Origin of The Universe

Earth Science
Lesson 1: The Universe and the

Solar System
Objectives
a. Describe the structure and composition of the
Universe
b.Explain the red-shift and how it used as proof
of an expanding universe
c. State the different hypothesis that preceded
the Big Bang Theory of the Origin of the
Universe
d.Explain the Big Bang Theory
Important Terms
a. Baryonic matter - "ordinary" matter consisting of protons,
electrons, and neutrons that comprises atoms, planets, stars,
galaxies, and other bodies
b. Dark matter - matter that has gravity but does not emit light.
c. Dark Energy - a source of anti-gravity; a force that counteracts
gravity and causes the universe to expand.
d. Protostar- an early stage in the formation of a star resulting
from the gravitational collapse of gases.
e. Thermonuclear reaction - a nuclear fusion reaction responsible
for the energy produced by stars.
f. Main Sequence Stars - stars that fuse hydrogen atoms to form
helium atoms in their cores; outward pressure resulting from
nuclear fusion is balanced by gravitational forces
g. light years - the distance light can travel in a year; a unit of
length used to measure astronomical distance
• 1 billion/(60 s/min*60 min/hr*24
hr/day*365days/year)
• ~32 years
• How long is 13.8 billion years?
Figure 1: Solar System
5
Figure 2: Milky Way Galaxy
Figure 3: View from Hubble. The Milky Way is but part of billions of galaxies in the universe.
STRUCTURE, COMPOSITION, AND
AGE
12/10/2019
• The universe as we currently know it
comprises all space and time, and all matter &
energy in it.
• It is made of 4.6% baryonic matter, 24% cold
dark matter, and 71.4% dark energy.
• Dark matter can explain what may be holding
galaxies together for the reason that the low
total mass is insufficient for gravity alone to
do so while dark energy can explain the
observed accelerating expansion of the
universe.
• Hydrogen, helium, and lithium are the three
most abundant elements.
• Stars - the building block of galaxies born out
of clouds of gas and dust in galaxies.
• Instabilities within the clouds eventually
results into gravitational collapse, rotation,
heating up, and transformation to a protostar-
the core of a future star as thermonuclear
reactions set in.
• Stellar interiors are like furnaces where elements are
synthesized or combined/fused together.
• Most stars such as the Sun belong to the so-called
“main sequence stars.” In the cores of such stars,
hydrogen atoms are fused through thermonuclear
reactions to make helium atoms (fig.4). Massive
main sequence stars burn up their hydrogen faster
than smaller stars. Stars like our Sun burnup
hydrogen in about 10 billion years.
• The remaining dust and gas may end up as they are
or as planets, asteroids, or other bodies in the
accompanying planetary system.
• A galaxy is a cluster of billions of stars and clusters of
galaxies form superclusters. In between the clusters
is practically an empty space. This organization of
matter in the universe suggests that it is indeed
clumpy at a certain scale. But at a large scale, it
appears homogeneous and isotropic.
• Based on recent data, the universe is 13.8 billion
years old. The diameter of the universe is possibly
infinite but should be at least 91 billion light-years (1
light-year = 9.4607 × 1012 km). Its density is 4.5 x
10-31 g/cm3.
Expanding Universe
• In 1929, Edwin Hubble announced his
significant discovery of the “redshift” and its
interpretation that galaxies are moving away
from each other, hence as evidence for an
expanding universe, just as predicted by
Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity.
• He observed that spectral lines of starlight
made to pass through a prism are shifted
toward the red part of the electromagnetic
spectrum, i.e., toward the band of lower
frequency; thus, the inference that the star or
galaxy must be moving away from us.
Figure 5. Red shift as evidence for an
expanding universe. The positions of
the absorptions lines for helium for light
coming from the Sun (A) are
shifted towards the red end as compared
with those for a distant star (B).
This evidence for expansion contradicted

