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Bell Ringer. According to The Cosmos , how old is the universe? Define the Big Bang. Agenda. Notes: The Universe and Galaxy Types What is a theory? The Big Bang theory After the Big Bang Evidence of the Big Bang theory The Future of the Universe. What is a Scientific Theory?.
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Bell Ringer • According to The Cosmos, how old is the universe? • Define the Big Bang.
Agenda • Notes: The Universe and Galaxy Types • What is a theory? • The Big Bang theory • After the Big Bang • Evidence of the Big Bang theory • The Future of the Universe
What is a Scientific Theory? • A scientific theory an explanation of some aspect of the natural world • Theories are supported by a significant amount of evidence and years of research • When we say that the Big Bang is a theory, we mean that it is widely accepted by the scientific community due to an overwhelming amount of evidence
The Big Bang Theory • You are not required to agree with the Big Bang theory • However, you are required to know: • What it is • The scientific evidence that supports it
The BBT: What Happened? • The Big Bang theory states that the universe came into being at a single moment • All of the matter and energy of the universe were at one time concentrated in an incredibly hot region smaller than an atom • The universe began in an instant about 13.8 billion years ago in an enormous explosion
After the Big Bang • Shortly after the Big Bang, the universe expanded and cooled • After a few hundred thousand years, the universe was still hot and small, but cool enough for atoms to form • Gravity pulled atoms together into gas clouds that eventually became stars • Our sun and solar system formed about 4.6 billion years ago when the universe was about 2/3 of its present size
Evidence of the Big Bang • What led scientists to the conclusion that the Big Bang happened? • 2 Main Pieces of Evidence: • Cosmic background radiation (micro and radio waves) • Red shift (Hubble’s Law)
Cosmic Background Radiation • Scientists use radio telescopes to study the universe. These telescopes can detect many different wavelengths of light – much more than the visibly light that we can see with our eyes • In 1965, American physicists detected faint signals in all directions • Scientists eventually learned that this faint glow is caused by microwave and radio wave radiation that was produced by the big bang and still travels throughout the universe
Red Shift: Hubble’s Law • Edwin Hubble was an American astronomer that studied distant galaxies • Hubble noticed that most galaxies exhibit a red-shift in their light wavelengths • Red-shift means that the light waves are getting longer • If light waves are getting longer, they are moving farther away from the Earth
Red Shift: Hubble’s Law • The farther away a galaxy is, the greater the red shift will be • This means that the farther the galaxy, the faster that galaxy is moving away from Earth • Hubble’s law states the relationship between a galaxy’s increasing distance from Earth and its increasing speed away from Earth
Age of the Universe • Since astronomers know the current speed that the universe is expanding we can calculate how long it has been expanding • This is how we infer that the universe started from a single point about 13.8 billion years ago
What Will Happen in the Future? • Scientists are currently trying to predict whether or not the universe will continue to expand forever or whether gravity will pull galaxies back together • The answer depends on the amount of matter in the universe • If the amount of matter is sufficient enough to overcome the gravitational force then the universe will expand • If the amount of matter is NOT sufficient enough to overcome the gravitational force then the universe will reverse its expansion
Assignment • Big Bang Theory & Hubble’s Law worksheet