The Big Bang Theory: Origin & Evolution of the Universe Winner of the PowerPoint of the Year Award (2013)

Galileo Observations of Jupiter’s moons confirmed that everything does not orbit around Earth and therefore it is not the center of the Universe.

Newton’s Static Universe Universe is static and composed of an infinite number of stars that are scattered randomly throughout an infinite space. Universe is infinitely old and will exist forever without any major changes. Time and Space are steady and independent of one another and any objects in existence within them. This made sense to Newton because the gravity of a finite number of stars would eventually cause the universe to fall together into a compact blob - clearly this isn’t/hasn’t happen[ing]/[ed]

Newton’s Error If the universe is as how Newton describes, then why is the sky dark at night?

Olber’s Paradox If space is infinitely old with an infinite number of stars, then in any line of sight in any direction will eventually run into a star. Using this logic, the sky should be the average brightness of all of these stars.

Einstein’s Relativity (1916) Gravity bends the fabric of space time - space and time are influenced by whatever matter (gravity) and radiation are present. Add Year

Implications of Einstein’s Ideas Based on general relativity, Einstein predicted the universe must always be expanding or contracting. Einstein couldn’t make that theoretical leap and theorized that the universe’s expansion is directly balanced by gravitational contraction, thus yielding a static universe. Without this idea of a “cosmological constant”, Einstein could’ve been the first to predict that the universe is not static.

Georges Lemaitre Lemaitre was the first to propose an expanding universe and his hypothesis became known as the Big Bang Theory.

Edwin Hubble’s Discovery Hubble observed that the wavelength of light coming from distant galaxies was experiencing redshift . This means the light source is moving away from the observer and increasing in wavelength (doppler effect). The longer the light travels, the more it gets redshifted.

Hubble’s Law v = H0d v = recessional velocity of the galaxy H0 = Hubble constant D = distance of galaxy to earth Galaxies are getting farther apart as time progresses, therefore the universe is expanding. Not only is it expanding… it’s accelerating! The age of the universe can be derived from Hubble’s constant: For example, if H0 = 73 km/s*Mpc, then T0 ~ 13.7 ± 0.2 byo

Origin of the Universe The universe began about 13.77 billion years ago. The Big Bang Theory states that, in the beginning, the universe was all in one place. All of its matter and energy were squished into an infinitely small point, a singularity. Then…. it exploded.

Cosmic Background Radiation Leftover thermal radiation from the Big Bang. Uniform; from all directions. Weak microwaves that are very close in energy to predictions made by the Big Bang Theory.

The Nebular Theory First proposed in 1734 by Emanuel Swedenborg. In cosmogony, the Nebular Theory is the currently accepted explanation about how a Solar System can form.

The Nebular Theory The tremendous amount of material blown out by the big bang starts to group up A large gas cloud (nebula) begins to condense Most of the mass is in the center

The Nebular Theory Pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope show newborn stars emerging from dense, compact pockets of interstellar gas called evaporating gaseous globules

Protostar

H atom + H atom = He atom + energy The Sun Huge mass and density rose temperatures in the Sun to one million °C and thermonuclear fusion began. Fusion - combination of lightweight atomic nuclei into heavier nuclei. H atom + H atom = He atom + energy

Planetesimals Small chunks grow and collide, eventually becoming large aggregates of gas and solid chunks

Birth of the Solar System

The Age of the Solar System Earth is ~ 4,570,000,000 years old Meteorites give us access to debris left over from the formation of the solar system We can date meteorites using radioactive isotopes and their decay products

The Universe is Highly Organized We have now discovered many planets orbiting other stars. The processes that created our solar system have also created an uncountable number of other solar systems.

Possible Fates of the Universe

In any case . . . Whatever happens to the universe, we are pretty lucky here on earth. We have the two main requirements for life: Liquid water Protection from UV radiation Perhaps elsewhere in the universe, other planets or moons do, too

Research Today Today, particle accelerators such as the Large Hadron Collider are trying to replicate conditions just after the Big Bang.

Remaining Questions What is dark matter? What is dark energy? Can dark energy and matter be detected and studied in labs? What happened from the birth of the universe, at the instance of the Big Bang, until the end of the inflationary epoch? What is the ultimate fate of the universe? What caused the Big Bang?