the previously held view of a static and
unchanging universe.
Activity: Doppler Effect and Interactive
• video 1
• video 2
12/10/2019
Cosmic Microwave Background
• There is a pervasive cosmic microwave
background (CMB) radiation in the
universe. Its accidental discovery in 1964
by Arno Penzias and Robert Woodrow
Wilson earned them the physics Nobel
Prize in 1978.
• It can be observed as a strikingly uniform
faint glow in the microwave band coming
from all directions-blackbody radiation
with an average temperature of about
2.7 degrees above absolute zero. 16
Figure 6: Cosmic microwave background
radiation map showing small variations
from WMAP (Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy
Probe).
A. Origin of the Universe
Non-scientific Thought
• Ancient Egyptians believed in many gods and myths
which narrate that the world arose from an infinite
sea at the first rising of the sun.
• The Kuba people of Central Africa tell the story of a
creator god Mbombo (or Bumba) who, alone in a
dark and water-covered Earth, felt an intense
stomach pain and then vomited the stars, sun, and
moon.
• In India, there is the narrative that gods sacrificed
Purusha, the primal man whose head, feet, eyes, and
mind became the sky, earth, sun, and moon
respectively.
• The monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam claim that a supreme being created the
universe, including man and other living organisms.
Steady State Model
• The now discredited steady state model of the
universe was proposed in 1948 by Bondi and
Gould and by Hoyle.It maintains that new
matter is created as the universe expands
thereby maintaining its density.
• Its predictions led to tests and its eventual
rejection with the discovery of the cosmic
microwave background.
20
Big Bang Theory
• As the currently accepted theory of the origin and evolution of the
universe, the Big Bang Theory postulates that 13.8 billion years ago,
the universe expanded from a tiny, dense and hot mass to its
present size and much cooler state.
• The theory rests on two ideas: General Relativity and the
Cosmological Principle.
– In Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, gravity is thought of as a
distortion of space-time and no longer described by a gravitational field.
General Relativity explains the peculiarities of the orbit of Mercury and
the bending of light by the Sun and has passed rigorous tests.
– TheCosmological Principle assumes that the universe is homogeneous
and isotropic when averaged over large scales. This is consistent with our
current large-scale image of the universe. But keep in mind that it is
clumpy at smaller scales.
• The Big Bang Theory has withstood the tests for expansion: 1) the
redshift 2) abundance of hydrogen, helium, and lithium, and 3) the
uniformly pervasive cosmic microwave background radiation-the
remnant heat from the bang.
Evolution of the Universe according to
the Big Bang Theory
Figure 7: Big Bang Timeline 22

• From time zero (13.8 billion years ago) until 10-43 second later, all matter
and energy in the universe existed as a hot, dense, tiny state (fig. 7). It
then underwent extremely rapid, exponential inflation until 10-32 second
later after which and until 10 seconds from time zero, conditions allowed
the existence of only quarks, hadrons, and leptons.
• Then, Big Bang nucleosynthesis took place and produced protons,
neutrons, atomic nuclei, and then hydrogen, helium, and lithium until 20
minutes after time zero when sufficient cooling did not allow further
nucleosynthesis.
• From then on until 380,000 years, the cooling universe entered a matter-
dominated period when photons decoupled from matter and light could
travel freely as still observed today in the form of cosmic microwave
background radiation.
• As the universe continued to cool down, matter collected into clouds
giving rise to only stars after 380,000 years and eventually galaxies would
form after 100 million years from time zero during which, through
nucleosynthesis in stars, carbon and elements heavier than carbon were
produced.
• From 9.8 billion years until the present, the universe became dark-energy
dominated and underwent accelerating expansion. At about 9.8 billion
years after the big bang, the solar system was formed.
Submit a brief report on the following
topic/questions.
• What is the fate of the universe? Will the
universe continue to expand or will it
eventually contract because of gravity?
Earth Science
12/10/2019
Earth & Life Sciences
12/10/2019

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Earth Science

Lesson 1: The Universe and the

This evidence for expansion contradicted

Figure 7: Big Bang Timeline 22

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