3.

01 The origin of the Universe

(5.3, 5.4, 10.1, 15.1)
• Name types of objects we can see in the night sky
• Describe what is in our Solar System
• Describe what is in a galaxy
• Describe what is in the Universe
• Give an approximate age of the Universe.
• Describe the big bang theory of the Universe, and evidence for it.
 Watch the following video and take notes
about the Big Bang theory to answer the
following questions.

Task: Note taking video

The origin of Universe
Q1. How old is the Universe?
Q2. What started the process of the creation of the universe?
Q3. How long did it take for the Big Bang to explode?
Q4. Did the growing of Universe stopped after this explosion?
Q5. What happened to the Universe after it expanded?

Questions
Q6. What happened to the Universe after it cooled down?
Q7. What happened to the Universe after 3 minutes from the
Big Bang?
Q8. How did the stars and galaxies began to form?
Q9. What is the name of the hot bubble that exploded to make
the Universe?
Q10. What is the Big Crunch?

Questions
• The Universe is everything that exists; all the stars,
planets, moons, comets, asteroids, meteors, and
everything else make up the Universe, including us!
• Some people ask what is outside the Universe. This is
not a question that science can answer because there
may be no outside.
• We don’t know how large the Universe is or whether it
is even infinite, but we do know that we can see for
13.7 billion light years in all directions.

The Universe
 Stars are huge balls of gas that give out light.
 When you look at a star it might appear to twinkle -
light seems to flicker -
 This is because the light changes direction as it travels
through the Earth's atmosphere.

Stars
 Planets are not stars- they are objects in orbit around
stars.
 They are made of rock or gas and are non luminous -
do not give out their own light –
You see planets because light is reflected off them into our eyes.
You can see five planets without a telescope: Mercury, Venus,
Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
There are two other planets: Uranus and Neptune.
An asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter contains much smaller
pieces of rock and one dwarf planet.
Pluto is another dwarf planet, much further from the Sun.

Planets
 On a clear night you can see the Moon. It is made of
rock and orbits the Earth.
 It is the only object beyond the Earth that a person has
set foot on.
 A moon is an object that orbits a planet. It is called a
natural satellite.
 Most of the other planets in the Solar System have their
own moons, although you cannot see them without a
telescope. The Earth has only one moon.

Moons
 Our Solar System contains four inner planets, an
asteroid belt, and four outer planets.
 The outer planets have rings made of rock, dust, and
ice.
 Until 2006 Pluto was called a planet. Then astronomers
found other objects like Pluto beyond Neptune, so they
started calling Pluto a dwarf planet.

Our Solar
System
 Inner planets Outer planets
Names Mercury, Venus, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn,
Mars Uranus, Neptune
Mostly gas (Hydrogen,
Made of … Mostly rock
Helium) and/or ice
Size Small Large
Rings? No Yes
Mercury 0, Venus 0, Jupiter 79, Saturn 82,
Moons
Earth 1, Mars 2 Uranus 27, Neptune 14
Seen by … Reflected light Reflected light
Life detected? Only on Earth No

Inner and outer planets

 Most of the stars that we can see are stars in our
galaxy the Milky Way.
 Astronomers think our Sun and the other stars in our
galaxy are all orbiting a huge black hole at the centre.
 The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy. It is shaped with
curved arms making a disc with a bulge in the middle.

Our galaxy
 One of the most spectacular galaxies is the Andromeda
galaxy. Andromeda is the nearest spiral galaxy to our
Milky Way.
 We can also see two of our other neighbouring galaxies
the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds.
 Not all galaxies are spiral. You need a telescope to
see the galaxies in any detail. With the naked eye
they look like fuzzy discs.

Other galaxies
 In the 1920s, astronomers used telescopes to measure
how fast galaxies were moving.
 They found evidence that every galaxy is moving away
from other galaxies and the further away they were, the
faster they were moving.

The Big Bang

 The Universe began about 14 billion years ago.
 The whole Universe expanded from something smaller
than an atom and hotter than anything we can imagine
 In a fraction of a second the Universe grew to the size
of a galaxy, and it has continued to expand ever since.
 As it expanded, it cooled, and energy changed into
particles, making atoms and molecules of hydrogen
and helium.
 Eventually there were stars, planets, moons, and
galaxies, and the Universe we see today.

The Big Bang

A timeline for the Universe
 No one knows what will happen to the Universe.
It may expand forever.
It may expand, and the expansion could get faster.
Gravity may pull it back in again.
It may expand to a certain size and stay that way.

 To know what is going to happen we would need to be

able to measure the mass of all the objects in the
Universe.
This is not possible with the technology that we have at
the moment.

