How to Create The Mass of Matter

How Was the Mass of Matter Created?

Have you are ever asked, “What is the most significant and important event among all the events that have occurred from the beginning of the creation of this universe until now?” What would your answer be?

When answering this question, you might begin to ponder various things! A deep realm of thought will form in your mind. Many people may have different answers to this question:

• Some will say the creation of light because without light, we could never see anything.

• Some will say the creation of atoms because without the creation of atoms, nothing would have formed today.

• Others might say the creation of stars because without stars, the origin of light and heat would not have happened. And without light and heat, our existence would not have been possible.

But the truth is that without one significant and important event nothing would have existed. And that most important significant event is the creation of mass (matter).

The Roots of Creation: Mass

We often think about the creation of many things in the universe!

For instance, how was light created?

How did stars come into being?

How was matter created? And so on.

But we rarely reflect on the fact that at the root of all these creations was the event of mass creation.

Many of us think that mass or matter has existed since the beginning of time. Since mass and energy are equivalent, just like energy, it hasn’t been created; it has only transformed from one form to another.

There is enough reason behind this thinking. From our daily experiences, we have seen, and continue to see, numerous instances of energy transforming from one form to another.

You must be wondering by now how could the creation of mass be the most important event in the universe?
The creation of mass is the most important event because, without the existence of matter nothing in this universe would be visible.

And if nothing became visible, we wouldn’t be able to see anything at all. You, me, and everything visible in the world around us exist only because they have mass.

The Big Bang and the Beginning

We all know that the origin of this universe happened through the Big Bang. This theory teaches us that initially, the entire universe was condensed into a point of infinite density and infinite temperature. Naturally, where there is infinite temperature, no matter can exist.

Energy: Invisible but Powerful

Therefore, it can be said with certainty that everything was in the form of energy at that time. Everything in this universe is a different form of energy, and one notable characteristic of energy is that it can never be seen directly, but it can be felt.

For example, if you place your hand over a fire, you will feel heat and you know very well that this heat is due to “thermal energy. But have you ever seen heat directly? Of course not. You have only felt it.

Similarly when you jump off the ground you must have felt an invisible force pulling you back down to the ground. You know this is due to Earth’s gravitational force. But have you ever seen gravity? No but you have felt it.

The Misconception About Light

Now some may argue that light is also a form of energy and we can see light! But this perception is entirely wrong because we never actually “see” light; we only see the effects of certain properties of light, like reflection, refraction, radiation, scattering, interference, diffraction, etc.

We don’t see the light itself, light helps us see. When light falls on an object, and its reflected rays reach our eyes, we can see that object. Without light reflection, we wouldn’t see anything at all.

The Creation of Mass: Making Things Visible

So, what do we understand from the above points? We understand that the fundamental energy itself cannot be seen. That is, if something exists as pure energy, it will never become visible, although it will make its presence known in other ways.

Only those things that have mass are in the form of matter, can be seen. The creation of mass allows certain things in the universe to become visible. Without the creation of mass, nothing in the universe would have achieved visible existence.

What Is Mass?

First, we’ll understand what mass is. If we ask what the mass of matter is, most people will answer that the mass of an object is the total mass of the particles that make it up. But believe it or not, this is not entirely true. Now you may ask why not? Let’s explain.

Everything we see around us, such as iron, wood, bricks, stones, living and non-living objects, is made up of an extremely small particle called an atom. Breaking down an atom usually gives us the nucleus at the center and electrons revolving in circular/elliptical orbits around the nucleus.

We know that a nucleus consists of protons and neutrons. In short, when you break down an atom, you find three types of tiny particles.

protons, neutrons, and electrons. The combined mass of protons and neutrons is much, much greater than that of electrons. The mass of an electron is almost 1,837 times smaller than a proton and about 1,800 times smaller than a neutron. This is why the mass of the nucleus is considered the primary mass of the atom.

The History of the Atom: From Democritus to Quarks

Protons and neutrons are not the most fundamental particles of nature. They are made up of even smaller particles although this wasn’t always thought to be the case.

In 460 BCE the Greek philosopher Democritus first proposed the idea of an indivisible unit of matter. Which he called the atom. The Greek word atom means indivisible or something that cannot be further divided. While Democritus’s idea was later disproved the name “atom” remained.

