at the speed of light.
Earth Science ● Stellar – Relating to a star or stars.
● Supernova – A star that suddenly
Lesson 1: Origin of the increases greatly in brightness
because of a catastrophic explosion
Universe that ejects most of its mass.
Creation Myths and Scientific
Theories
Topics for Today
L.1.1: Origin of the Universe –
Unlocking of
Creation Myth
Terminologies
“In the beginning, God created
● Universe – Is all of space and time the heavens and the earth.” –
and their contents, including planets, Genesis 1:1 (NIV)
stars, galaxies, and all other forms of
matter and energy. Creation Myths
Is a symbolic narrative of the beginning of
● Creation Myths – Is a symbolic
the world as understood by a culture.
narrative of the beginning of the
world as understood by a culture.
Handed down from generations to
generations through oral traditions such as
● Matter – Anything that takes up
stories, poems, songs, and works of art,
space and can be weighed. In other
among others.
words, matter has volume and mass.
● Fluctuation – An irregular rising and
falling in number or amount. The Creation Story
● Epoch – An event or a time that In the beginning...
begins a new period or
development. ● Light and Darkness – Day 1
● Nucleosynthesis – The cosmic ● Separated the Sky from the
formation of atoms more complex Waters – Day 2
than the hydrogen atom.
● Land, Seas, and Vegetation – Day
● Radiation – Energy that comes from 3
a source and travels through space
● Sun, Moon, and Stars – Day 4 ● Formation of the Universe – The
universe continued to expand.
● Birds and Sea Creatures – Day 5
● By the first second, the universe
● Animals and Humans – Day 6 was made up of the fundamental
particles:
● God Rested – Day 7
○ Quarks
○ Electrons
L.1.2: Origin of the Universe –
Scientific Theories ○ Protons
There are several theories explaining the ○ Neutrons
origin of the universe. These include the Big
Bang Theory and Steady State Theory.
Formation of Basic Elements (3
seconds after the Big Bang)
Big Bang Theory ● Hydrogen
Alexander Friedman and George
● Helium
Lemaître, in 1920.
Around 13.7 billion years ago, there was ● Lithium
nothing and nowhere. Then suddenly, due
to a random fluctuation in an empty void, ● Protons and neutrons combined –
there was a great explosion. That is when Hydrogen
space, time, matter, and energy were born.
● Nucleosynthesis
● Singularity – All matter and energy
in the universe are crammed into a
tiny, compact point. Big Bang Nucleosynthesis – Process that
creates new atomic nuclei from pre-existing
nucleons, primarily protons and neutrons.
Nuclear Fusion – Is a process in which a
The Big Bang Timeline nucleus combines with another nucleus.
● Inflation Epoch – The universe Through nuclear fusion, the light elements –
expanded from the size of an atomic hydrogen (H), helium (He), and small
nucleus to 10³⁵ meters in width. amounts of lithium (Li) and beryllium (Be) –
were formed.
Radiation Era (10,000 years) ● The group of stars became the
galaxies.
● Radiation – Includes different
wavelengths of light, X-rays, radio
waves, and ultraviolet rays.
● Cosmic Microwave Background
2. Formation of Heavier
Radiation Elements
Stellar Nucleosynthesis
Matter Domination (300,000 years) ● Process by which elements are
created within stars, combining
● Matter began to dominate. together the protons and neutrons
from the nuclei of lighter elements.
● Lithium atoms began to be formed.
● Electrons joined with hydrogen and
Supernova Nucleosynthesis
helium nuclei.
● Responsible for the creation of rarer
● Formed small, neutral atoms. elements heavier than iron and
nickel.
● Violent explosion released a huge
amount of nuclear energy and
produced other elements heavier
than iron (Fe).
● It is the death of the star and the
birth of something new.
Birth of Stars and Galaxies (300
million years)
● The slightly irregular areas of the
gas cloud gravitationally attracted
nearby matter and became denser.
● Collapsed and gained enough mass
to ignite and produce light.
The Steady State Theory
● Proposed by British scientists Law.
Hermann Bondi, Thomas Gold,
and Fred Hoyle. ● He also announced his significant
discovery of redshift.
● Steady-State Cosmology – Matter
is constantly created as the universe
expands.
Hubble’s Law
● The dominant motion in the universe
is the smooth expansion known as
Evidence That Supports Hubble’s Law.
the Big Bang Theory
The theory was supported by other
scientists such as Edwin Hubble, Arno
Allan Penzias, and Robert Woodrow
Wilson, who presented pieces of evidence
to support it.
1. Expanding Universe
● Edwin Hubble proved that the
universe is expanding.
“The distant galaxies we see in
all directions are moving away
from the Earth.”
● Question to ponder: "Will it always
expand?"
2. Redshift Phenomenon
● Red shift is an increase in
wavelength, decrease in
frequency, and indicates an object
is moving away.
● He discovered a direct relationship
between the speeds of distant ● Blueshift is a decrease in
galaxies and their distances from wavelength, increase in
Earth, later known as Hubble’s
frequency, and indicates an object
is moving closer.
● Discovered by Arno Penzias and
Robert W. Wilson in 1964 using
data from the WMAP spacecraft.
● It is a very uniform glow of
microwaves emitted by the infant
universe more than 13 billion years
ago.
The Doppler Effect ● According to Inflation Theory, small
irregularities in the CMB were the
● The apparent frequency of a sound
“seeds” that became galaxies.
or light wave changes due to the
relative motion of the source and/or
observer.
Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy
● Objects moving toward you appear
blue or blueshifted.
Probe (WMAP)
● Launched on June 30, 2001 and
● Objects moving away from you
positioned at Lagrangian Point L2.
appear red or redshifted.
● WMAP was used to measure
temperature differences across the
sky.
3. Cosmic Microwave Background
(CMB) ● It provided a detailed picture of the
early universe and further confirmed
● CMB is literally the remnant heat
predictions of the Big Bang model.
left over from the Big Bang.