HUMSS/AD/ABM

SCIENCE 02 – EARTH AND LIFE SCIENCES

Module
1.0 ORIGIN AND STRUCTURE OF THE EARTH
UNIVERSE AND THE SOLAR SYSTEM
Content Standards:
The learners demonstrate an understanding on the formation of the Universe and the Solar System.

Performance Standards:
The learners shall be able to:
1. Conduct a survey to assess the possible geologic hazards that your community may experience.
2. Conduct a survey or design a study to assess the possible hydrometeorological hazards that your
community may experience

Learning Competencies:
1. State the different hypotheses explaining the origin of the universe.
2. Describe the different hypotheses explaining the origin of the solar system.
3. Recognize the uniqueness of Earth, being the only planet in the solar system with properties
necessary to support life.

Specific Outcomes:
1. differentiate myth from a theory in explaining the formation of solar bodies
2. identify sets of theories specific for explaining the origin of solar system and the universe
3. identify assumptions specific to a theory in explaining the formation of the universe or the solar
system
4. appreciate the importance of these learned information in relation to their day-to-day living at
present

INTRODUCTION:
Earth has witnessed 4.5 billion years’ worth of sunrises and sunsets. Every time we see this remarkable
view, we begin to ask the beginning of these things like the sun, earth, or even the so-called life. In order to
understand the beginning, we will trace the origin of the universe that was knowingly dated 13.8 billion years.
Prior to the development of theories, humans believed in religious cosmology to explain the origin of the
universe. The basis of the universe can be explained using several theories.

PRE- ASSESSMENT
Look at the different pictures and tell what you know about the beginning of the universe and the solar system.

A B C

A: _________________________________________________________________________________________

B: _________________________________________________________________________________________

C: _________________________________________________________________________________________

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(Answers can be written in another sheet/file)

LESSON PRESENTATION:
Part 1 – Formation of the Universe

. 1.0. Many religious persons, including many scientists, hold that

God created the universe and the various processes driving
physical and biological evolution and that these processes then
resulted in the creation of galaxies, our solar system, and life on
Earth. This belief, which sometimes is termed "theistic evolution," is
not in disagreement with scientific explanations of evolution.
Indeed, it reflects the remarkable and inspiring character of the
physical universe revealed by cosmology, paleontology, molecular
biology, and many other scientific disciplines.
A is a symbolic narrative of the beginning of the world as
creation myth understood by a culture. These are handed down from
generation to generation through stories, songs, and work of art,
among others. The story of the origin of the universe is never an
exemption. According to GENESIS, in the Old testament, the
creation of the entire cosmos (universe) is done in six days, although
there are several accounts to this Genesis Myth.

1.1. Scientists think the universe began with a bang. A big bang.
The Big Bang theory (no, not the TV show) is the most widely
accepted theory for how the universe started.
The proponents of the theory are Aleksander Friedman and
George Lemaitre in 1920. According to the theory, around 13.7
billion years ago, there was nothing and nowhere. Then suddenly,
due to random fluctuation in an empty void, there is a great
explosion or expansion. The explosion sent space, time, matter, and
energy in all directions. The event is called BIG BANG.
 The universe begins ~13.7 Billion years ago
 The universe begins as the size of a single atom
 The universe began as a violent expansion. All matter and
space were created from a single point of pure energy in an
instant
 ~ 3 minutes after big bang
 The universe has grown from the size of an atom to larger
than the size a grapefruit
 E=mc2 energy froze into matter according to Albert
Einstein’s equation.
 This basically says that like snowflakes freezing, energy
forms matter into clumps that today we call protons, neutrons
and electrons.
 These parts later form into atoms

Misconceptions about the Big Bang

There was no explosion; there was (and continues to be) an expansion rather than
imagining a balloon popping and releasing its contents, imagine a balloon expanding: an
infinitesimally small balloon expanding to the size of our current universe we tend to image the
singularity as a little fireball appearing somewhere in space began inside of the singularity. Prior
to the singularity, nothing existed, not space, time, matter, or energy - nothing.
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Among all other theories, it is said to be the most credible one due to the supporting
evidences:
(a) Galaxies moving away- In 1924, Edwin Hubble found that stars are not uniformly distributed
in space. They gather together forming clusters called galaxies. He found out that nearly all
galaxies were moving away. The distance between distant galaxies was increasing with time. If
it was expanding, they must have been closer together in the past and maybe a single point in
the beginning.
(b) Presence of cosmic microwaves background (CMB)-In 1920, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson
discovered a background radio emission coming from every direction in the sky. This
radiation was speculated to be the remnant energy left over from the formation of the
universe. The discovery of CMB placed to an end of the Steady State theory of the universe.
(c) Abundance of light elements. These are Helium, Hydrogen, Deuterium, and Lithium, found in
observable universe agrees with the hypotheses of the Big Bang theory. Their abundance is
checked from the spectra of the oldest starts and gas clouds. The ratios of these light elements
match with what is expected from the Big Bang nucleosynthesis.

