Table of Contents

Preface

1. Scientific Theories and Laws

2. The First Decade (1936-1946)

3. Relativity

4. The Second Decade (1946-1956)

5. Quantum Mechanics

6. The Third Decade (1956-1966)

7. The Big Bang

8. The Fourth Decade (1966-1976)

9. The Non-Bang

10. The Fifth Decade (1976-1986)

11. The Never-Bang

12. The Sixth Decade (1986-1996)

13. Evolution

14. The Seventh Decade (1996-2006)

15. The Theory of More than Everything

16. The Eighth Decade (2006-2016)

17. Now What?

18. The Ninth Decade (2016-2026)

Appendix A Paintings

Appendix B TTOMTE and a Steady State Universe

Appendix C Musical Compositions

Bibliography

Chapter 0-Page 0

So it probably won't bother you if we have to use a microscope and other tools to study things beyond our senses.

WHAT'S INSIDE MATTER

People have always been curious about matter, and why shouldn't they be? There's so much of it. How is it put together? Why is there such a wide variety of the stuff?

Is matter continual? Try cutting up a carrot. Is there any limit to how many times you can divide it and still have the essence of a carrot? One inch pieces? One-half inch pieces? One-tenth of an inch? Even if you grind it, the carrot still keeps its color and taste. We must be looking for something much smaller.

Starting about twenty-five hundred years ago, people thought some simple, indivisible bits sat underneath all matter, and they called the little bits atoms which means, well, indivisible bits. These bits carried four qualities or elements: air, earth, fire, and water, and if mixed just right, explained the endless variety of matter. Smoke was mostly air and earth with some fire thrown in; mud was earth and water, not so much air and fire.

Appendix A: 01 Elements

During the middle ages, alchemists had a plan: Start out with something cheap, like lead. Pound, heat, squeeze, and yell at it enough to get rid of those four elements in the sample leaving only the raw material common in all things. Add back just the right amounts of air, earth, fire, and water, and we'll produce something much more valuable, like gold for instance. After that, we can stop asking for grants to buy more lead. (But guess what; nobody succeeded.)

Pollen is a powdery dust that blows off some plants and irritates some people. If we put pollen into pure water and look at it through a microscope, we'll see the grains of pollen jumping around as if something is running into them.

Chapter 0-Page 0

Sections

WHAT'S INSIDE MATTER

WHAT'S INSIDE ATOMS

WHAT IS LIGHT, REALLY

CAN WE PREDICT THE FUTURE

HOW DOES A QUANTUM ATOM ACT

CAN PARTICLES ACT LIKE WAVES

DO TWO SLITS MAKE SENSE

HOW DO QUANTUM NUCLEI ACT

WHAT'S INSIDE PROTONS/NEUTRONS

FINAL THOUGHTS

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