The Big Bong Theory

I know it's an age old arguement. But it's nice to revisit old friends once in a while.

I came across something today in my chem lecture notes that really got me thinking. According to Dalton's Atomic Theory, atoms cannot be destroyed, CREATED or transformed into atoms of other elements. In saying that, he is saying that since the beginning of the Earth and the universe, there have been the same number of Oxygen atoms, the same number of carbon atoms, the same number of hydrogen atoms and so on and so on. So how in the world did these atoms get “created” if by your theory, atoms can't be created. Most physicists take the Big Bang theory to be true. But honestly, what is the theory saying. It's saying that out of nothing there was a BANG and then the universe was there. Ermm. And they say that theologists are irrational.

I honestly cannot say for sure where I stand on the topic because as a scientist, I'd like to think that everything can be explained using simple logic and not having to bring in an unknown quantity known as “God”. But as a Catholic, my faith is what drives me and I do believe that there is a Guy up there looking over me.

I've found on thing about science students. I'm not too sure about all scientists but this is what I can observe from the people in my course. I find that science students have a tendency to be non-team players. As in most would rather rely on themselves and their own capabilities and not have to depend on the efforts of others. In a sense, that can be good as it's a motivation to do better on a personal level. But on a larger scale, who can call themselves an island. There has to be some kind of interaction with the world around you.

I have a thoery on this. Don't worry, there are no large explosions out of nothing or talk of what atoms are made of. I think that as scientists, we are trained to remove variables. When we are forming equations, we would like to use as little variables as possible and if there are any, we would like to make sure that we have as accurate a figure as possible. So scientist, science students included, have a tendancy to remove unknown variables from the equation of life. Unknowns make equations and solving of equations difficult. So why introduce them at all? Why not just cut them all off and use the variables that you know? Like how hard you work and how seriously you take this project.

I'm not saying that scientists are anti-social. I'm just saying that they don't like unknowns. But once a variable is know to them, they are more than willing to make use of them. It may be harder to get into their equations but finally, the impact that your known variable will make is remarkable.