1.2 Steady State Theory. The proponents of the theory are

Hermann Bondi, Thomas Gold, and Sir Fred Hoyle in 1948.
According to the theory, the expansion of the universe is
balanced by the spontaneous production of bubbles of matter-
anti-matter, so that the Perfect Cosmological Principle is
preserved. It proposes that universe is unchanging in time and
uniform in space.
Nucleosynthesis in stars can account for the abundances of all
the elements except the very lightest.

1.3 Inflation Theory. The proponents are Alan Guth, Andrei Linde,
Paul Steinhart, and Andy Albrecht, who offered solutions to the
existing conflict. The theory proposed a period of exponential
expansion of the universe prior to the more gradual big bang
expansion. The energy density of the universe is dominated by a
cosmological constant-type of vacuum energy, which later decayed
to produce the matter and radiation that filled up the universe.
Inflation Theory is said to be the extension of the Big Bang theory.

1.4 String theory is a theoretical framework in which the point-like

particles of particle physics are replaced by one-dimensional objects
called strings.
. It describes how these strings propagate through space
and interact with each other. On distance scales larger than the string
scale, a string looks just like an ordinary particle, with its mass, charge
and other properties determined by the vibrational state of the string.
In string theory, one of the many vibrational states of the string
corresponds to the graviton, a quantum mechanical particle that
carries gravitational force. Thus, string theory is a theory of quantum
gravity

1.5 M-Theory The origin of the Universe occurs as a result of the

contact of two hyperdimensional branes. Strings can actually attach
at one or both ends of the string. The collision of the branes leads to
the formation of the universe.

The origin of the universe remains “under scrutiny” even until the present.
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Questions:
1. How significant the different theories in understanding the origin of the universe?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
2. Why do you think that big bang theory is the most accepted theory to explain the origin of the
universe?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

Part 2 – Formation of the Solar System

Since time immemorial, humans have been searching for the answer of how the Universe came
to be. However, it has only been within the past few centuries, with the Scientific Revolution, that the
predominant theories have been empirical in nature. It was during this time, from the 16th to 18th
centuries, that astronomers and physicists began to formulate evidence-based explanations of how our
Sun, the planets, and the Universe began.
The birth of the stars and the galaxies about 300 million years ago marked simultaneously the
formation of the solar bodies. Galaxy is defined as gravitationally-bound system of stars, stellar
remnants, interstellar gas and dark matter. Milky Way is one of the billion galaxies. In the Milky Way
galaxy, our solar system is found. So, how did the solar system form?
There are also several theories that attempt to explain the origin of our solar system:
Descartes’ Vortex Theory, Buffon’s Collision Theory, Kant-Laplace Nebular Hypothesis, Jeans-
Jeffrey’s Tidal Hypothesis, and Solar Nebular Theory, among others.

2.1 Descartes’ Vortex Theory Rene Descartes, a French

mathematician and physicist, explained that the orbits of the
planets in terms of whirlpool-like motion and the satellites
around the planets as secondary whirlpool-like motion. Solar
System formed into bodies with nearly circular orbits because
of the whirlpool-like motion in pre-solar materials.

2.2 Buffon’s Collision Theory George Leclerc and

Comte de Buffon, French Naturalists, proposed that the
planets were formed by the collision of the Sun with a
giant comet. The resulting debris formed into planets that
rotate in the same direction as they revolve around the
sun.

2.3 Kant-Laplace Nebular Hypothesis Immanuel Kant &

Pierre Simon Laplace proposed a nebular theory which
states that nebula (great cloud of gas and dust) begins to
collapse because of gravitational pull. As the cloud
contracted they spun more rapidly. As nebular collapses
further, local regions contract on their own due to gravity
and become the sun and the planets.
The Kant-Laplace nebular hypothesis. Kant's central
idea was that the solar system began as a cloud of dispersed
particles. He assumed that the mutual gravitational
attractions of the particles caused them to start moving and
colliding, at which point chemical forces kept them bonded
together.
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2.4 Jeans-Jeffrey’s Tidal Hypothesis Sir James Hopwood

Jeans & Harold Jeffreys suggested a dualistic theory in
which the planets and the sun were produced by different
mechanisms.
Tidal Theory proposed that the planets were formed from
the substance that was torn out of the sun. As the speeding
massive star passed near the Sun, it pulled off material due
to gravitational attraction. Torn off materials condensed to
form planets.

