Vacuum Genesis

"It's just possible that there might have been absolutely nothing, out of which came a particle so potent that it could blossom into the entire universe.

Out of nothingness could have come the spark of genesis.

As the universe expanded and cooled, darkness descended,
Then light dawned anew with the formation of the first stars.

Each star is a nuclear furnace where matter is coaxed into releasing a little of the energy it inherited from the primordial fireball.

Thanks to imperfection, to the fractured symmetries that produce differences among the particles and forces, atoms in their variety could build themselves up into molecules, and molecules rise up in alliance as life, and life give birth to thought, and thought produce theories about the creation of the universe.

We see evidence from every direction that the universe is all of a piece and that it began as a single seed smaller than an atom. And in a very real sense, you and I were there. Every scrap of matter and energy in our blood and bones, and in the synapses of our thoughts can trace its lineage back to the origin of the universe . . . as the Koran puts it:

'THE UNIVERSE IS AS CLOSE AS THE VEINS IN OUR NECKS'"

   In the movie, astronomer Timothy Ferris (author of Coming of Age in the Milky Way) discusses the forces and elementary particles in the current universe and their origin during the evolution of the universe beginning with the Big Bang.

1. The Four Fundamental Forces In Nature:

      During the video fill out the table below:

	Name	Relative Strength	Range	Phenomenon	Susceptible Particles	Carrier Particles	Separation Time After BB
Weakest	Gravitational Force	1		Keeps us on the ground, makes stars	All matter	Gravitons?
	Weak Nuclear Force	1034	10–15 m
	Electromagnetic Force	1037		Makes cat hair cling to anything expensive	Charged matter	Photons
Strongest	Strong Nuclear Force	1039	10–15 m

2. Bosons (Carrier Particles):

      What do the carrier particles (Bosons ... photons, W+, W-, Z^o) do? Why is finding them important, and how do they create or break symmetry? What would a universe of perfect symmetry be like? What in our universe exists only because its symmetry has been broken?

   

3. The Expansion of the Universe:

      Describe the two important pieces of data that have astronomers convinced that the universe is expanding.

   

4. The History of the Universe:

      During the video fill out the table below:

   Describe the conditions early in the history of the universe according to Ferris. Why was he not able to open all the windows in the tower?

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©	St. Lawrence University	Department of Physics

Revised: 16 May 2017

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