albert Einstein between 1907 and 1915. According to general relativity, the observed gravitational effect between masses results from their warping of spacetime.

By the beginning of the 20th century, Newton's law of universal gravitation had been accepted for more than two hundred years as a valid description of the gravitational force between masses. In Newton's model, gravity is the result of an attractive force between massive objects. Although even Newton was troubled by the unknown nature of that force, the basic framework was extremely successful at describing motion.

Experiments and observations show that Einstein's description of gravitation accounts for several effects that are unexplained by Newton's law, such as minute anomalies in the orbits of Mercury and other planets. General relativity also predicts novel effects of gravity, such as gravitational waves, gravitational lensing and an effect of gravity on time known as gravitational time dilation. Many of these predictions have been confirmed by experiment or observation, most recently gravitational waves.

General relativity has developed into an essential tool in modern astrophysics. It provides the foundation for the current understanding of black holes, regions of space where the gravitational effect is strong enough that even light cannot escape. Their strong gravity is thought to be responsible for the intense radiation emitted by certain types of astronomical objects (such as active galactic nuclei or microquasars). General relativity is also part of the framework of the standard Big Bang model of cosmology.

Although general relativity is not the only relativistic theory of gravity, it is the simplest such theory that is consistent with the experimental data. Nevertheless, a number of open questions remain, the most fundamental of which is how general relativity can be reconciled with the laws of quantum physics to produce a complete and self-consistent theory of quantum gravity.

When scientist started utilizing the field equations of General Relativity they began to predict cosmological phenomena that were totally unexpected or previously unseen. These cosmological phenomena have now been proven to exist and are the proofs of General Relativity. Some of the biggest predicted cosmological phenomena are; Precession of the Perihelion of Mercury's Orbit, Deflection of Starlight, The Curvature of Spacetime, The Geometry of Spacetime, The Gravity of Stars, Gravitational Lenses, Gravity Waves, the Cosmological Constant, and Dark Matter & Dark Energy. General Relativity (along with Quantum Mechanics) provides the explanation for the birth, formation, and evolution of the universe. Without General Relativity gravity is inexplicable. Therefore, General Relativity is a Fundamental Property of the Universe.

Special Relativity

Special Relativity is a subset of General Relativity, in that it explains linear motion as opposed to the curved motion of General Relativity (in mathematics a straight line has a curve of “1”). Today the study of Special Relativity does not require the study of General Relativity (but it helps). Therefore, I have made them a separate item in this article.

All Special Relativity is based on two proven facts; 1). that the laws of nature are the same for everyone, and 2). that The Speed of Light in a Vacuum is Constant at 186,282 miles per second. It is this constant speed of light that leads to Special Relativity.

Special relativity implies a wide range of consequences, which have been experimentally verified, including time dilation, length contraction, relativistic mass, relativity of simultaneity, mass-energy equivalence, and a universal speed limit. Some of the consequences of Special Relativity are as follows.

Time Dilation

Time dilation is a difference in the elapsed time measured by two observers, either due to a velocity difference relative to each other or by being differently situated relative to a gravitational field. As a result of the nature of spacetime, a clock that is moving relative to an observer will be measured to tick slower than a clock that is at rest in the observer's own frame of reference. A clock that is under the influence of a stronger gravitational field than observers will also be measured to tick slower than the observer's own clock. To you, the light beam, which was bouncing at the same spot before, now begins to move in a zigzag path. The faster the movement, the longer the length light travels and the length of time of one tick seems.

Length Contraction

Length contraction is the phenomenon that a moving object's length is measured to be shorter than its proper length, which is the length as measured in the object's own rest frame. This contraction (more formally called Lorentz contraction or Lorentz–FitzGerald contraction after Hendrik Lorentz and George Francis FitzGerald) is usually only noticeable at a substantial fraction of the speed of light. Length contraction is only in the direction parallel to the direction in which the observed body is traveling. For standard objects, this effect is negligible at everyday speeds and can be ignored for all regular purposes, only becoming significant as the object approaches the speed of light relative to the observer.

Mass Increase of Objects

In Physics there are two different type of masses; Inertial Mass and Gravitational Mass. Gravitational Mass is primarily used in General Relativity to determine the curvature of spacetime, and it is also used in Newton’s Laws of Motion to determine the force need to move an object. In Special Relativity you must utilize Inertial Mass. The major difference between the two is that Gravitational Mass is basically rested mass, while Inertial Mass is mass that is in motion. The reason you must treat them differently is that in applying a force to accelerate a mass the faster the mass is moving the more force needs to be applied to accelerate the mass. At slower speeds (relative to light speed) this difference is negligible and unmeasurable and was not noticed until Einstein’s Special Relativity pointed out the differences.

