1. Space Exploration The Big Bang
© 2013 Michelle Brosseau, Mrs. Brosseau’s Binder
© 2013 Michelle Brosseau, Mrs. Brosseau’s Binder

2. The Big Bang
Most astronomers believe the Universe began in a Big Bang about 14 billion years ago.
At that time, the entire Universe was inside a bubble that was thousands of times smaller than a pinhead.
It was hotter and denser than anything we can imagine.
© 2013 Michelle Brosseau, Mrs. Brosseau’s Binder

3. The Big Bang Then it suddenly exploded! The Universe that we know
was born.
Time, space and matter all began with the Big Bang.
In a fraction of a second, the Universe grew from smaller than a single atom to bigger than a galaxy. And it kept on growing at a fantastic rate. It is still expanding today.
© 2013 Michelle Brosseau, Mrs. Brosseau’s Binder

4. The Big Bang
As the Universe expanded and cooled, energy changed into particles of matter and antimatter.
These two opposite types of particles largely destroyed each other. But some matter survived. More stable particles called protons and neutrons started to form when the Universe was one second old.
© 2013 Michelle Brosseau, Mrs. Brosseau’s Binder

5. The Big Bang
Over the next three minutes, the temperature dropped below 1 billion degrees Celsius. It was now cool enough for the protons and neutrons to come together, forming hydrogen and helium nuclei.
© 2013 Michelle Brosseau, Mrs. Brosseau’s Binder

6. The Big Bang
After years, the Universe had cooled to about 3000 degrees.
Atomic nuclei could finally capture electrons to form atoms.
The Universe filled with clouds of hydrogen and helium gas.
© 2013 Michelle Brosseau, Mrs. Brosseau’s Binder

7. The Big Bang
We cannot see anything that happened during the first 300  000 years of the Universe.
Scientists try to work it out from their knowledge of atomic particles and from computer models.
© 2013 Michelle Brosseau, Mrs. Brosseau’s Binder

8. The Big Bang
The only direct evidence of the Big Bang itself is a faint glow in space. Spacecraft and telescopes see this as a patchy pattern of slightly warmer and cooler gas all around us. These ripples also show where the hydrogen clouds were slightly denser.
© 2013 Michelle Brosseau, Mrs. Brosseau’s Binder

9. The Big Bang
© 2013 Michelle Brosseau, Mrs. Brosseau’s Binder
As millions of years passed, the dense areas pulled in material because they had more gravity.
Finally, about 100 million years after the Big Bang, the gas became hot and dense enough for the first stars to form.

10. The Big Bang
New stars were being born at a rate 10 times higher than in the present-day Universe. Large clusters of stars soon became the first galaxies. The Hubble Space Telescope and powerful ground-based telescopes are now beginning to find galaxies that were created about one billion years after the Big Bang.
© 2013 Michelle Brosseau, Mrs. Brosseau’s Binder

11. The Big Bang
These small galaxies were much closer together than galaxies are today. Collisions were common. Like two flames moving towards each other, they merged into bigger galaxies. Our Milky Way galaxy came together in this way.
© 2013 Michelle Brosseau, Mrs. Brosseau’s Binder

12. Teachers:
For the model of the expansion of the universe, have the students partially blow up a balloon – DO NOT TIE it (just hold the end).
Draw 4 galaxies (dots and spiral shapes) in a line 1 inch apart. Have the students blow up the balloon further and discuss how the galaxies are now farther apart due the expansion of the Universe.
After the video, have them release the air from their balloons to model the Big Crunch. Have them re-inflate the balloon a lot to model the Cold Death when the galaxies are so far apart they will never collide again to make new stars. Have them blow up the balloons until they pop (or just pop the balloons) to model the Big Rip.
The Big Bang
Let’s model the expansion of the universe with balloons. Take a balloon – blow it up so it is about the size of a baseball. DO NOT TIE THE BALLOON! Draw 4 or more galaxies about an inch apart.
© 2013 Michelle Brosseau, Mrs. Brosseau’s Binder

13. The Big Bang
Blow up the balloon until it is the size of a football. What is happening to the distance between the galaxies? Blow up the balloon until it is the size of a basketball. What is happening to the distance between the galaxies? This is like the expansion of the Universe!
© 2013 Michelle Brosseau, Mrs. Brosseau’s Binder

14. The Big Bang
How will it all end? Michio Kaku explains different ways that the Universe might end. After watching the video, let’s model these end-of-universe possibilities with out balloons.
© 2013 Michelle Brosseau, Mrs. Brosseau’s Binder

15. The Big Bang
The Big Crunch Deflate your balloon – the galaxies come back together. Maybe it will start another Big Bang! The Cold Death Inflate your balloon until the galaxies are very far apart!
© 2013 Michelle Brosseau, Mrs. Brosseau’s Binder

16. The Big Bang
The Cold Death Inflate your balloon until the galaxies are very far apart. These galaxies will never come in contact with one another so no new stars will form.
© 2013 Michelle Brosseau, Mrs. Brosseau’s Binder

17. The Big Bang
The Big Rip Inflate your balloon until it pops! The universe expands so quickly that it tears apart!
© 2013 Michelle Brosseau, Mrs. Brosseau’s Binder