3rd Quarter - Earth Science

Lesson 1: Origin of the Universe

Objectives:
1. Describe the structure and composition of the
Universe,
2. State the different hypotheses explaining the
Origin of the Universe,
3. Explain the redshift and how it used as proof
of an expanding universe, and
4. Explain the Big Bang Theory and evidences
supporting the theory.
Important terms related to the lesson:
Baryonic matter - "ordinary" matter consisting of protons,
electrons, and neutrons that comprises atoms, planets,
stars, galaxies, and other bodies.
Dark matter - matter that has gravity but does not emit light.
Dark Energy - a source of anti-gravity; a force that counteracts
gravity and causes the universe to expand.
Protostar- an early stage in the formation of a star resulting
from the gravitational collapse of gases.
Thermonuclear reaction - a nuclear fusion reaction
responsible for the energy produced by stars.
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.
Light years - the distance light can travel in a year; a unit of
length used to measure astronomical distance.
ACTIVITY 1. COMPUTE..COMPUTE..
Instruction: Class divided into four groups. Each
member will solve and collaborate with
groupmates to come up with an answer. A group’s
representative will present the output written in a
whole sheet of paper with the names of the
members and submit afterwards.
The Universe is at least 13.8 billions of years
old and the Earth/ Solar System at least 4.5-4.6
billions of years old. But how large exactly is a
billion?
1. How long in years will it take to spend 1 billion
pesos if you spend 1 peso per second?
2. How long will it take to spend 13.8 billion?
COMPUTATIONS:
1. How long will it take to spend 1 billion
pesos if you spend 1 peso per second?
ANSWER:
1 billion/(60 s/min*60 min/hr*24
hr/day*365days/year). The answer is 31.7 or
~32 years.

2. How long will it take to spend 13.8 billion?

ANSWER:
13.8 billion x 31.7 or 32 years is equal to
437.46 or 441.6 years.
DISCUSSION
NOTE:
Any explanation of the origin of the
Universe should be consistent with all
information about its composition,
structure, accelerating expansion, cosmic
microwave background radiation among
others.

What is the structure and composition

of the universe?
 The universe as we
currently know it comprises
all space and time, and all
matter & energy in it.
96% of Universe is
unknown.
 It is made of 4% baryonic matter (“ordinary”
matter consisting of protons, electrons, and
neutrons: atoms, planets, stars, galaxies, nebulae,
and other bodies), 23% dark matter (matter that
has gravity but does not emit light; not interacting
with electromagnetics spectrum and with ordinary
matter, invisible, its existence inferred by its effect
such as gravitational lensing. ), and 73% dark
energy (a source of antigravity).
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.
Observed Universe (Observational Overview)
1. Visible Parts
• Stars; Nuclear fusion is source of star light
• Galaxies; ours is Milky way ( ̴1011 stars),
• Local group; small groups of galaxies,
nearest galaxy from us is Large Magellanic
Cloud (LMC) 50 kpc away.
• Clusters of galaxies; superclusters and
voids: larger groups of galaxies on a scale 100
MPc
2. Non-Visible parts
• Microwaves: the most important waveband
for cosmology, (1965 CMBR support for Big
Bang accidental discovery)
 . Radio waves: for high resolution maps
of distant galaxies
• Infra red: spotting young galaxies,
• X-rays: clusters of galaxies;
3. Particles in the Universe
• Baryons: particles made up of three
quarks except electron
• Mesons: quark and anti-quark, pion (𝜋)
• Photons: can interact with the baryons
and electrons
• Neutrinos: extremely weakly interacting
particles, radioactive decay.
 Hydrogen, Helium, and Litium are the most
abundant elements in the universe. Having the lowest
mass, these are the first elements to be formed in the
Big Bang Model of the Origin of the Universe.
A star's energy comes from combining light
elements into heavier elements by fusion, or “nuclear
burning” (nucleosynthesis).
In small stars like the sun, H burning is the fusion
of 4 H nuclei (protons) into a He nucleus (2 protons + 2
neutrons).
Forming He from H gives off lots of energy(i.e. a
natural hydrogen bomb).
Nucleosynthesis requires very high temperature.
The minimum temperature for H fusion is 5x106oC .
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. Massive main sequence stars
burn up their hydrogen faster than smaller stars. Stars
like our Sun burn up 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 - having physical
properties that are the same when measured in different
directions.
How do scientists estimate the age of the universe?
Two ways by which astronomers estimate the age of the
universe :1) by estimating the age of the looking oldest stars; and
2) by measuring the rate of expansion of the universe and
extrapolating back to the Big Bang. 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 “red shift” 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.
 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 is similar to the Doppler effect for
sound waves: to a stationary observer, the
frequency or pitch of a receding source
decreases as it moves away.
This evidence for expansion contradicted
the previously held view of a static and
unchanging universe.
 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.
The uniform nature (even in all direction) of the
CMB precludes propagation from a point source (i.e.
from ancient stars as explained by the steady state
model).
 What are the
different
hypotheses that
explain the origin of
the Universe?
Origin of the Universe - Non-scientific Thought
Unlike hypotheses in the sciences, religious beliefs cannot
be subjected to tests using the scientific method. For this reason,
they cannot be considered valid topic of scientific inquiry.
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
3. The monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
claim that a supreme being created the universe,
including man and other living organisms.
Origin of the Universe - Scientific Thought
A. 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.
Misconception:
The “bang” should not be
taken as an explosion; it is
better thought of a
simultaneous appearance of
space everywhere. The theory
does not identify the cause of
the “bang.”
B. 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 in contrast to the Law of Gravity of Isaac Newton.
General Relativity explains the peculiarities of the orbit of Mercury and
the bending of light by the Sun and has passed rigorous tests. The
Cosmological 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
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.
QUIZ: In a ½ sheet of paper, answer
the ff questions.

1. What is the structure and

composition of the universe?
How many percent are they?
2. Explain one theory/hypothesis
about the origin of the universe.
ASSIGNMENT: Write in a short bond
paper.

1. What is the fate of the universe?

Will the universe continue to
expand or will it eventually
contract because of gravity?
 It was previously thought that the gravity would
eventually stop the expansion and end the universe with a “Big
Crunch” and perhaps to generate another “bang” . This would
occur if the density of the universe is greater than the critical
density.
But if it is lower, there would be not enough
gravitational force to stop or reverse the expansion---the
universe would expand forever leading to the “Big Chill” or “Big
Freeze” since it cools during expansion. The recent observation
of accelerating expansion suggests that the universe will
expand exponentially forever.
Submitted work may be evaluated using the following
criteria:
• Logical discussion of scientific concepts used for the
argument (eg. effects of gravity, expansion), consistent
discussions of pros and cons.
• Logical build up of reasoning to support the choice.