Expansion of Universe Worksheet-1

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Clemson University *

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1040

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Dec 6, 2023

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Worksheet Expansion of the Universe These lab activities have evolved over years of use in Clemson University’s Department of Physics and Astronomy general astronomy laboratory. Contributors include Tom Collins, Mark Leising, Neil Miller, Peter Milne, Grant Williams, Donna Mullenax, Jessica Crist, Keith Davis, Amber Porter, Lea Marcotulli, and David Connick. Please direct all questions, complaints, and corrections to David Connick (dconnic@clemson.edu) who is responsible for all errors and omissions. Name: Insert a copy of your data table here. Insert a copy of your plot here.

1) List the coordinates of the point on the far right of your best fit line here. Include the units for each coordinate. Distance: 36.308 Velocity: 5409.94 2) Using the trendline of the plot, record the Hubble Parameter here. Recall the Hubble parameter is just the slope of the line. Using the trendline of the plot, the Hubble Parameter is 79.6. 3) Record the velocity of an 800Mpc distant galaxy here. Include units. The velocity of an 800 Mpc distant galaxy is 63,409 km/s. 4) What is the distance of an 800 Mpc galaxy in units of km? Include units. The distance of an 800 Mpc galaxy in km is 2.469*10^22 km. 5) How long has the 800 Mpc distant galaxy been traveling in units of seconds? Include units on your answer. The 800 Mpc distant galaxy has been travelling 3.894*10^17 seconds. 6) How long has the 800 Mpc distant galaxy been traveling in years? Include units on your answer. In years, the 800 Mpc distant galaxy has been travelling around 1.236*10^10 years. 7) If the rate of expansion was greater in the past than it is today what does that tell us about the age of the universe you calculated in question 6? Is it a minimum age, a maximum age? Explain. (HInt: think about what would happen to your travel time in the car if you drove faster the first part of the trip than the final part) This would mean that the age of the universe is older than the age calculated. It would mean this because we are calculating the age using the same distance but with a slower speed; therefore, the ratio would be thrown off and the time would actually be much larger than we are estimating. This means the universe would be older than expected and the age calculated would be a minimum age. 8) With the current knowledge that the rate of expansion is increasing, how will that affect future civilizations calculations of the age of the universe using this method? Will they find an age greater than or smaller than what we calculate? Explain. 9) Since the velocity will be increasing and they will make calculations based on the current velocity that they measure at the time and assume that this velocity is consistent throughout

time, they will overestimate the age of the universe. This is because they are not factoring in the smaller distance that was traveled over a longer period of time in the past. Their calculations would likely find the maximum age instead of the minimum. As you can see there is some uncertainty in this method of measuring the age of the universe if the rate of expansion changes. For this reason scientists use other methods and compare between them to determine the best estimate for the age of the universe. One way to check the calculation of the age of the universe is to compare it to the age of the oldest stars. 9) The oldest star observed in our galaxy has an age of 14 billion years. How does the age of this star compare to the age of the universe you calculated? Explain. The oldest star observed in our galaxy is older compared to the age of the star of the universe I calculated. The oldest star is 14 billion years which is about 1.4*10^10. The star I calculated has an age of 1.236*10^10, which is smaller. 10) Scientists have also used measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) to determine the age of the universe and calculated an age of 13.7 billion years. How does this age compare to the one you calculated and the age of the oldest stars? Explain. The Cosmic Microwave Background measurement determined the age was older than the age of the universe calculated. 13.7 billion years would also be 1.37*10^10 years. This is larger than the universe calculated since the universe calculated is 1.236*10^10. Each of the ages provided have uncertainties associated with them and currently the age of the oldest stars and that of the universe do agree within those uncertainties. There is certainly a lot of work to be done both in the theory and observation of our universe to decrease the uncertainty and get a clearer picture of our past. 11) Share your thoughts on the big bang and the expansion of the universe from what you have learned in the course and beyond. (Write at least 3 sentences) The Big Bang was a hot, dense event that formed our universe. Since the big bang, the universe we live in has been expanding. Expansion of the universe can be detected by an increase in distance between any two given gravitationally unbound parts of the observable universe with time. Ever since the big bang, our universe shows signs of expansion through the movement apart of galaxies and groups of galaxies in the universe.

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