With a degree in Chemistry, I observed the periodic table too many times to count. But, I did count 92 natural elements, which are the ones God created. Man has found a few more that were developed as the result of nuclear activity or in the laboratory.
And the elements can be categorized several ways: metals, non-metals, metalloids, and noble gases, which are further divided into
seven families and eighteen groups. They are also classified into four types of
blocks that are: s- block, p- block, d- block and f- block, based on the
valence electron in which the shell is located.
There’s more, but the beauty of the
elements is their logical, unique qualities that have enabled men to organize
and better understand both the elements themselves, and the resulting compounds
both in nature and in the laboratory. Thus, all the chemicals and
pharmaceuticals that have been developed, along with everything in nature, are
a result of God’s creative, chemical wisdom. After all, everything is a
chemical composition.
From where else could chemicals have
arisen? Hydrogen is the simplest element. Did all the others evolve from it?
There is no process that could have provided this. True, some elements degrade
over time and can actually change into another. For example, Radiometric Dating
compares amount of Uranium to Lead, or Potassium to Argon in order to determine
the age of a compound. The shortcoming of this method is due to the unknown
amount of the original element in the material being tested.
The above mentioned elements never
degrade into a more reactive one, but only to a less reactive one, just like
mutations in living things always lose properties from its parent organism, and
don’t gain any. The logical conclusion
is that God created each element after its own kind, just as He created each
animal after its own kind. Just as a dog has always been a dog, with a variety
of breeds, so Carbon has always been Carbon, with a variety of isotopes.
The great thing about this is that we
are alive because of all the elements and their resultant compounds that God
has provided!
COPYRIGHT 2024 BY CARL E GUSTAFSON