Heavens Without Pillars
He created the heavens (السَّمَاوَاتِ) without pillars that you see and has cast into the earth firmly set mountains, lest it should shift with you, and dispersed therein from every creature. And We sent down rain from the sky and made grow therein [plants] of every noble kind.(Qur’an 31:10) “Allah is He Who raised up the (السَّمَاوَاتِ) heaven/sky without pillars ” (Quran 13:2) We understand the (samaa)heaven/sky to be atmosphere in the verse above. The Arabic word “samaa” is translated as atmosphere in this context as it is translated as atmosphere elsewhere in the Quran Do they not see the birds controlled in the atmosphere of the sky? None holds them up except Allah. Indeed in that are signs for a people who believe. (Qur’an 16:79) All the oxygen, nitrogen and other particles on Earth’s atmosphere has a combined mass of 5 quadrillion tons.It is attracted to the earths centre by gravity. A falling sky would mean that nearly 10 tons of molecules (roughly the weight of a school bus) would drop on every square meter of earth’s surface. What prevents the atmosphere from falling down? There is no support structure/no pillars? IN OTHER WORDS, WHAT PREVENTS SOMETHING THE WEIGHT OF A SCHOOL BUS FALLING ON YOU RIGHT NOW?There is no pillar or any other support structure to protect you. In the atmosphere, the pressure of the air decreases with increasing altitude. This pressure difference causes an upward force called the pressure-gradient force. The force of gravity balances this out, keeping the atmosphere bound to Earth and maintaining pressure differences with altitude. This equilibrium is possibly referred to in another verse of the Quran; “And the heaven /sky He raised and imposed the balance” (Quran 55:7)