The Cosmos dictate the life and death of every organism within its grasps. The universe gave birth to us and will eventually lead to the end of all human existence. What lies in the vast emptiness of space carries a great amount of crucial knowledge that all humans should be aware of. The cosmos should be an important subject in the life of any human who cherishes their life. Our universe should be of great importance to all people.
A single event created everything we see today; time, space, and all matter including humans. The Big Bang was a massive expansion which jumpstarted the universe we know today. This rapid expansion gives a time where life in the cosmos can thrive. The Big Bang is split into many epochs. These epochs are the origins of matter, and are important to how life was created. The Grand Unified Theory, or GUT epoch, was where gravity split from the other three forces. The GUT epoch lasted till around 10⁻38 seconds after the Big Bang or 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000001 seconds (Cox, 106). This was where quarks and electrons become present. As the universe expanded and cooled, protons, and neutrons formed, which aided in creating of the atoms and elements we are made of.
The formation of elements is important to the life of humans.What creates the heavy elements that our Earth and selves are made up of is the most energetic event known to mankind, the supernovae. As a star lives its life it burns through its hydrogen and converts it to helium through fusion. Once the star has used up its hydrogen reserves, it expands rapidly to its super red giant stage. Gravity soon wins over and the rapid collapse of the star begins. The star becomes denser, forming Hydrogen first, then Helium and all ...
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...e very human existence relies on the universe and the way in which it works. We should invest more money, effort, and time into the study of the cosmos to preserve the human race and prosper for years to come. The time is now to start investing in the skies above. We need to preserve our intelligence, insight, and life. The cosmos need to be considered by all humans more than ever before.
Works Cited
Cotter, Chris. Pelham High School. Room 114, Pelham, AL September-May 2012. Oral Presentation.
Cox, Brian. Wonders Of Universe. New York: HarperCollinsPublishers, 2011. Print.
“List Of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids.” IAU Minor Planet Center. n.d. 2013. web.
“Miller/Urey Experiment.” chem.duke.edu. n.d. web.
“Temperature of the Universe Today.” Cambridge Cosmology. n.d. web.
“The Universe: Apophis 2029.” Space.com. Tate, Karl. 2013. web
In the article The Cosmic Perspective by Neil deGrasse Tyson he examines a range of topics from human life coming from Mars to how our perspective of the universe relates to religion. In the year 2000, a new space show opened at the Hayden Planetarium called Passport to the Universe, which compared the size of people Milky Way and beyond. While a show like this might make someone feel minuscule and insignificant, Tyson says that seeing the size of the universe actually makes him feel more alive not less and gives him a sense of grandeur. I agree with his idea that looking at us as a people in comparison can actually give you a sense of grandeur. However, when I compare myself to the vastness of space, it puts events on Earth in perspective while showing how influential we can be as a people even if we are small.
Elements are the basic building blocks of matter due to the fact that they are chemically the simplest substances. Whether we can find them in the air or in our gold/silver necklaces, elements are everywhere! One essential element is hydrogen, the first element on the period table (located under Group 1 as an alkaline metal) is composed of a single proton and electron; therefore having an atomic number and atomic mass of 1 and electron configuration of 1s1. In fact, hydrogen is the lightest, simplest and most commonly found chemical element in the universe (it makes up about 90% of the universe by weight). Interestingly enough, the heavier elements on the periodic table were either made from hydrogen or other elements that were made from hydrogen. The most common isotope formed of hydrogen is protium, with 1 proton and no neutrons. Hydrogen can also exist as both positively or negatively charged. The physical form of hydrogen at room temperature is a colorless and odorless gas. Hydrogen gas is extremely flammable and because of this chemical property, it is used as fuel for the main engine of space shuttles. Hydrogen is an important element and has received a lot of recognition throughout history for its usefulness.
Why should scientists be impelled to work tirelessly to search the vast reaches of space? There’s one crucial answer that we all must come to terms on if we wish to ensure the continuation of the human legacy; Resources. Studies have shown that by 2030, inhabitants of our earth will need another two earths worth of resources to satisfy the constant needs of the 7 billion people around the world. Today we are using resources 44% faster than nature can regenerate. Many feel that our world is still rich with what resources we need, but this is only a contemporary statement. The reason for this is our constant dissipation of resources that are, and will always be diminishing. Humans have consistently looke...
