What can we learn from the above image?
According to the standard model, the universe started with the Big Bang. The universe was as small as a single point and then rapidly expanded. It exploded. This is what we see to the left side of the image. In the initial nanoseconds of the universe’s existence there were only photons with high energy, and it was very hot. As the universe expanded and cooled, other elements like hydrogen were created. Eventually making galaxies and stars. This is what we see to the right side of the image.
Matter is energy condensed.
I believe that it is determined (the objects in the universe have no other choice) that as the universe expands, there have to be galaxies, stars, planets, and eventually even cells. According to the First Law of Thermodynamics there is the principle that is the Law of Conservation of Energy. No energy can be created or destroyed but can change form. Combining this with the expansion of volume. The expansion necessitates a cooling. But, the total energy within the system remains the same. To keep it that way, the objects in space (starting out way in the beginning with photons) clump together to form stars. Stars are energy bundles in space. As the expansion continues, more and more clumping occurs, even to cells. Cells are small energy bundles in space.
The heavy elements that are used in our (human’s) bodies were created in stars like the Sun. Elements like carbon and iron. These elements are released into the universe when the star dies. This is a supernova. This is what is meant with that we are all children of the stars.
This is the connection. This is what is meant with that everything is energy. The high energy photons go to matter with mass, and back again.
This was Einstein’s contribution: E=mc2. This is the formula that descibes the condensation of energy to matter (to objects with mass), and vice versa.
This has always been obvious to me. This is what non-physics folk have to learn. Everything exists within the universe. The universe is made up of matter. Cells are made from matter. Humans are made from cells. If you want to understand anything in this world, you have to know something about physics.
Here’s an analogy. You work with a computer. You’ve heard about bits and bytes, and zero’s and one’s. And these zero’s and one’s are written on your hard drive or your USB. And yet, this seems a satisfactory answer to the non-physics folk. As long as it works. But, the universe exists out of matter and energy. A hard drive is a metallic plate. How are those bits and bytes staying on that plate? A magnet orients the matter of that metallic plate in a specific way. To be read later, or altered. The quantum mechanical workings of energy and matter is what’s keeping your files at your fingertips.