bigbang and beyond
TRANSCRIPT
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
1/39
Big Bang and Beyond
Did someone monkeyed with the lawsof nature ?
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
2/39
Theories of the Origin of the Universe
Theological Theories: Greek Mythology (Chaos)
Hinduism (Cosmic sleep of gods)
Chinese creation myth (Pangu) Biblical account of the creation (God)
Scientific Theories: Continuous creation
Big Bang Theory the commonly accepted
theory
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
3/39
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
4/39
Big Bang
Technically, there was no bang Technically, galaxies are not moving away
from each other
Reality: space expands
When there are more space between galaxies,they move away from each other
Analogy: dots on an expanding balloon
Isaiah 45:12 I have stretched out the heavens...
Its only ancient document that mentions anexpanding Universe
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
5/39
Evidence for the Big Bang
Theory predicts an expanding universe Confirm by Red Shift (Doppler effect) in
spectrum
Theory predicts cosmic backgroundradiation Background radiation was discovered in
1964 by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson,who later won the Nobel Prize for thisdiscovery
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
6/39
Beyond the Big Bang Big Bang Theory explains how the Universe first
started but leaves many unanswered questions Time, Space and Matter were created in the Big Bang
Before the bang, there were no time, no space and nomatter
Physics has not solved the questionWhats before the Big
Bang
If I hear a small bang, I will askWho or whatcaused it SoWho or what caused the Big Bang ?
Other factors determine how the Universe willdevelop: Amount of matter in the Universe
Physical properties of the matter
Strength of the fundamental forces
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
7/39
Fundamental Forces in Physics
Gravitational force Attractive force between objects with mass
Weakest, long range
Electromagnetic force
Attractive and repulsive
Long range, 1039 times stronger than gravity
Nuclear Weak force Cause neutrons to decade into a protons
Range
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
8/39
Law of Gravity:
M = mass of one object
m = mass of second object
G = 6.67 x 10-11 Nm2/kg2
r = distance between the objects
Gravitational Force
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
9/39
Coulomb Law:
Strength of EM-force determines how stronglyelectrons in an atom are held in orbit
Electro-Magnetic Force
proton electron
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
10/39
Nuclear Weak-force
Repelling force that cause beta-decay
neutron proton
electron (beta-particle)
The strength of the
nuclear weak-force
determines how fast
neutrons are converted
into protons and electrons
anti-neutrino
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
11/39
Hold nucleus together by overcoming the repellingprotons in nucleus:
Strength of the nuclear strong-force determines how fastnuclear reactions will proceed
Nuclear Strong-force
neutron
neutronproton
proton
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
12/39
Thinkering with the Force...
Fact: The fundamental forces in nature have strength that is
determined by a number ofphysical constants
For example: gravitational constant in the Law of Gravity,Coulumb constant in the Electro-magnetic force
Question:what would happen to the Universe if thevalues of these physical constant werechanged ?
Say, what would happen if the gravitational (or someother) constant would be off a little bit ?
We would surely weight a bit moreon EarthBUT...
Physicists did NOT expect earth-shattering consequences
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
13/39
Precondition for Life
Stars of the right type for sustaining life supportableplanets only can occur during a certain range of agesfor the universe.
stars of the right type only can form for a narrow rangeofvalues of the gravitational constant
Living cells consists oflight and heavy elements(Hydrogen, Carbon, Oxygen, and metals such as Iron,Copper, ect)
To make both light and heavy elements, the strengths of the
fundamental forces must lie within a very narrow rangeofvalues
Many many other preconditions exists
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
14/39
Amazing Findings...
Brandon Carter presented his ideas about theanthropicprinciplein 1973 in Poland during the 500th birthday ofCopernicus
The anthropic principle states that
All the seemingly arbitrary and unrelated constants in physics haveone strange thing in common these are precisely the valueyou need if you want to have a universe capable of sustaining life
Astronomer Fred Hoyle once said:
Acommonsense interpretation of the facts suggests that aSUPERINTELLECT has MONKEYED with physics . . . and that thereare no blind forces worth speaking about in nature.