The end of the Universe

Q1. State if the statements below are true or false.
a. Galaxies contain stars.
b. Stars contain galaxies.
c. Our galaxy is called Andromeda.
d. Our galaxy is a spiral galaxy.

Q2. Describe the difference between a solar system and a

galaxy.

Q3. Name two planets you can see without a telescope.

Homework
Q4. List the planets of the Solar System, starting with
Mercury.

Q5. Compare the inner planets with the outer planets in

terms of:
a. their moons and rings
b. their composition (what they are made of).

Q6. Explain why it is not possible to count all the stars in

the Milky Way.

Homework
Q7. a. Write down the age of the Universe.
b. Write down the age of the Solar System.
Q8. Why is it difficult to predict what will happen to the
Universe?
Q9. Could humans have seen a dinosaur? Explain your
answer.

Homework
 3.04 Asteroids, Comets, and
Meteors (5.3, 10.2, 15.2)
• Describe comets, asteroids, and meteors
• Describe how asteroids form
• Describe the evidence for asteroid collisions.
• Describe some consequences of asteroid collisions.
 An asteroid is rock that orbits the Sun.
 It is smaller than a planet, but some are large enough
to be called a minor planet.
 Asteroids can range in size from less than 10 m to over
500 km in diameter.
 Most asteroids are irregularly shaped, although some
are nearly spherical.
 The total mass of all the asteroids in our Solar System
is less than the mass of the Moon.
 More than 100 asteroids also have moons!

What is an Asteroid?
 Asteroids are left-over debris from the formation of
the Solar System.
 The Solar System formed when gravity pulled dust
and gas together about 4.6 billion years ago.
 The pieces of rock that were left over are what we call
asteroids.
 Jupiter’s gravity may have broken up some smaller
planets into pieces of rock that became asteroids.

How do
asteroids form?
 In our Solar System there are over a million asteroids.
 Most of them are located in the asteroid belt between
Mars and Jupiter, but some are in the same orbit as
larger planets, such as Jupiter and some are in orbits
that bring them close to Earth.
 Astronomers watch these carefully in order to give a
warning if one of them might hit the Earth.

Where are
the asteroids?
 A comet is made of ice and dust like a big, dirty
snowball orbiting the Sun.
 As a comet gets nearer to the Sun it produces a tail
that makes a spectacular sight in the sky.
 We see comets because, like planets and moons, they
reflect sunlight.
 It wasn’t until astronomers started measurements to
realise that some comets come back again and again.
 Comet Encke can be seen every three years. Other
comets return after hundreds or thousands of years.

Comets
 When a particle of dust or a piece of rock called a
meteor enters the Earth’s atmosphere it burns up.
 A piece of rock that survives to reach the ground is
called a meteorite.
 You see a meteor shower when the Earth moves
through the dust left by a comet.

Meteors and
meteorites
 Approximate
Object Definition
size
Smaller than a
Asteroid A large piece of rock orbiting the Sun planet, larger
than a meteoroid
A smaller piece of rock that has 1 m in diameter
Meteoroid
broken off from an asteroid or comet or smaller
A smaller piece of rock that has 1 m in diameter
Meteor
entered the Earth’s atmosphere or smaller
A meteor that reaches the ground (is 1 m in diameter
Meteorite
not burnt up in the atmosphere) or smaller
An object made of ice and dust orbiting
About 10 km in
Comet the Sun that has a tail when it gets
diameter
close to the Sun

Asteroid, meteor, comet:

What’s the difference?
 Watch the following video and take notes
about the collisions, asteroids, and mass
extensions to answer the following questions.

Task: Note taking video

What if an Asteroid hits the Earth?
Q1. Define impact events?
Q2. Explain how asteroids played a significant role in
shaping our World?
Q3. When will the next asteroid hit the Earth?
Q4. Explain how the atmosphere of the Earth protects us
from the collisions of asteroids?
Q5. A potentially hazardous asteroid event occurred in
January 2022, state that event.

Questions
Q6. After how many years will the same sized asteroid in
January 2022 reach the Earth again?
Q7. What are meteorites?
Q8. What is the impact of a meteorite hitting the Earth?
Q9. How did the entire species of dinosaurs get extinct?

Questions
 There is evidence that very many asteroids have
collided with objects in the Solar System in the past.
 The Moon has been hit by lots of pieces of rock in the
past, for that reason it covered in craters.
 Meteor Crater in Arizona, USA, was formed when a piece
of iron 40 m in diameter hit the Earth.
 The crater produced by the asteroid that may have
caused the extinction of the dinosaurs is deep off the
coast of Mexico, and was not discovered until 1978.