Different Observers – Different Observations

One of the consequences of Special Relativity is that different observers, in different motions, can observe different results for the same phenomenon. This is due to the “Frame of Reference” for each observer must be accounted for. When objects are in motion, relative to each other, different observers in different locations will report different observation of the same event. This is especially so when one or more of the objects is moving at relativistic speeds (starting at approximately 10% the speed of light). Relativistic speeds are required for the effects of Special Relativity to be discernable. At low speeds, they occur, but the effects are so minor as to be unmeasurable. At relativistic speeds, you must account for Special Relativity. This Frame of Reference effect in Special Relativity is known as “Loss of Simultaneity”.

E=mc2

One of the Special Relativity consequences is that energy was related to mass by the formula; energy is equal to mass times the speed of light squared (E=mc2). With this formula, even a small amount of mass could produce a very large amount of energy. Conversely, it requires a large amount of energy to produce a small amount of mass (which you cannot do without the presence of a Higgs Boson – which is very rare in the Universe as most of them, if not all, were consumed in the creation of the Universe).

The Four Forces of Nature

Gravity

Gravity (from Latin gravitas, meaning 'weight'), or gravitation, is a natural phenomenon by which all things with mass or energy—including planets, stars, galaxies, and even light—are brought toward (or gravitate toward) one another. On Earth, gravity gives weight to physical objects, and the Moon's gravity causes the ocean tides. The gravitational attraction of the original gaseous matter present in the Universe caused it to begin coalescing, forming stars—and for the stars to group together into galaxies—so gravity is responsible for many of the large-scale structures in the Universe. Gravity has an infinite range, although its effects become increasingly weaker on farther objects.Gravity is most accurately described by the general theory of relativity (proposed by Albert Einstein in 1915) which describes gravity not as a force, but as a consequence of the curvature of spacetime caused by the uneven distribution of mass.

Electromagnetism

Electromagnetism is a branch of physics involving the study of the electromagnetic force, a type of physical interaction that occurs between electrically charged particles. The electromagnetic force is carried by electromagnetic fields composed of electric fields and magnetic fields, and it is responsible for electromagnetic radiation such as light. It is one of the four fundamental interactions (commonly called forces) in nature, together with the strong interaction, the weak interaction, and gravitation. At high energy the weak force and electromagnetic force are unified as a single electroweak force.

Strong Atomic

The Nuclear force (or nucleon–nucleon interaction or residual strong force) is a force that acts between the protons and neutrons of atoms. Neutrons and protons, both nucleons, are affected by the nuclear force almost identically. Since protons have charge +1 e, they experience an electric force that tends to push them apart, but at short range the attractive nuclear force is strong enough to overcome the electromagnetic force. The nuclear force binds nucleons into atomic nuclei.

Weak Atomic

In particle physics, the Weak Interaction, which is also often called the weak force or weak nuclear force, is the mechanism of interaction between subatomic particles that is responsible for the radioactive decay of atoms. The weak interaction serves an essential role in nuclear fission, and the theory regarding it in terms of both its behavior and effects is sometimes called quantum flavordynamics (QFD). However, the term QFD is rarely used because the weak force is better understood in terms of electroweak theory (EWT). In addition to this, QFD is related to quantum chromodynamics (QCD), which deals with the strong interaction, and quantum electrodynamics (QED), which deals with the electromagnetic force.

Physical Cosmology

Physical cosmology is a branch of cosmology concerned with the study of cosmological models. A cosmological model, or simply cosmology, provides a description of the largest-scale structures and dynamics of the universe and allows study of fundamental questions about its origin, structure, evolution, and ultimate fate. Cosmological models must account for four Fundamentals of the Universe for the model to be considered a proper scientific theory:

Ordinary Matter and Mass

In classical physics and general chemistry, matter is any substance that has mass and takes up space by having volume. All everyday objects that can be touched are ultimately composed of atoms, which are made up of interacting subatomic particles. In everyday as well as scientific usage, matter generally includes atoms and anything made up of them, and any particles (or combination of particles) that act as if they have both rest mass and volume. However it does not include massless particles such as photons, or other energy phenomena or waves such as light or heat. Matter exists in various states (also known as phases). These include classical everyday phases such as solid, liquid, and gas – for example water exists as ice, liquid water, and gaseous steam – but other states are possible, including plasma, Bose–Einstein condensates, fermionic condensates, and quark–gluon plasma.

Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementary particles, theoretically with the same amount of matter, have nonetheless different masses. Mass in modern physics has multiple definitions which are conceptually distinct, but physically equivalent. Mass can be experimentally defined as a measure of the body's inertia, meaning the resistance to acceleration (change of velocity) when a net force is applied. The object's mass also determines the strength of its gravitational attraction to other bodies.

Matter is a general term describing any physical substance, which is sometimes defined in incompatible ways in different fields of science. Some definitions are based on historical usage from a time when there was no reason to distinguish mass from simply a quantity of matter. By contrast, mass is not a substance but a well-defined, extensive property of matter and other substances or systems. Various types of mass are defined within physics – including rest mass, inertial mass, and relativistic mass.

Visible Energy

In physics, electromagnetic radiation (EMR) is a self-propagating wave of the electromagnetic field that carries momentum and radiant energy through space. It encompasses a broad spectrum, classified by frequency or its inverse, wavelength, ranging from radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma rays. All forms of EMR travel at the speed of light in a vacuum and exhibit wave–particle duality, behaving both as waves and as discrete particles called photons.

In quantum mechanics, an alternate way of viewing EMR is that it consists of photons, uncharged elementary particles with zero rest mass which are the quanta of the electromagnetic field, responsible for all electromagnetic interactions. Quantum electrodynamics is the theory of how EMR interacts with matter on an atomic level. Quantum effects provide additional sources of EMR, such as the transition of electrons to lower energy levels in an atom and black-body radiation

Dark Matter

In the early 1990s Astrophysicists verified the existence of Dark Matter, matter that exists in the universe, but we cannot see. This was done by utilizing space telescopes to take a census of the stars and their star type in a galaxy to determine the approximate mass of the galaxy, then measuring the motion of selected stars through the galaxy, then feeding this information into a supercomputer that utilized Einstein’s General Relativity equations to produce a gravitational model of the galaxy. To their surprise, the model said that the Galaxy could not exist because there was insufficient mass to hold it together. They did this for several galaxies, then dozens of galaxies, and every time the computer model said that the Galaxy could not exist. They adjusted the amount of mass in a galaxy in such a manner as to get the result that agreed with what they were observing in galaxies. In every case the adjustment was the same – the amount of normal matter (baryonic matter) was 20% of what was needed while 80% of the matter was unseen – which they named “Dark Matter”. The astrophysicists went to the quantum physicists to ask what this Dark Matter could be. The quantum physicists had no answer. Yet everyone agrees that Dark Matter exists, and until the “Standard Model” can incorporate Dark Matter it will be incomplete.

Dark Energy

In the late 1990s Astrophysicists realized it would be possible to measure the rate of expansion of the universe utilizing space telescopes and supercomputers (again utilizing Einstein’s General Relativity equations). At that time they had three scenarios as to the ultimate fate of the universe; a closed universe, an open universe, or a flat universe. A closed universe is one in which the mass of the universe was greater than the force of expansion, and the universe would collapse onto itself to create a new universe (the expansion of space, a stop, and then the contraction of space). An open universe is one that the expansion is greater than the mass and the universe will expand forever and eventually suffer total radioactive decay and cease to exist. A flat universe is one in which the mass and the expansion are equal, and the universe would just stop and be fixed in size (nobody expected this result, but it was possible mathematically). Everybody expected that the rate of expansion was slowing, and we would end up in either an open or closed universe. To their surprise, the results showed that the rate of expansion was increasing. The only way this would be possible if there were a repulsive energy force that was greater than the gravitational force. They named this energy “Dark Energy”. The astrophysicists went to the quantum physicists to ask what this Dark Energy could be. The quantum physicists had no answer. Yet everyone agrees that Dark Energy exists, and until the “Standard Model” can incorporate Dark Energy it will be incomplete.

More information on Physical Cosmology can be obtained in my article on Physical Cosmology.

Quantum Mechanics

Quantum mechanics is the science of the very small. It explains the behavior of matter and its interactions with energy on the scale of atoms and subatomic particles.

