Illusion

+*Illusion*+

Behold the hard
steel beam
Standing tall on city skylines
Solid, strong and lean

Yet deep inside,
there goes unseen
the empty spaces
in between

Quarks and Gluons
do their thing
Microscopic reality
Empty space
divides those things

More space between
the molecules
Nothing is as
they may seem

What we can sense
is not the truth
Our eyes and ears
can't be believed

Sub-atomic particles  
exist in empty space
First they are  
and then they're not
They disappear
without a trace

They return
 then go away

It's a wonderus world we live in
Complexity is infinite

Reality is  
far stranger
than imagine dreams
What lies beyond
imagination....
no-one can conceive!

Molecules are the fun little critters of which we are all made. They are the smallest particle of any given substance that has all the properties of that substance. We all remember that from high school.
That's an easy one.

Atoms are even smaller little things that  make up a molecule. They are the smallest particle  that can't be brocken, chemically.

The little guys are made of a nuclius, protons, (positively charged) neutrons, (no charge) and electrons. (Negatively charged)

The electron orbits the nucleus in predominately empty space, much as the planets do around the sun.

There is even more space between atoms in "solid" matter". Apparent solidity is only an illusion, based on our limited sense of sight and touch.
 In outer space, atoms can be a meter apart. No vacuum is complete.

Going down in size much further, we enter the surreal  world of quarks and  gluons. These freaky things can be positively or negatively charged. The quarks are highly bound together by gluons, also known as "the strong nuclear force."

They have the spooky ability to wink in and out of existance. They pull this little hat trick by being made of energy. How about them apples? Matter is made of energy! The interaction of quarks and gluons is what we call matter. (String Theory)

Here's  how those sub-atomic particles pull their disappearing/ re-appering act. Matter and snti-matter pop into existence, some friggin' how! When they acquire pairs of electron-positron and quark-anti-quark within the quantum level, they wink out. Why they wink in again is anyone's guess!

Matter is a constant event, not a thing. Quarks are fast-moving energy. Ditto for gluons. When they do their thing, matter happens for us all to be made of.

Quarks and gluons can only be separated using extreme heat, high enough to melt protons and neutrons. Such heat would produce a state of matter called quark and gluon plasma.

This soup was the state of being before the Big Bang. A fraction of. second after the Big Bang, it became cool enough for the quarks and gluons to seperate. When they tried to bond again, the action between them became what we know as matter.
                      *************
I n the beginning, there was the Force.

 And the force said, "Let there be free Quarks!" and there were freed Quarks.

The force said, "This is good!"

Then the Force saw that the Quark was not complete without the Gluon.

The force said, "Let the Gluons bind the Quarks together!"

 And the Quarks were bound together, producing matter as a result of their activity!

The universe was born!

So.....What have we learned in class, today? We have learned that what we call solid matter is mostly empty space. Our reality is not real. Our reality is merely our humble and very limited interpretation of what is. We sense enough to navigate our environment, but not to see what is really  there.

The true nature of  the universe is so far above our pay grades, we are forced to accept much of life on faith.

What is the power behind the quark? We would have no way of knowing!

I wanna go HOME now, MOMMY!