What are the chances of us being alive?
Existential Crisis
Life is a beautiful thing. A bunch of organisms made up of some combination of atoms floating around in the cosmos. The only known life form in the universe, thus far… It is not the shear amount of conditions that has to be met for life to develop that amazes me but rather the improbability of those conditions being met.
The precise angle of the earth giving us seasons allowing agriculture to develop, Earth being just the correct distance from the sun so that it doesn’t fry us to a crisp or freeze over the planet and the shear amount of extinction level events that are well overdue that we have been lucky to not have happened since the dinosaurs (or Noahs ark, depending on which way you swing). I could write a full 300 page book on each of these but there is one more that blows my mind. The formation of the most fundamental element for the development of life, carbon-12.
Foundations of Life
The birth of a carbon-12 atom is more fascinating then it sounds, this is no ordinary atom, this very atom has rewritten the laws of the universe and it is this atom that is the foundation of life on our little planet.
The formation of this atom is due to the triple alpha process. This unique process occurs when 3 helium-4 particles, commonly known as alpha particles combine at the same time to form a carbon-12 nuclei. This formation happens at the centre of a star, trillions of atoms are flying around and when they inevitably collide, they combine to form a heavier of the two atoms together.
The first stage on the journey to Carbon is very simple it is simply 2 helium-4 atoms colliding to form a beryllium-8 nucleus. However the life span of this specific nucleus is short, its lifespan shorter than the time it takes you to blink. In this exceedingly short time, another helium-4 atom has to collide with the beryllium-8. However this encounter is incredibly rare and this unique event is known as the alpha-capture process and results in the formation of an incredibly excited state of carbon-12
Quantum Magic
At this point the carbon-12 nucleus is far from stable and yearns to reach a more relaxed state. However, a significant barrier stands in its way, the need to overcome the large repulsive force caused by two positively charged nuclei that pushes the helium-4 atom away. Incredibly, quantum tunnelling a theory that suggest that over a small enough distance a particle can effectively teleport through space, a phenomenon that defies classical physics and has redefined how we see the universe, allows the carbon-12 nucleus to overcome this barrier. With a bit of quantum magic, out carbon-12 nucleus tunnels through the energy barrier and emerges as a stable carbon-12 nucleus.
This newly formed atom is eventually thrown into the universe through supernova explosions, where massive stars end their lives in a brilliant burst of light sending an enormous amount of atoms flying through the universe.These Carbon-12 atoms then mingle with other atoms and compounds, forming the raw ingredients for future stars, planetary systems and eventually life.
This captivating process highlights the delicate balance n of nature. Everything works like seamless clockwork to produce the wonder of the universe... life.
P.s the odds of us being alive is 1 in 102,685,000 which is one in 10 followed by 2865000 zeros. Do with that what you will.