By contrast, classical physics only explains matter and energy on a scale familiar to human experience, including the behavior of astronomical bodies such as the Moon. Classical physics is still used in much of modern science and technology. However, towards the end of the 19th century, scientists discovered phenomena in both the large (macro) and the small (micro) worlds that classical physics could not explain. The desire to resolve inconsistencies between observed phenomena and classical theory led to two major revolutions in physics that created a shift in the original scientific paradigm: the theory of relativity and the development of quantum mechanics. This article describes how physicists discovered the limitations of classical physics and developed the main concepts of the quantum theory that replaced it in the early decades of the 20th century. It describes these concepts in roughly the order in which they were first discovered. For a more complete history of the subject, see History of quantum mechanics.

Light behaves in some respects like particles and in other respects like waves. Matter—the "stuff" of the universe consisting of particles such as electrons and atoms—exhibits wavelike behavior too. Some light sources, such as neon lights, give off only certain frequencies of light. Quantum mechanics shows that light, along with all other forms of electromagnetic radiation, comes in discrete units, called photons, and predicts its energies, colors, and spectral intensities. A single photon is a quantum, or smallest observable amount, of the electromagnetic field because a partial photon has never been observed. More broadly, quantum mechanics shows that many quantities, such as angular momentum, that appeared continuous in the zoomed-out view of classical mechanics, turn out to be (at the small, zoomed-in scale of quantum mechanics) quantized. Angular momentum is required to take on one of a set of discrete allowable values, and since the gap between these values is so minute, the discontinuity is only apparent at the atomic level.

Many aspects of quantum mechanics are counterintuitive and can seem paradoxical, because they describe behavior quite different from that seen at larger length scales. In the words of quantum physicist Richard Feynman, quantum mechanics deals with "nature as She is – absurd". For example, the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics means that the more closely one pins down one measurement (such as the position of a particle), the less accurate another measurement pertaining to the same particle (such as its momentum) must become.

Quantum Mechanics is the foundation for all electrical and electronic devices utilized in today’s world. Without Quantum Mechanics the technology we utilize could not function properly. Our understanding of atomic and subatomic particles and processes is not possible without Quantum Mechanics. This is why Quantum Mechanics is a Fundamental Property of the Universe.

Laws of Thermodynamics and Entropy

Thermodynamics is the science of energy conversion involving heat and other forms of energy, most notably mechanical work. It studies and interrelates the macroscopic variables, such as temperature, volume, and pressure, which describe physical, thermodynamic systems.

Thermodynamics is a branch of physics concerned with heat and temperature and their relation to other forms of energy and work. The behavior of these quantities is governed by the four laws of thermodynamics, irrespective of the composition or specific properties of the material or system in question. The laws of thermodynamics are explained in terms of microscopic constituents by statistical mechanics. Thermodynamics applies to a wide variety of topics in science and engineering, especially physical chemistry, chemical engineering and mechanical engineering.

Historically, thermodynamics developed out of a desire to increase the efficiency of early steam engines, particularly through the work of French physicist Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot (1824) who believed that engine efficiency was the key that could help France win the Napoleonic Wars. Scottish physicist Lord Kelvin was the first to formulate a concise definition of thermodynamics in 1854 which stated, "Thermo-dynamics is the subject of the relation of heat to forces acting between contiguous parts of bodies, and the relation of heat to electrical agency."

The initial application of thermodynamics to mechanical heat engines was extended early on to the study of chemical compounds and chemical reactions. Chemical thermodynamics studies the nature of the role of entropy in the process of chemical reactions and has provided the bulk of expansion and knowledge of the field. Other formulations of thermodynamics emerged in the following decades. Statistical thermodynamics, or statistical mechanics, concerned itself with statistical predictions of the collective motion of particles from their microscopic behavior. In 1909, Constantin Carathéodory presented a purely mathematical approach to the field in his axiomatic formulation of thermodynamics, a description often referred to as geometrical thermodynamics.

Much like Special Relativity is a subset of General Relativity, Thermodynamic is a subset of Quantum Physics. The Laws of Thermodynamics were discovered before Quantum Mechanics explained why they were true. Today the study of Thermodynamics does not require the study of Quantum Mechanics (but it helps). This is why I have made them a separate item in this article.

The Three Laws of Thermodynamics (actually four - as the Zeroth is an axiom) are as follows.

C.P. Snow, the British scientist, and author has offered up an easy and funny way to remember the Three Laws. He says they can be translated as;

The Laws of Thermodynamics are often used in Patent Applications. If a Patent Application can be shown to violate a Law of Thermodynamics it is immediately rejected (that is why perpetual motion systems and perpetual energy systems patents are immediately rejected).

