Download Big Bang

NAME ____________________________________________________ DATE ________________
TEACHER-PERIOD ______________________
THE BIG BANG!!
(Science Interactions Book – pages 626 – 642)
The “Big Bang” is a theory about how the Universe formed. Since the
universe is so VAST, scientist have to use a special unit of measurement called
a light year.
A light year is the distance ___light travels in 1 year_______________________
We use light because it travels so fast! The speed of light is…
_______300,000_______ km per second OR
_______186,400_____________ miles per second
* So 1 light year is equal to _____5.8 trillion_____________________ miles!!!
So what IS the Big Bang Theory?
In the Big Bang theory, it is thought that all the matter and energy that existed condensed,
by ____gravity_________, until it became so ____dense_____ that the pressure
caused it explode (BANG!!). Scientists think this explosion happened about ___15_____
_____billion years ago___________________. Since gravity was still attracting
objects together, the dust and gas from the explosion started to come back together and
form the ____galaxies, stars and planets________.
Scientists believe that the Earth formed about _____4.5________ billion years ago.
(That means it took almost 10 billion years after the Big Bang for the Earth to form!)
So here’s how galaxies / stars / solar systems / planets form::
First, you have a huge cloud of dust & gas called a __nebula____.
Then ___gravity_____ pulls the gas together to form a __star___.
Many stars together form a ___galaxy____. The dust (and some
gas) will condense to form ____planet_________.
**This process continues or cycles every time a large star explodes in a
____supernova____________.
STARS
 Made up of ___gas_______ (usually __hydrogen____ & __helium___ )
 Create ___energy______ through fusion
*Fusion is ___joining two nuclei together________
 Fusion will only occur after the star reaches an internal temperature of
____15 million degrees Celsius!______
 The ___sun____ is the closest star to Earth
* Even though it’s close, it still takes light __8 minutes______
to reach the Earth.