Book Title: Microcosmology Atom in Jain Philosophy and Modern Science
Author(s): Jethalal S Zaveri, Mahendramuni
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati

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Page 76
________________ 58 Microcosmology : Atom generate such high temperatures on earth and such an explosion would then act as a trigger for the hydrogen bombs. Fission and fusion, however, are also common in everyday phenomenon that occur any time you burn anything. Both are essential whenever energy is released, whether it is the chemical energy from coal or the atomic energy from nuclei of uranium or deuterium. For example, when you light a cigarette, the first fission and fusion occurs in the lighting of the match, the cellulose in the match being fissioned into its components carbon and hydrogen. These are then fusioned with the oxygen of the air. The same thing happens when the tobacco catches fire. In each case, the fusion with oxygen makes possible the fission of the cellulose. It is a scientific fact that man now has at his disposal means that not only can wipe out all life on earth, but also make the earth itself unfit for life for many generations to come. Here we have indeed what is probably the greatest example of irony in man's history! The very process in the sun that made life possible on earth and is responsible for its being maintained here, can now be used by man to wipe out that very life and to ruin the earth for good. In both, fission and fusion, only a very small fraction of the mass of the protons and neutrons in the nuclei of the atoms used is liberated in the form of energy, while 99.3 to 99.6% of the substance remain in the form of matter. Scientists are even now engaged in finding means of converting 100% of the matter into energy i.e. complete annihilation of matter by the conversion of the entire mass of protons and neutrons into energy instead of only 0.4 to 0.7% And while the total conversion of protons and neutrons still seems speculative, we already know that such a process actually does take place in the realm of the electron. This is the phenomenon of the mutual annihilation of a positive electron (positron) and a negative electron, achieved numerous times on a small scale in the laboratory which we have already discussed. In this process the entire mass of the two particles is converted into energy. Luckily each positron must be individually produced, since there are hardly any positrons in our part of the universe. But suppose a new process that would release positrons in large numbers is found,

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