And Fred Hoyle was an..Atheist
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
15/39
The strength of the Gravitational force
Ifgravitational force was made a bit stronger, stars will be moremassive and burn more violently and unstable:
More harmful radiation to lifedeadly to life
Ifgravitational force was made a bit weaker, stars are too light
and do not become super-novae: Element heavier than iron are only formed when stars
explode as a super-novae; no life possible without them
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
16/39
If the electro-magnetic force is slightly weaker:
Too weakto hold electrons in orbits about nuclei
Universe will consists of loose protons and electrons, noatoms, and thus no life will be possible
If the electro-magnetic force is slightly stronger:
atom could not "share" an electron orbit with other atoms
No chemical reactions possible and no life
The strength of the EM-force
proton electron
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
17/39
Strength of the Nuclear Weak-force
IfNuclear Weak-force is made a bit stronger: neutrons would decay more readily, and there would be little
to no neutrons left
Neutrons are necessary to form heavier elements used inliving cellsno neutrons, no heavy elements, no life.
IfNuclear Weak-force is made a bit weaker:
Plenty of neutrons will be available
Stars can use neutrons to burn most or all of the hydrogen
into helium (and subsequently to heavy elements) But little or no hydrogen will be left no hydrogen, no
water, and no life
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
18/39
Strength of the Nuclear Strong-force
IfNuclear Strong-force is made a bit stronger: Nuclear reactions will be very efficient (fast)
Most or all hydrogen will be converted to Helium and thenon into Iron
No hydrogen, no water, and thus, no life possible
IfNuclear Strong-force is made a bit weaker: Force is too weak to overcome electro-magnetic repulsion of
protons in nuclei
multi-proton nuclei would not hold together
No carbon or oxygen, no proteins, no water, and thus no lifepossible
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
19/39
Thats just the beginning...
Many more amazingcoincidencesthat make lifepossible have been discovered
The composition of our sun is just right, the distance of theEarth to the sun is just right, the size of the Earth is justright, the orbit of the Earth is just right, the size of our
moon is just right and even the giant planets (Jupiter) arejust right for life on Earth
Other amazingcoincidencesmakes it possible forthe stars and galaxies to form
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
20/39
A coincidence at nuclear scale
The following is an account of a series ofamazing coincidences in nature that dazedan atheist astronomer and many others
I have to take you into nuclear Physics
Brace for the ride please ask questions if
you dont understand something
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
21/39
Electrons can only occupy a number of specific orbits aroundthe nucleus each orbit represents a certain energy level
So also, nucleus of atomscan occupy a number of specificenergy levels
In a nuclear reaction, the Law of Conservation of Energy musthold:
Nuclear Reaction
Kinetic + nuclear energy before =Kinetic + nuclear energy after
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
22/39
When nuclei collide, they form a new nucleus:
If the energy level of the new nucleus is very differentfrom one ofits natural energy state, the new nucleus is unstable and willdecompose (radio-activity):
Nuclear Reaction 2
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
23/39
Nuclear Resonance
Ifsum total of kinetic and nuclear energy before and after are
very close to each other, the nuclear reaction will proceed veryrapidly In such case, we say there isNuclear Resonance
Resonance between atomic nuclei depends on:
Structure of the nuclei involved Temperature under which the nuclear reaction takes place
Resonance between atomic nuclei are extremely rare in nature.
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
24/39
Matter are converted into energy in stars through anumber of nuclear reactions
The three primary nuclear reactions (after these, thestar is almost burned up) are:
Proton-proton cycle
Helium fusion
Carbon cycle
Nuclear Reaction in Stars
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
25/39
The proton-proton cycle will burn Hydrogen into Helium (firstphase of star development)
When all Hydrogen are burned, phase 2 kicksin
Proton-proton cycle
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
26/39
After all the Hydrogen is converted to Helium, the
star converts Helium to. What ? Here we have a major problem...
When two Helium nuclei are fused into Beryllium-8,the resulting Beryllium-8 isotope is highly unstable
Beryllium-8 has a half life of10-16 seconds !!!
Helium Fusion
Helium
HeliumBeryllium-8
< 0.0000000000000001 sec
According to the physics of Beryllium-8,
stars cannot burn Helium
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
27/39
A Stellar Mystery
Dilemma: According to the physical properties of Beryllium-8, stars
cannot burn beyond Helium
Yet,Helium is being converted in Carbon in stars all the time
First proposed solution: Triple collision
Helium
Helium
Helium
Carbon-12
Triple collisions are extremely rare and the rarity cannot
explain the abundance of carbon
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
28/39
Ed Salpeters solution...
