Slide 1 / 120 Slide 2 / 120 6th Grade The Universe and Its Stars 2015-08-27 www.njctl.org Slide 3 / 120 Slide 4 / 120 Table of Contents: The Universe and Its Stars Click on the topic to go to that section The Theoretical Beginning Theoretical Beginning of the Universe / Big Bang Theory · of the Universe / Galaxies · Big Bang Theory Stars · Black Holes and Supernovas · Return to Table of Contents Slide 5 / 120 Slide 6 / 120 The Beginning... The Beginning... When most astronomers are asked how the Universe began, You were correct if you said most will say the Universe began what do you believe they say is the answer? with the "Big Bang" which is an event said to have occurred about 14 billion years ago. How long ago do we believe the Universe began?
Slide 7 / 120 Slide 8 / 120 14 Billion Years Ago 14 Billion Years Ago A billion years is very hard for most people to understand. One billion stacked pennies would be the size of FIVE school buses! It is difficult to think of anything we can picture in terms of billions. Lets use an example to try and understand how many one billion is. So if you wanted to represent With your group, try and 14 Billion pennies - how decide what size jar you many school buses would would need to hold you need? 1 billion pennies Image: http://www.kokogiak.com/megapenny hint: 1 billion = 1,000,000,000 Slide 9 / 120 Slide 10 / 120 Big Bang Theory Big Bang Theory This theory states that all of the This one spot was also hotter mass in the universe was once and more dense than any compacted into one small point object we know of today. thousands of times smaller than the head of a pin. It is believed our Universe began with a "Big Bang" when this small spot had a massive explosion. How is that possible? Slide 11 / 120 Slide 12 / 120 Big Bang Theory Big Bang Theory During the fraction of a second following the explosion, the universe expanded rapidly. You can also think of a stone Think about what happens when you watch hitting the surface of a pond. fireworks explode. The water will ripple out from The same thing happened after the Big Bang. that one point and the ripples Within a fraction of a second, the universe was will expand larger and larger, bigger than a galaxy and has not stopped much like the expansion of expanding since then. the universe. Expanding for 14 billion years. Think back to all 70 school buses!
Slide 13 / 120 Slide 14 / 120 Big Bang Theory 1 The initial explosion that resulted in the creation and expansion of the universe is known as the _____________. Big Bang Theory A Milky Way B Great Expansion C Doppler Effect D This theory states that every piece of matter in the universe came from this one point ... this one explosion. Since everything is made of matter, this means that the "stuff" that makes up everything in the universe came from this one point in time. Including you! Slide 15 / 120 Slide 16 / 120 2 Following the Big Bang, the universe: 3 Scientists believe the Big Bang happened: A expanded and then rapidly stopped expanding. A 14 million years ago B expanded and has not stopped expanding since. B 14 trillion years ago C rapidly expanded and then shrunk back to its C 14 billion years ago original size. D within the last 3000 years Slide 17 / 120 Slide 18 / 120 Evidence Supporting the Big Bang Theory Evidence Supporting the Big Bang Theory No people were around 14 billion years ago. So how did this theory come about? Last year, you learned it is possible to estimate the distance a star is from In the early 1900's, an astronomer* Earth by looking at its brightness. named Edwin Hubble, discovered Hubble used a number of methods to that various galaxies were spreading estimate how far away each star is. apart by examining the patterns he found when tracing their locations in But he did much more. He used the the sky. color of each star's light to determine which direction they are moving...and how fast. (astronomer: a scientist who studies planets, stars, and galaxies)
Slide 19 / 120 Slide 20 / 120 Evidence Supporting the Big Bang Theory 4 When looking at the night sky, the brighter stars are typically: A farther from Earth than the dimmer stars. The redder the light, the faster away from us a star is moving. B closer to Earth than the dimmer His astonishing conclusion is that stars. almost all stars are moving away C the same distance from Earth as all other from one another as if there were a massive explosion long ago. stars D constantly moving closer to Earth Scientists estimate that this occurred 14 billion years ago. Slide 21 / 120 Slide 22 / 120 Inflation Theory 5 Which best describes the Big Bang Theory? A The universe has always been the way it is today. While almost all scientists B The universe began from a dying star believe in some version of the Big Bang theory, that theory only explains that there C The universe was created by a single explosion was a rapid expansion, not what caused it. The universe is full of explosions, or "big bangs," Inflation theory explains the D that are making it expand explosion itself, and is gaining acceptance as new data is discovered every year. photo: NASA Slide 23 / 120 Slide 24 / 120 "Flattening" the Universe "Flattening" the Universe Inflation is said to have "flattened" the universe and it is easy to misunderstand what this means. In order to understand this, talk with your group right now about what happens to your In the early stages of inflation, as the universe was very rapidly hands and feet when you expanding, it looked much like your fingers do when you spend spend a lot of time swimming too much time in the water. Wrinkled. in a pool. What do they look like? Inflation filled in all those ridges and flattened the surface of the universe, making it smooth, the way fingers revert once out of the water.
