"Put three grains of sand inside a vast cathedral, and the cathedral will be more closely packed with sand than space is with stars." Sir James Jeans
I love this quote. It gives me a sense of how infinite space is. I've been reflecting quite a bit lately about the infinite nature of time and space and just how fleeting (and very special) our lives are within it.
For fun, I did some calculations (with the help of the web!) to get some perspective on these things and found the results truly fascinating:
Perspective on time
The earth is 4.5 billion years old. But let's say that the earth began only 1 year ago.
This is when other things would have begun:
the universe - 3.3 years ago
the earth - 1 year ago
first one celled organisms - 246 days ago
first jelly fish - 48 days ago
first dinosaurs - 18 days ago
dinosaurs went extinct - 5 days ago
earliest man - 7 hours ago
civilisation began - 3 minutes ago
wheel invented - 34 seconds ago
Jesus born - 14 seconds ago
Battle of Hastings - 6 seconds ago
French Revolution - 1 second ago
Perspective on space
In reality, the earth is 93 million miles from the sun. But let's say it was just 1 cm.
This would mean the distance of other things to the sun was:
Mercury - 0.4 cm
Earth - 1.0 cm
Jupiter - 5.2 cm
Uranus - 19.3 cm
Pluto - 39.9 cm
nearest star - 2.5 km!!
If you tried to map out our tiny galaxy, you would need a piece of paper the size of the United States!
I find these figures startling and inspiring. Something to reflect on next time I find myself getting too wrapped up in the drama of my tiny life. Next time I fret about something, I'll ask myself "Is this likely to change the evolution of the human race in the next 5 billion years" - and if the answer is no, tell myself to forget it!!
1 comments:
Just looking at the stars is awesome, aint it funny that the grandeur of space is infinitesimally unfathomable yet just look at you hand as your read this email and look at how delicately its been put together, even when we look at how a simple unicellular organism is put together that there is such craftsmanship. Chris, a biology masters student (he is from the UK, now living in Cranleigh ) was doing research on an obscure plant species called Cliffortia,
If you have ever been hiking you will have met the infamous "climbers Friend", that prickly bush that left any part of your body that came into contact with it smarting until kingdom come, that's in the species, a whole lot more are around and I aim to as soon as I get internet at home as well as a digital camera continue with his work (part time of course) . I digress cos what I was trying to say is that he has done DNA studies and is totally amazed at the complexity of the protein building blocks and how the plants have extremely specific patterns in which those building blocks must fall.
to conclude, its amazing that there is wonder at the large things and the small things in life / Ivor
Post a Comment