“A moment of thinking, over the
universe, is worth than continuous meditation of 60 years”. Let obey the saying
and spare some moments to observe the universe. Keep in mind; pondering is not
that easy one might thing. One must have an extraordinary imagination power.
We regard something big or small by making ourselves a “standard”. We, the human
beings, are small as well as big. In order to have a clear idea of “big” we
shouldn't start from ourselves. Instead, we should go to the smallest and then
towards the biggest. When, we will travel towards the smallest, we will see the
smallest thing in reality but afterward, physical existence of things will be
lost for us as we cannot see the small thing, smaller than 500 nm. Then we will
have to travel the remaining journey on the vehicle of our imagination. Let us
start the journey towards the smallest! A dog is smaller than a man; A cat is
smaller than the dog; a mouse is smaller than the cat; a fly is smaller than the
mouse; a mosquito is smaller than the fly, a louse is smaller than the mosquito;
(now ride on the imaginative wheels); a bacteria is smaller than the louse. A
virus is smaller than the bacteria. (Virus is a boundary line between living and
non-living thing. It has both the properties of living and non-living things.
So, it is the smallest living thing, going further we will encounter only non
living things).
Virus is very small. It is composed of protein coating and inner core of DNA or
RNA. Protein and DNA are macro- molecules. Protein molecule contains about
40,000 atoms. Similarly DNA consists of thousands of atoms. So, our destination
of the smallest is still far away. So far, we have reached at a ‘mega molecular
level’. Take one atom out these thousands atoms and it will be our base camp
from where we will launch our campaign to find the smallest. Atom is not small.
One can imagine the size of atom that a dot of ball point on a paper or you can
say a full stop (.) contains 10 million (1 krore) hydrogen atoms. So in
imagination divide this dot (.) into two, then divide each half, it will be
1/4thof dot and similarly keep on dividing into 10 millionth parts and you will
reach an atom. Your eyes will open, mouth will be widened and tongue will utter
“Oh! So small is an atom! ” But you will astonish to know that it is not the
smallest. It is the base camp and you will have to hike steeply to conquest the
Mount Everest of the smallest. Let start, journey again. At present you are
standing on the tiny particle atom. Enter the atom, you will find a new cosmos
at a miniature scale. There are mere than 100 particles inside the atom. Some
are so small where matter ends and energy corpuscle starts. For your convenient,
we overlook these ultra-small particles and focuses on slightly bigger particles
which have mass. 99% of an atom is empty and only its centre contains a tiny
nucleus which contains 99% mass of an atom and nucleus is 10,000 times smaller
than atom. So, it is hard concerted form of matter. This tiny hard core contains
protons and neutrons. Keep in mind; we have ignored the other tiny particles
which are much smaller than proton and neutron. Proton and neutron are playing
table tennis match as neutral neutron throws away a tiny ball of meson
(negatively charged particle about 2000 times smaller than proton and neutron,
almost equal to an electron) toward the positive proton. The proton on accepting
this negative particle become neutral and become neutron. The previous neutron
which lost the meson becomes positive and transform into proton. Then newly
formed neutron throws the negative meson towards the newly formed positive
proton and it becomes proton again and the proton on accepting meson becomes
neutron again .So neutron and proton keep on exchanging the particle meson like
table tennis ball bouncing between two rackets. Proton and neutrons are playing
endless match, which is vital for the existence of nucleus. Look at the
organization and discipline at this micro level. Back to the journey of the
smallest; take one proton from this tiny nucleus. This is not the smallest
particle .Electrons, which are revolving around the nucleus like planets around
the sun. Here you will find another astonishing fact that atom and solar system
are similar. In solar system, sun is central point; in an atom nucleus is the
central point; 99% mass of solar system is confined in the sun similarly 99%
mass of atom is packed in a nucleus; planets are revolving around the sun in
elliptical path likewise electrons are revolving around the nucleus in
elliptical path; planets’ motion (centrifugal force) is equal to attraction
between planet and the sun (centripetal force). In the same way, velocity of
electron and attraction between electron and nucleus are equal. So both the
planets and electron remain in the circle; neither going away nor moving
inwards. So, one find solar system in a miniature scale in an atom or one can
say solar system is an atomic structure on mega scale. Famous Urdu poet Iqbal
has rightly said “Lahoo Khursheed ka tapkay ha, jo cherain zaray ka dil”. If one
look into an atom, he will see the glimpses of the sun. Oh! Our elders were so
knowledgeable and wise people.
Come back to our journey to find the smallest. Proton is not the smallest
particle; electron is 1836 times lighter than a proton. Electron has mass of
9.1× 10-31 Kg. Is the electron is smallest? The answer is “no”. In particle
Physics, electron are further classified into fermions and within the fermions’
group, electron are further classified as lepton. Or in simple word, electrons
are not the smallest particle. Its further division will create confusion and
chaos in ordinary mind so it is not advisable to go further. We have already put
a great stress on our minds; as in imagination we have divided dot by 10 million
times to get to an atom, then we divided atom to the tune of 10,000 times to
reach nucleus. We divided nucleus many times to reach a proton. One proton is
then divided 1836 times to get the idea of electron and now physicists are
advocating electron is not the smallest particle! We are tired, exhausted and
pooped and cannot go further; even our imagination is tiring out. So, if we
suppose electron as the smallest, it is enough for us for the time being. We
have reached our destination of the smallest. Now we are going to start our
journey towards the biggest. Drink a glass of water or take a cup of tea, relax
and get ready for voyage towards the biggest.