Asteroid impacts
on Earth and Moon
 On impact, the ground and the asteroid can be
vaporised.
 This sends material into the air in the form of dust,
ash, and gas.
 If the asteroid hits the ocean it can cause a tsunami.
 The effect of the impact depends what the asteroid is
made of, and what it hits.

What happens when an asteroid

hits the Earth?
 If the asteroid is very large there will be enough dust
to block out light from the Sun.
 If radiation from the Sun is blocked, then temperature
of the Earth would fall very quickly. This is called an
impact winter.
 If the Sun was blocked out for a long time, then plants
that rely on photosynthesis and animals that eat the
plants would die.
 An impact winter that continued for over a year would
make it difficult for humans to survive.

What effect does an asteroid

impact have?
 More than 100 tons of dust hits the Earth everyday,
but it gets burned up in the atmosphere.

An object the … hits the

… and produces …
size of … Earth every …
A car (5 m) Year A fireball
A football field A large crater, significant
5000 years
(100 m) damage, tsunami
Half (400 m) the Climate change, impact
tallest building 100 000 years winter, possible mass
in the world extension

How often do significant asteroid

impacts happen?
Q1. a. Name three objects that orbit the Sun.
b. Name two objects that orbit the Earth.

Q2. Name three objects can only be seen because they

reflect light from the Sun.

Q3. Explain how asteroids formed.

Q4. Explain why the Moon is not an asteroid, even though

it is made of rock.

Homework
Q5. Explain why the asteroids are not stars.

Q6. Describe the two main effects of large asteroid

impacts.

Q7. Explain why craters are easily seen on the Moon but
not on Earth.

Q8. Suggest why it is difficult to know the exact cause of

a mass extinction event.

Homework
 3.05 Collisions and the Moon
• Describe impact hypothesis the giant-for the formation of the Moon
• Describe some of the evidence for and against the hypothesis
• Describe the evidence for other theories
 Watch the following video and take notes
about the theories proposed for the
formation of the Moon

Task: Note taking video

How the Moon was formed?
1. What is the capture theory?

2. What is the Accretion theory?

3. Why was this theory not accepted?

4. What is the fission scenario?

5. What is the giant impact theory?

6. The size of the Moon is nearly the size of the ....

Questions
 Most astronomers think that the Moon was formed
when a giant object smashed into the Earth
 Earth had formed by about 4.54 billion years ago from
the gas and dust left from the formation of the Sun.
 In addition, various objects had hit the Earth later and
been absorbed into it.
 Other objects, including planets, were made from the
leftover gas and dust too.

What is the giant impact hypothesis?

The giant-impact hypothesis says that the
Moon formed at some time before 4 billion
years ago.
 An object the size of Mars called Theia collided
with the Earth.
 The energy of the collision heated the Earth and
Theia.
 The molten iron cores of the two objects
merged to form the core that the Earth has
today.
 The lighter rock was thrown out into orbit and
formed the Moon.
 After the Moon formed, the surfaces of both the
Earth and the Moon cooled to produce a crust

What is the giant

impact hypothesis?
 Astronomers can make predictions based on the giant-
impact hypothesis.
 Here are some, of the predictions and some of the
evidence for and against them.

Prediction Evidence
Earth should have an iron core. Evidence suggests it does.
The material brought back from
Some of the material of the Moon
the Moon by Apollo astronauts
should be the same as the Earth,
suggests that there is very little
and some should be different
difference between composition
because it came from Theia.
of the Earth and the Moon.
The Moon should orbit the Earth
It does orbit at that distance.
at a distance we can predict.
Moon’s orbit should align with the The orbits of the Earth and Moon
Earth. do align.

Predictions vs. evidence

 Scientists have no direct evidence that the core of the
Earth is made of iron. They think that it is made of iron
because:
1. It would account for the density of the Earth (if the core is
made of rock then the density would be too low)
2. The Earth has a magnetic field around, so it is likely that
some metal element is moving in the core.

Core of the Earth

 In one version of the co-formation theory, the Moon
was formed alongside the Earth by gravity pulling
together dust and gas.
 In another version, two objects the size of Mars
collided, and the Earth and Moon formed from them.

Evidence for this theory Evidence against this theory

The Moon has a similar composition The Moon is less dense than the
to the Earth. Earth.
The Moon would be in orbit at its The Moon does not seem to have
present location. a heavy core.

Co-Formation theory
 In the capture theory the Moon formed elsewhere in
the Solar System.
 Earth’s gravity captured the Moon as it was passing by.

