MODULE 1: Theories on the Origin of the Universe ● 5th Century B.C.

, the Greek philosophers

Content: Leucippus and Democritus founded the school
of Atomism.
1A- Cosmological Theory
● The universe was composed of very small,
1B- Models of the Universe indivisible, and indestructible building blocks
1C- Hypotheses on the Origin of the Solar System known as atoms ( from “atomos”, meaning
“uncuttable”)

COSMOLOGICAL THEORIES
4. ORGANISMIC VIEW
1. NARRATIVE OF GENESIS ● According to the “organismic” view, the
● Belief in Judaism and Christianism structures that make up the universe, galaxies,
- found in Genesis 1:1-23 black holes, quasars, stars, nebulae, planets and
- Elohim (God). us included, should be considered as the tissue
of a living giant, something as the parts of the
“God creates the heavens and the earth in six days then body of the universe.
rests on, blesses, and sanctifies on the seventh.” ● What happens in one place affects what
happens elsewhere.
GENESIS: The Beginning

At the beginning God created the heavens and the

earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness 5. STEADY-STATE INFINITE UNIVERSE
was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God ● Rene Descartes - The vacuum of space was not
was hovering over the waters. empty at all but was filled with matter that
swirled around in large and small vortices (later
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
called gravitational effects)
God saw that the light was good, and he separated the
● Isaac Newton (Principia) - Matter on the large
light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and
scale is uniformly distributed and the universe is
the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening,
gravitationally balanced but unstable.
and there was morning—the first day.

6. MODIFIED STEADY-STATE INFINITE UNIVERSE

2. BRAHMANDA UNIVERSE “Cosmic Egg
● Albert Einstein - believed that the universe was
Universe”
static, neither expanding nor contracting.
● The Hindu Rigveda describes a cyclical or
● Edwin Hubble - invented the telescope; showed
oscillating universe in which a “cosmic egg” or
that the universe is not static (1929)
Brahmanda, containing the whole universe
(including the Sun, Moon, planets, and all of
space) expands out of a single concentrated
point called a Bindu before subsequently 7. THE BIG BANG
collapsing again. The universe cycles infinitely ● Idea is that the Universe has expanded from a
between expansion and total collapse. primordial hot and dense initial condition at
some finite time in the past (currently
estimated to have been approximately 13.7
billion years ago) and continues to expand to
3. ATOMIST UNIVERSE
this day. (Lemaitre, 1927)
2 Era: Radiation and Matter the sun caused solar material to go into orbit and form
the planets.

3. Tidal Hypothesis
MODELS OF THE UNIVERSE
Tidal Hypothesis. J. Jean and H. Jeffreys, 1917: a near
Note: Remember collision between the sun and another star drew out of
● GEOCENTRIC the sun and another star a tide of gases which broke up
- Geo- “Earth” to form the planets.
- Centric- “Center”
4. Protoplanet Theory
Ptolemy (second century, A.D.), Egyptian: the
geocentric model with stars and planets on fixed Gerald Kuiper and Carl von Weizsacker, 1944
spheres around the earth.
Modified version of Nebular Hypothesis -The dense area
of the nebula and the gaseous matter surrounding it
● HELIOCENTRIC
ceased to rotate uniformly. Under the influence of
- HELIOS- “Sun”
turbulence and tidal action, the nebula broke into
- Centric- “Center” whirlpools of gas within a rotating mass called
protoplanets.
Heliocentric Model
This theory does not explain the formation of terrestrial
Copernicus (1543)- revived the heliocentric model of planets and gas giants.
the solar system and proposed that earth was one of
several planets orbiting the sun.

Galileo (1609)- constructed the first astronomical

telescope; gathered evidence that supported the
Copernican model.

Additional Information:

HAROL UREY

HYPOTHESES ON THE ORIGIN OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM ● Founded cosmochemistry, provided evidence
that the terrestrial planets formed at low
1. Nebular Hypothesis temperatures (approx 2200 deg F)
● High enough to drive off the lighter substances
Nebular Hypothesis. Kant, 1755: Laplace, 1796: the (hydrogen and helium), but low enough to allow
nebula contracted gravitationally and by conservation condensation of heavier substances (iron and
of angular momentum began to rotate, separated into silica). Because of the proximity to the sun, the
rings with centers of gravitation which became the gas giants were prevented from forming earthly
planets and their satellites. materials and were only made up of methane,
water, and ammonia.
2. Planetismal Hypothesis
QUESTION:
Planetisimal Hypothesis. T.C. Chamberlin and F.R.
Moulton, 1895, a passing star and eruptive activity in 1. What model theory says that the formation of
the solar system was caused by a near-collision

RUBI, RAVEN S. I EARTH AND LIFE SCIENCE 2

 between a primitive and an intruding star? What is a system? It is a group of parts that function
Tidal. together
2. What model of the universe is found to be true?
Heliocentric.
3. This theory says that the universe came from a
primordial soup that has expanded and is still
expanding until today? Big Bang.