A man is about 6 feet tall, 2 feet wide and 1 foot deep. The entire volume comes
to be 12 feet3. He is too big as compared to electron, proton, nucleus, atom,
molecule, macromolecule, virus, bacteria, louse, fly, mosquito; mouse, cat, dog.
But house is much bigger than a man; street than the house; block than the
street; city than the block; province than the city; country than the province;
continent than the country; Earth than the continent. So earth is very big as
compared to man. One has to covers 25000 miles (40,000 km) to takes its one
round. If a person walks around it, he will have to take about 4 ½ krore (44
million) strides of one yard to encircle round the earth. How big is the earth!
But earth is one of eight planets revolving around the sun. Earth is the fifth
largest planet. Then largest planet is Jupiter which is about 1000 times larger
than earth. But all planets and other bodies in solar system make only 1% mass
and the rest of 99% mass of solar system is confined in the sun. The sun is
about 1.3 million (13 lack) times larger than the earth. So, sun is the largest.
It has diameter of 1392,684 km, around 109 times that of earth and it has mass
of 1.989×1030 kg which is about 3,30,000 times mass of earth. So the sun is the
largest. Astonishingly, the Sun is star of average size. There are many stars
much bigger than the sun. Betelgeuse is 30 times larger than the sun and W-26
(Westerlund-1) is 1500 times larger than sun. It is red super giant. Is W-26 is
the largest thing? Answer is ‘no’. Galaxy is larger than a star. Galaxy is the
fundamental unit of the universe. It consists of several hundred thousands of
stars along with interstellar gas and dust.
Before, we step ahead in the journey for the biggest. We must know certain units
of measurement. The distance between stars, size of galaxies, etc are measured
by different scales.
First is astronomic unit, it is the distance between earth and the sun that is
roughly about 150 million km. It is used to measure distance between planets and
the distance of a planet from the sun.
Second is light year, it is still even bigger unit of distance. It is defined as
the distance travelled by light in one year. Light travel at a speed of 3×108
metre/s (i.e.3 lack km/s or 1, 86,000 mile/s).This unit is used to measure
distance between stars, galaxies, etc. Light year is equal to ten million
million (neelum km) or 1013 km or 5.81×106 miles.
Third is Parsec, it is the unit of distance to measure separation of stars,
galaxies, etc. It is equal to 3.26 light years.
From here onward, we will be using unit of light year or parsec to imagine the
size of galaxies, distance between galaxies, etc. So get the idea of light year
in imagination. Light takes just 8 minutes and 20 seconds to reach from the sun
to earth and the sun is about 150 million km from the earth. And there are
525600 minutes in one year. Here you can imagine how much distance light will
travel in one year.
For instant, Proxima Centauri is the next nearest star to earth apart from the
sun. It is 4.22 light year from the earth. (42200000000000 km or 42.2 million
million years).It means if someone travel on a machine moving with speed of
light (Light Machine). One will take 4.22 years of time to reach the Proxima
Centauri. How far is our neighboring star!
Now imagine those two stars; the sun and the Proxima Centauri and get a rough
clue of distance between any two stars which in naked eye looks as near as the
dots of colon(:). Our Milky Way contains 100 billion stars i.e. 1011(one Kharab).
Now keeping in mind the distance between two stars, as mentioned above, you can
imagine the size of Milky Way which has 100 billion (1 kharab) stars
(100000000000). For your convenient, the diameter of the Milky Way is 0.1
million years (or 1 lack light year). It means if someone is travelling on
‘light machine’, he will simply cross the Milky Way in 0.1 million years. How
big is our Milky Way? Is it the biggest? The answer is “No”. The Milky Way is an
average size galaxy and there are many galaxies. Our neighboring galaxy is
Andromeda which is present at a distance of about 2.2 million (i.e.22 lack)
light years. Is galaxy is the largest? A galaxy is much smaller than cluster.
What is cluster? Cluster is the group of nearby galaxies. The name of our
cluster is “local group” which contains 54 galaxies. So, local group cluster is
the biggest? The answer is ‘No’; local group cluster is an average sized
Cluster. Many clusters combine to form Super Cluster. There exists Super cluster
which is much larger than ordinary clusters.
For example, Virgo Super cluster contain Virgo cluster in addition to local
group. It contains 100 galaxies, groups and clusters within a diameter of 33
mega parsecs (110 million light years). It is one of the million of super
clusters in observable universe. The millions of super clusters constitute to
form the colossal Universe.
For your convenience, there are about 200 billion galaxies containing about 1024
stars. For clear imagination, there are 1000000000000000000000000 stars. First
imagine single average size star the sun and its solar system of planets,
planetoids, satellites, meteorites, visiting comets, etc, then imagine the above
written figure. It is the size of our universe which is about 1024 km. Now a new
issue arises that it is not the definite size of our universe because it is
expanding .Take a simple example, the distance between the earth and the moon
increases 9 inches per year. So every heavenly body is drifting away from the
others and the universe is inflating like a balloon. Every new sun sees new
boundaries of universe as the Universe is expanding! So, for the time being, we
assume that the universe is the biggest thing.
Do you agree with this result or not?
But a poet Nazar Hussain doesn’t agree with above statement. What he says in his
famous English poem is stated below:
THE BIG
§ Big is not Big, I beg to state
§ It just consists of three letters of alphabet
§ Big powers, big towers are not all big
§ If thou happen to see them from lunar surface
§ The earth is as big, a fig on a twig
§ It’s what we know through Apollo the eight
§ Big is ONE, the Biggest of ALL
§ I bow before him and you too prostrate
§ Blessing for me and you are craved
§ Blessing for this earth blessings for that space