Slide 25 / 120 Slide 26 / 120 Dark Matter Dark Matter The study of the universe is far from complete...there is much more to do. Scientists are working hard to find out what dark matter is. In recent years, the effect of dark matter was discovered. Dark matter would slow the This invisible matter makes its spreading of the universe the same presence known by its effect way that a more massive Earth on the motion of the stars and would stop a ball from flying as high. galaxies. It's now estimated to make up 27% of the mass of the universe! Right now the problem is no one knows what dark matter actually is. Click on the image above for a 1 minute explanation of dark matter. Slide 27 / 120 Slide 28 / 120 Dark Energy Dark Energy Counteracting the effect that dark matter has in slowing the This amazed scientists as much as if you threw a baseball in the air universe's expansion, dark energy has been discovered...and is and when it reached the top where it should stop, it suddenly started seen to be speeding up the expansion of the universe. to go upwards faster. It doesn't seem to make sense! While the expansion of nearby stars is slowing down...like a ball would if thrown straight up in the air, the expansion of the farthest Needless to say, dark energy stars is actually speeding up! is also not well understood yet; there are a lot of theories. Slide 29 / 120 Slide 30 / 120 Our Expanding Universe Dark Matter and Dark Energy According to the expanding universe theory, the space in our universe will always continue to expand, as it always has since Dark energy and dark matter were the Big Bang occurred. unknown 20 years ago. Now, they are believed to make up 95% of the mass of the universe. Stephen Hawking is one of the most famous physicists in the world today. He Everything we thought was the has researched and spoken on the universe (i.e. the stars, planets, expanding universe. gases,and galaxies) we now believe to be only 5% of the universe. Click here to hear Stephen Hawking talk about this idea, the expanding universe This is said to be the golden age of cosmology, the study of the universe. It's amazing how much more is left to be discovered and explained.
Slide 31 / 120 Slide 32 / 120 Improving the Big Bang Theory The Universe Just like with many ideas in No matter your Science, there are people who are beliefs, scientists critical of the Big Bang. continue to hunt for evidence of the The idea that there was a "Big Big Bang Theory. Bang" is a theory . This means that it can not completely be assumed to Either way, our be fact, but it has not yet been Universe (and proven wrong. the stuff within it!) is here today (Scientists don't aim to prove for us to study. theories are true, they try to prove theories are false!) Slide 33 / 120 Slide 34 / 120 6 In addition to gravity, __________ is believed to hold 7 An idea which has not yet been proven to be true, but galaxies together. has also not been disproved is known as: A an understanding A Dark Energy B an idea B Dark Matter C a concept C Solar Systems D a theory D Stars Slide 35 / 120 Slide 36 / 120 9 It is currently theorized that dark ____________ 8 Scientists believe only five percent of the speeds up the expansion of the universe and dark universe is comprised of: _________ slows it down. A dark energy A matter, energy B all known objects B energy, matter C dark matter C matter, gravity D gravity D energy, gravity
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