It all started with the big bang - University of Ulster

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Print the cards below, or copy them on to A4 pages. Place them on the floor and ask students to stand beside the card that represents the best theory. Some birthday balloons float in the air. Here are six theories to explain why they float. Which is the best theory and why? It does not matter if you do not know which theory is correct! The foil on these balloons is a metal. This metal is magnetically attracted to the sun. These balloons are special. These balloons have a property called levity. Anything that contains “levity” floats. Exit Ticket Knowledge I have gained The balloons are less dense than air. Less dense objects float in more dense fluids. There is a force produced in the ribbon that acts to push the balloon up. The balloons are sprinkled with magic dust. Skills I have used What I understand better Something I still want to know... BIG BANG THEORY Barenaked Ladies Our whole universe was in a hot dense state, Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started. Wait... The Earth began to cool, The autotrophs began to drool, Neanderthals developed tools, We built a wall (we built the pyramids), Math, science, history, unraveling the mysteries, That all started with the big bang! Since the dawn of man is really not that long, As every galaxy was formed in less time than it takes to sing this song. A fraction of a second and the elements were made. The bipeds stood up straight, The dinosaurs all met their fate, They tried to leap but they were late and they all died (they froze their asses off) The oceans and pangea See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya Set in motion by the same big bang! It all started with the big bang! It's expanding ever outward but one day It will cause the stars to go the other way, Collapsing ever inward, we won't be here, it wont be hurt Our best and brightest figure that it'll make an even bigger bang! Australopithecus would really have been sick of us Debating out while here they're catching deer (we're catching viruses) Religion or astronomy, Encarta, Deuteronomy It all started with the big bang! Music and mythology, Einstein and astrology It all started with the big bang! It all started with the big BANG! The Forward Thinking project is funded by the Wellcome Trust [2] www.ulster.ac.uk/scienceinsociety/
Red light ➙ longer waves EVIDENCE FOR THE BIG BANG Visit the online Big Bang Time Machine at http://resources.schoolscience.co.uk/PPARC/bang/bang.htm 1 1 When we look at all the colours of light coming from stars like the sun, we notice that some colours are missing, and in their place are dark “absorption lines.” These colours are missing because atoms in the star are absorbing these colours. Atoms of different elements absorb different colours (or wavelengths of light), so we can tell which elements are present in a star from the position of the lines. They look a bit like a bar code. However, when we look at these “bar codes” of distant galaxies, we see the same pattern of lines, but shifted towards the red end of the spectrum. This is an example of the Doppler shift (the same effect that causes ambulance sirens to change pitch as they pass). absorption lines from distant star: red-shifted Red shift of light from distant galaxies This can be modeled by drawing Blue light ➙ shorter waves a wave on a long, thick elastic band or length of latex and asking one student to represent an observer on Earth (holding one end of the band) and another to represent a distant galaxy. As they move apart (to demonstrate the expansion of space), students can see that the waves get longer, i.e. are red shifted. Students can then identify the limitations of the model. The cosmic microwave background radiation was discovered when two scientists (Penzias and Wilson) were trying to get rid of interference to satellite broadcasts. They detected microwaves from all areas of the sky, with a temperature of 2.7K (we can see this interference as the snow pattern on untuned televisions). This discovery supported the theory of the Big Bang, which could account for these microwaves as energy left over from the Big Bang. A third piece of evidence to support the Big Bang theory is the composition of the universe. The Big Bang theory predicts that in the first few minutes of the universe, only the lightest elements, hydrogen and helium, were formed. This is consistent with what we observe today: the universe is mainly hydrogen (about 73%) and helium (25%), with heavier elements created in stars and in supernova explosions since the Big Bang. However, a mystery remains. Between 90 - 99% of the universe is unknown but scientists are currently looking for this “dark matter” and “dark energy”. The Forward Thinking project is funded by the Wellcome Trust [3] www.ulster.ac.uk/scienceinsociety/ 2 3 2 The Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation The composition of the universe 3
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