THE SOURCE Workbook
Copyright ©
Nils Jansma 2008 - 2020, All Rights Reserved
Chapter 3 – DESIGN IN THE
CHEMISTRY OF MATTER
Page 31
q-31. What is matter?
q-31.2
For simplicity’s sake, what can we say
matter is composed of?
Page 32
q-32.1 What do we call the four forces that
bind everything together?
q-32.2
What is the “strong force,” and why is it
important?
q-32.3
What does the “weak force” do?
Page 33
q-33.1 What important thing does the
electromagnetic force do?
q-33.2 What regulates the force of gravity?
Page
34
q-34.1 Why doesn’t gravity clump everything
back together again?
q-34.2 What is the “unified force” theory?
q-34.3 What is a neutron made of?
Page 35
q-35.1 In what ways does the development of
the universe resemble the development of an
Egyptian pyramid?
Page 36
q-36.1 How many other finely-tuned events
and characteristics had to occur to make our
existence possible?
q-36.2 What is illustrated by the
properties of the water molecule?
q-36.3
In the water molecule, what causes the 105-degree angle between the two hydrogen atoms
to develop?
Page 37
q-37.1 What is the arrangement of atoms in
the water molecule called, and why is it
important?
q-37.2 Why is water’s dissolving ability
important for plants?
Page 38
q-38.1 What is unusual about the way water
freezes?
q-38.2 What are some of the consequences we
would have to deal with if ice didn’t
float?
PAGE 39
q-39.1 What should this brief review of the
properties of water teach us?
The
Source Workbook - Answers
Copyright ©
Nils Jansma 2018, All Rights Reserved
Chapter 3 – DESIGN IN THE CHEMISTRY OF MATTER
Page- 31
q-31. What is matter?
By matter we mean atoms and molecules, the forces binding them
together, and the laws governing their interactions. However,
we should understand that in physics, there is no broad
consensus as to an exact definition of matter. Physicists
generally do not use the word when precision is needed,
preferring instead to speak of the more clearly defined concepts
of mass, *invariant mass, energy and particles. See also
comments on Page 6; Question 1 (q-6.1).
* Invariant
— Adjective: 1.
Unaffected by a designated operation or transformation. 2.
Persistent in occurrence and unvarying in nature. Synonyms—
changeless; constant; unvarying.
q-31.2 For
simplicity’s sake, what can we say composes matter?
Matter is composed of atoms made
up principally of electrons, protons and neutrons. However, these components are themselves
composed of even smaller units. See Figure 3.1
Page- 32
q-32.1 What
do we call each of the four forces that bind everything together?
1- The strong force. 2- The
weak force. 3- The electromagnetic Force. 4- Gravity. See Figure 3.2. 
q-32.2 What
is the “strong force,” and why is it important?
The strong force is the atomic glue of the universe. This is
the force that holds the atomic nucleus together but doesn’t
extend any further. The strong force is important because if it
were only slightly stronger or weaker, all atoms would either
clump together or fly apart.
q-32.3 What does the “weak force” do?
The weak
force also operates within the nucleus of
the atom but over even shorter distances
than thestrongforce. It is called “weak”
because its field strength is about 10^13
(1 followed by 13 zeros) times less than
that of the strongforce. When, through
normal energetic movements, the particle to
particle distance-limit
is momentarily exceeded, the already weakbinding force instantly reduces even more,
allowing the nucleus to lose one of its
subatomic components. It is this
instability due to the weak force that
causes a radioactive Carbon 14 atom to randomly change back into a Nitrogen14 atom,
by encouraging a single neutron toconvert
into a proton due to the loss of a high
energy electronand an antineutrino. This
is called “beta decay." See Figure 3:3
Figure 3:3 One half of the Carbon-14 atoms transforms into Nitrogen-14 every 5,730 years.
The numberof protons in the nucleus identifies the
element and the number of neutrons andprotons
determines the same element’s isotope
number. When the number of protons and
neutrons differ, an element can become
unstable due to random variations in the
weak force. The unstable carbon-14
nucleus has 6 protons and 8 neutrons (6 + 8
= C-14) and the stable Nitrogen 14 nucleus
has 7 protons and 7 neutrons (7 + 7 = N-14).