The Big Bang Theory is one of the most important, and most discussed topics in cosmology today. As such, it encompasses several smaller components that attempt to explain what happened in the moments after creation, and how the universe we know today came from such a fiery, chaotic universe in the wake of the Big Bang. One major component of the Big Bang theory is nucleosynthesis. We know that several stellar phenomena (including stellar fusion and various types of super novae) are responsible for the formation of all heavy elements up through Plutonium, however, after the advent of the Big Bang theory, we needed a way to explain what types of matter were created to form the earliest stars.!
a greater comprehension that cosmology provides support for a divine being, and also realize that theology manages to have a great influence on new scientific developments. As Albert Einstein once said, “Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind.”
The space that surrounds is not merely the universe is not merely ideas of human minds.
When considering this topic, one might ask themselves why explore space? We explore space to compare other planets with the earth and to study the sun, to explore the universe while finding if intelligent life exists, for satellites to improve communications, weather forecasting, navigation, resource monitoring, and “to create a focal point for a new intellectual renaissance” (Ruzic).
Human fascination with the stars is as ancient as Babylonians and has been suggested to be older than Stonehenge. From “be fruitful and multiply” to “live long and prosper,” the instinct to protect and propagate the species has manifested in religion, art, and the imaginations of countless individuals. As human understanding of space treks out of the fantastical and into the scientific, the realities of traveling through and living in space are becoming clearer. Exploring, investigating, and living in space pose an expansive series of problems. However, the solutions to the problems faced by mankind's desire to reach beyond the horizon, through the night sky, and into the stars are solutions that will help in all areas of life on Earth.
The Big Bang, the alpha of existence for the building blocks of stars, happened approximately fourteen billion years ago. The elements produced by the big bang consisted of hydrogen and helium with trace amounts of lithium. Hydrogen and helium are the essential structure which build stars. Within these early stars, heavier elements were slowly formed through a process known as nucleosynthesis. Nucleosythesis is the process of creating new atomic nuclei from pre-existing nucleons. As the stars expel their contents, be it going supernova, solar winds, or solar explosions, these heavier elements along with other “star stuff” are ejected into the interstellar medium where they will later be recycled into another star. This physical process of galactic recycling is how or solar system's mass came to contain 2% of these heavier elements.
...ions happen. Supernovas give off many elements we have today including hydrogen and heavier elements such as iron. Supernovas also play a big role in creating new stars because the aftermath of the explosion creates an elemental environment for new interstellar reactions to occur. Discovery of a supernova was difficult at first, given the fact that most occur far away from our galaxy, but new technology now allow scientist to discover many supernova within may galaxies.
The thought of infinite space is a scary and exciting thought. The thought that stars, planets, and even suns exist beyond the sights of our strongest telescopes is a very intriguing thought. Some theories suggest parallel universes exist while others suggest that intelligent life is living exactly the way humans on earth live today on far away planets. Perhaps the most frightening and yet thrilling thought of all is the thought of extraterrestrial life amongst the stars, visiting earth, and every so often, being spotted or caught on camera. These interactions are considered extremely rare and witnesses to the events refer to themselves as lucky. Religions have even been created at the thought of aliens. The search for
Since the beginning of time, mankind has sought after learning about and exploring the universe. This yearning drove us to achieve such great things as the journey to the moon and the discovery of water on Mars. Nowadays, several people argue as to whether or not space exploration is worth the effort. I believe that it is humanity’s instinctual nature to pursue a better understanding of ourselves, and our universe. Further understanding of our universe will lead to the discovery of new technologies and ways to secure humanity’s survivability.
The universe, it's vastness, how it was created, and why we are a part of it amazes and astounds many people who are constantly searching for answers. Others believe they have the answers and try to persuade people to understand their view. Others don't even think about it at all.
The big bang theory is an attempt to explain how the world began. The big bang theory begins with what is called a “singularity.” This term is used to describe an area in space which defies all the known laws of physics. Singularities are thought to exist at the core of black holes. Black holes are areas of intense gravitational pressure. The pressure is thought to be so intense that matter is pressed together into an infinite amount of pressure. The dense hot mass of the singularity slowly expanded. This process is called inflation. As the singularity expanded the universe went from dense and hot to cool and expansive. Inflation is still continuing on today which means that the universe is continually expanding.
“Why should we go into space? What is the justification for spending all the effort and money on getting a few lumps of moon rocks? Aren’t there better causes here on Earth?”- Stephen Hawking. Space is the everlasting, ever growing place where we happen to reside. From the beginning of intelligent life here on Earth, we have wanted to learn. Whether it be simply constructing a fire, or solving the riddles that still puzzle us to this day. Many of the questions we still have are pertaining to space. Are we alone? How did we get here? Where are we going? Many answers can come from exploring space. Getting a “few lumps of moon rock” can answer so many questions we asked ourselves for millennia. Can we truly belong in a place we do not know about? Space exploration will better us now and in the future for several reasons.