The universe we observe; chance or design?

• Carbon. If the ‘resonance’ in carbon (see video clip below) differed by just 1% there would be no element and no life.
• Stars (producing heat, essential for life). No stars would have formed if the ratio of the nuclear strong force to the electromagnetic force had differed by 1 in 10¹⁶ (that’s 1 in 100000000000000000)
• Large stars (essential to produce heavier elements). These could not have existed if there had been a change of 1 in 10⁴⁰ in the ratio of the electromagnetic force-constant to the gravitational force-constant. If you find it hard to picture such accuracy then imagine firing a bullet and hitting a coin the other side of the universe 20 billion light years away.
• Initial expansion rate. Too fast an expansion = no galaxies; too slow = a collapsing universe. Scientists calculate the balance required in the earliest moments (10^-45 seconds) was 1 in 10⁵⁵. 
• Low entropy universe. Even if you don’t know what a low entropy universe is or why we need it, the fact is that the phase space of the universe at the very beginning must have been defined to 1 in 10¹²³.
• Planet Earth. When we come closer to home, the factors that give us a habitable planet – distance from the sun, surface gravity and temperature, rotation and tilt, etc. – are all fine-tuned. It has been calculated that cumulatively the chances of such a planet existing are in the order of 1 in 10³⁰.

The following clip looks at the formation of carbon in the universe, essential to all know life:   Fine tuning - Carbon