Quantum Physics.
Ralte, Rodinmawia. The Interface of Science and Religion: An Introductory Study. New Delhi: Christian World Imprints, 2017.
Baggott, Jim. The Quantum Story a history in 40 moments. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2010.
Quantum Mechanics (Physics) is considered as one of the century’s
most innovative and fruitful scientific insights into the working of nature.
Quantum mechanics deals with the behavior of matter and light on the atomic and
subatomic scale. It attempts to describe and account for the properties of
molecules and atoms and their constituents-electrons, protons, and other more
esoteric particles such as quarks and gluons. These properties include the
interactions of the particles with one another and with electromagnetic
radiation such as light, X-rays, and gamma rays.
Quantum mechanics started with Max Planck in 1900 when he
discovered that light, X-rays, and other waves could not be emitted at an
arbitrary rate but only in certain energy packets that he called ‘quanta’.
Where light and other electromagnetic radiation can appear not only as
electromagnetic waves but also in the form of quanta which are known as photons.
Quantum mechanics was formulated by Werner Heisenberg from Germany,
Erwin Schrodinger from Austria, Paul Dirac from England. Heisenberg theory came
to be known as ‘Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle’- The position and the
velocity of an object cannot both be measure exactly at the same time, instead, they had a quantum state which was the combination of position and velocity.
One of the most striking features of the atom which quantum theory
reveals is that the small particles within the atom have dual aspects i.e. the
subatomic units matter are both particle and wave. Light takes the form of
electromagnetic waves or particles. Thus, it is not possible to predict the
atomic event with certainty; we can only say how likely it will happen.
Quantum mechanics and Christian faith
Quantum mechanics has far-reaching consequences on the way we see the
material world. First, science's ability to predict and determine has a limit,
indicating that science is not always reliable to determine the universal laws.
So, the role of God cannot be ruled out. Second, Quantum mechanics reveals that
scientific knowledge is not always objective knowledge but subjectivity is
involved in making scientific knowledge more like theological knowledge. Third,
Quantum mechanics reveals the basic oneness of the universe. We cannot separate
things in the universe, as we penetrate deep into the matter, we do not see
isolated basic building block but a complicated web of relations between
various parts of the whole.
There is a connectedness in the
universe that defies explanation. A change in a subatomic particle on this side
of the galaxy will instantaneously make a difference in an entangled particle
on the other side. This is not science fiction. It is scientific fact.
Subatomic particles are not the
only things that are entangled in our universe. So are we. We are entangled
with one another and even with creation—something we are only now discovering
but which Paul asserted to be true in Romans 8. God designed humanity this way
from the beginning. It is part of what makes us great. We are entangled with
people we do not know, from places we have never been, at times we have not
existed, in the deep past and in the unknown future.
The entire human race can be
conceived as one large, interconnected thing, stretching across space and time.
If we could see what God sees when he looks at humanity, we would not only see
a hundred billion or so disconnected individuals but a human race that is more
like a massive body with a hundred billion parts.
What
quantum physics does show us the oddness of the world. It is proof that
rational, logical thought doesn’t completely explain the universe. The oddness
of the universe makes the oddness of Christianity more believable. Physics
doesn’t prove Christianity. But what quantum mechanics and Christianity both
want to tell us is that the world isn’t exactly as it seems. It’s much, much
more peculiar and much, much more wonderful than it seems.
Quantum
mechanics, the science of small things, reveals the weakness of science in determining
the reality of things. As the movement of electrons in an atom is indeterminate
which follows no fixed law, it is clear that matters are not controlled by
scientific laws. Furthermore, the dualistic nature of the subatomic particle-
existing as a particle as well as a wave at the same time demolished the concept
of absolute at least at the atomic level. Again, the fact that movement of
subatomic particles is affected by the observer, so, the role of the observer is
paramount in determining the reality of subatomic particles. This in turn
questions the validity of scientific objectivity but opens the role of subjectivity
in scientific research.
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