The human being has a tendency
to take everything for granted. One example
of this is the atmosphere that we have come to rely on to provide the air we breathe,
among many other things. When we stop and
reflect on the Quranic verse used in the title of this article, we realize how fortunate
we are. We know now that, following God's
precise design, the earth's atmosphere blocks out all the harmful short wavelength,
high-frequency photons, shielding us from the potentially deadly effects of ultraviolet,
X-rays, and gamma rays. Life on earth has evolved beneath a protective blanket of
air. Without it, we would hardly last a day,
for the influx of high-energy photons (primarily from the sun) would prove lethal. We find almost no high-energy photons in our local
environment, and must go beyond the upper atmosphere to encounter these.
All of us should count
ourselves fortunate to have an atmosphere that protects us from the electromagnetic waves
that would otherwise destroy us. The most
important part of this protection consists of the shield against ultraviolet waves, which
the sun produces in great amounts. This
atmospheric shield arises from one of the most famous and least understood of all
molecules, ozone.
A molecule consists of two or
more atoms held together in a single unit. The
air that we breathe consists mainly of oxygen molecules (oxygen atoms linked together in
pairs, hence the notation 02), and nitrogen molecules (pairs of nitrogen atoms, or N2). These molecules provide some protection against
streams of ultraviolet radiation from the sun and (much, less important) from other
astronomical objects. Although some
ultraviolet photons will disappear when they strike oxygen and nitrogen molecules, most
would penetrate the atmosphere and strike the earth's surface, were it not for the ozone
layer.
Ozone is a relatively rare
type of molecule, formed when three oxygen atoms link together (03) rather than in pairs. Not much attention would be paid to ozone, were it
not for the fact that ozone molecules prove remarkably efficient at absorbing ultraviolet
photons. Because of this efficiency even a'
relatively tiny number of ozone molecules, high in the stratosphere, is sufficient to
remove almost all the ultraviolet radiation that streams toward the earth.
"The
One who made the earth habitable for you and the sky a structure ..." (Quran,
2:22)
Ozone molecules are formed
from oxygen atoms that are broken apart by the high-energy ultraviolet photons. Some o the individual oxygen atoms recombine to
form 03 (ozone) rather than 02 (oxygen molecules).
"Not
even an atom's weight is out of your Lord's control, be it in the heavens or the earth
..." (Quran, 10:61)
Ozone layer
is a region in the earth's stratosphere - between 7 and 30 miles above the surface. It absorbs much of the harmful ultraviolet (UV)
radiation from the sun. Ultraviolet radiation
is one of the causes of skin cancer. Other
types of atoms and molecules in the atmosphere screen out all X-rays and gamma rays that
reach to the atmosphere.
As if all
this protection from harmful radiation was not enough, God in all His mercy and wisdom
allows selected waves to pass through the atmosphere.
These waves are not harmful to living organism but instead are of great
value to the day-to-day life on earth. Examples
are the radio waves, sometimes subdivided into "microwaves" (the same ones used
in microwave ovens) and "ordinary" (longer wavelength) radio photons. Today's daily living would have been quite
different without this phenomenon. The
television, radio, radar and satellite links are just a few more examples of today
progress in technologies gained through these wavelength photons. God with His grace taught the humans to harness
all this.
"He taught Adam all the names then presented them to the angels,
saying, "Give me the names of these, if you are right"
(Quran, 2:31)
All this,
and much more, have been established for the inhabitants of earth by God ... for the purpose of distinguishing those among you who would do better ...
(Quran, 67:2)
- Ijaz
Chaudry