Entropy is an important concept in the branch of physics known as thermodynamics. The idea of "irreversibility" is central to the understanding of entropy. Everyone has an intuitive understanding of irreversibility. If one watches a movie of everyday life running forward and in reverse, it is easy to distinguish between the two. The movie running in reverse shows impossible things happening – water jumping out of a glass into a pitcher above it, smoke going down a chimney, water in a glass freezing to form ice cubes, crashed cars reassembling themselves, and so on. The intuitive meaning of expressions such as "you can't unscramble an egg", or "you can't take the cream out of the coffee" is that these are irreversible processes. No matter how long you wait, the cream won't jump out of the coffee into the creamer.

In thermodynamics, one says that the "forward" processes – pouring water from a pitcher, smoke going up a chimney, etc. – are "irreversible": they cannot happen in reverse. All real physical processes involving systems in everyday life, with many atoms or molecules, are irreversible. For an irreversible process in an isolated system (a system not subject to outside influence), the thermodynamic state variable known as entropy is never decreasing. In everyday life, there may be processes in which the increase of entropy is practically unobservable, almost zero. In these cases, a movie of the process run in reverse will not seem unlikely. For example, in a 1-second video of the collision of two billiard balls, it will be hard to distinguish the forward and the backward case, because the increase of entropy during that time is relatively small. In thermodynamics, one says that this process is practically "reversible", with an entropy increase that is practically zero. The statement of the fact that the entropy of an isolated system never decreases is known as the second law of thermodynamics.

Classical thermodynamics is a physical theory which describes a "system" in terms of the thermodynamic variables of the system or its parts. Some thermodynamic variables are familiar: temperature, pressure, volume. Entropy is a thermodynamic variable which is less familiar and not as easily understood. A "system" is any region of space containing matter and energy: A cup of coffee, a glass of icewater, an automobile, an egg. Thermodynamic variables do not give a "complete" picture of the system. Thermodynamics makes no assumptions about the microscopic nature of a system and does not describe nor does it take into account the positions and velocities of the individual atoms and molecules which make up the system. Thermodynamics deals with matter in a macroscopic sense; it would be valid even if the atomic theory of matter were wrong. This is an important quality, because it means that reasoning based on thermodynamics is unlikely to require alteration as new facts about atomic structure and atomic interactions are found. The essence of thermodynamics is embodied in the four laws of thermodynamics.

Unfortunately, thermodynamics provides little insight into what is happening at a microscopic level. Statistical mechanics is a physical theory which explains thermodynamics in microscopic terms. It explains thermodynamics in terms of the possible detailed microscopic situations the system may be in when the thermodynamic variables of the system are known. These are known as "microstates" whereas the description of the system in thermodynamic terms specifies the "macrostate" of the system. Many different microstates can yield the same macrostate. It is important to understand that statistical mechanics does not define temperature, pressure, entropy, etc. They are already defined by thermodynamics. Statistical mechanics serves to explain thermodynamics in terms of microscopic behavior of the atoms and molecules in the system.

Entropy is the thermodynamic quantity representing the amount of energy in a system that is no longer available for doing mechanical work. Entropy increases as matter and energy in the universe degrade to an ultimate state of inert uniformity, which is why the Universe will eventually die (in 60 billion years or so). Entropy is also a result of Quantum Mechanical processes.

Conservation of energy In physics, the law of conservation of energy states that the total energy of an isolated system remains constant, it is said to be conserved over time. This law means that energy can neither be created nor destroyed; rather, it can only be transformed or transferred from one form to another. For instance, chemical energy is converted to kinetic energy when a stick of dynamite explodes. If one adds up all the forms of energy that were released in the explosion, such as the kinetic energy of the pieces, as well as heat and sound, one will get the exact decrease of chemical energy in the combustion of the dynamite. Classically, conservation of energy was distinct from conservation of mass; however, special relativity showed that mass is related to energy and vice versa by E = mc2, and science now takes the view that mass–energy is conserved. The Conservation of Energy is a consequence of the First Law of Thermodynamics.

As the Laws of Thermodynamics and Entropy are part of Quantum Mechanics they are a Fundamental Property of the Universe.

