Through the Looking Glass

Through the Looking Glass

Earth's highly connected urban society has a habit of distracting us from questioning the fundamental nature of everyday life. What would you do if someone told you that everything you think is real, isn't so real after after all? If you realized that everything in this universe exists as an interconnected structure of matter, energy, complexity, and chaos, would you find peace in its simplicity, or despair in its indifference? Scientists have worked tirelessly for centuries searching deep into the heart of what makes matter exist. The truth is simple to understand, and beautiful to comprehend - almost all matter is empty space, and mysterious and unpredictable probability exists at the tiniest measurable levels. 

All things on Earth are made of matter, and all matter is made of little matter bits alled atoms. Atoms are so small, that 8 trillion of them can fit on the dot of this exclamation point! Don't get comfortable just yet - atoms themselves are made of smaller particles, and those particles are made of even smaller particles. Eventually, the particles become so small that the best measuring tools can't see them, so some scientists use math and computers to predict what might happen to the unimaginably smallest things. 

The space between these micro-particles is eternal compared to the particle's size. This means that most of matter is actually empty space! When you pick up an apple, or type on a keyboard, you aren't actually touching those things - the forces between your atoms and the object's atoms repel, like magnets. What you feel when you pick something up is actually the force of it pushing away from you!
When things get really, really small, they get even more fascinating. Some particles are so small that they don't follow the laws of physics that you might be used to, like gravity. In fact, some particles are so small that they aren't always particles - the can transition between being a particle and a "wave", kind of like a light wave or sound wave (or, maybe a beach wave). 

Next time you enjoy an apple, try to appreciate the unprecedented amount of complexity required for such an event to take place. Don't take shelter in the things you already know, find comfort in embracing the unfamiliar. As The Conductor from Polar Express said, "Seeing is believing, but sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can't see". 


 

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