This feature makes C-14 a good dating
isotope. With the exception of
hydrogen atoms, which contain only a
single-proton, the nucleus of all other
atoms are made up of both neutrons and
protons.
Page- 33
q-33.1 What important thing does the
electromagnetic (EM) force do?
Since unlike
charges attract, the electromagnetic force
keeps the negatively charged electron
orbiting around the positively charged
atomic nucleus. Like the strong force, if
the EM force was just slightly greater or
weaker, electrons would not stay in their
orbits and all atoms would cease to exist in
a functional way. See Figure 3.4
q-33.2 What regulates the force of
gravity?
The
gravitational attractive force is regulated
by the inverse square of the distance
between two body masses. The inverse
distance term is defined as the fraction
created by dividing the square of the
distance into the number 1 or
(1/distance^2). The greater the
distance, the smaller the inverse ratio i.e.
1/[4^2] is much smaller than1/[2^2].
That explains why the pull of gravity
weakens rather quickly as you travel away
from the earth. Another factor
affecting gravity is the relative masses of
the two bodies. Because of this
relationship, planet bodies
with less mass than the earth, like Mars and the Moon, will have weaker
gravitational force fields at their surface. See Figure 3.5
Page-34
q-34.1 Why doesn’t gravity clump everything back together again?
Because universal expansion exactly balances
the force of gravity.
q-34.2 What is the “unified force”
theory?
Immediately
before the “Big bang” expansion began when
all matter was compressed into what we have
defined as a “singularity,” the four
fundamental forces were believed to have
been “unified” into one “super force.”
Interestingly, during the last 30 years of
his life, Einstein unsuccessfully tried to
develop a “unifiedforce theory” based upon
this idea. However, with the
development of quantum theory (QT) and the
discovery of many new subatomic particles,
it looked as if relativity and classical
physics would not be robust enough to solve
the force unification problem. Because
Einstein didn’t believe in the uncertainty
and probabilistic aspects of QT, he all but
wasted those final 30 years of his life,
scientifically speaking. In 1905
Einstein made significant scientific
contributions with regard to the “quantum
theory of light.” Nevertheless, after
the year 1926, he let his somewhat famous
edict that "God does not play dice" with
reality isolate him from mainstream physics.
From 1926 on, Einstein didn’t make any
significant contribution to science beyond
what he had already accomplished.
Einstein’s experience should be a lesson for
us all. We may interpret the Bible in
a way that causes us to “assume” what God
has or has not done. However, we
should never allow our Biblical
interpretation or anyone else’s, to contradict what
science has reasonably proven to be true.
q-34.3
Of what is a neutron made?
Simply
stated, neutrons can be said to be made up
of an electron and proton compressed
together. Actually, however, the
neutron is more complicated than that. It is
really made up of three quarks, one up and two down, and
therefore belongs to what is called the
baryon group of the hadron class. When situated
outside of an atomic nucleus, a free neutron
is unstable, decaying with a half-life of
11.6 minutes into a proton, an electron, and
an antineutrino. As already stated in
q-32.3, this process is called beta decay. See Figure 3.6
Page- 35
q-35.1 In what ways does the development of
the universe resemble the development of an
Egyptian pyramid?
The
development of the universe over the last
13.7 billion years is very precise and
follows a clearly defined timeline. An
Egyptian pyramid follows a
similar but vastly shorter timeline.
Neither of these constructions are in any
way “random.” Both are the result of
careful design and execution.
Page- 36
q-36.1 How many other finely-tuned events
and characteristics had to occur to make our
existence possible?
As of the
year 1999, there were at least 28 known
characteristics that required very precise
relationships for our existence to have
occurred. Many of these and more are listed
on Hugh Ross’s website. (http://www.reasons.org/)
q-36.2 What is illustrated by the
properties of the water molecule?
The water molecule illustrates the perfect
balance of natural forces that testifies to
the existence of a designer God.
q-36.3 In the water molecule, what causes
the 105-degree angle between the two
hydrogen atoms to develop?
This
asymmetrical arrangement is caused because
of the difference in size between the
hydrogen and oxygen atoms. The greater mass
of the oxygen atom causes it to share
electrons from both of the hydrogen atoms,
which creates an imbalance of force that
results in the 105-degree angle shown in
Figure 3.7.
