[ExI] Energy in motion

[The Avantguardian]

--- On Thu, 12/18/08, Damien Broderick <thespike at satx.rr.com> wrote:

> <http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/2447/dark-energy-expands-and-contracts-our-universe>
 
> 
> Dark energy expands and contracts universe
>
> The new research provides the "strongest evidence yet
> that dark energy is the cosmological constant,"
> Vikhlinin said, being similar to the energy of empty space.
> "Or in other words, that 'nothing weighs
> something'."

So according to the cosmologists, this ineffable force called dark energy constitutes some 70% of the mass of the universe. While the atoms that *materialism* touts as the end all be all of our existence accounts for a mere 4% of the mass of the universe. But even that 4% is seeming quite insubstantial these days.

Since Rutherford bounced helium nuclei off of gold foil, particle physicists have known that most of the mass of an atom consists of almost entirely of the protons and neutrons in its nucleus. Yet protons and neutrons themselves are each composed of three quarks that together make up a mere 5% of the mass total of the proton or neutron. Where does the rest of the mass come from? From the frenzied relativistic motion of gluons that don't have any rest mass at all.   

http://www.theage.com.au/news/technology/quarks-gluons-and-corroborating-emc2/2008/11/21/1226770694126.html

Quoting from the article:

"The odd thing is this: the mass of gluons is zero and the mass of quarks is only five per cent [of the mass of a proton]. Where, therefore, is the missing 95 per cent?

The answer, according to the study published in the US journal Science on Thursday, comes from the energy from the movements and interactions of quarks and gluons."

So now lets summarize:

The cosmologists are saying that only 4% of the mass of the universe is normal matter. And the particle physicists say that of that only 5% of normal matter is actually "stuff" that has rest mass. So approximately 0.002% of the mass of the universe is actual substantial quark-based matter. So materialism as a philosophy, based as it is on a trace contaminant in a universe that is composed almost entirely of dark energy, dark matter, and the kinetic energy of massless particles, might be a violation of the Copernican principle.  


Stuart LaForge