4.6 Big Bang and Big Questions Flashcards
In the doppler effect what happens when the sound source moves towards you?
When the sound source moves towards you to wavelength decreases and the frequency of the sound increase (higher pitch).
In the doppler effect what happens when the sound source moves away from you?
When the sound source moves away from you the wavelength increases and the frequency of the sound decrease (lower pitch).
What is red shift?
When the light from a galaxy which is moving away from you, the wavelength of the observed light appears longer, it moves towards the red end of the spectrum. This is called RED SHIFT.
How does red shift support the big bang theory?
The big bang theory is that the universe began from a very small initial point. The universe then expanded from that point to give us the universe we see today.
The light from distant galaxies is red shifted (this tells us the galaxies are moving away from us) and the further away the galaxy the greater the red shift (this tells us that the more distant the galaxy the faster it is moving).
What is cosmic microwave background radiation?
The cosmic microwave background (CMB) is the thermal radiation assumed to be left over from the “Big Bang”
What does the cosmic microwave background radiation theory suggest?
That the very short wavelength photons produced in the early stages of the universe of the formation of the universe lose energy as the universe expands.
Lower energy photons have a longer wavelength and the theory predicts that the wavelength should now be in the microwave region.
How is microwave energy distributed?
The distribution of microwave energy is consistent with radiation from a black body at a temperature of 2.7 K.
What is the oldest detectable signal?
Cosmic microwave background radiation comes from such large distances that it is the oldest detectable signal?
Why is the original radiation not visible light now?
The original wavelength would have been visible but it has been red shifted so that it is now observed in the microwave region.
What did Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson discover?
When setting up a new microwave receiver. They confirmed that a signal with wavelength 7.4 cm picked up was not a fault with their electronics.
To confirm the Big Bang theory, what was done to further investigate?
It was necessary to look for the energy distribution for other wavelengths, some of which dud note penetrate the earths atmosphere.
The Cosmic Background Explorer satellite enabled scientists to show that radiation was black body radiation.
What is black body radiation?
A black body radiates all the wavelengths it can for its temperature. From the distribution of the wavelengths the temperature of the body can be found.
Why do some quarks have a higher mass than others?
The theory is that mass is caused by particles interacting with each another particle called the Higgs Boson.
Massive particles interact more strongly with the Higgs particles than lighter ones.
What is mass a measure of?
A body’s inertia, that is, how difficult it is to accelerate it.
According to the theory of the Higgs Boson particle, what objects find it harder to move?
More massive objects find it harder to move because it is interacting more strongly with the particles in the Higgs field that fills space.
