THE PROTECTING CEILING

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Quran,Translation and Commentary in Brief (Vol. 04)
Verses 34-35THE SKY IS A FIRM CEILING

      The verse NO.32, refers to the sky overhead, as a protected or protecting ceiling that we usually ignore its signs. This ceiling is nothing other than the huge ocean of air that we call it the ATMOSPHER, in the bottom of which we live and we die. It surrounds the more solid part of the earth, the land and water, but it is just as truly a part of the earth as they are.

      If we were to be removed from this airy envelope somehow, we should gasp and die, as fishes die when they are taken out of water. The sky or the atmosphere which seems blue consists of a mixture of different gases.... Nitrogen makes up almost four fifth of it, and oxygen a little more than one fifth. There are also small quantities of other gases like argon, neon, helium, krypton, xenon, carbon-dioxid, hydrogen and OZON, which is a form of heavy oxygen.

      The atmosphere also contains a considerable amount of water vapor. The earth holds the atmosphere by gravitational attraction.

      The oxygen in the atmosphere makes fire possible, because BURNING, chemically means combination of oxygen with carbon. Our breathing is also part of a burning process, that provides the heat or necessary temperature of our body.

      Nitrogen which is a gas chemically inactive, slows down the process of burning or oxidation. We cannot breath pure oxygen for long because the burning in pure oxygen will be too intensly hot and dangerous.

      Nitrogen is also necessary for the growth of plant life. It is also an essential element in all explosives.

 

      Plants absorb the carbon dioxide which is in the air and utilize it in the manufacture of food in the green leaf through PHOTOSYNTHESIS.

      Man and animal inhale oxygen and give off carbon dioxide as a waste product of breathing.

      About fifteen miles above the earth, there is a layer of OZONE which is a kind of supercharged oxygen. Each OZON molcule contains three atoms of oxygen instead of the two atoms in the ordinary one. This layer of ozone absorbs a great deal of the ultraviolet rays of the sun. If this layer of OZON was not to filter out the rays, the ultraviolet beams would sunborn us to death. This is one of the many purposes that the verse (NO.32) is driving at, by saying:ِ

      ``We made the sky a protecting ceiling for you.''

      The atmosphere moderates the extremes of heat and cold upon the earth, which is another protecting character of it.

      It also protects man from a steady hail of meteoric particles that would otherwise make his life upon earth a constant nightmare. Meteores range in size from small fragments to huge rocks. The vast majority are small. It is estimated that over a hundred billions of meteores strike the earth's atmosphere every twenty four hours, but as they come in contact with the air most of them are reduced to gas and dust through friction.

      It is probable that the atmosphere protects Man not only from the meteores, but also from certain types of electrically charged particles from the sun.

      Without the atmosphere, there would be no rain to fall upon the parched ground, and make plants grow. There would be no wind, and no clouds. If there was no air, there could be no sound, no hearing, and Man's ear would be useless and hence the verse:ِ

      ``And We made the sky a protected ceiling, and they turn away from its signs.''

QUOTED FROM:ِ ``THE BOOK OF POPULAR SCIENCE''

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE

 

 

 

 

Verses 34-35THE SKY IS A FIRM CEILING
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