God’s Gifts

"The most important decision we make is whether we believe we live in a friendly or hostile universe." - Albert Einstein

I wrote this post over six years ago which refers to an eight-years earlier post.  I’ve done some serious editing on it. And title it “Nature’s  Gifts” if that makes you more comfortable:

In my recent tutoring in chemistry the subject of exothermic and endothermic reactions has come up. In researching this subject one Internet site mentions that it is fortunate that the reaction between oxygen and nitrogen is endothermic (needs energy to proceed) since otherwise our atmosphere would have burned off eons ago. This reminded me of a  post in  “Junkier Science,” another of my blogs, that I wrote almost eight years ago that pointed out many of the scientific truths that, were they not to be, we would not be here ... to which the above assessment needs to be added. Here is this older blog contents:

I am not a religious person but I do find it remarkable that man inhabits an ecosystem that enjoys a plethora of possibly providential coincidences … any of which, if missing, would likely doom us to annihilation.  Here they are as best I can assemble:

-Gravity/Celestial Dynamics – Otherwise the Earth and all of its creatures would go flying off into space

-Electricity/Magnetism – Creating our Earth’s magnetic field … otherwise the sun’s cosmic rays would strip away our atmosphere and cook us all like so many shish-ka-bobs

-Atomic Fusion – Otherwise our sun would not be providing us warmth, light, and sustenance … with predictable results

-Photons/Electromagnetic Spectrum – Otherwise we would be without light and all the benefits that light and other radiations provide us

-The Limit of Speed (Speed of Light) – Otherwise all the radiation from all the universe’s sources would be instantaneous and very likely lethal

-Number and Variety of Elements (Periodic Table) – Life could not exist without this wide array of elemental building blocks

-Earth’s Self-Regulating Atmosphere – Without these feedback mechanisms (including the ozone layer), our planet would be as devoid of life as Mars or our moon

-Water — enough said?

-Photosynthesis – Otherwise the source of all nourishment on Earth would not exist and carbon dioxide might smother our atmosphere (like on Mars.)

-Light Ice — Ice, strangely, being lighter than water, floats and insulates the water beneath it … otherwise, life might not exist outside our tropics

-Combustion (Oxygen/Carbon Dioxide Cycle) — Otherwise energy and what it brings to life (locomotion, warmth, etc.) would be very scarce

-DNA/Evolution/Organic Chemistry – Otherwise life, if it existed at all, would be extremely primitive and short-lived

-Vast Variety of Molecules/Inorganic Chemistry – Otherwise, most of our planet’s basics (carbohydrates, carbon dioxide, ozone, etc.) would not exist

- Water's Capillary Action -- Otherwise water and its solutes could not travel against the pull of gravity and most plants would not exist

- Carbon-Based Life Forms – Other-element-based life forms are problematic and, if sustainable, likely would be quite inefficient

And, I am sure, many more …

STAND UP FOR NATURE’S GIFTS!