Hi, There are many different types of maps in the world.
Most people are familiar with typical road map,
You know, the one that helped you find where you were going back in the day before GPS
And google maps or even mapquest! Remember those?
Few of us know that there are also political maps,
Economic maps, climate maps and even a map depicting every country England has ever invaded!
Oh yes, and spoiler alert…there are a lot of them!
But did you know that NASA has something called fluorescence maps?
Which measures chlorophyll fluorescence light
And offers a new view of the world’s land plants?
These maps are based on data collected from the spectrometer aboard a Japanese satellite.
And are the first to focus on land vegetation and to cover the entire globe.
Chlorophyll fluorescence offers a more direct window
Into the inner workings of the photosynthetic machinery of plants from space.
With chlorophyll fluorescence, we should be able to tell immediately
If plants are under environmental stress
Before outward signs of browning or yellowing of leaves become visible.
So said Elizabeth Middleton, a NASA Goddard-based biologist,
And a member of the team that created the maps.
Joanna Joiner of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre
Says, “humans can’t see this light. Our eyes just aren’t that sensitive.
To see the light that’s emitted from plants all over the world,
We have to use scientific instruments that are placed on satellites.”
The quantum theory of quantum physics
Tells us about the coherence of light
And proposes a dual nature of light, meaning that light can behave simultaneously
As particles or waves.
Light gives plants the energy they need to grow.
But what happens if plants receive too much light?
The answer is they glow. This neon glow is actually happening around us all the time
And it’s the result of a cellular process.
Where light from the sun is transformed and released as fluorescent light.
In a phenomena called chlorophyll fluorescence.
The light exits the plant cell and is released into the atmosphere.
Which is why NASA stated that their satellite instruments
Have given climate researchers an unexpected global view from space
Of a fluorescent glow from land chlorophyll.
But would you believe me if I told you that that bottle of olive oil on your kitchen counter
Also gives off a fluorescent glow
That can be seen in space in much the same way as planet Earth glows?
Or would you maybe start to question my IQ?
It’s not bad, by the way.
It’s true folks! Olive oil, that rich substance we love to drizzle on our pasta
Or douse our salads with,
Emits a coherent light that makes it glow by fluorescence
In the same way as our planet glows in space.
Olive oil is unique among the majority of oils,
In that it is a product of a fruit, rather than a seed.
As such, it has a different constitution,
And naturally contains the green coloured plant pigment chlorophyll,
which is fluorescent.
Though it may appear dull under regular light, hit a clear glass of olive oil
With a green laser and the oil will glow red.
And it’s not just lasers that will get the olive oil to fluoresce,
Ultraviolet lamps will do the trick too,
And are accepted as an official method
For the identification of the purity and grade of olive oil
According to the U.S. Bureau of Standards.
But before the existence of these specialized instruments that detect the fluorescent light
Emitted by plants on planet earth from satellites in space,
Or the discovery of the quantum theory that explains how it all works,
The Quran actually addressed this issue
In a fascinating verse.
In verse 35 of Chapter 24,
The Quran says: “"Allah (God) is the Light of the heavens and the earth.
The parable of His light is like a niche pillar
In it is a lamp
The lamp is in a glass, the glass is like a brilliant planet,
Lit from an olive tree,
Which is neither of the east (i.e. neither this tree gets sun-rays only in the morning)
nor of the west (i.e. nor it gets sun- rays only in the afternoon,
But it is exposed to the sun all day long)
Its olive oil would almost glow forth (of itself)
Though no fire touched it
Light upon Light!"
The verse likens the glow of the planet with the glow of the oil derived from olives,
As both shine in the same way, by fluorescence.
Both are also dependent on the same physical phenomenon fueled by quantum physics,
And both emit a coherent light.
Coherence is one of the most important concepts in quantum physics,
And is strongly related to the ability of light to exhibit interference effects.
A light field is called coherent (like the light from lasers)
When there is a fixed phase relationship between the electric field values at different locations
Or at different times.
Coherent light waves are waves with a constant phase difference.
They will have the same frequency and wavelength,
When two waves meet they will interfere and superpose.
This is called the quantum principle of superposition,
And it’s at the heart of quantum mechanics.
If you look in the dictionary, the word superposition technically means “one upon another”.
So when God says “light upon light” in the verse I mentioned just now,
He is referring to superposition of light waves,
“one upon another”.
The fact that the Quran states that olive oil “glows”
Is, in and of itself a miracle,
As lasers and ultraviolet lamps now used to detect such a glow
Did not exist back then in any way, shape or form.
Although "planet" is defined as a body that orbits a star
(in our case the Sun) and produces no light of its own,
And although olive oil is dull under regular light,
Not only did the Quran inform us that they both glow on their own
But, the Quran also asserts that they glow in a similar manner!
What’s more, the Quran refers to it as light upon light
Long before the existence of the quantum theory of coherence,
Which now confirms this superposition of light waves.
So the question remains,
How could the Quran have known to use such a comprehensive analogy
1400 years ago?
Was the Prophet Mohamed a quantum physicist?
The answer could only be that the Prophet Mohamed
Had received divine revelation from God,
The creator and originator of the Universe.