At one point, it was believed that breaking down an atom would reveal a nucleus and breaking down the nucleus would give us two elementary particles which are protons and neutrons. No further division was thought possible!

But later it was discovered that they could indeed be divided further, and that protons and neutrons were not elementary particles but were composed of even smaller particles known as quarks. A proton consists of two up quarks and one down quark, while a neutron consists of two down quarks and one up quark.

    1) A Proton consists of :

• Two up quarks
• One down quarks

    2) A neutron consists of :

• Two down quarks
• One up quarks

How Mass is Measured: The MeV/c² Unit

Quarks are extremely tiny particles, and their masses are measured using a special unit called MeV/c² (MegaElectron Volt per light speed squared). To give you some context:

• 1 MeV/c² = 1.7827×10⁻³⁰ kg.
• The mass of an up quark is estimated to be between 1.8-3.0 MeV/c².

• The mass of a down quark is estimated to be between 4.5-5.3 MeV/c².

Many may wonder what is MeV/c²?

This is actually the equation used to measure the mass of these extremely tiny particles.

 MeV/c² —-> [MegaElectron Volt / Light Speed²]
(1 MegaElectron Volt / light speed² = 1.7827×10⁻³⁰ Kilogram)

The Mystery of Proton and Neutron Mass

The mass of a proton is approximately 938.2720 MeV/c².

Many of you might now say Is this a joke? How is this possible?

According to the calculation the mass of a proton should equal the sum of the masses of the two up quarks and the one down quark that make it up.

In other words {(2×3.0)+5.3} = 11.3 MeV/c².

So where does the additional 926.9720 MeV/c² come from?

Similarly the same applies to a neutron particle. The mass of a neutron particle is 939.5656 MeV/c².

This too is quite surprising right?

The mass of a neutron should equal the sum of the masses of the two down quarks and the one up quark that make it up.

{(5.3×2)+3.0} = 13.6 MeV/c².

So where does the additional 925.9656 MeV/c² come from?

The Source of Proton and Neutron Mass

The main source of the mass of protons and neutrons is not the mass of the up and down quarks that make them up. Only about 1% of the mass of protons and neutrons comes from the mass of their constituent quarks.

The remaining 99% of their mass comes from the kinetic energy of the quarks and the binding energy of the gluon field that holds them together. his binding energy is what binds the up and down quarks together to form protons and neutrons.

Thus we understand that when we measure the mass of any object at a fundamental level only about 1% of that mass comes from the particles that make up the object while the remaining 99% comes from the kinetic energy of the constituent particles and the binding energy of the gluon field that holds them together.

Therefore it can be said that the energy within an object is the reason for its mass. Mass is simply a measure of the total energy contained within an object.

The Role of Energy in Mass

We have learned from the above discussion that most of the mass of protons and neutrons comes from the kinetic energy and binding energy of the gluon field within them. However, Aside from the energy-generated mass protons and neutrons also have some intrinsic mass that is not due to the kinetic energy or the binding energy of the gluon field.

The mass of a proton particle is approximately 938.2720 MeV/c². However, the combined mass of the two up quarks and one down quark that make up the proton is only 11.3 MeV/c², and the remaining

926.9720 MeV/c² is generated by energy. But this still doesn’t explain the original 11.3 MeV/c² of mass of the proton’s quarks. If most of the mass of protons and neutrons comes from kinetic and binding energy, where does the intrinsic mass of the up and down quarks come from?

The Higgs Field: The Source of Mass

This intrinsic mass is derived from the Higgs field. The Higgs field permeates the entire universe. Whenever a particle passes through the Higgs field it experiences some resistance, and that resistance gives it mass.

In 1964, the Higgs field was proposed by British scientist Peter Higgs, after whom the particle associated with this field, the Higgs boson was named.

Particles like photons which are responsible for light do not interact with the Higgs field which is why they do not have any mass. They travel through the universe with their energy and momentum intact but without any mass.

In year 2012 the Higgs boson was finally discovered at CERN the European Organization for Nuclear Research. This discovery provided crucial evidence for the existence of the Higgs field solidifying our understanding of how particles acquire their mass.

Why Mass Is Crucial to the Universe

Thus we understand that every visible object in this universe including humans, animals, plants, stars and galaxies exists because they have mass.

This mass is the result of the interaction between particles and the Higgs field. If this field did not exist there would be no mass and the universe as we know it would not exist.