Our Universe: Chasing Sunlight And Cosmic Clock: Episodes 1 and 2

Question 1

How old is the universe in 2022?

Answer 1

Astronomers have determined that our universe is 13.7 billion years old.

Question 2

Does the multiverse exist?

Answer 2

Even though certain features of the universe seem to require the existence of a multiverse, nothing has been directly observed that suggests it actually exists. So far, the evidence supporting the idea of a multiverse is purely theoretical, and in some cases, philosophical.

Question 3

Where does the multiverse appear in modern day science?

Answer 3

the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, string theory, and eternal inflation.

Question 4

What happens if you go through a wormhole?

Answer 4

Wormholes are predicted by the theory of general relativity. But be wary: wormholes bring with them the dangers of sudden collapse, high radiation and dangerous contact with exotic matter.

Question 5

Does anyone live in the Serengeti?

Answer 5

The Serengeti area is home to various local people, the most famous of them being the Maasai. The Maasai mostly live in harmony, sometimes in conflict, with nature. You are bound to visit your hosts when visting the area on your Serengeti safari.

Question 6

Are we made out of stardust?

Answer 6

Most of the elements of our bodies were formed in stars over the course of billions of years and multiple star lifetimes. However, it’s also possible that some of our hydrogen (which makes up roughly 9.5% of our bodies) and lithium, which our body contains in very tiny trace amounts, originated from the Big Bang.

Question 7

What percentage of stardust are humans?

Answer 7

For decades, science popularizers have said humans are made of stardust, and now, a new survey of 150,000 stars shows just how true the old cliché is: Humans and their galaxy have about 97 percent of the same kind of atoms, and the elements of life appear to be more prevalent toward the galaxy’s center, the research

Question 8

How do we know we are made of stardust?

Answer 8

Our DNA is made up of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and phosphorus. All those elements (except hydrogen, which has existed since shortly after the big bang) are made by stars and released into the cosmos when the stars die.

Question 9

Does the sun produce a lot of energy?

Answer 9

That pressure causes hydrogen atoms to collide with incredible force, forming a new element—helium. This process is called nuclear fusion, and it releases a lot of energy. Every 1.5 millionths of a second, the Sun releases more energy than all of humanity could consume in an entire year.

Question 10

How did cheetahs evolve to run fast?

Answer 10

Cheetahs have evolved many adaptations that enhance their ability to sprint. Their legs are proportionally longer than those of other big cats; an elongated spine increases stride length at high speeds; they have unretractable claws, special paw pads for extra traction, and a long tail for balance.

Question 11

How was the solar system formed?

Answer 11

Our solar system formed about 4.5 billion years ago from a dense cloud of interstellar gas and dust. The cloud collapsed, possibly due to the shockwave of a nearby exploding star, called a supernova. When this dust cloud collapsed, it formed a solar nebula – a spinning, swirling disk of material.

Question 12

Who is the oldest planet?

Answer 12

Jupiter formed less than 3 million years after the birth of the solar system, making it the eldest planet. Saturn formed shortly after, amassing less material since Jupiter gobbled such a large portion of the outer disk.

Question 13

What determines life?

Answer 13

All living organisms share several key characteristics or functions: order, sensitivity or response to the environment, reproduction, adaptation, growth and development, homeostasis, energy processing, and evolution. When viewed together, these characteristics serve to define life.

Question 14

How does sun produce heat and light?

Answer 14

The Sun produces light by a nuclear reaction called fusion. As atoms of hydrogen combine to form helium, they produce vast amounts of heat and light.

Question 15

What temperature is the sun?

Answer 15

The Sun’s temperature, which reaches around 15 million degrees Celsius in its core, steadily decreases with distance from the core, falling to 6000°C at its ‘surface’.

Question 16

Is matter neither created nor destroyed?

Answer 16

Matter can change form through physical and chemical changes, but through any of these changes matter is conserved. The same amount of matter exists before and after the change—none is created or destroyed. This concept is called the Law of Conservation of Mass.

Question 17

Is light just a photon?

Answer 17

Light is made of particles called photons, bundles of the electromagnetic field that carry a specific amount of energy. With sufficiently sensitive experiments, you can count photons or even perform measurements on a single one. Researchers have even frozen light temporarily.

Question 18

What is the main function of the mitochondria?

Answer 18

The classic role of mitochondria is oxidative phosphorylation, which generates ATP by utilizing the energy released during the oxidation of the food we eat. ATP is used in turn as the primary energy source for most biochemical and physiological processes, such as growth, movement and homeostasis.

Question 19

What is the oldest black hole ever found?

Answer 19

Last year, scientists announced the discovery of J0313–1806, the most distant quasar on record at over 13 billion light-years from Earth, signifying the oldest supermassive black hole ever found.

