HANDOUT # 1

Content Standard:
The learners demonstrate understanding of…
1. The formation of the elements during the Big Bang and during stellar
evolution.
2. The distribution of the chemical elements and isotopes in the universe
Performance Standard:
The learners should be able to make a creative representation of the
historical development of the atom or the chemical element in a timeline.
Most Essential Learning Competencies:
1. Give evidence for and describe the formation of heavier elements
during star formation and evolution.
2. Explain how the concept of atomic number led to the synthesis of new
elements in the laboratory.
BIG BANG THEORY
 is a cosmological model of the observable universe from the earliest
known periods through its subsequent large-scale evolution.
 It describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of
extremely high density and high temperature.
 It also offers a comprehensive explanation for a broad range of
observed phenomena, including the abundance of light elements, the
cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, and large- scale
structure.
 It is also compatible with Hubble’s Law – the observation that the
farther away galaxies are, the faster they are moving away from Earth.
 Detailed measurements of the expansion rate of the universe place the
Big Bang at around 13.8 billion years ago, which is thus considered the
age of the universe.
GEORGES LEMAITRE
First noted in 1927 that an expanding universe could be traced back in time
to an originating point, which he called the “primeval atom”.
Expanding Universe – is the increase in distance between any two given
gravitationally unbound parts of the observable universe with time.
EDWIN HUBBLE
Concluded from analysis of galactic redshifts in 1929 that galaxies are
drifting apart; this is important observational evidence for an expanding
universe.
Redshift – is a phenomenon where electromagnetic radiation (such as light)
from an object undergoes an increase in wavelength.
Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB)
It is a remnant from an early stage of the universe also known as “relic
radiation”.
It was discovered in 1964 and was crucial evidence of the Big Bang Theory
which predicted a uniform background radiation throughout the universe.
TIME LINE OF THE BIG BANG
PLANCK EPOCH (OR PLANCK ERA)
 From zero to approximately 10−43seconds. (1 Planck time)
 Also known as singularity epoch.
 This is the closest that current physics can get to the beginning of time
 It is hypothesized that the four fundamental forces (electromagnetism,
weak nuclear force, strong nuclear force and gravity) all have the same
strength, and are possibly even unified into one fundamental force,
held together by a perfect symmetry which some likened to a
sharpened pencil standing on its point.
 The universe spans a region of only 10−35 meters. (1 Planck length)
 The temperature is over 1032°C (1 Planck Temperature)
GRAND UNIFICATION EPOCH
 From 10−43seconds to 10−36 seconds.
 The force of gravity separates from the other fundamental forces.
 The earliest elementary particles (and antiparticles) begin to be
created.
INFLATIONARY EPOCH
 From 10−36 seconds to 10−32 seconds.
 Triggered by the separation of the strong nuclear force, the universe
undergoes an extremely rapid exponential expansion, known as
cosmic inflation.
 The linear dimensions of the early universe increase during this period
of at least 1026 to around 10 centimeters (about the size of a grapefruit)
 The “quark soup” a hot, dense quark-gluon plasma become distributed
very thinly across the universe.
ELECTROWEAK EPOCH
 From 10−36 seconds to 10−12 seconds.
 As the strong nuclear force separates from the other two, particle
interactions create large numbers of exotic particles, including W and
Z bosons and Higgs bosons.
 The Higgs field slows particles down and confers mass on them,
allowing a universe made entirely out of radiation to support things
that have mass.
QUARK EPOCH
 From 10−12 seconds to 10−6seconds.
 Quarks, electrons and neutrinos form in large numbers as the universe
cools off to below 10 quadrillion degrees.
 The four fundamental forces assume their present forms.
 Quarks and antiquarks annihilate each other upon contact, but in a
process known as baryogenesis, a surplus of quarks (about one for
every billion pairs) survives, which will ultimately combine to form
matter.
HADRON EPOCH
 From 10−6seconds to 1 second.
 The temperature of the universe cools to about a trillion degrees, cool
enough to allow quarks to combine to form hadrons (like protons and
neutrons).
 Electrons colliding with protons in the extreme conditions of this Epoch
fuse to form neutrons and give off massless neutrinos.
