The Quantum Calculation of a Green Leaf: Flawless Economy in Photosynthesis
Man constantly strives to develop new technologies in order to use energy efficiently in daily life, prevent waste and obtain the highest gain with the least loss.
Engineers and scientists seek formulas that will prevent energy from being wasted in every system, from factories to power plants. Yet this calculation of efficiency, which man is only now trying to solve in laboratories and with advanced computers, has been operating flawlessly for millions of years inside a green leaf that we pass by every day.
Photosynthesis, the process by which plants take sunlight and convert it into food and oxygen, is one of the most fundamental subjects in biology. For years, this process was thought to be an ordinary chemical reaction. However, recent research in the field of quantum biology has revealed that there is far more advanced engineering behind it.
The Miraculous Journey of Light Inside a Leaf
When a particle of light (a photon) from the Sun strikes the surface of a leaf, it ultimately has to reach the energy center in the plant's cells. Yet the microscopic world inside the leaf is highly complex; there are thousands of different maze-like paths that the particle of light can take. According to the laws of classical physics, this particle of light would have to randomly choose one of the paths and, if it took the wrong path, lose energy and disperse into the surroundings as heat. Scientists investigated for a long time why plants lose no energy during this process.
The latest precise observations caused great astonishment in the scientific world: When the particle of light entered the maze inside the leaf, it was using the principle of "superposition" (the ability to exist in more than one state at the same time) in quantum mechanics. In other words, rather than trying the paths in the maze one by one, light tries all the paths it can take at the same time and reaches its destination by finding the shortest path with the least loss, without experiencing any delay or loss of energy. In this way, plants can process the energy they receive from the Sun with an efficiency of almost 100%, in other words, with zero waste.
The Universe Is Created with Infinite Intelligence and a Superior Plan
The phenomenon described in detail above involves a calculation that even professors of quantum physics can only observe in a laboratory environment under special conditions and with great difficulty. It cannot mathematically be explained by coincidences that a green leaf, which has no intelligence, consciousness, education or laboratory, performs this flawless calculation billions of times every second by knowing the laws of physics governing subatomic particles, and it is evident that this extraordinary phenomenon is a manifest sign of creation.
This balance of "zero waste" and "maximum efficiency" in nature actually shows mankind a very clear truth: Every detail in the universe is evidence of the names of our Almighty Lord, Ar-Razzaq (the All-Provider), Who provides sustenance for every living being, and Al-Muqaddir (the Expediter), Who brings everything into existence according to a specific measure, plan and destiny.
Our Lord reveals this delicate measure and order of sustenance on Earth in the Holy Qur'an as follows:
“And We sent down a measured amount of water from heaven and lodged it firmly in the ground, and We are well able to remove it. By means of it We produce gardens of dates and grapes for you, in which there are many fruits for you and from which you eat.” (Surat al-Mu’minun, 18-19)
Our Lord, Who shows light the truest path in that invisible quantum maze inside the leaf, also encompasses all the plants, animals and human beings on Earth. In an environment where the laws of physics operate at the subatomic level even for the nourishment of a tiny blade of grass, our Lord, Who created all these things, has not left anything in the universe uncontrolled and on its own, but has encompassed it with His infinite knowledge and created it within an order.
God reveals this magnificent planning in the universe in Surat al-Furqan as follows:
“... He created everything and determined it most exactly.” (Surat al-Furqan, 2)
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