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from mrmackenzie
It’s complicated and cosmologists are not certain. One of the issues is only being able to see about 4% of the mass in the universe – the stars, planets, gas and dust. About 25% of the mass of the universe is Dark Matter. It’s “dark” because it doesn’t emit light that enables us to see … Read more
from mrmackenzie
You might remember that we looked at some paradoxes when we studied special relativity earlier this term. Here is another situation where a paradox can arise. The German astronomer Heinrich Olbers (1758–1840) asked why the night sky was dark. At the time, astronomers believed that the Universe was both infinite and steady state (unchanging), so … Read more
from mrmackenzie
As we worked through the diagram explaining the stages of the Big Bang model, we looked at a section of the diagram where the Universe was hot enough for nuclear fusion. At this point, hydrogen nuclei were fusing together with other hydrogen nuclei to create helium nuclei. As the Universe expanded, it cooled and further … Read more
from mrmackenzie
introduction to the Big Bang from mr mackenzie on Vimeo. Georges Lemaître’s theory of an expanding Universe, which has become known as the Big Bang, was supported by Hubble’s observations. The expanding Universe idea was challenged by influential scientists who believed the Universe was both infinite (and therefore not expanding) and steady state (unchanging). Supporters … Read more
from mrmackenzie
In the 1920s, Edwin Hubble had access to the Hooker telescope on Mount Wilson, Los Angeles. This was the largest telescope in the world at that time. His first breakthrough was the discovery of a cepheid variable star in the Andromeda nebula. This enabled him to calculate the distance to Andromeda and he quickly realised this was … Read more
from mrmackenzie
We started our study of Einstein’s special theory of relativity this week. Special relativity is tricky get your head round, so I’ve put together a collection of videos that help to explain the ideas we’re going to consider. Let’s start with a video about the speed of light. The next video follows Einstein’s thought process … Read more
from mrmackenzie
It’s complicated and cosmologists are not certain. One of the issues is only being able to see about 4% of the mass in the universe – the stars, planets, gas and dust. About 25% of the mass of the universe is Dark Matter. It’s “dark” because it doesn’t emit light that enables us to see … Read more how will the Universe end?
from mrmackenzie
You might remember that we looked at some paradoxes when we studied special relativity earlier this term. Here is another situation where a paradox can arise. The German astronomer Heinrich Olbers (1758–1840) asked why the night sky was dark. At the time, astronomers believed that the Universe was both infinite and steady state (unchanging), so … Read more evidence in support of the big bang: #3 olbers’ paradox
from mrmackenzie
As we worked through the diagram explaining the stages of the Big Bang model, we looked at a section of the diagram where the Universe was hot enough for nuclear fusion. At this point, hydrogen nuclei were fusing together with other hydrogen nuclei to create helium nuclei. As the Universe expanded, it cooled and further … Read more evidence in support of the big bang: #2 nucleosynthesis
from mrmackenzie
introduction to the Big Bang from mr mackenzie on Vimeo. Georges Lemaître’s theory of an expanding Universe, which has become known as the Big Bang, was supported by Hubble’s observations. The expanding Universe idea was challenged by influential scientists who believed the Universe was both infinite (and therefore not expanding) and steady state (unchanging). Supporters … Read more evidence in support of the big bang: #1 CMBR