Evidence for this theory Evidence against this theory

Objects that are captured are
The Moon is less dense than the not usually spherical.
Earth. The orbits of objects captured
this way do not align.

Capture theory
Q1. Describe one piece of evidence that supports the
giant-impact hypothesis, and one that does not.

Q2. Suggest why most scientists don’t believe the other

theories that have been proposed.

Q3. Suggest why astronomers might think that Mars’s two

moons are captured asteroids.

Homework
Q4. Put these statements in order to describe the giant-
impact hypothesis.
A. The lighter rock was thrown out into orbit.
B. After the Moon formed the surfaces of Moon and Earth
cooled to produce crusts.
C. The molten iron cores of the two objects merged to form
the core that the Earth has today.
D. The energy of the collision heated the Earth and Theia.
E. The lighter rock came together to form the Moon.
F. An object the size of Mars called Theia collided with the
Earth.

Homework
 3.06 Life cycle of stars
• Describe what a nebula is
• Describe how stars form and die
 Watch the following video and take notes
about the life cycle of stars

Task: Note taking video

The life cycle of stars
1. What is a Stellar Nebula?

2. How is a Protostar formed?

3. How the stars become stable?

4. When the Hydrogen gas run out what happens to the

size of average stars?

5. How other elements in the periodic table till Iron is

formed?

6. Name the two or three planets that will be engulfed by

the Sun when it turns into a red giant.

7. How is a white dwarf formed?

8. What is the last step for average stars life cycle?

Questions
9. Which type of stars has much shorter life cycle?
10. What happens when the red super giant collapses?
11. How all elements of the periodic table are formed?
12. How is a Neutron star formed?
13. How is the black hole formed?

Questions
 When we look into the night sky we are looking back in
time. The light from some of the objects has taken
millions or billions of years to reach us.
 Some of the stars we are seeing are very young, and
others have reached the end of their life cycle.

Night sky
 A nebula is a cloud of dust and gas.
 In some nebulae gravity pulls the gas together to make
a star.
 These are called stellar nurseries.
 The Sun was born from a cloud of gas and dust.
 Gravity pulled the gas together to form a main
sequence star, like our star is now.

What is a Nebula?
 Nuclear fusion reactions produce the energy that makes
the Sun shine.
 In fusion, Hydrogen atoms fuse to make Helium, and
energy is released.
 Helium then fuses to make other elements.
 Elements up to iron in the Periodic Table are made in stars
like our Sun.
 The temperatures and pressures needed for nuclear
fusion are found in the centre of stars.
 The star is pulled inwards by gravitational attraction.
 This is balanced by the outward force due to the high
temperature in the centre of the star. Therefore, the star
becomes stable.

Nuclear fusion
The life cycle of stars
 Most stars are similar to the Sun and remain stable for
billions of years.
 When they run out of Hydrogen, nuclear fusion stops.
 There is no radiation pressure pushing out, so gravity
causes the core to collapse and heat up.
 The collapsing core may be hot enough for the Helium
nuclei to fuse into carbon and oxygen nuclei.
 The outer layers expand and cool, turning the star into
red giant and will swallow up Mercury, Venus, and
possibly Earth as well.

Average stars
 The outer layers will be thrown out into space to form
clouds of gas called a planetary nebula.
 The centre will shrink and become a hot white dwarf,
then cool down to become invisible black dwarf star.

Average stars
 Stars that are much bigger than our Sun are called
massive stars.
 They are hotter and do not live as long as average
stars.
 As with average stars, when the hydrogen is used up,
the core shrinks and becomes hotter.
 The outer layers expand and turn the star into a red
supergiant.
 In the core Helium nuclei fuse into more massive nuclei
such as carbon, oxygen, silicon and neon.
 This releases more energy.

Massive stars
 Nuclear fusion stops when nuclei of iron are formed.
The star quickly collapses then explodes violently.
The explosion is called a supernova.
 Elements that are heavier than iron in the Periodic
Table are made in supernova explosions.
 The core of the supernova can be a very dense neutron
star, which is made of tightly packed neutrons.
 If it is very massive, it can also be a black hole, which
is so dense that light cannot escape from it.

Massive stars
Q1. Match the words to their definitions:
Term Description
A Nebula 1 The type of star our Sun is now
B Nuclear Fusion 2 Cloud of dust and gas
C Main Sequence 3 The process that produces energy in stars
What our Sun will become in about 5
D Red Giant 4
billion years

Q2. Describe one similarity and one difference between

the life cycle of a low-mass and a massive star.
Q3. Suggest why gold is more precious than diamond.

Homework