MODULE 1 FORUM: HOW OLD IS THE UNIVERSE?

1. How large exactly is a billion?

 Expressing the term billion in a practical manner is way beyond our imagination because of its intricate
concept.  However, if we take one billion $1 bills and put them in a stack which we’ll wait after about 30
years of stacking, our pile would measure 358,510 feet or 67.9 miles high. As a result, this would reach  from
the earth’s surface into the lower portion of the troposphere – one of the major outer layers of earth’s
atmosphere.

2. How long will it take you to spend 1 billion pesos if you spend 1 peso per second?

 According to research, spending 1 peso per second will take me approximately 31 years and 7 months which
is equivalent to 11,574 days, 1 hour, 46 minutes and 40 seconds to spend 1 billion pesos.

3. How long is 13.8 billion years?

 13.8 billion years is equivalent to 5,037,000,000,000 days which is an extremely long timescale. According
to research, that’s the first moment we can describe the Universe as we know it to be today: full of matter
and radiation, and the ingredients that would eventually grow into stars, galaxies, planets and human beings. 

Sources:

 https://www.ehd.org/science_technology_largenumbers.php
 https://www.space.com/24054-how-old-is-the-universe.html
 https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/

MODULE 1 FORUM: BRIEF REPORT ABOUT THE UNIVERSE

1. What is the fate of the universe? 

 Ever since scientists proved the Big Bang to be the most plausible cosmological theory, and since it only
focused more on how it might have all began, their attention started to shift to how the Universe would end.
Thus, there are 4 theories that are actually offshoots of the Big Bang.
 1. Big Crunch. It predicts that, after having expanded to its maximum size, the Universe will finally collapse
into itself to form the greatest black hole ever.
2. Big Freeze. It foretells of a universe that will continue to stretch forever, disturbing heat evenly in the
process until none is left to be usable enough. Hence, it is also known as the Heat Death.
3. Big Rip. It is a more dramatical version of Big Freeze. In this scenario, the Universe's fate of expansion will
increase substantially so that everything in it, down to the smallest atom, will be ripped apart.
4. Big Bounce. In a oscillatory model, this is pair is formed by the Big Bang and Big Crunch. Essentially, such
a universe would simply expand and contract (or bounce) forever.

2. Will the universe continue to expand or will it eventually contract because of gravity?

 If the gravity within the universe is strong enough, it could reign in the expansion and cause the universe to
contract. If not, the universe will continue to expand forever. Although astronomers know the universe is
expanding, they can't precisely gauge the force responsible for the expansion. Instead, they try to measure the
density of the universe. The higher the density, the greater the gravitational force. Applying this logic, there
must be a density threshold; a critical limit that will determine if the gravity within the universe is strong
enough to halt the expansion and reel everything back in. If the density is greater than the critical limit, then
the universe will stop expanding and start contracting. If it's less than the critical limit, then the universe will
expand forever. 

Sources:

 https://www.universetoday.com/37105/fate-of-the-universe/
 https://science.howstuffworks.com/dictionary/astronomy-terms/big-crunch.htm