scientists at the present Nobody alive was there to see this. • You are under no obligation to believe this theory. It is simply one possible explanation among many possible explanations for the origins of the universe. Big Bang Theory • Main Premise: the universe began with a gigantic explosion 10-29 billion years ago
nothing existed before this NO
time, NO space
out of nothingness came everything in
the universe and it started to expand Where is Theory found? Authored and thought of by several scientists based on work of Hubble’s red shift Timeline: • What we see around us (according to the Big Bang theory) fig. 16-10, pg. 533
1. Dime sized densely packed piece
of matter (containing all the matter in the universe) appeared out of the nothingness and exploded Timeline:
2. Expansion of the universe
during the first few seconds after the big bang, cooled the created matter enough for protons, neutrons, and electrons to form as free particles, but not to become stable atoms Timeline:
3. After ~1million years the
expansion and cooling allowed hydrogen to form - now hydrogen is the most abundant element in the known universe Timeline:
4. This allowed the formation of
other elements, then stars, planets, etc. Timeline:
5. Eventually life evolved from
non-living precursors, and eventually into the life we see on Earth. Timeline:
6. Maybe life evolved on other
planets in our galaxy or other galaxies as well? Timeline: 7. The future of the universe - still expanding but for how long? - gravity from all existing objects pulls against this expansion
- 3 possible outcomes 1. Universe expands forever
2. Expansion will gradually slow down until a size limit is
reached
3. Expansion will stop and the universe will begin to
contract and fall in on itself Big Crunch
** Depends on the amount of matter in the
universe (and the mass) Evidence:
Cosmic background radiation is
evidence used in support of the theory - faint radiation left over from the explosion itself Red shift of wavelengths of light from distant galaxies Expansion implies smaller in past Problems / Issues / Flaws with theory: There was nothing, then there was something. From where did it come?