3. BIG BANG THEORY
Theoretical Origins of the Universe
- According to astrophysicists, about 15,000 million
years ago, “all of the matter and energy in the
universe was concentrated in a mathematical point,
a singularity, from which it burst out to create the
universe as we know it.”
- most widely accepted among scientists at the
present 3
4. 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.
4
5. 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 5
6. Where is Theory found?
Authored and thought of by several
scientists based on work of Hubble’s red shift
6
7. 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 7
8. 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
8
9. Timeline:
3. After ~1 million years the expansion and
cooling allowed hydrogen to form
- now hydrogen is the most abundant
element in the known universe
9
11. Timeline:
5. Eventually life evolved from non-living
precursors, and eventually into the life
we see on Earth.
11
12. Timeline:
6. Maybe life evolved on other planets in our
galaxy or other galaxies as well?
12
13. Timeline:
7. The future of the universe
- still expanding but for how long?
- gravity from all existing objects pulls
against this expansion
13
14. Timeline:
◈ 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) 14
15. Continental Drift
◈ The theory of continental drift is most
associated with the scientist Alfred Wegener. In
the early 20th century, Wegener published a
paper explaining his theory that the continental
landmasses were “drifting” across the Earth,
sometimes plowing through oceans and into each
other.
15
16. Continental Drift
◈ Continental drift describes one of the earliest
ways geologists thought continents moved over
time. This map displays an early
"supercontinent," Pangea, which eventually
moved to form the continents we know today.
Fossils of similar organisms across widely
disparate continents encouraged the
revolutionary theory of continental drift. 16
25. Plate tectonics
25
is a scientific theory that explains how major
landforms are created as a result of Earth’s
subterranean movements. The theory, which
solidified in the 1960s, transformed the earth
sciences by explaining many phenomena,
including mountain building events, volcanoes,
and earthquakes.
27. Theory of Creation
27
Creationism is the religious belief that
nature, and aspects such as the universe,
Earth, life, and humans, originated with
supernatural acts of divine creation.
29. Theory of Evolution
29
Darwinism is a theory of biological evolution developed by
the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and
others, stating that all species of organisms arise and
develop through the natural selection of small, inherited
variations that increase the individual's ability to compete,
survive, and reproduce.
30. Human Origin
30
Human evolution is the lengthy process of change by which
people originated from apelike ancestors. Scientific
evidence shows that the physical and behavioral traits
shared by all people originated from apelike ancestors
and evolved over a period of approximately six million
years.
32. Australopithecus
32
(Latin: “southern ape”) (genus Australopithecus), group of extinct primates closely related
to, if not actually ancestors of, modern human beings and known from a series of fossils
found at numerous sites in eastern, north-central, and southern Africa. The various
species of Australopithecus lived 4.4 million to 1.4 million years ago (mya), during the
Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs (which lasted from 5.3 million to 11,700 years ago). The
genus name, meaning “southern ape,” refers to the first fossils found, which were
discovered in South Africa. Perhaps the most famous specimen of Australopithecus is
“Lucy,” a remarkably preserved fossilized skeleton from Ethiopia that has been dated to
3.2 mya.
33. Paleolithic Age
33
The Stone Age
In the Paleolithic period (roughly 2.5 million years ago to
10,000 B.C.), early humans lived in caves or simple huts or
tepees and were hunters and gatherers. They used basic
stone and bone tools, as well as crude stone axes, for
hunting birds and wild animals.
34. Neolithic Age
34
The Neolithic Era began when some
groups of humans gave up the
nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyle
completely to begin farming. It may
have taken humans hundreds or even
thousands of years to transition
fully from a lifestyle of subsisting
on wild plants to keeping small
gardens and later tending large crop
fields.
35. Metal Age
35
The Metal Age is divided into three
stages: the Copper Age, the Bronze
Age and the Iron Age. During the
Metal Ages, people made a variety of
metal objects. They also invented
new techniques for making clay
pottery. The most characteristic
examples are beaker pots.