DNA & Molecular Biology

DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a thread-like chain of nucleotides carrying the genetic instructions used in the growth, development, functioning and reproduction of all known living organisms and many viruses. DNA and ribonucleic acid (RNA) are nucleic acids; alongside proteins, lipids and complex carbohydrates (polysaccharides), they are one of the four major types of macromolecules that are essential for all known forms of life. Most DNA molecules consist of two biopolymer strands coiled around each other to form a double helix.

Molecular Biology

Molecular biology is a branch of biochemistry which concerns the molecular basis of biological activity between biomolecules in the various systems of a cell, including the interactions between DNA, RNA, and proteins and their biosynthesis, as well as the regulation of these interactions. Writing in Nature in 1961, William Astbury described molecular biology as:

"...not so much a technique as an approach, an approach from the viewpoint of the so-called basic sciences with the leading idea of searching below the large-scale manifestations of classical biology for the corresponding molecular plan. It is concerned particularly with the forms of biological molecules and [...] is predominantly three-dimensional and structural—which does not mean, however, that it is merely a refinement of morphology. It must at the same time inquire into genesis and function."

Researchers in molecular biology use specific techniques native to molecular biology but increasingly combine these with techniques and ideas from genetics and biochemistry. There is not a defined line between these disciplines. The figure to the right is a schematic that depicts one possible view of the relationships between the fields:

Biochemistry is the study of the chemical substances and vital processes occurring in live organisms. Biochemists focus heavily on the role, function, and structure of biomolecules. The study of the chemistry behind biological processes and the synthesis of biologically active molecules are examples of biochemistry.

Genetics is the study of the effect of genetic differences on organisms. This can often be inferred by the absence of a normal component (e.g. one gene). The study of "mutants" – organisms which lack one or more functional components with respect to the so-called "wild type" or normal phenotype. Genetic interactions (epistasis) can often confound simple interpretations of such "knockout" studies.

Molecular biology is the study of molecular underpinnings of the processes of replication, transcription, translation, and cell function. The central dogma of molecular biology where genetic material is transcribed into RNA and then translated into protein, despite being oversimplified, still provides a good starting point for understanding the field. The picture has been revised in light of emerging novel roles for RNA.

Much of molecular biology is quantitative, and recently much work has been done at its interface with computer science in bioinformatics and computational biology. In the early 2000s, the study of gene structure and function, molecular genetics, has been among the most prominent sub-fields of molecular biology. Increasingly many other areas of biology focus on molecules, either directly studying interactions in their own right such as in cell biology and developmental biology, or indirectly, where molecular techniques are used to infer historical attributes of populations or species, as in fields in evolutionary biology such as population genetics and phylogenetics. There is also a long tradition of studying biomolecules "from the ground up" in biophysics.

Without an understanding of DNA and Molecular Biology, it is not possible to understand life’s biological processes. With an understanding of DNA and Molecular Biology, life makes scientific sense and life can be observed, and experiments performed, utilizing scientific techniques. This is why DNA and Molecular Biology is a Fundamental Property of the Universe.

Evolution

Universe

The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological model for the universe from the earliest known periods through its subsequent large-scale evolution. The model describes how the universe expanded from a very high-density and high-temperature state, and offers a comprehensive explanation for a broad range of phenomena, including the abundance of light elements, the cosmic microwave background (CMB), large scale structure and Hubble's law. If the known laws of physics are extrapolated to the highest density regime, the result is a singularity which is typically associated with the Big Bang. Physicists are undecided whether this means the universe began from a singularity, or that current knowledge is insufficient to describe the universe at that time. Detailed measurements of the expansion rate of the universe place the Big Bang at around 13.8 billion years ago, which is thus considered the age of the universe. After the initial expansion, the universe cooled sufficiently to allow the formation of subatomic particles, and later simple atoms. Giant clouds of these primordial elements later coalesced through gravity in halos of dark matter, eventually forming the stars and galaxies visible today.

Since Georges Lemaître first noted in 1927 that an expanding universe could be traced back in time to an originating single point, scientists have built on his idea of cosmic expansion. The scientific community was once divided between supporters of two different theories, the Big Bang and the Steady State theory, but a wide range of empirical evidence has strongly favored the Big Bang which is now universally accepted. In 1929, from analysis of galactic redshifts, Edwin Hubble concluded that galaxies are drifting apart; this is important observational evidence consistent with the hypothesis of an expanding universe. In 1964, the cosmic microwave background radiation was discovered, which was crucial evidence in favor of the Big Bang model, since that theory predicted the existence of background radiation throughout the universe before it was discovered. More recently, measurements of the redshifts of supernovae indicate that the expansion of the universe is accelerating, an observation attributed to dark energy's existence. The known physical laws of nature can be used to calculate the characteristics of the universe in detail back in time to an initial state of extreme density and temperature.

