2. The Big Bang
• Started as a singularity with all matter, space and time in
universe
• Expansion at the speed of light (inflation) for several
possible reasons:
• Too much pressure
• All matter, space, and time rushed into the universe
• Very fast, because Universal Speed Limit (speed of light)
was faster at early Universe
• It is believed that mainly hydrogen, quark-gluon plasma,
and the thought Higgs bosun was created from the
expansion
3. A Star’s Life
• Hydrogen was the main element
released in the Big Bang
• Hydrogen condenses to form stars
• Stars burn due to the nuclear fusion
from hydrogen to helium
• When the star ‘runs’ out of hydrogen to
convert to helium, it starts to form all of
the other elements, stopping at iron
(the heaviest)
• If a star is big enough, it explodes into a
supernova, the most violent explosion in
the current universe, sending all the
elements flying out into space
4. Planet formation
• When there is a supernova, the elements get
flung out into space
• When solid elements such as nickel and iron
collide, they will fuse together, and over time,
form planets
5. The Theory of Relativity:
Einstein’s Mistake
• 1916: Einstein worked on Theory of
Relativity
• Theory said Universe was either expanding
or contracting constantly
• Steady State Theory was most accepted,
Einstein changed theory to fit static
Universe
6. Steady State Theory
• Steady State theory: matter moves apart,
new matter forms to fill the void
• Stars formed elements
• Hydrogen clouds compressed by gravity:
meld together to form helium
• Nuclear reaction pushes outward, gravity
pulls inward
• But where did hydrogen come from?
7. The Creation of the Big Bang
Theory: Lemaitre takes a stand
• Georges Lemaitre: Catholic priest +
mathematician
• Lemaitre made theory: Universe started
with an explosion
• Lemaitre and Einstein argued about theory
8. The First Proof
• 1917: 100-inch telescope
was most powerful
telescope in the world
• Mt. Wilson
Observatory: Edwin
Hubble owned one
• Hubble saw spirals in
sky: nebulae
• Thought nebulae were
9. Hubble’s Proof
• Hubble took pictures of the nebulae’s
movement
• Through changes in measurements of light,
deduced nebulae were all moving away
• Einstein and Hubble met to discuss
theories, and Lemaitre gate-crashed their
meeting
10. Bob Wilson’s Proof
• 1964: Bob Dicky and Bob Wilkinson at
Princeton University thought of a way to
detect heat radiation (Microwave Cosmic
Background Radiation) from the Big Bang
• Bob Wilson started work at Bell Labs
• Horn to detect radios was not working
• 1965: Wilson called Dicky
• Dicky explained to Wilson
11. Hoyle’s Disagreement
• Fred Hoyle disagreed with Big Bang
• Named it Big Bang, name stuck
• Supported Steady State theory
12. New Proof: the LHC
• Science is recreating/modeling things
• Why not make mini-Big Bang?
• LHC: Large Hadron Collider
• LHC recreates Big Bang: speeds of
hundreds of particles with density like Big
Bang’s singularity
• Hope to find Higgs bosun: particle which
gives other particles mass
13. The Color Red
• A redshift occurs when an object is moving
quickly
• A redshift is when an object looks redder
than it really is
• Everything in the Universe seen from Earth
is redder than it should be, which meant it
was moving away quickly
15. Credits
• Works Cited
Boeyink, Rowdy. Personal interview. 15 Feb. 2012.
Giesbrecht, Justin. Personal interview. 15 Feb. 2012.
Hawking, Stephen. A Briefer History of Time. United States and Canada: Bantam, 2005. Print.
- - -. A Brief History of Time. 10th Annivesary ed. United States and Canada: Bantam, 1998. Print.
Hawking, Stephen, and Leonard Mlodinow. The Grand Design. Illus. Simon Sullivan and Sidney Harris. Great Britain: Transworld, 2010. Print.
Khadar, Avraham, prod. “Big Bang.” Brainpop. N.p., 2012. Web. 13 Feb. 2012. <http://www.brainpop.com/science/space/bigbang/>.
National Geographic Society. “Origins of the Universe.” National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 2012. Web. 14 Feb. 2012. <http://
science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/universe/origins-universe-article.html>.