Science Astronomy HW Name ________
due Tuesday May 26, 2009 Period _______
The first part of this homework is REALLY IMPORTANT for learning some physics that you need as we study the formation of stars and planets. Please make your best effort to complete it.
The rest of the observations are to familiarize you with the night sky. It will need to be dark when you conduct them. In addition to the last question, which asks you to discuss what you see and learn with your parents, invite them to join you. Stars are cool for everyone!
1. With a partner or your parents or some other friends, go to a park in Davis that has a full merry-go-round, and do the following activities. You will need a backpack with a fair amount of stuff in it for mass. The ‘stuff’ doesn’t have to be your books, though.
a. Get on the merry-go-round. While someone else spins it sort of slowly, walk from the outside to the middle. Then, have that person spin it as fast as they can, and try doing the same thing. Record what is different about walking to the middle when you are spinning slowly vs. quickly. You may draw as well.
b. Repeat the same activity, only this time, wear a heavy backpack as you try to move towards the center. What do you discover?
2. Contemplation
On a clear night, lay out under the sky after it’s dark for at least 10 minutes. Allow your mind to wander where it will, but try to think ‘astronomy things,’ like: What’s out there? Where did it all come from? Is there life? Where will it end? Identify what stars or planets you know. It may help to imagine that you are living a thousand years ago, without all the knowledge we have today.
When you come back inside, write down what you thought or felt. Feel free to do it as a brainstorm, a story, a poem or any other form.
3. Observation
Observe the sky and plot at least 30 the astronomical objects you see, creating a way to show how bright they appear, as well as color if you can see it.
4. Identifying Constellations
Using the star map, try to identify at least three constellations. Draw and label them.
5. Learning Conversation
When you have finished all these observations, sit down with at least one parent and tell them what you observed, and what it made you think about. Write down anything new that you learn, or that you want to record. (You don’t have to write anything).
Parents, please sign below indicating you have had this conversation. Feel free to provide any comments, feedback or summary as well.
I confirm that I/we discussed our student’s astronomy observations
_________________________________________ (parent signature)
Big Bang Model Performance tasks
Explain what a light year is, and how, when astronomers look deep into space, they are ‘looking back in time’.
Describe the beginning of the universe, and a general sequence of events (what happened at first with matter, energy and the evolution of stars and galaxies)
Explain the major pieces of scientific evidence that support the Big Bang theory.
It’s a Great Big Universe (by Yakko, from Animaniac)
Everybody lives on a street in a city
Or a village or a town for what it's worth.
And they're all inside a country which is part of a continent
That sits upon a planet known as Earth.
And the Earth is a ball full of oceans and some mountains
Which is out there spinning silently in space.
And living on that Earth are the plants and the animals
And also the entire human race.
It's a great big universe
And we're all really puny
We're just tiny little specks
About the size of Mickey Rooney.
It's big and black and inky
And we are small and dinky
It's a big universe and we're not.
And we're part of a vast interplanetary system
Stretching seven hundred billion miles long.
With nine planets and a sun; we think the Earth's the only one
That has life on it, although we could be wrong.
Across the interstellar voids are a billion asteroids
Including meteors and Halley's Comet too.
And there's over fifty moons floating out there like balloons
In a panoramic trillion-mile view.
And still it's all a speck amid a hundred billion stars
In a galaxy we call the Milky Way.
It's sixty thousand trillion miles from one end to the other
And still that's just a fraction of the way.
'Cause there's a hundred billion galaxies that stretch across the sky
Filled with constellations, planets, moons and stars.
And still the universe extends to a place that never ends
Which is maybe just inside a little jar!
Big Bang Model HW: due Friday, May 15, 3009.
16 pts
Create any project you wish that demonstrates your understanding of the Big Bang Model Performance Tasks. You may use any combination of writing, oral presentation, and visuals to convey your understanding. While your work will be assessed only on content, it should be neat and legible. Extra effort and creativity will be awarded extra credit.
Big Bang Model for the Origin of the Cosmos
Read and highlight the text as you wish
Complete all work in your NOTEBOOK
Light year
A light year is a unit of distance, NOT time. It represents how far light can travel in one year. A parsec is 1/3 of a light year, and is used by astronomers as a way to measure distances in space. Within our own solar system, we use the term au, or astronomical unit, which is simply the distance between Earth and the Sun. That unit is a comparison one only: it’s not very useful for the vast regions of space. The Milky Way Galaxy is about 100,000 light years across.
What IS the Big Bang Model
Astrophysicists think that approximately 13.7 billion years ago, the WHOLE universe was compressed into the size of one atomic nucleus. The most common cosmological models that explain our universe, suggest there was an explosion, trillions of degrees in temperature on any measurement scale, that was infinitely dense, created not only fundamental subatomic particles and thus matter and energy, but space and time itself. Note that this model describes that universe was once a very dense, very hot entity, which has, over time, evolved into a less dense, cooler thing……creating space as it expands. This model is NOT about the origin of the universe. The big bang was not some grand fireworks display, but an event of a completely different order. It resembled more an expanding soap bubble film upon which galactic dust motes are carried along for the ride. This film represents all the space and matter in the universe, and it expands into a mysterious void which is itself empty of space, dimension, time or matter. So as the universe expands, it ‘creates’ spacetime itself.