The Big Bang Theory (and not the television show) is fundamental to our understanding of the birth, evolution, and eventual death of the Universe. All that astronomers and astrophysicist observe in the heavens makes scientific sense because of the Big Bang. Therefore, the Big Bang is a Fundamental Property of the Universe.

Biological

Biological Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. Evolutionary processes give rise to biodiversity at every level of biological organisation, including the levels of species, individual organisms, and molecules.

Repeated formation of new species (speciation), change within species (anagenesis), and loss of species (extinction) throughout the evolutionary history of life on Earth are demonstrated by shared sets of morphological and biochemical traits, including shared DNA sequences. These shared traits are more similar among species that share a more recent common ancestor, and can be used to reconstruct a biological "tree of life" based on evolutionary relationships (phylogenetics), using both existing species and fossils. The fossil record includes a progression from early biogenic graphite, to microbial mat fossils, to fossilised multicellular organisms. Existing patterns of biodiversity have been shaped both by speciation and by extinction.

Biological Evolution is a fundamental property of nature and exists as the result of the birth of the universe and it will exist until the death of the universe. It worked before Charles Darwin first gave a scientific explanation for its behavior, and it worked before and after others came up with a better scientific explanation for evolution. Other scientists may provide a better explanation of evolution in the future, but evolution will continue to work until the end of the universe.

As Stephen Jay Gould, an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science has stated:

“Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts do not go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's, but apples did not suspend themselves in mid-air, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from apelike ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered.”
- Steven Jay Gould

Fundamental Physical Constants

There are many physical constants in science, some of the most widely recognized being the speed of light in vacuum c, the gravitational constant G, the Planck constant h, the electric constant e0, and the elementary charge e. Physical constants can take many dimensional forms: the speed of light signifies a maximum speed for any object and its dimension is length divided by time; while the fine-structure constant a, which characterizes the strength of the electromagnetic interaction, is dimensionless.

The term fundamental physical constant is sometimes used to refer to universal but dimensioned physical constants such as those mentioned above. Increasingly, however, physicists reserve the use of the term fundamental physical constant for dimensionless physical constants, such as the fine-structure constant a.

The International Bureau of Weights and Measures decided to redefine several SI base units as from 20 May 2019 by fixing the SI value of several physical constants, including the Planck constant, h, the elementary charge, e, the Boltzmann constant, kB, and the Avogadro constant, NA. The new fixed values are based on the best measurements of the constants based on the earlier definitions, including the kilogram, to ensure minimal impact. As a consequence of the redefinition, the uncertainty in the value of many physical constants when expressed in SI units are substantially reduced.

The last paragraph is critical in any scientific theory, hypothesis, or discussion involving our Universe. For if any of these Fundamental Physical Constants of the Universe is changed or ignored the Universe as we know it cannot exist.

For a list of the current known Fundamental Constants of the Universe I would direct you to the Wikipedia Article List of physical constants.

Scientific Notation

The speed of light in a vacuum is 186,282 miles per second (1.86 x 105 mps), and in theory, nothing can travel faster than light. In miles per hour, light speed is, well, a lot: about 670,616,629 miles per hour (6.7 x 108 mph). If you could travel at the speed of light, you could go around the Earth 7.5 times in one second. When you hear the term “Light Years” it is not a measurement of time, but a measurement of distance. A light year informs you of the distance to an object in the number of years it would take light traveling at 186,282 miles per second to reach its destination. As there are 315,400,000 seconds in a year (3.154 x 107 seconds) one light year is approximately 5,879,000,000,000 miles (5.879 x 1012 miles).

Final Thoughts

To paraphrase Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott in “Star Trek” - “You cannot violate the fundamentals of the Universe” The Fundamentals of the Universe must be accounted for in any scientific theory, hypothesis, or discussion involving our Universe. They cannot be violated, compensated for, nor ignored. To do so is to invalidate any logical argument you may present. Just like the violation of the Laws of Thermodynamics leads to a rejection of a patent application, the violation of the Fundamentals of the Universe leads to the rejection of any scientific theory, hypothesis, or discussion involving our Universe.

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The Fundamentals of the Universe

Introduction