Subject: Junior Cycle Science

Teacher: Mrs O Sullivan

Week: Lesson 19
Lesson: The Universe and Beyond

19.0 Learning Intentions

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• Outline the Big Bang Theory and the evidence that supports it.
• Distinguish between, moons, asteroids, comets, planets and stars
• Understand our place in the Universe
• Compare planets in the Solar System with respect to mass, gravity and composition

19.1 Revision Notes

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19.2 What’s in our Universe

• The Universe describes everything that exists-planets, stars galaxies and all of space.
• Space is the empty regions between objects in the Universe.
• Galaxies are vast cosmic islands of stars, dust and dark matter held together by gravity.
• Stars are giant balls of hot gas that give out heat and light. The Sun is a star in our galaxy.
• A planet is a celestial body that orbits around the sun and has sufficient mass for its own gravity to
pull them into a round shape.
• A moon is a natural satellite of a planet. Most of the planets have moons- 166 in our solar system.
• An Asteroid is a small rocky object that orbits the Sun. There are millions in our Solar System
many in the asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter
• Comets are dusty snowballs which orbit the Sun- Comets have an icy centre surrounded by a cloud
of gas and dust- Halley’s comet appears every 75 years.
• Meteors are rocks that burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere that leave behind shooting star trails.
Some may not be destroyed and land on earth.
• A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing—no particles or even
light—can escape from it.
• A constellation is an area in which a group of visible stars forms a perceived outline or pattern,
typically representing an animal, mythological person or creature, or an inanimate object.

19.2 Our Solar System

Our planetary system is located in an outer spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy.
Our solar system consists of our star, the Sun, and everything bound to it by gravity
-The planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune,
-Dwarf planets such as Pluto and Ceres
-Dozens of moons and millions of asteroids, comets and meteoroids.
Beyond our own solar system, we have discovered thousands of planetary systems orbiting other stars in the
Milky Way.

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19.3 Planets in our Solar System

The planets orbit around the Sun in a circular pathway.

It is the force of gravity between each planet that allows them to remain in orbit.

Mercury- The smallest and fastest planet. Mercury is the closest to the Sun and orbits every 88 Earth days

Venus-Spinning in the opposite direction to most planets, Venus is the hottest planet and one of the brightest
objects in the sky

Earth-Earth is the third planet from the sun and the only planet with known life on it. It is the only planet with
liquid water on it

Mars-The red planet is a dusty, cold world with a thin atmosphere. 4 NASA robots live here

Jupiter-Jupiter is a massive planet, twice the size of all the other planets combined.

Saturn- Has a complex system of icy rings that make it unique in our solar system

Uranus- Uranus has a very unique rotation- it spins on its side at a 90 degree angle.

Neptune- is the most distant planet and is a cold dark world nearly 3 billion miles form the sun!

19.4 Dwarf Planets

Dwarf planets are worlds that are too small to be considered full-fledged planets.

Pluto- since the formalised definition of a planet was recognised in 2006, Pluto is no longer considered the ninth
planet in our solar system. It has 5 moons and takes 246.04 Earth years to orbit the sun.

Ceres- Ceres was once considered an asteroid and accounts form approx. 1/3 of the mass of the asteroid belt.
Ceres completes its orbit every 4.6 Earth years

Haumea- Haumea is the third closest dwarf planet to the Sun and is located beyond the orbit of Neptune. It has
about 1/3 the mass of Pluto and was discovered by 2004

Makemake- The extremely low temperature of the dwarf planet, about 30 K or −243.2 °C, means that the
surface of Makemake is covered with methane, ethane, and possibly nitrogen ices.

Eris-Eris is the furthest dwarf planet from the Sun and is also the most massive currently recognized dwarf
planet. Eris is located beyond the orbit of Neptune and beyond the Kuiper belt in a region known as the
"scattered disc".

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19.5 Comparing Data from Planets

You may be asked to compare data from the planets in our solar system. Examples are shown below. You will
not be expected to learn this off.

1. What is the largest planet in our solar system?

Jupiter
2. What planet has the most moons?
Jupiter
3. What does the average temp tell us about the position of the planet in relation to the sun?
The hotter the planet the closer it is to the Sun
4. What planets have similar hours in a day?
Earth and Mars have approx. 24
Jupiter and Saturn have approx. 16.5 average

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19.6 The Big Bang Theory

The Big Bang theory represents cosmologists' best attempts to reconstruct the 14-billion-year story of the
universe based on the observations and data collected over the past decade.
Different people use the term "Big Bang" in different ways. Most generally, it illustrates the arc of the
observable universe as it thinned out and cooled down from an initially dense, hot state. This description
comes from the observations that the cosmos is expanding

• The Big Bang Theory is the leading explanation about how the universe began. It says the universe as
we know it started with a small singularity, then inflated over the next 13.8 billion years to the cosmos
that we know today.
• When the universe began, it was just hot, tiny particles mixed with light and energy. As everything
expanded and took up more space, it cooled down.
• The tiny particles grouped together. They formed atoms. Then those atoms grouped together. Over lots
of time, atoms came together to form stars and galaxies.
• The first stars created bigger atoms and groups of atoms called molecules. That led to more stars being
born. At the same time, galaxies were crashing and grouping together.
• As new stars were being born and dying, then things like asteroids, comets, planets, and black holes
formed!

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19.7 Evidence for the Big Bang Theory

Cosmic Background Radiation

The Cosmic Microwave Background, or CMB, is radiation that fills the universe and can be detected in every
direction. Microwaves are invisible to the naked eye so they cannot be seen without instruments. Created shortly after
the universe came into being in the Big Bang, the CMB represents the earliest radiation that can be detected.
Astronomers have likened the CMB to seeing sunlight penetrating an overcast sky.

Looking out into deep space, and therefore back into deep time, astronomers see the CMB radiation saturating space
beginning at about 378,000 years after the Big Bang. Before the creation of the CMB, the universe was a hot, dense
and opaque plasma containing both matter and energy. Photons could not travel freely, so no light escaped from those
earlier times.

19.8 Homework Task

1) Research information about the planets of our solar system. – the NASA and the European Space Agency websites
are a great place to start.

2) Explain the difference between asteroids and comets.

3) Outline the main events of the Big Bang.

19.10 Homework Correction

A
1. Use the internet or other means to research any application of physics that has an impact on society.
2. Make sure you find some positives and negatives (5 marks)
3. Evaluate your sources- can they be trusted, who wrote them, when were they written (5 marks)
4. -Discuss each pro and con and form your own conclusion-make sure all information is written in your own
words and not plagiarized. (10 marks)
5. Make a reference list for each source you have used. (5 marks)

B 1) Explain one way that transportation uses an application of physics and list 2 negative environmental impacts of
modern transportation.
Cars and trains utilize the wheel, which provides a smooth, steady motion.
Newton's laws of motion are at work as mechanical force and acceleration, reaction and inertia.
Negative impact of transportation- Air quality is reduced, Greenhouse gas emissions increase,
Noise pollution increases
Habitat loss- extinction of species

2) List 2 applications of medicine that rely on physics?

Radiation oncology- controlled use of radiation to treat cancer.
Ventilators would not work without an understanding of fluid pressure,

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