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inkintheinternet · 6 months

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The Fairytale of Light

By Arjuwan Lakkdawala

Ink in the Internet

I'm a writer and an ardent reader, I have authored two fiction stories. Spellrainia, and The Chains. I've read a lot of fiction, science fiction, and fantasy books throughout my life, played videos games in the genre of fantasy as well. I'm now 42 years old, what I've learned at this point is that reality is way more stranger than fiction can ever be. And science is way more magical than any fantasy.

I often hear fans of the genre of fantasy claim that it's so magical, that the authors' imaginations are incredible. I have myself sang praises of C.S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia). And Lewis Carroll (Alice in Wonderland) to name a few of the luminaries of the classics.

And they are deserving of the praise. However, I was not prepared for what I was going to discover as I made my transition from fantasy fiction to mainly science reading. Before I get into that I must praise science fiction writer Jules Verne (Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, and many other fantastic books) who really drew a line that connected the magic of science with fantasy in a way I don't think any writer has been able to accomplish after him.

With that said when it comes to fantasy I think I can sum up the premise of it in mentioning a few characters and things. Boy/Girl on quest/adventure, dragons, griffins, unicorns, invisibility cloaks, wands, fairies, wizards/witches, school of magic, and I think we are basically done.

What we truly see in these types of stories is not the unthinkable or a challenge to the intellect. They are aesthetic to the mind and are hopes of what we cannot do but would be so wonderful if we could.

After my two books my interest had completely turned towards becoming a scholar of the sciences. I'm an aspiring scientist. I may never get the title but I will my entire life pursue independent research to educate myself and teach whatever I learn by writing articles.

Having an inquisitive mind that is inclined towards healthy curiosity like the universe is a sophisticated trait to have instead of gossip.

Science has stunned me because I have never read anything in fantasy or fiction that goes beyond what would be considered unthinkable. In science I have truly found the unthinkable and the unimaginable, and it took years for many scientists to each pick up where the other had left off, after no less than a lifetime of research and study.

So I cannot state enough how valuable is the information and knowledge that has accumulated in our scientific database. We are so fortunate that the Internet gives us access to so much of these treasures.

Please excuse my mini intro I just had to express how amazed I am and how fortunate I feel and grateful to be able to learn and write.

When I think about the world needless to say there is so much to think about, and one cannot think of everything at once. We have to breakdown the pictures and study the marvels of science one subject at a time.

In this article I want to focus on light. This simple bright thing is infinitely complex and has many forms. Even in this era scientists don't fully understand it.

So let us start with some simple questions: What is light? What was the first light in our observable universe?

In basic quantum theory light is electromagnetism or we can say packets of energy called photons.

There is light we can see and light we cannot see. The visibility region of light depends on its wavelength. Typically the human eye can see light between the wavelengths of 388 to 700 nanometers. We cannot see light which is in the longer wavelength region known as infrared region, and we cannot see light in the shorter wavelength region known as ultraviolet region.

We might think that the first light in our universe started with the Big Bang (a leading theory). Because we intuitively think of the Big Bang as an explosion when it's a sudden expansion of the universe at speeds faster than light.

Albert Einstein had said that nothing in the universe can travel faster than light, that however does not include the universe itself.

I'll explain why the Big Bang could not have been bright according to the science. An example that is usually given is that it was foggy like a cloud. When we see a cloud we can only see the surface where the light was last scattered, the water molecules in the cloud disperse light.

The Big Bang had a temperature that was so high that light couldn't travel from it into the universe. It took 300,000 years for it to cool down enough for the first light - the afterglow to spread in the universe. This light is known as the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation. It is everywhere and if you turn on the TV without cable the static that you see is the signal of the CMB.

We cannot see this light glowing because as light travels vast distances it gets stretched and this reduces its brightness. However the CMB is a very valuable phenomena as it carries with it information from the birth of our universe.

Regarding the Big Bang theory there is another fascinating theory attached to it, and that is the Multiverse. Scientists agree that the model of the Big Bang could allow for the possibility of Multiverses.

What is the theory of the Multiverse?

That when the cosmic inflation happened many universes were formed as bubbles, and our universe is in one of these bubbles and there are other universes in other bubbles, and each universe might have its own laws of physics.

Light is also known to be a colourful thing. Take the rainbow for example after the rain or when we see it through a prism. From a fantasy point of view the rainbow will always remind me of the animated series Rainbow Brite.

The rainbow scientifically is equally fascinating. As I saw on an episode of Be Smart recently (Youtube), the rainbow has streaks of dark lines, the missing light is due to the interactions of the photons with elements on the surface of the sun and in Earth's atmosphere. As the photons travel the electrons they bump into absorb bits of light changing the energy of the electrons.

In fact scientists can know which elements light has interacted with by the missing light on an Absorbtion Spectrum, when light passes through a prism. This is so useful since we cannot take samples from the sun to know what's in it, but the light coming from it can reveal the elements in it. Even the Mars Curiosity Rover uses it to discover elements on Mars. There are prints of elements from on the sun that haven't been identified, it could be because they don't exist on Earth.

I'm speaking in brief terms about light in this article, because I'm myself still learning about it.

So what does light do apart from making things visible?

A question that has deeply intrigued me is does light have the ability to move things? Can it bring physical change?

