-Origin Beliefs -The Big Bang Theory -Universe Concepts -...and Playing Nice Together

Wisdom from Kenneth Miller Summarizing The Point of Today The point is to UNDERSTAND the scientific theories and the evidence for them Good luck deciding what to believe in

This is not “Religion vs. Science” I believe in a creator, not in the big bang I believe in the big bang, not a creator Wrong words! These people don’t understand the difference between religion and science!

Religion Science Something you may choose to believe in Not falsifiable / not testable Something to understand, not believe in Must be falsifiable / testable & repeatable

This is not “Religion vs. Science” I believe in a creator, not in the big bang I believe in the big bang, not a creator These people imply that science is something to either believe or not believe

There’s Lots of Possible Perspectives Have a cultural belief and understand science Not have a cultural belief and understand science Have a cultural belief and not understand science Not have a cultural belief and not understand science Others...? Well informed Not Well Informed

Why we teach, not preach Separation of church and state... We teach you to understand science We teach you that there are cultural beliefs We don’t preach to you which one to believe, if any.

Creation Myths Different cultures all over the world have different stories describing how the world began These stories are called “creation myths”, but the word “myth” simply refers to story, it is not meant to imply false. We’re going to share a few here. Be respectful. You might think one story sounds silly, but it may be the cultural underpinnings of the person sitting next to you.... maybe they’re thinking this about your family’s beliefs. Mockery is strickly forbidden.

Tlingit: Raven and the Sun

Judeo-Christian: 7 Days

Hopi- The infinite creates the finite, created a God to create the universes

Aztec: One God looked over the darkness--> birthed 4 other gods--> created Earth

Iroquois: Island floating in sky, where sky people lived, hole in the island, creatures below...

Zulu The Ancient One, known as Unkulunkulu, is the Zulu creator. He came from the reeds and from them he brought forth the people and the cattle. He created everything that is: mountains, streams, snakes, etc. He taught the Zulu how to hunt, how to make fire, and how to grow food.

Greek: Titan goddess, bride of Zeus

Others?....

What Similarities and Differences Do You See? Creation ex nihilo in which the creation is through the thought, word, dream or bodily secretions of a divine beingex nihilo Earth diver creation in which a diver, usually a bird or amphibian sent by a creator, plunges to the seabed through a primordial ocean to bring up sand or mud which develops into a terrestrial world Earth diverprimordial ocean Emergence myths in which progenitors pass through a series of worlds and metamorphoses until reaching the present world Creation by the dismemberment of a primordial being Creation by the splitting or ordering of a primordial unity such as the cracking of a cosmic egg or a bringing into form from chaoscosmic eggchaos

Religious/Cultural Beliefs & Science Are Very Different Things Science must be falsifiable, testable, repeatable Faith based beliefs are not, hence the faith THIS DOES NOT MEAN ONE IS BETTER THAN THE OTHER, they are simply totally different ways of trying to understand our world

Scientists Are Skeptics, (but this does not mean atheists)... Kepler (Protestant): had vision of God as the designer of a rational cosmos ◦ Platonist: the divine order could be expressed in mathematical terms (Bowler & Morus, p. 351) Newton: Cosmos as a divine construct (Bowler & Morus, p. 350) Jesuits: active in many areas of science, including astronomy (though they favored the old cosmology) Buffon: days of creation correspond to geological epochs Robert Boyle: “conceded that it was in the study of living things that we see the clearest evidence of the creator’s handiwork” (Bowler & Morus, p. 353) Jocelyn Bell (Quaker): Discovered pulsars while working at radio astronomy observatory

What Does the Word “Theory” Really Mean? LOTS of words have very different meanings in everyday life than they do in the context of science (theory, law, fact...) As such, they are often misused and misunderstood -Mock Congress Example-

Theory Current explanation, subject to peer review, based on overwhelming amounts of evidence, which may still change someday as evidence changes

So There’s Lots of Theories, Right? One at the end of every science experiment??? No! This has been misused and misunderstood.

What Theories Exist in Modern Science? Theory of Gravity Theory of Evolution Big Bang Theory Heliocentric Theory...a few more, but that’s it!

The Big Bang Theory

28.3 The expanding universe  Edwin Hubble discovered that the farther away a galaxy was, the faster it was moving away from Earth.  This concept came to be known as the expanding universe.

28.3 The Big Bang theory  The theory that the universe was expanding implies the universe must have been smaller in the past than it is today.  It implies that the universe must have had a beginning.  Astronomers today believe the universe exploded outward from a single point.  This idea is known as the Big Bang theory.

28.3 The Big Bang theory  The Big Bang theory says the universe began as a huge explosion between 10 billion and 20 billion years ago.  According to this theory, all matter and energy started in a space smaller than the nucleus of an atom.

28.3 Evidence for the Big Bang theory  In the 1960s, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson were trying to measure electromagnetic waves given off by the Milky Way.  The “noise” these scientists found was the cosmic microwave background radiation predicted by the Big Bang theory.

28.3 Evidence for the Big Bang theory  The proportion of hydrogen to helium is consistent with the physics of the Big Bang.  If the universe were significantly older, there would be more heavy elements present compared with hydrogen and helium.

(Fun) Intro to Evidence

STOP HERE FOR DAY 2

Supporting Evidence Leftover Radiation (Background Cosmic Radiation) Galaxies Are Moving Farther Apart, Distant Ones are Older, Show Greater Red Shifts

Understand Red Shift: The Doppler Effect (Sound Version) or

Understand Red Shift: The Doppler Effect (Light Version)

Astrophysicists Are Funny

Motionless A B C D Which is the farthest/fastest?

Science= testable, repeatable Large Hadron Collider

Universe Concepts Open vs. Closed

Open Universe Everything continues racing outward Eventually stars die off

Closed Universe All matter eventually pulled back together Recurring Big Bangs

Wisdom from Kenneth Miller Summarizing The Point of Today The point is to UNDERSTAND the scientific theories and the evidence for them Good luck deciding what to believe in

Further Reading for Those Interested

Further Reading for Those Interested Scientists-Evolution/dp/ A large part of this book is about why creationism isn’t science. Don’t misunderstand this and think it’s anti religion, it’s not. It’s simply about the difference between science and religion. Miller is both a famous biologist AND a very religious person.

Let’s Try Some Spectroscopy diffraction grating =plastic with thousands of lines in it, functions like a ton of prisms!

(look at some spectral outputs, after Helium, play remaining slides, then look at some more)

Helium

How would it look if it was moving fast away from you? exit slideshow and move the bar!

infrared Stationary Helium Light Source Helium moving away super fast showing red shift So: we can see the light fingerprint of elements like this on Earth, and when we look into space, we can recognize the same light fingerprint patterns, but the farther & faster away the star or galaxy is, the greater the red shift!