 Neutrinos continue to travel freely through space today, at or near to
the speed of light.
 Some neutrons and neutrinos re-combine into new proton-electron
pairs.
 The only rules governing all this apparently random combining and re-
combining are that overall charge and energy (including mass-energy)
be conserved.
LEPTON EPOCH
 From 1 second to 3 minutes.
 Leptons (such as electrons) and antileptons (such as positrons)
dominate the mass of the universe.
 As electrons and positrons collide and annihilate each other, energy in
the form of photons is freed up.
 Colliding photons in turn create more electron-positron pairs.
NUCLEOSYNTHESIS
 From 3 minutes to 20 minutes.
 The temperature of the universe falls to the point (about a billion
degrees) where atomic nuclei can begin to form as protons and
neutrons combine through nuclear fusion to form the nuclei of the
simple elements of hydrogen, helium and lithium.
 After 20 minutes, the temperature and density has fallen to the point
where nuclear fusion cannot continue.
PHOTON EPOCH (or RADIATION DOMINATION)
 From 3 minutes to 240,000 years
 A long period of gradual cooling.
 The universe is filled with plasma, a hot, opaque soup of atomic nuclei
and electrons.
 The energy of the universe is dominated by photons, which continue to
interact frequently with the charged protons, electrons and nuclei.
RECOMBINATION/DECOUPLING
 From 240,000 to 300,000 years.
 The temperature of the universe falls to around 3,000 degrees (about
the same heat as the surface of the Sun).
 The density also continues to fall.
 Ionized hydrogen and helium atoms capture electrons (known as
“recombination”), thus neutralizing their electric charge.
 The universe finally becomes transparent to light, marking this the
earliest epoch observable today.
 It releases photons in the opaque photon-baryon fluid (“decoupling”)
 These photons (the same ones we see in today’s cosmic background
radiation) can now travel freely.
 By the end of this period, the universe consists of a fog of about 75%
hydrogen and 25% helium, with just traces of lithium.
DARK AGE OR DARK ERA
 From 300,000 years to 150 million years.
 The period after the formation of first atoms and before the first stars.
 Photons exist but the universe at this time is literally dark, with no
stars having formed to give off light.
 The universe is dominated by mysterious “dark matter”.
 Dark Matter – is a form of matter thought to account for
approximately 85%of the matter in the universe and about a quarter of
kg
its total mass-energy density or about 2.241 x 10−27 3 .
m
  Dark Energy – is a form of energy that affects the universe on the
largest scales.
REIONIZATION
 150 million to 1 billion years
 The first quasars form from gravitational collapse.
 The intense radiation emitted by quasars reionizes the surrounding
universe.
 The two major phase changes of hydrogen gas in the universe are in
Recombination Period and Reionization Period.
 Most of the universe goes from being neutral back to being composed
of ionized plasma.
STAR AND GALAXY FORMATION
 300-500 million years onwards.
 Gravity amplifies slight irregularities in the density of the primordial
gas and pockets of gas become more and more dense, even as the
universe continues to expand rapidly.
 These small, dense clouds of cosmic gas start to collapse under their
own gravity.
 Becoming hot enough to trigger nuclear fusion reactions between
hydrogen atoms, creating the very first stars.
 Population III (or metal free) stars – the first stars that are short-
lived supermassive stars, a hundred or so times of our Sun.
 Population II and Population I stars – begin to form from the
material from previous rounds of star-making.
 Larger stars burn out quickly and explode in massive supernova
events, their ashes going to form subsequent generations of stars.
 Supernova – is a large explosion that takes place at the end of a
star’s life cycle.
 Large volumes of matter collapse to form galaxies.
 Gravitational attraction pulls galaxies towards each other to form
groups, clusters and superclusters.
SOLAR SYSTEM FORMATION
 8.5 – 9 billion years.
 Our sun is a late generation star, incorporating the debris from many
generations of earlier stars.
 Our Sun and the Solar system around it form roughly 4.5 to 5 billion
years ago. (8.5 to 9 billion years after the Big Bang.)
TODAY
 13.7 billion years
 The expansion of the universe continues.
 Recycling of star materials into new stars continues.