Earth Science (Lecture and Laboratory) STEM-ES

THE UNIVERSE
A. ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE
1. Non-scientific thought
a. Ancient Egyptians
- the ancient Egyptians believed that during the first rising sun, the world arose
from an infinite sea.
b. India
- there is a narrative that the gods sacrificed Purusha, the primal man whose
head, feet, eyes, and mind became the sky, earth, sun, and moon, respectively.
c. Kuba People of Central Africa
- “The Big Bumba Theory” states that Bumba/Mbombo felt an intense stomach
pain and vomited the cosmic bodies.
d. Monotheistic Religions
- a supreme being created the universe, including man and other living
organisms.
e. Holographic Theory
- this theory states that the entire universe, including everything in it, is just a
hologram.

2. Classical Astronomy
The Aristotelian Universe
- Plato and his student Aristotle established the first widely accepted ideas about
the structure of the universe.
Ø Ancient philosophers and astronomers accepted as first principles that the
Earth was located at the center (geocentric universe) and that everything
in the heavens moved in uniform circular motion. They thought it was
obvious that Earth did not move because they did not see the shifting of
stars called parallax.
Ø Notice how the observed motion of the planets did not fit the theory very
well. The retrograde motion of the planets was very difficult to explain
using geocentrism and uniform circular motion.
Ø Claudius Ptolemy attempted to explain the motion of the planets
mathematically by devising a small circle, the epicycle, rotating along the
edge of a larger circle, the deferent, that enclosed the Earth. He even
allowed the speed of the planets to vary slightly as they circled a slightly
off-center point called the equant. In these ways, he weakened the
principles of geocentrism and uniform circular motion.

3. The Copernican Revolution

- in 1514, he wrote an essay proposing a model of a heliocentric universe in which
the sun, not Earth, was the center.
- he proposed that the Earth rotates on its axis and revolves around the sun.

- *Tycho Brahe

- *Johannes Kepler (3 Laws of Planetary Motion)

a. The Law of Ellipses
Ø explains that planets are orbiting the sun in a path described as an
ellipse.
Ø an ellipse is a special curve in which the sum of the distances from
every point on to the curve to two other points is constant. The two
other points are known as the foci of the ellipse.
b. The Law of Equal Areas
Ø describes the speed at which any given planet will move while orbiting
the sun.
Ø the speed at which any planet moves through space is constantly
changing. A planet moves fastest when it is closest to the sun and
slowest when it is furthest from the sun.

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c. The Law of Harmonies

• compares orbital period and radius of orbit of a planet to those of
other planets.

4. The Big Bang Theory

- first proposed by Belgian astrophysicist and priest Abbe Georges Edouard
Lemaître (1894-1966);
- it postulates that the universe began in a packed state of hot and enormous
density and energy at a finite time in the past (time zero);
- it is the currently most accepted model of the origin and evolution of the
universe;
- if proven to be true, then the universe is 13.8 billion years old.

There are three key observational evidences that support the Big bang Model: (a)
Hubble or cosmic expansion, (b) cosmic microwave background (CMB) and (c)
primordial or Big bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN).

a. Hubble or cosmic expansion

Hubble’s Law states that other galaxies are moving away relative to the
Milky Way at a rate proportional to distance. It proved that the universe is
expanding thereby suggesting that the universe was once compact.
b. Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB)
In 1946, theoretical physicists and cosmologist George Gamow, together
with Robert Herman and Ralph Alpher, predicted that if the early stage of
the universe was hot and dense, then an afterglow of radiation must have
filled up the universe brought about by the cooling process. This afterglow
is detected today as the CMB. In 1965, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson
confirmed the presence of the CMB with an average temperature of
about -270°C or 2.7K.
c. Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
Big Bang Nucleosynthesis refers to the process of producing the “light
elements” shortly after the Big Bang. These light elements (Hydrogen and
Helium) have the highest abundance since the early universe up to
present.

5. Other Modern Theories

a. Oscillating Universe (1930)
- this was Einstein’s favoured model after he rejected his own original model
(Einsteinian Universe). The oscillating universe followed the general
relativity equations of the universe with positive curvature, which results in
the universe expanding for a time and contracting due to pull of its gravity
in a perpetual cycle of Big bang, followed in time, Big Crunch.
b. Steady State Universe (1948)
- proposed by English astronomer Fred Hoyle and the Austrians Thomas
Gold and Herman Bondi.
- the theory predicted a universe that expanded but did not change its
density with matter being inserted into the universe as it expanded in
order to maintain a constant density.
c. Inflationary Universe (1980)
- by American physicist Alan Guth
- based on the Big Bang
- he incorporated a short, early period of exponential cosmic inflation in
order to solve the horizon and flatness problems of the standard Big Bang
model
d. Multiverse (1983)
- initially “many worlds” by American physicist Hugh Everett III and Bryce
DeWitt in the 1960s and 1970s.
- sees our universe as just one of the many ‘bubbles’ that grew as part of a
multiverse.

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B. STRUCTURE, COMPOSITION, AND AGE

• The universe as we currently know it comprises of all time and space, and all matter
and energy in it;
• It is made of 4.6% Baryonic Matter or “ordinary matter”, 24% Cold Dark Matter, and
71.4% Dark Energy (some scientists say 3%, 14%, and 83%, respectively);
• Hydrogen and Helium (and Lithium) are the most abundant elements;
• Stars-building blocks of galaxies that are born out of gas and dust;
• A galaxy is a cluster of billions of stars. Cluster of galaxies form superclusters;
• Based on recent data, the universe is 13.8 billion years old.

C. FATE OF THE UNIVERSE

1. The Expanding Universe
• In 1929, Edwin Hubble announced his significant discovery of the redshift and its
interpretation that galaxies are moving away from each other, hence as
evidence of an expanding universe.
• He observed that spectral lines of starlight made to pass through a prism are
shifted toward the red part of the electromagnetic spectrum, i.e., toward the
band of lower frequency; thus, the inference that the star or galaxy must be
moving away from us.

• “The Big Chill” or “The Big Freeze” - the universe will stretch forever, distributing
heat evenly in the process until none is left to be usable enough. The universe will
slowly cool as it expands until eventually it is unable to sustain any life.
• “The Big Crunch” – predicts that, after having expanded to its maximum size, the
Universe will finally collapse into itself to form the greatest black hole ever.
• “The Big Rip” – the Universe’s rate of expansion will increase substantially so that
everything in it, down to the smallest atom, will be ripped apart.
• “The Big Bounce” – the universe would simply expand and contract (or bounce)
forever.

References:
• Miller, Jr. G. T. (2016). Earth Science. Manila, Philippines. Rex Book Store, Inc.
• Olivar, J. T. (2016). Exploring Life through Science: Earth Science. Quezon City,
Philippines. Phoenix Publishing House, Inc.
• Oliva, M. D. G. (2016). Earth Science (STEM Track). Makati City, Philippines. Diwa
Learning Systems, Inc.
• www.physicsclassroom.com
• www.universetoday.com