How the Universe is Thought to Have Been Formed
![Picture](/uploads/2/6/5/4/26549518/286952.jpg?410)
It is commonly accepted that the universe was formed 13.7 billion years ago. However; something that nobody can agree on is how the Universe was formed. The most popular reasoning as to how the Universe came to be is the "Big Bang" theory. This theory tries to explain the forming of the universe through a gigantic explosion, or fireball, from which came everything. Supposedly, the entire Universe was condensed into an extremely hot, and immensely dense mass. The origin of said mass is currently unknown. At some point, a blazing inferno forcefully thrust all of this matter outward in random directions. All of this matter and energy, AKA the Universe, continues to move away from it's point of origin to this day. It's even possible to observe reminiscence of the Big Bang in any direction, as long as you look far enough away!
Galaxies
A video that explains some things about galaxies- http://www.space.com/9905-grand-architecture.html
Quasars
Stars
Dark Energy
Extrasolar Planets
Specialty Topic - Faster Than Light
![Picture](/uploads/2/6/5/4/26549518/956455989.jpg?277)
Space is infinitely vast and the distance to the nearest stars are unimaginably lengthy. Would it ever be possible to conventionally travel to the far reaches of space? A few gigantic scientific discoveries must be made before any of this very long distance travel will become possible. Some of these great advancements include finding a way to power a system without fuel and traveling faster than the speed of light. Could harnessing the the energy in space or dark energy assist in or fully make these things possible? None of this is really known. Without these things, though, you'd need to have a very large fuel tank and a lifespan of over 163 thousand years! That's how long it would take you to reach the closest star to Earth (aside form the sun) at around 28 thousand kilometers per hour, the average speed of a space shuttle. Even if you were able to reach the staggering speed of 300 thousand kilometers per second that light travels at, you'd still only reach the star in around four years! That's a significantly greater amount of time more than your average research session. Some scientists hypothesize that it would be possible to use the force of gravity to eliminate the need for fuel or possibly even remove the need for an engine entirely. A space shuttle would use the attraction of gravity produced by a planet or star to propel itself towards it or somehow use gravity to repel itself away from the object. Right now this seems impossible because as far as we know, gravity is only capable of pulling you in, not thrusting you away. Another theory predicts that you could use antimatter to get you moving quickly. Antimatter is still matter, only its electrical charge is inverted. Some think that when matter and antimatter collide there will be a massive release of energy, enough to power space ships, however, there are a few problems with using antimatter. It's as dangerous as a nuclear reactor that would be found in a nuclear power plant and there's the small issue of it costing well over $100 billion dollars Canadian to produce one milligram of antimatter. It's not going to be easy traveling to the deep reaches of space, so for now it's all just speculation.
Bibliography
Works Cited:
- "Big Bang." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Feb. 2014. Web. 21 Feb. 2014. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang
- "Kapow! Keck Confirms Puzzling Element of Big Bang Theory." Universe Today RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2014. - http://www.universetoday.com/102783/kapow-keck-confirms-puzzling-element-of-big-bang-theory/
- LeDrew, Barry, and Allan Carmichael. "Chapter 13: The Universe and It's Stars." and "Chapter: 15: Exploring Space" Nelson B.C. Science Probe 9. Toronto: Thomson Nelson, 2007. N. pag. Print.
- "Quasars: Brightest Objects in the Universe." Space.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. - http://www.space.com/17262-quasar-definition.html
- "Solar System Exploration: : Planets." Solar System Exploration: : Planets. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2014. - http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Beyond
- "Solar System Exploration: Planets: Beyond Our Solar System: Overview." Solar System Exploration: Planets: Beyond Our Solar System: Overview. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2014. - http://nineplanets.org/
- "Spiral Galaxy Types." Spiral Galaxy Types. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2014. - http://ircamera.as.arizona.edu/NatSci102/NatSci102/text/spiraltypes.htm
- "Types and Classification of Galaxies." CLASSIFICATION. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2014. http://www.astro.cornell.edu/academics/courses/astro2201/galaxies/types.htm
- "Types of Galaxies." Types of Galaxies. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2014. - http://ircamera.as.arizona.edu/NatSci102/NatSci102/lectures/galaxytypes.htm