by S. Prasad Ganti

“There is plenty of room at the bottom” exclaimed the Nobel Prize winning Physicist Richard Feynman. He was referring to the room in the atoms. The nucleus is very tiny, about ten thousand times smaller than the orbits of the electrons which circle the nucleus. With the nucleus containing the neutrons and the protons. All known matter consists of atoms, which means that there is a lot of “almost nothing” at the microscopic level. Yet, matter, which includes us, and our earth and our possessions, and the whole Universe, is very significant

Moving to higher scales, there are wide gaps between the planets of our solar system. The distance of each planet from the next increases as we go further away from our Sun. The first four planets Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are relatively closer to the Sun and each other. But still the space around and between them is vast. Yet the rocky planets of the inner solar system are very significant. 

Followed by the asteroid belt which contains the remnants of the formation of our solar system. It looks like hundreds of thousands of pieces of rubble forming a solid band. But, in reality, there are huge gaps from one piece to another. To the extent that we cannot visually see the neighboring pieces if we were to stand on one of them. 

The distances to the outer gaseous giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune increase as we go outward. The rings of Saturn consist of hundreds of thousands of pieces of rubble, appearing as a solid band. But there is a wide gap between each of them. Like in the asteroid belt, if we were to stand on one such piece, we cannot see the neighboring pieces. This means that our solar system, like the nucleus in the atom, is made up of “almost nothing”. The volume of planets and the sun is a miniscule fraction of the whole spanning space. Yet, this “almost nothing” is very significant. 

Beyond the solar system, there are vast gaps between the stars. Our nearest star Proxima Centauri is about four light years away, with a vast interstellar space in between.  Similarly for other stars within our galaxy, the Milky Way. Yet, the galaxy is a very significant structure.

The space between galaxies itself is huge. For example, our neighboring galaxy Andromeda is about 2 million light years away. The intervening space is “almost nothing”. At a macroscopic level, the cosmic web of our Universe itself consists of islands of clusters of galaxies separated by vast spaces in between. And the Universe is expanding. With galaxies moving away from each other at a rapid pace.   

The vacuum of space represents absence of matter, but it is posited that pairs of virtual particles are constantly getting created and destroyed, leading to energy which drives the expansion of the Universe. “Almost nothing” is significant indeed!

Coming back to the earth, most of the human body is made of water which is pretty mundane, if not “almost nothing”. Very little is made of biochemicals. Yet, it is a very significant design.

The gigantic scales of the universe are built on “almost nothing”.  A lot, in fact, is riding on “almost nothing”. Finally, this article itself may amount to “nothing”.