Big Bang to Earth's Formation Concept Map By Hari Vellaipandian

Big Bang There was no time or space before the big bang. At first the universe was just energy. The universe expanded faster then the speed of light and was very, very hot. It cooled as it grew and began to form gas clouds and nebulas.

Matter and Anti-Matter When matter and anti-matter collide they annihilate each other. If the amount of both had been equal then the universe would have been pure energy, but there was 10,000,000,001 particle of matter for every 10,000,000,000 particles of anti matter. Because of this inequality, there was matter to form the universe we know.

Atomic Nucleus When they had cooled enough, the protons and neutrons were able to join to form atomic nuclei. The protons and neutrons made hydrogen and helium nuclei. The electrons were still too hot to join the neutrons and protons so there were still no full atoms.

Electrons make the first Atom It took billions of years(4.6) for the electrons to cool down enough to join with protons and neutrons. They joined to form the first hydrogen and helium atoms. When electrons joined the protons and neutrons it was like fog lifting and light could travel easier.

Proto-Star Formation First the nebulas grow with more atoms until they become unstable. The nebula collapses in on itself. The gravity of the cloud pulls in more and more gas. A proto-star hasn’t started nuclear fusion yet. Proto-stars are normally on the red spectrum

Nuclear Fusion in Star Nuclear fusion is what is what changes a proto-star to a star. It happens when the core gets hot enough and has enough energy that when the nuclei in the core hit each other they can combine. An example would be how hydrogen nuclei are turned into helium atoms.

Death of a Star - Supernova This happens when the nuclear fusion can no longer happen in the core. The heaviest element that can be formed in a star is iron. There is no enough energy for the iron atoms to combine Once this point is reached the core will contract and the outer parts will explode and send out a shockwave. That explosion is called a supernova. Supernovas can be a billion times as bright as the original star.

Fusion of Heavy Atoms When the stars core contracts violently during a supernova there is more energy and heat. This extra energy allows the heavier metals to form. Nuclear fusion is similar to how a car line works. It moves from one place to another adding another part.

Black Hole Structure The remaining contracted core of a supernova is called a neutron star. If the neutron star is twice the size of our sun then it will almost definitely collapse into a black hole. A black hole is so dense very little can escape its gravity. Light doesn’t illuminate black holes. Massive black holes are located in the center of galaxies. If matter is taken into a black hole it is super heated and turned into energy. The energy is sent out the black hole poles.

Formation of Proto-Sun to Star A proto-star becomes a star when nuclear fusion begins in the core. Nuclear fusions is started when the core is hot enough to push the nuclei together. The fusion in the proto-star normally occurs when heat in the core is at least 10,000,000 Kelvin.

Planet Tesimals to Proto-Planets Planet tesimals are on average a half mile across. Once the planet tesimals slow down enough and hit each other, static energy and friction will cause them to stick together. Another word for this is accretion. The gravity of the rocks would attract more matter and cause it to get bigger. It was a while before this could happen because at first the planet tesimals were moving to fast to stick. They would just destroy each other on contact.

Outer Planets The outer planets are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. They are all made up of primarily gas and are called the Gas Giants. The proto-planets would circle the sun on their orbits and their gravity would take in most gases and rocks.

Inner Planets The inner planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. The inner planets are made of mostly rock and metals. They formed after the outer planetes because they were in the rock line. In the rock line the rocks were moving to fast for the planet tesimals to move together, so they just broke each other if they collided.

Proto-Planets Collided and Earths Moon is Formed The proto-planets Earth and the Mars sized Theia collided. Magma was ejected into the air and Earth’s axis was tilted. The debris of impact was scatted and some was trapped in earths orbit. The debris slowly collected because of gravity. The gravitational force got stronger as the lump of collected debris grew. This  continued until all of the debris was collected and we were left with the Moon.

Earth's Bombardment and Extinctions The bombardment was 700 million years ago. It was a period when the inner 4 planets were hit with many asteroids and meteors. Most of Earth's water came from the late heavy bombardment in the form of hydrogen. There was another bombardment later. That was when the dinosaurs went extinct.