Page 78 - The Miracle in the Atom
P. 78
Do you not see that Allah sends down water from
the sky and forthwith the earth is covered in green?
Allah is All-Subtle, All-Aware.
(Surat al-Hajj: 63)
A Miracle Molecule: Water
A liquid specifically chosen for life – "water" – covers two-thirds of our
earth. The bodies of all living beings on the earth are formed of this very spe-
cial liquid at a ratio ranging between 50%-95%. From bacteria living in
springs with temperatures close to the boiling point of water, to some speci-
al mosses on melting glaciers, life is present everywhere where there is wa-
ter, no matter at what temperature. Even in a single droplet hung on a leaf af-
ter rain, thousands of microscopic living organisms emerge, reproduce, and
die.
How would the earth look if there were no water? Certainly, everywhe-
re there would be desert. There would be abysses and horrific pits, in place
of seas. The sky would seem cloudless and have a strange colour.
In fact, it is extremely difficult for water, the basis of life on earth, to
form. First, let us imagine that hydrogen and oxygen molecules, which are
the components of water, are put in a glass bowl. Let us leave them in the
bowl for a very long time. These gases may still not form water even if they
remain in the bowl for hundreds of years. Even if they do, it would not be
more than a very small amount at the very bottom of the bowl and that wo-
uld happen in a very slow fashion, maybe over thousands of years.
The reason why water forms so slowly under these circumstances is
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