I think the first thought that would come to mind is photosynthesis. The dominant source of metabolism on Earth. But before I get into how light effects Earth let us think about it in the universe. It is said that Earth was seeded with the building blocks of life by many supernovae that exploded, they unlike the Big Bang where bright.

The first stars formed probably from hydrogen and helium, and little amounts of lithium, and then heavy elements that life on Earth depends on were formed from these.

Example of heavy elements:

Carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorous. Heavy elements are supposed to have an atomic number that is greater than 92.

Now let us think about how light effects Earth.

What is photosynthesis?

It is a process in which most plants absorb sunlight and with water make oxygen, and chemical energy stored in glucose. Herbivores need plants to get their energy, and carnivores eat herbivores and this sustains the circle of life on Earth.

Plants, algea, and some types of bacteria can do photosynthesis.

Then there is chemosynthesis which doesn't need sunlight.

It occurs in bacteria and other microorganisms in oceanic or inland waters.

It is basically a process in which organic matter (energy for the microorganism) is made from inorganic matter like hydrogen or hygrogen sulfide.

Speaking of microorganisms I think at this point much like speculation about the start of our universe, we can speculate about the start of life on Earth.

First I would need here to explain that inorganic matter and organic matter is the different assortment of atoms. Chemically many types of organic matter can be made from inorganic matter with the right type of natural environment.

So in speculation perhaps the start of life on Earth was from inorganic matter that joined to make H2O (water), heat cycles warmed and cooled that water and radiation one of the forms of light introduced elements and maybe even helped in the configuration of atoms and molecules in the water that become the appropriate environment for the first life form to appear. I say speculation because like the Big Bang no one knows how life started on Earth and why we haven't detected any form of it elsewhere in our Solar System, despite there being frozen water on other planets and moons.

Scientists have still not figured out consciousness or animal instincts or what is a soul.

Astrobiologist look for extraterrestrial life by studying matter in simulation of different environments that could be in space or other planets. While in the past it was mainly considered impossible for life to exist in space, recent studies have shown that there are microorganisms that can survive the journey through space. It is speculated that maybe microorganisms were introduced to Earth via comets or meteorites.

In an article on Neuroscience news.com posted on 16, Oct 2023.

It says: "Scientists from top Institutions describe a groundbreaking Discovery: The Missing Law of Nature."

The study has been titled: 'Law of Increasing Functional Information.'

It says that evolution is not something that can only happen in living systems, but can extend to atoms, stars, and minerals.

The study says that when configuration happens in these inorganic systems that increases functionality it is evolution. But what are the forces behind the configuration? The article states many physics phenomena like electromagnetism among other things.

Another discovery that I found interesting is posted on 12, October 2023 on Physics.org from the Minnesota University. The article is titled: "Surprising Discovery Shows that Electron Beam Radiation can Repair Nanostructures." The article says the discovery was made by accident when crystals were being studied for cracks in them, but the beam repaired the cracks when the atoms by themselves under the affect of the beam filled the cracks.

So this discovery with what we learned about the missing light in rainbows tells us that photons interact with electrons, and it is scientifically an established fact. I know in this study it was a beam of electrons but as radiation. Now photons and electrons are known to behave like waves and particles under specific conditions. This nature of photons is called wave-particle duality.

As I said there is so much to study about any scientific subject. I'll end this article here with the mention of Solar Sails, which is the idea to use the momentum of light to propel spacecrafts through space at 10% the speed of light.

Arjuwan Lakkdawala is an author and independent journalist. Twitter/Instagram: Spellrainia

email: [email protected]

Sources: Photosynthesis - National Geogrphic

Extreme Tech - The Sun's rainbow why are there so many colours missing

By Sebastian Anthony October 2, 2013

NASA - A foggy universe...origin of the microwave background

NOAA Oceanic Explorations - What is the difference between photosynthesis and chemosynthesis?

Biology Online - Chemosynthesis

ESA - Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation

Space.com - Our Universe May Exist in a Multiverse, Cosmic Inflation Discovery Suggests

By Miriam Kramer

published March 18, 2014

Space.com - What is the cosmic microwave background?

By Elizabeth Howell, Daisy Dobrijevic

published January 28, 2022

Space.com - What is the Big Bang Theory?

By Andrew May, Elizabeth Howell

last updated July 26, 2023

Planck Satellite - UK Outreach Site - Cosmic Microwave Background

Webb Space Telescope - What Were the First Stars Like?

Short answer: We don’t really know.

Stanford University - Interactions of Photons With Matter

Nagwa - Question Video: Describing the Electron According to Modern Atomic Theory Chemistry

ESA - Energy=light=radiation=temperature

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory - Discovery of Elements 113 and 115

Konica Minolta - Precise Colour Communication

Physics.org - When was the first light in the universe?

by Fraser Cain , Universe Today

Neuroscience news.com - Unveiling Nature’s Missing Law: Evolution Beyond Biology

Featured Neuroscience

·October 16, 2023

Britannica - Matter Rays

Science Direct - Water Worlds in the Solar System

Planetary.org - What is Solar Sailing

#science #Arjuwan Lakkdawala #ink in the Internet #physics #photosynthesis #chemosynthesis #radiation #light #fairytale #jules verne #c.s. lewis #Lewis carroll #alice in wonderland #narnia #rainbow #the law of increasing functional information #discovery

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