The Four Forces of Nature
Quantum theory suggests that moments after the explosion at 10 -43 second, the four forces of nature; strong nuclear, weak nuclear, electromagnetic and gravity were combined as a single "super force". These separated out soon after, into the four forces we know today: the strong nuclear force which keeps the nucleus of an atom intact; the weak nuclear force which holds an atom together; the electromagnetic for, which acts between electrically charged particles. Electricity, magnetism, and light are all produced by this force and it also has infinite range, and gravity, an attractive force between particles that we don’t understand very well, which also has an infinite range. Gravity is MUCH weaker than electromagnetism, which is why you don’t fall through the Earth. Gravity attracts you towards the center of the Earth, but electromagnetic forces in the molecules you stand on prevent you from ‘falling’ through.
Evidence for the Big Bang Model
1. Galaxies are fairly evenly spread out throughout the cosmos, suggesting they came from a central point. In the plot below, every dot is a galaxy. These dots represent real galaxies in a slice of sky that can be seen from the Hubble Telescope.
2. The universe is constantly expanding, evidence that they are moving away from a center point. Galaxies appear ‘red shifted,’ which means that the wavelengths of light coming to us are longer, or closer to the longer ‘red’ part of the spectrum, rather than the short blue lengths. This can only happen if something is spreading out the wavelengths away from us. Cosmologists believe that the universe is creating itself as it expands, and that spacetime itself is expanding. They believe that the red shift is caused by the change in the curvature of space as it expands.
3. If the universe was initially very, very hot as the Big Bang suggests, we should be able to find the leftover heat. In 1965, discovered a 2.725 degree Kelvin Cosmic Microwave Background radiation (CMB) which is everywhere in the observable universe. This is thought to be the heat leftover from the Big Bang which scientists were looking for. No other model for the evolution of the universe can explain this background energy.
4. The Big Bang model predicts that most of the universe should be made of hydrogen and helium, formed very early in the universe, and this turns out to be true. The heavier elements, of which we are partly made, were created later in the interiors of stars and spread widely in supernova explosions. This turns out to be true: most of the universe IS hydrogen and helium.
In your notebook, takes notes on the following, and do the activities. For note taking, consider making diagrams that help you visualize the ideas.
1. Make a diagram to illustrate a light year, and calculate how many miles or kilometers it is. The speed light is 3 x 108 m/s, or 180,000 miles/hr.
2. Summarize what the Big Bang IS.
3. Summarize the four forces of nature.
4. Use p. 455 in the earth science text, or the handout, to create your own diagram of what happened during the big bang. Create the diagram in your notebook.
5. Summarize, or draw, the evidence supporting the Big Bang Model
Contact Questions—Do both A and B (12 pts)
Answers should be typed, and double-spaced. Include the number of the question you are responding to.
A. Questions: answer two questions in detail, which means at least half a page.
- Describe the opening scene, what it means scientifically, and what the ending, with the pupil of a the eye of a little girl, might mean.
- As a scientific program, SETI has had an interesting history, based on the public’s perception of whether it seemed a worthwhile endeavor. It costs money to design and build radio telescopes and computers to scan and process the radio spectrum of the sky. Some people (like Drummond) argue that we won’t ever find sentient life if it exists, because it’s too little, too far away. To what degree is supporting SETI important for humanity, and why or why not?
- What do you think of the recurring phrase: ‘if there is no life out there, it’s an awful waste of space.’ Why would humans believe this? What kinds of beliefs might cause someone to disagree with that statement?
- Describe how Elly listens or watches for patterns in signals. How did she and her colleagues realize that the signal from Vega was not ‘natural.’? Can you think of other physical phenomena that to us look chaotic but which may actually have patterns inherent in them?
- The theme of religion and science as being at odds recurs throughout this film, first in the character of Palmer, and later at the site of signal reception. Why are science and religion seen at being at odds by people in this film, and do you think they fundamentally are? Explain your reasoning.
6. Palmer wonders whether the world is better off because of science and technology. He cites materialism as evidence that we are ‘empty.’ Choose one of the cultures and times you’ve studied in social studies so far. Compare and contrast how those cultures, without as much technology, may have experienced life.
7. How would the discovery of extra-terrestrial life in the universe change life or perspective here on earth? What sorts of ramifications would it have for humans? If we discovered a sentient species tomorrow, what changes do you think would happen for humans by the year 2050?
8. In the film, why do people doubt that Elly actually went anywhere? What did they expect to happen? Do you believe that we would really be that disbelieving? What is the evidence that Elly actually DID travel somewhere, and why do you think it was not admitted as evidence at the final hearing?
B. Create a full-page illustration of one of the following, by hand with pen and ink or with color, or with a computer. Give it a title.
- The opening scene showing the correspondence of emitted radio waves to the distance from earth.
- Elly listening for signals.
- The human translation (the primer) of the signal.
- The various groups demonstrating/celebrating at the site of the signal.
- The ‘time machine.’
- Elly’s trip through wormholes.
- What Elly discovers about Life in the Universe.
- A poster recommending this film.
- A bookmark for the film and/or book.
