THE BIG BANG THEORY

(December 9 – Monday)

Cosmology - study of the universe, including its properties, structure, and evolution.
Around 13.8 billion years ago, the universe expanded faster than the speed of light for a fraction of a
second, a period called cosmic inflation. Scientists aren’t sure what came before inflation or what
powered it. It’s possible that energy during this period was just part of the fabric of space-time.

Big Bang - marked the birth of the universe, all matter and space were created instantaneously; the
universe began in a small, hot, dense state, the rapid expansion. It is the leading explanation about how
the universe began. Scientists believe that the formation of the universe began through the explosion of
a primordial atom which happened 13 billion years ago. It is known as the Big Bang.

It became a theory that also explains the continuous expansion of the universe. The Big Bang theory
suggests that the universe began from an extremely hot, dense point smaller than a subatomic particle.
An unimaginable force caused the intense burst of energy from the tiny point in a fraction of a second
distributing all the matter and energy in all directions.

Georges Lemaitre - first suggested the Big Bang Theory when he theorized that the universe began from
a single primordial atom.
The standard Big Bang model has received broad acceptance because experimental evidence supports it
in two major areas:
1. Cosmological Redshift - a lengthening in the wavelength as a consequence of the expansion of space.
It shows an increasing distance between us and other galaxies in the universe. Red shifted galaxy light
shows not only that the universe is expanding but also that is expanding more slowly. It is not really a
Doppler shift.
2. Cosmic Microwave Background - detected in all directions coming from space. The presence of this
was predicted by the Big Bang theory. This residual microwave radiation is the greatly redshifted
radiation of the extremely hot universe that existed about 500,000 years after the Big Bang. This was
discovered by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson.

Origin of the Universe

 Creationist Theory - states that God, the Supreme Being, created the whole universe out of nothing.
 Oscillating Universe Theory - the expansion of the universe will eventually come to a halt then it
collapses up to the time that the universe will return to its original form and another Big Bang will occur
(cycle); proposed by George Gamow.
 Steady-State Theory - states that the universe has always been the same since the beginning and will
remain in its present state until eternity. New galaxies appear as a result of the drifting apart of other
galaxies
TIMELINE OF BIG BANG

When cosmic inflation stopped, the energy driving it transferred to matter and light – the big bang.
One second after the big bang, the universe consisted of an extremely hot (18 billion degrees
Fahrenheit or 10 billion degrees Celsius) primordial soup of light and particles. In the following
minutes, an era called nucleosynthesis, protons and neutrons collided and produced the earliest
elements – hydrogen, helium, and traces of lithium and beryllium. After five minutes, most of today’s
helium had formed, and the universe had expanded and cooled enough that further element formation
stopped. At this point, though, the universe was still too hot for the atomic nuclei of these elements to
catch electrons and form complete atoms. The cosmos was opaque because a vast number of electrons
created a sort of fog that scattered light.
 THE STARS AND GALAXIES

(December 10 – Tuesday)

Stars - born from swirling clouds of hydrogen gas in the deep space between other stars.
Such interstellar (between stars) clouds are called nebulae.
Protostar - an accumulation of gases that will become a star.
The Internal Structure of a Star
 Core
 Radiation zone
 Convection zone
Brightness of Stars
The difference in brightness of stars could be related to
a. the amount of light produced by the stars
b. the size of each star
c. the distance to a particular star
Apparent magnitude scale - classification
scheme for different levels of brightness. The
apparent magnitude of a star depends on how
far away stars are in addition to differences in
the stars themselves.
 Stars at a FARTHER distance will
appear FAINTER
 Stars at a CLOSER distance will appear
BRIGHTER, just as any other source of
light does.
Stars are placed in seven different spectral
classes.
 HIGHEST to LOWEST Temperature: O,
B, A, F, G, K,