2.5 Solar Nebular Theory. The solar system was formed from the
condensation of Hydrogen gas (interstellar gas) and dust cloud.
Explosion of supernova caused the gas and dust to collapse and
form sun and planets. Gas and dust cloud collapsed due to the force
of gravity, the center compressed and became protostar. Continuous
shrinking speeds up the rotation. Contraction converted
gravitational energy into heat energy and caused the center to glow,
nuclear reaction began and sun was formed. The remaining gas dust
cloud formed disk-shaped bodies (due to rotation) called solar
nebulae. The solar nebulae came together to form the planets. The
Solar Nebular Theory (SNT) The main concern of the Solar Nebular
Theory (SNT) is to solve the original problems of the Kant-Laplace’s
Nebular Hypothesis about angular momentum of the sun. The
redistribution of the angular momentum has been central in the
development of SNT. According to the solar nebular theory, the
formation of the planets involves different stages, in contrast to the
single process of nebular theory.
Question: In your opinion, which best describes the formation of the solar system?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

Part 3 – The formation of Planet Earth

Earth's formation remains a strange, scientific mystery. We live on a planet in a solar system
with seven other planets and have discovered thousands of exoplanets to date. But how planets
like Earth form still remains a subject of great debate. 
Currently, there are two leading theories on planetary formation. Scientists continue to study
planets in and out of our solar system in an effort to better understand which of these theories most
accurately describes how the solar system and its planets formed.
The first and most widely accepted theory is the core accretion model, which works well to
explain the formation of terrestrial planets like Earth but doesn't fully account for giant planets. The
second theory, called the disk instability method, may account for the creation of larger planets. These
two leading theories are joined by the pebble accretion theory which helps to additionally explain how
different objects might form.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES:
A. You are to create a model how the planets may have formed through the process of accretion of
smaller particles in the early day of our solar system formation by using small clumps of clay
from different colors. (Take a photo of your creation)
Materials to prepare:
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Clay (4 different colors)

Tray or any flat surface plate
1. You are going to do this at home. Use at least four different colors to best represent features of
the solar system. (if there is no available clay, improvised clay made from flour is possible)
2. Place the clay into a shallow tray and tear the dough into small pieces, about the size of dried
peas or beans.
3. Using a circular motion, move your hands around in the trays applying a slight pressure to the
small pieces of clay
Answer the questions.
1. What happens to the clumps as you swirl them together?
2. What do scientists call this process of clumps clumping together to make larger and larger
clumps?
3. What do the larger clumps represent?
4. In what ways is the model an accurate representation of what scientists believe happened in
our early solar system?
5.What have you learned from this activity? In what way is it not an accurate representation?
How is the model different from the real thing?

B. Create a concept map that would summarize the formation of the universe, solar system and the
Earth.

ASSESSMENT:
Read and answer.
Part 1. Choose from these given words the correct answer. Write the correct answer on the blanks.

Genesis Buffon’s' Collision Theory Nucleosynthesis Stars

Steady-State Theory Big Bang Theory Planetesimals Galaxy
Inflation Jeans-Jeffrey's Tidal Theory Nebular Formation

_____ 1. A great cloud of gas and dust begins to collapse because of gravitational pull
_____ 2. It is the building block of galaxies-are born out of clouds of gas and dust in galaxies
_____ 3. In the beginning, God created heaven and the earth.
_____ 4. The universe is unchanging
_____ 5. Planets are formed by the collision of the sun and a giant comet
_____ 6. Planets are formed from a substance that was torn from the sun
_____ 7. The size of the universe drastically increased
_____ 8. A small body from which a planet originated in the early stages of development of the solar
system
_____ 9. There is singularity and supergravity, followed by an explosion
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_____ 10. It is made up of gases, dust and particles.

PART 2. True or False

____1. The universe as we currently know, comprises all space and time, and all matter and energy in it 
____2. The universe is at least 4.5- 4.6 billion of years old.
____3. A galaxy is a cluster of billions of stars and clusters of galaxies form superclusters 
____4. The light elements are H, O and C
____5. The solar system is composed of galaxies and stars.

ENRICHMENT/REDEDIATION ACTIVITIES:

Watch the videos:

Origins of the Universe 101 | National Geographic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdPzOWlLrbE

The Formation of the Solar System and the Structure of the Sun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxKCDjnWabk

Prepared by:

Sharee Ann F. Trapa

(Signature Over Printed Name of Subject Teacher)

Checked by:

MR. NICHOL CHAVEZ

(Signature Over Printed Name of Subject Coordinator)

Approved by:

MS. MARISSE TAN

(Signature Over Printed Name of Principal)
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