Dr. Zaghloul El-Naggar

Introduction :

Iron is the mostabundantelement in the total composition of the Earth (>35% of its total mass) and the fourthabundantelement in itscrust (5.6%). This observation has led to the logical conclusion that the majority of the Earth's iron must behidden below its crust (i.e. withinbothitscore and mantle). If thisis the case, how could this element be sent down to Earth as stated in the abovementioned Qur'anic verse?

And how couldit have penetrated the outercrust of the Earth to itsinner zones of mantle and core?

To answerthese questions, the Earth must betreated as part of the total cosmos, from which it was separated, not merely as an isolatedentity. In thiscontext, recent cosmological discoveries have provedthat:

1- Hydrogen (the simplest and the lightestknownelement) is by far the mostabundantelement in the observeduniverse (constituting about 74%).

2- Thispredominant, universalhydrogenisfollowed in abundance by helium (the second in the periodic table of elementsconstituting about 24%).

3- Thesetwo, simple nuclei of hydrogen and heliumconstitutetogether the highestpercentage of the observeduniverse (> 98%).Heavierelements are onlyrepresented by traces that do not exceed 1-2% of the total mass of the observeduniverse, and are onlylocallyconcentrated in certain heavenly bodies.

Suchfundamentaldiscoveries have led to the important conclusion thathydrogennuclei are the basic building blocks fromwhich all the otherelementswere and are currentlybeingcreated by aprocesscallednuclear fusion. This nucleosynthesis of elements by nuclear fusion) is self- sustaining, generallyhighlyexothermic (i.e. releases excessively large quantities of energy) and is the source of the very hot and glowing nature of stars. However, when the process of nucleosynthesisreaches the level of producingiron, the reactionbecomesendothermic (i.e. energyconsuming) and hence, the star eitherexplodes or condenses on itself and fades out gradually to completedimming and absolutedarkness (a stage generallyknown as the Black Hole).

Nuclear Fusion withinoursunmainlyproduceshelium, with a verylimitednumber of slightlyheavierelements. The percentage of iron in the sunisestimated to be in the order of 0.0037%. Knowingthat the Earth as well as all otherplanets and satellites in oursolar system wereactuallyseparatedfrom the sun, whichdoes not generateiron, another question wasraised: wherehad the immense quantity of iron in ourEarth come from?

Our sunis a modest star, with a surface temperature of about 6,000 C, and an innercoretemperature of about 15,000,000 C. Such figures are far below the calculatedtemperatures for the production of iron by the process of nuclear fusion. The heaviestelementprduced in oursun by the process of nuclear fusion issilicon (Si). This isaccompanied by bothcarbon (C) and oxygen (O) nuclei.

Consequently, other sources much hotter than the sunweresought as possible sites for the generation of iron in the observeduniverse. One of the suggested sources of excessive heatwas the "Big Bang" explosion of the initial singularityfromwhichouruniversewascreated. However, all speculations about thiseventsuggestthatshortlyafter the "Big Bang" matterwas in such an elementary stage thatonlyhydrogen and helium (with possible traces of lithium) could have been generated. Again, if any traces of ironwereproduced at that stage, ironwould have been more evenlydistributed in the observeduniverse, whichis not the case.

NUCEOSYNTHESIS OF ELEMENTS AS A SUPPORTING EVIDENCE FOR THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL ORIGIN OF IRON IN OUR EARTH:

Nucleosynthesis of elementstakes place in the innercores of stars according toits initial masses as well as to how muchthese starsloseduringitsdevelopment. This has been proved by following the thermonuclearreactions in the cores of the "Main Sequence-Stars" as follows:

A "Main Sequence Star" with an initial mass close to that of oursunstartswith the fusion of itshydrogennuclei to producehelium. Then the gradualincrease in the amount of the producedheliumnucleipushes the remaining, non-fusedhydrogennucleioutwardly in the form of aburninghydrogen front around a heliumcore. In thiscore, gravitydominates over the outwardpressure, leading to the contraction of the heliumnuclei and the expansion of the outward, burninghydrogen front.Hencethis "Main Sequence Star" changes intowhatisknown as a "Red Giant". Further contraction of the "RedGiant's" heliumcore and expansion of itsouterburning front, will cause a mildcore collapse and eventuallywill lead to the decrease of its mass by about 20%,changingintowhatisknown as a "White Dwarf" (the size of the Earth but the mass of the sun). Withsubsequent slow gravitational contraction, shrinking, cooling and dimming, the "White Dwarf" changes intowhatisdescribed as a "Brown Dwarf" or a "Black Dwarf". This process of core collapse, gradualshrinking, cooling and darkeningis the naturalresult of a winninginward pull of gravity over adecreasingoutward push fusion process due to the consumption of itshydrogen fuel content.

Similar to the light stars, massive "Main SequenceStars" (ten or more times the mass of oursun) alsopass by the "RedGiant"phase, wherethey are described as "Red Super-giants", but they have a quitedifferentevolutionarypath. Shrinking of the heliumcore of a "RedSupergiant" createsgreater forces that restart itsnuclear fusion.With a muchlargergravitational pull to the center of the core (due to itsgreater mass) and much more active internal collisions,the combinedeffect of contraction and collision are highlyaccelerated. Thisresults in tremendously high temperatures capable of the gradualgeneration of progressivelyheavieratomicnucleisuch as carbon, oxygen, silicon and ironthrough the process of nuclear fusion. A massive star will have an ironcoresurroundedoutwardly by shells of silicon, oxygen, carbon, helium and hydrogen. When the "Red Super giant's" coreischangedintocarbon, excessive quantities of energy are released, and these lead to the outward push of a second burning front of heliumtowards the first and envelopinghydrogen front.

With thesubsequent contraction of the carboncore, itstemperaturerisesexcessivelyto allow the fusion of the carbonnucleiinto a chainprocessthat passes by magnesium, followed by aluminum, thensilicon.

The siliconcore changes graduallyintoheaviernucleiduringsimilarepisodes of contraction of the core and expansion of the surrounding fronts, releasing more energy and changing the "RedSupergiant" into a "Supernova", whereironstarts to form. The generation of iron in the core of the "Supernova" starts to consume itsenergy, because of the factthat the fusion of siliconintoironishighlyendothermic (i.e.itconsumes excessive quantities of energy). As the core of the "Supernova" changes intoiron, itexplodes in the form of agiant "Supernova", ejectingitsgaseousenvelopes and shatteringitscore to piecesthatfly out intoouterspace to reachothercelestial bodies thatneed iron. Duringitsspacejourney, ironmay fuse with one or more of the elementaryparticlesthatfill the universe to formfurtheheaviernuclei.

Summary and Conclusion

This discussion clearlyproves the celestial (extra-terrestrial) origin of iron in ourearth (and subsequently, in oursolar system). Suchfact came to humanknowledgeonly in the laterhalf of the twentiethcentury (mid 1950s).The

explicitrevealation of this

scientificfact in the gloriousQuran more thanfourteen centuries ago,is one of more thanthirteenhundredcosmicQuranic versesthatcantestify for the divine origin of this Noble Book.