Page- 37
q37.1 What is the arrangement of atoms in the water molecule calledand why is it
important.
The distribution of atoms within the water
molecule is called a “polar arrangement.”
This name comes from the concept of
“polarization,” which means “to cause to
concentrate about two conflicting or
contrasting positions.” Polarization
results in the water molecule displaying an
asymmetric attraction feature because one of
its ends is positively charged, with the
other end being negatively charged, as shown
in Figure 3.8.
This arrangement enables the water molecules
to literally tear *solute molecules into
separate parts and then surround the
individual parts and carry them away.
This happens when a solute molecule is
attracted to the ends of the water molecules
with the same charge. At the same time
oppositely charged ends of other water
molecules are pulling the solute in another
direction until it rips apart. This
unusual asymmetry makes water a very
versatile solvent. In general,
solvents are known for their ability to
dissolve things by dismantling them.
* Solute
(solyoot) - 1. The dissolved substance in a solution; the component of a
solution that changes its state. With
these properties in mind, it should be no
surprise to us that God instructed the
Israelites to purify things by washing them
in water. Because He created water,
God knows about its unique ability to clean
things. It is significant that the
term “wash” and “water” are found together
in 21 verses of the Bible book of Leviticus.
Here water is
always used within the context of washing to
stand purified before God and the members of
the nation of Israel.
Leviticus 17:15-16:
"And every soul that eateth that which died
of itself, or that which was torn with
beasts, whether it be one of your own
country, or a stranger, he shall both wash
his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and
be unclean until the even: then shall he be
clean.
(16)
But if he wash them not, nor bathe his flesh; then he shall bear
his iniquity."
q-37.2 Why is water’s dissolving
ability important for plants?
Water extracts various minerals from the
ground, suspending them within its liquid
matrix. Plants, through their roots,
feed on these nutrients dissolved in the
water. See Figure 3.9
Page- 38
q-38.1 What is unusual about the way
water freezes?
Water is
different from most other liquids when it
freezes. Almost everything on
earth except freshwater, gets more dense it becomes
cold. Take alcohol for
instance. If we were to fill up a 1-liter
container with pure alcohol at 30 degrees
Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) and then take
another 1 liter container and fill it with
pure alcohol at 10 degrees Celsius (50
Fahrenheit) the cooler container of alcohol
would weigh more. This is because the cooler
alcohol molecules are packed closer together
allowing more of them to fit in the same
container.
Up to a point, this densification also
happens to freshwater as it cools.
See Figure 3.10
However, at about 4 degrees Celsius (40
Fahrenheit) water reaches, on average, its
densest state. Amazingly, as deeper
water cools further, it actually becomes
less dense or lighter than the water above
it. Being less dense, the cooler water
slowly begins rising to the surface.
If its temperature drops to below freezing,
it will rise to the surface more rapidly and
turn into ice. When it turns into ice,
it becomes like an insulation blanket that
shields the water below from the colder air
temperatures above. This feature is
very important because it protects all
things living in water by setting a limit on
how cold their environment can ever become.
Ice has a stiff crystal-like structure due
to cold hydrogen bonding.
Liquid water does not have such an orderly
stiff structure, because its molecules are
free to almost touch one another as shown in
the Figure 3.10. Consequently, not only
is the ice less dense, it also
has more air-trapping voids within its
structure that allows it to float like a
heavy piece of wood.
q-38.2
What are some of the consequences we would
have to deal with if ice didn’t float?
The most
serious consequence would be that rivers and
lakes would freeze from the bottom up,
thereby killing most of the animals caught
within their icy grip. Rivers frozen solid
could no longer transport water as usual,
which would cause tremendous flooding in the
cold regions, with almost no water reaching
the warmer regions during the winter
months. In fact, if ice didn’t float, life,
as we know it, couldn’t exist on the earth. See Figure 3.11
PAGE-
39
q-39.1 What should this brief review
of the properties of water teach us?
It
should make us aware of how dependent all
life on earth is on such simple things.
Whoever would have imagined the benefits we
derive from the shape of the water molecule?
Is this just a coincidence, or does it teach
that God designed the water molecule with us
in mind?
End of Chapter 3
