Historical Thinking Skills: Threshold 1/Big Bang

CMBR

Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation

Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation

is the remains of energy from the flash of energy following the Big Bang that shifted the universe from a Plasma universe to one that could form atoms

How long after the Big Bang was the flash of energy?

About 380,000 years

How long ago was the Big Bang?

Approximately 13.8 billion years

The Plasma Universe

A state of the universe shortly after the Big Bang, where matter existed primarily as plasma, composed of free protons and electrons.

Why didn’t the Plasma Universe have atoms?

Atoms could not form due to extreme temperatures and energies, preventing protons and electrons from combining. When it cooled, atoms were able to form.

The Doppler Effect

The change in frequency or wavelength of a wave in relation to an observer who is moving relative to the wave source. It is commonly experienced with sound waves, where the pitch lowers as the source of sound moves away from the observer.

Spectroscopes

Instruments that analyze light spectra to identify the presence of elements in stars and galaxies, revealing information about their composition and movement.

Absorption Lines

Dark lines in a spectrum where specific wavelengths of light are absorbed by elements, indicating the presence of those elements in stars or gas clouds.

The Parallax Method

A technique used in astronomy to measure the distance to nearby stars by observing their apparent motion against more distant background stars as Earth orbits the Sun.

Cepheid Variables and luminosity, or absolute brightness

A class of stars whose brightness varies in a regular pattern, allowing astronomers to determine their distances by comparing their periodic brightness changes to their known luminosity. Cepheid variables are critical for measuring astronomical distances.

Henrietta Leavitt

An American astronomer who discovered the relationship between the luminosity and period of Cepheid variable stars, which enabled the measurement of cosmic distances.

George Gamow (CMBR)

A theoretical physicist and cosmologist known for his work on the Big Bang theory and the origin of elements in the universe. He played a crucial role in predicting the existence of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR) as a remnant of the Big Bang.

Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson

Two American physicists, who discovered the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR) in 1965, provided strong evidence for the Big Bang theory.

Light years

A unit of astronomical distance, representing the distance that light travels in one year, approximately 5.88 trillion miles or 9.46 trillion kilometers. This measurement is commonly used in astronomy to express distances between stars and galaxies. (Typically, we are seeing old versions of stars)

The Extreme Deep Field

a collection of astronomical images that represent one of the deepest views of the universe, capturing light from some of the most distant galaxies. This observation by the Hubble Space Telescope helps astronomers study the formation and evolution of galaxies across cosmic time.

Questions unanswered by the modern scientific origin story

What was before the Big Bang?

What is dark matter?

Is there an edge to the universe?

Cosmology

Cosmology is the scientific study of the large-scale properties of the universe as a whole, including its origins, evolution, and eventual fate.

How does cosmology ‘see’ into the past?

light takes time to travel across space, the light we see from stars and galaxies is a view of how those objects looked in the past

because of the finite speed of light

Redshift

the phenomenon where light from distant galaxies is shifted towards the red end of the spectrum, indicating that these galaxies are moving away from us and allowing cosmologists to infer information about the universe's expansion and its history.

Hubble Space Telescope

A space telescope launched in 1990 that captures high-resolution images of celestial objects, enhancing our understanding of the universe.

Why are technological advances important in science?

They enable improved observations and simulations, leading to deeper insights into fundamental questions about the universe. They also allow us to make precise measurements on the distances of galaxies and stars

The Big Bang Theory

The Big Bang Theory posits that the universe originated from a singular extremely hot and dense point (smaller than an atom) and expanded rapidly around 13.8 billion years ago.

What evidence supports the Big Bang Theory?

Supporting evidence includes cosmic microwave background radiation, the proportions of light elements, and the observed redshift in galaxies, which shows the universe's ongoing expansion.

Theory

a well-substantiated explanation or model of a specific aspect of the natural world that is based on a body of evidence and can be tested through observation and experimentation.

Energy

the capacity to do work or cause change

The Four Fundamental Forces

gravity, electromagnetism, the weak nuclear force, and strong nuclear force

Electromagnetism

the physical interaction among electric charges, magnetic moments, and electromagnetic fields

Weak Nuclear force

responsible for processes like radioactive decay and the transformation of neutrons into protons and gravity, etc.

Photon

a particle representing a quantum of light or other electromagnetic radiation, carries energy proportional to the radiation frequency but has zero rest mass

Strong Nuclear Force

responsible for holding the nucleus of an atom together by binding protons and neutrons (nucleons) together, and quarks together within protons and neutrons

Dark energy

a mysterious force or energy that's causing the universe to expand at an accelerating rate

Matter

any substance that has mass and occupies space, encompassing all the "stuff" that makes up the observable universe

Quarks

a fundamental, building block of matter, meaning it's one of the smallest particles that make up protons and neutrons, which in turn make up the nucleus of an atom

Electrons

a stable subatomic particle with a charge of negative electricity, found in all atoms and acting as the primary carrier of electricity in solids

Proton

a stable subatomic particle occurring in all atomic nuclei, with a positive electric charge equal in magnitude to that of an electron, but of opposite sign

Neutrons

a subatomic particle of about the same mass as a proton but without an electric charge, present in all atomic nuclei except those of ordinary hydrogen

Hydrogen

highly flammable gas, the chemical element of atomic number 1

Helium

the chemical element of atomic number 2, an inert gas which is the lightest member of the noble gas series

The First two atoms

Hydrogen and Helium

Characteristics of the early universe

extremely hot, dense, and expanding

In the 1940’s what was something similar to the Big Bang?

atomic bomb

protons

positively charged particle in an atom, bonds with neutron, subatomic

neutron

no charged (not positive or negative) particle in an atom, bonds with proton, subatomic

electron

negatively charged, not in nucleus of atom, subatomic particle

What type of physicists worked on the big bang theory?

some were atomic physicists on the Manhattan Project