Question 20

How long is a day on Beta Pictoris b?

Answer 20

eight hours
Beta Pictoris b has been found to have a day that lasts only eight hours. This is much quicker than any planet in the Solar System – its equator is movingat almost 100,000 kilometres per hour. This new result extends the relation between mass and rotation seen in the Solar System to exoplanets.

Question 21

How long is a day on each of the planets?

Answer 21

Earth takes 24 hours to complete one spin, and Mars takes 25 hours. The gas giants rotate really fast. Jupiter takes just 10 hours to complete one rotation. Saturn takes 11 hours, Uranus takes 17 hours, and Neptune takes 16 hours.

Question 22

Is time slower on other planets?

Answer 22

Your workday would go by quicker in you lived on the red planet. A second on Mars is slightly shorter than a second on Earth. Here’s why: Einstein’s theory of general relativity states that gravity isn’t just a force that one object places on another, but an actual distortion in the continuum known as space-time.

Question 23

What causes time dilation?

Answer 23

Gravitational time dilation occurs because objects with a lot of mass create a strong gravitational field. The gravitational field is really a curving of space and time. The stronger the gravity, the more spacetime curves, and the slower time itself proceeds.

Question 24

What is a clock gene and its function?

Answer 24

CLOCK is a gene encoding a basic helix-loop-helix-PAS transcription factor that is known to affect both the persistence and period of circadian rhythms. Research shows that the CLOCK gene plays a major role as an activator of downstream elements in the pathway critical to the generation of circadian rhythms.

Question 25

What is the Herschel crater?

Answer 25

Herschel is a large crater in the leading hemisphere of the Saturnian moon Mimas, centered on the equator at 112° longitude. It is named after the 18th-century astronomer William Herschel, who discovered Mimas in 1789.

Question 26

Where is the biggest crater on Earth?

Answer 26

South Africa
In South Africa, the Vredefort Crater (opens in new tab), also known as the Vredefort Dome is the world’s largest known impact crater, according to NASA Earth Observatory.

Question 27

How far back in time can we look?

Answer 27

We can see light from 13.8 billion years ago, although it is not star light – there were no stars then. The furthest light we can see is the cosmic microwave background (CMB), which is the light left over from the Big Bang, forming at just 380,000 years after our cosmic birth.

Question 28

What are the 3 evidence of the big bang theory?

Answer 28

Three key pieces of observational evidence lend support to the Big Bang theory: the measured abundances of elements, the observed expansion of space, and the discovery of the cosmic microwave background (CMB).

Question 29

What is the cosmic microwave background from?

Answer 29

The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) is the cooled remnant of the first light that could ever travel freely throughout the Universe. This ‘fossil’ radiation, the furthest that any telescope can see, was released soon after the ‘Big Bang’. Scientists consider it as an echo or ‘shockwave’ of the Big Bang.

Question 30

What is the significance of the cosmic microwave background?

Answer 30

This light is called the cosmic microwave background (CMB), and it carries information about the very early universe. Astronomers use the patterns in CMB light to determine the total contents of the universe, understand the origins of galaxies, and look for signs of the very first moments after the Big Bang.

Question 31

Is dark matter and dark energy the same thing?

Answer 31

And what’s the difference between dark energy and dark matter? In short, dark matter slows down the expansion of the universe, while dark energy speeds it up. Dark matter works like an attractive force — a kind of cosmic cement that holds our universe together.

Question 32

What is dark energy in simple terms?

Answer 32

Dark energy is the name given to the mysterious force that’s causing the rate of expansion of our universe to accelerate over time, rather than to slow down. That’s contrary to what one might expect from a universe that began in a Big Bang. Astronomers in the 20th century learned the universe is expanding.

Question 33

Will the universe only be full of black holes?

Answer 33

As existing stars run out of fuel and cease to shine, the universe will slowly and inexorably grow darker. According to theories that predict proton decay, the stellar remnants left behind will disappear, leaving behind only black holes, which themselves eventually disappear as they emit Hawking radiation.

Question 34

Does time exist to a photon?

Answer 34

From the perspective of a photon, there is no such thing as time. It’s emitted, and might exist for hundreds of trillions of years, but for the photon, there’s zero time elapsed between when it’s emitted and when it’s absorbed again.

Question 35

What does the universe look like to a photon?

Answer 35

A photon cannot see the Universe at all, because seeing requires interacting with other particles, antiparticles, or photons, and once such an interaction occurs, that photon’s journey is now over. According to any photon, its existence is instantaneous.

Question 36

What does the universe look like to a photon?

Answer 36

A photon cannot see the Universe at all, because seeing requires interacting with other particles, antiparticles, or photons, and once such an interaction occurs, that photon’s journey is now over. According to any photon, its existence is instantaneous.