Faced with the dilemma that stars convert Helium into Carbonat great rate, and no plausible explanation for this process, theastrophysicist Ed Salpeter proposed the following solution in
1952:
Helium
HeliumBeryllium-8
Helium
Carbon-12BUT Berylliumis extremely unstable
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
29/39
Fred Hoyles insight
Fred Hoyle realized that the only waythat Salpeterssolution can produce Carbonat the rate that ishappening in stars is:
Helium
HeliumBeryllium-8
Nuclear resonance !!!
(Very fast reaction)
Helium
Carbon-12Problem: there is no known energy level
of the Carbon-12 nucleus that is near
the sum total energy values of He and Be
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
30/39
Fred Hoyles wild guess
So Fred Hoyle hypothesized (guessed) that there must be sucha natural energy level of the Carbon-12 nucleus
Hoyle calculated the temperature inside a large starto be about
100 million degrees and worked out how much kinetic energy this would give to the
particles rushing around in the star's atmosphere. Knowing the masses of both beryllium-8 and Helium, his
hypothesis predicted that there must be an excited state at anenergy of7.6 million electron volts in the nucleus Carbon-12
I did tell you that nuclei resonance was rare everyone wasskeptical about Hoyles prediction...
A team at Cal. Tech. led by Willy Fowler(later a Nobel Prizewinner) began the search for the mysterious resonant state incarbon-12, and discovered it -just 4 percent above Hoyle'sprediction !!!
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
31/39
We are not out of the wood yet... Heavier elementsmust be formed specifically:
You want to form Oxygen (necessary for life !)
But you want to keep some Carbon (also necessary for life)
Yet another amazing coincidence...
Carbon-12
Helium
Oxygen-16
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
32/39
A missed resonance
In order to have this nuclear reaction going:
You need a natural energy level of Oxygen-16 close to thesum total of the energy levels of Carbon-12 and Helium
But not too close - if the level is too close, most or allCarbon-12 will be converted, so you want this energy levelto be off a bit
Carbon-12
Helium
Oxygen-16
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
33/39
Another coincidence
Wellthey did find that resonance level of Oxygen-16
and it did miss the resonance level to slow theproduction of Oxygen-16
These two coincidences caused atheist atronomer
Fred Hoyle to comment:
If you wanted to produce carbon and oxygen in roughlyequal quantities by stellar nucleosynthesis, these are the twobasic levels you would have to fix, and your fixing wouldhave to be just about where these levels are actually foundto be....
Acommonsense interpretation of the facts suggests that aSUPERINTELLECT has MONKEYED with physics . . . and thatthere are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
34/39
Flatness-oldness problem
The following incredibly precise tweaking of theUniverse is known as the Flatness-oldness problem
The amount of matter created in the Big Bang has a
profound impact on how the Universe will develop Matter attract and will pull the Universe back togethertowards one point
There is a critical amount where the attraction will halt theexpansion and the Universe will slow down and stop
expanding If the total mass in the Universe is less than critical, the
Universe will keep expanding
If the total mass in the Universe is more than critical, theUniverse will stop expanding and contract (Big Crunch)
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
35/39
Suppose X represents the critical mass of theUniverse, what do you think that the total of mass ofthe Universe is ?
There are so many possible values to pick from for
the total mass of the Universe An does it matter how much mass there is in the Universe ??
(You will be amazed by the results)
Place your bet...
0 X
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
36/39
Some results from Theoretic Physics
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
37/39
Interpretations of the results IF the density of the matter after 1 nsec from the Big Bang is
equal to 447,225,917,218,507,401,284,017 mg/cc, theUniverse would have collapsed by now.
IF the density of the matter after 1 nsec from the Big Bang isequal to 447,225,917,218,507,401,284,015 mg/cc, the
Universe expands so rapidly that galaxies and stars cannotform.
To get the (flat) Universe in which we (probably) live in, thedensity of the matter after 1 nsec from the Big Bang must be
equal to 447,225,917,218,507,401,284,016 mg/ccnotone gm more nor one gm less
No wonder than many scientists believe that, theUniverse was designed
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
38/39
And there is much more...
There are many more examples of coincidences innature without which life could not have developed
Science has coined a term to describe these strange
coincidences:Anthropic Principle (The Universe isdestined to support (human) life)
For more examples:
http://cheungpc.mathcs.emory.edu
-
7/29/2019 BigBang and Beyond
39/39
(Not) The End
(just out of time)