Topic Summaries

The Big Bang Theory

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Science skills: Measuring results

  • Observations of red-shift support the Big Bang theory for the origin of the universe.
    • Matter and all space exploded from a very small, extremely hot and dense region around 13.8 billion years ago, creating the universe.
    • The extremely hot matter from this explosion eventually cooled and was pulled together by gravity, creating stars and galaxies.
    • The energy from the explosion is making the universe continue to expand, pushing galaxies apart from each other.
  • It was expected that gravity would slow down the rate of the universe’s expansion. However, recent observations of supernovae suggest that this rate is actually increasing. This has led to the theories of dark matter and dark energy, which influence this expansion.

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