MODULE 1: Earth and Earth Systems, Deformation of

Crust, and Endogenic Processes

True or False:

1. According to BRAHMANDA UNIVERSE theory,

the universe cycles infinitely between
expansion and a total collapse. True
2. Sir Isaac Newton believed that the universe is
filled with large and small vortices. False
3. According to the Tidal hypothesis, there was a
collision happened between the sun and
another star which drew out the principal mass
of the sun which condensed to form the
planets. True
4. In the Geometric model, the sun was
mentioned as the center of the universe. False

The right distance from the sun would be:

Habitable zone 149,597,870,691 m

Earth’s Rotation: 23 hours, 56 min, 4.09 sec Tilt: 23.5
degrees

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1.THE ATMOSPHERE

Layers of Atmosphere

● Thermosphere: Satellites & Radio waves travel

in this layer. This is the hottest layer
● Mesosphere: Meteors burn up when they hit
this layer
● Stratosphere: Contains the Ozone Layer-
prevents some ultraviolet radiation UV light
from reaching Earth’s surface, also where
airplanes fly.
● Troposphere: Contains Convection Currents
created by the sun’s heat which causes most of
our weather

2. THE HYDROSPHERE

The Water Cycle - The water or hydrologic cycle is the

continuous movement of water from oceans and
freshwater sources to the air, land, and back to the
bodies of water which results in freshwater
continuously being renewed.

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 - The inner core is a solid sphere about
2440 km in radius situated at Earth's
center.
- It composed primarily of a nickel-iron
alloy.

Tectonic Plates- the crust of the Earth is broken into

many pieces called tectonic plates. The plates "float" on
the soft, semi-rigid asthenosphere.

Deformation of the Crust: Plate Motion and Endogenic

Processes

Continental Drift Theory

3. THE BIOSPHERE
● Alfred Wegener, a geophysicist and
Earth’s organisms live in the biosphere. The biosphere meteorologist, believed that all of the
consists of the parts of the planet in which all life exists. continents were connected as one large land
mass (he called Pangaea) about 200 million
4. THE LITHOSPHERE years ago. “Gradual movement of the
continents over time.
Layers of the Earth
● Crust Evidence of Continental Drift:
- The crust is like the skin of an apple. It is 1. Jigsaw puzzle fit of continents
very thin in comparison to the other
three layers. The crust is only about 8
km thick under the oceans (oceanic
crust) and about 32 kilometers thick
under the continents (continental
crust).
● Mantle
- The mantle is approximately 2,900 km
thick and comprises 70% of Earth's
volume; composed of magnesium and
iron. This is the thickest layer!!
2. Similar fossil plants and animals are now found
● Outer Core
on widely separated continents. Gondwana
- The liquid outer core is 2700 km thick
(ancient supercontinent) is shown here.
and like the inner core composed of a
nickel-iron alloy (but with less iron than
Was the Continental Drift Theory accepted?
the solid inner core).
● Inner Core

RUBI, RAVEN S. I EARTH AND LIFE SCIENCE 5

No. Because there is no acceptable hypothesis
explaining the movement of continents.

Plate Tectonics Theory is the widely accepted theory

that Earth's crust is fractured into rigid, moving plates.
In the 1950s and 1960s, scientists discovered the plate
edges through magnetic surveys of the ocean floor.

Tectonic plates are moved around by the underlying hot

mantle convection cells
Deformation of Rocks
1. Folding- when one or a stack of originally flat,
level surfaces, such as sedimentary strata, are
Plate Boundaries
bent or curved as a result of pressure and high
temperature.
2. Faulting- the result of fracture or displacement
of two sides of rocks. Faul-a break in earth’s
crust where rock surfaces slip past each other.

Effects of Plate Tectonics

1. Volcanism- any various processes and
phenomena associated with the surficial
discharges of molten rock, pyroclastic
fragments, or hot water and stream
2. Deformation of Rocks- rocks become deformed
when the Earth’s crust is compressed or
stretched. The forces needed to do this activity
over millions of years- deformation is a very
slow process. As the plates continue to move
due to the convection of earth's layers, rocks
are continuously exposed to stress. When rocks
are subjected to stress, the rocks will eventually
undergo strain or deformation.

Three (3) Types of Stresses

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