Types of Stars
Hertzsprung-Russeil diagram (H-R diagram) - a plot with temperature indicated by spectral
types and the true brightness indicated by absolute magnitude. It was developed by Henry
Russell and Ejnar Hertzsprung.
Evolutionary track - the path a star takes across the H-R diagram. The diagram plots
temperature by spectral types sequenced O through M.
 The temperature decreases from LEFT to RIGHT.
 The HOTTEST, BRIGHTEST STARS are located at the TOP LEFT of the
diagram.
 The COOLEST, FAINTEST STARS are located at the BOTTOM RIGHT.
Main Sequence Stars - narrow band that runs from the top left to the lower right.
 UPPER LEFT: brightest, bluest, and most massive stars
 LOWER RIGHT: faintest, reddest, and least massive stars
It is the mass of a main sequence star that determines its brightness, its temperature, and its
location on the H-R diagram.
 HIGH-MASS STARS: brighter, hotter and have shorter lives
 LOW-MASS STARS: fainter, cooler, and have longer lives
Red Giant Stars - bright, low-temperature, giants. These reddish stars are enormously bright
for their temperature because they are very large, with an enormous surface area giving off
light. These low-density red giants are located in the upper right part of the H-R diagram.
White Dwarf Stars - faint, dense, white-hot stars. These very dense stars are located at the
lower left of the H-R diagram.

Life Cycle of Stars Star's life cycle: born, radiate energy, expand, possibly explode, and then
die
Life Cycle of Low-Mass Stars:
protostar → main-sequence star → red giant → planetary nebula → white dwarf
Life Cycle of High-Mass Stars:
protostar → high-mass star → red supergiant → type Il supernova → neutron star or black
hole

Galaxies
Galaxies - extremely large collection of stars bound together by mutual gravitational
attraction. These are the fundamental components for the structure of the universe.
Milky Way - named because ancient peoples thought that the broad band of stars across the
dark night sky. resembled a trail of spilled milk. It has three basic parts:
 Nuclear bulge - crowded center Nucleus
 Disk - thin plane containing the spiral arms
 Halo - spherical distribution of star clusters
Classification of Galaxies
 Elliptical - bunched in a spherical or elliptical shape; no curved "arms

 Normal spiral - many stars are gathered into a nuclear bulge, but many other stars are
located in a disk consisting of arms that curve ("spiral") outward from the nuclear
bulge Examples: Andromeda Galaxy, Whirlpool Galaxy, and Sombrero Galaxy

 Barred spiral - a broad bar extends outward from opposite sides of the nuclear bulge
before arms start to curve from the outer ends of the bars
Example: NGC 300

 Irregular - no regular geometric shape.

 Examples: Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC

STELLAR NUCLEOSYNTHESIS
(December 11 – Wednesday)
The first 3 minutes of Big Bang focused primarily on the expansion and cooling of universe
so as to the synthesis of the first three elements.
On the other hand, the second cosmological event is Stellar nucleosynthesis, a process in
which heavier elements such as Beryllium (4Be) and Iron (26Fe) were formed by combining
protons and neutrons from the nuclei of a lighter elements. Moreover, under the process of
stellar nucleosynthesis, heavier elements are created in different types of stars as they die or
explode and the abundance of these elements change as the stars evolve.
Hydrogen and helium atoms in stars began combining in nuclear fusion reactions once
hydrogen-helium stars had formed from the action of gravity. This releases a tremendous
amount of light, heat, and radioactive energy. Fusion resulted in the formation of nuclei of
new elements. These reactions inside stars are known as stellar nucleosynthesis.
Stellar Nucleosynthesis
The word “stellar” means star and the formation of elements in the center of the star is called
stellar nucleosynthesis. Carl Sagan said that “We are made of star stuff.” What did he mean
by that? If we know how some important heavy elements were formed same as stars, that
maybe a clue. Look at the diagrams below. These will explain how stars are formed into
different stages because of nuclear fusion (combination of nuclei to form heavier one) among
heavy elements
PROTON-PROTON CHAIN REACTION
The diagram shows the Proton-Proton Chain reaction in main sequence star. This is the
process by which average star gets their energy and convert Hydrogen into Helium. It starts
with proton and neutron fused together to form deuterium. When one proton collides with
deuterium, Helium-3 is formed. Two Helium-3 collided will form Helium-4.
  We start out with four protons. See those red balls in that first step? Those are the
protons.
 Then we crash them together. It’s highly unlikely for all four to crash together at
once, even in the core of a star. So we crash two together at a time. The result is
a neutrino and a positron. What the heck are those?
 Well, a neutrino is an extremely small particle found inside protons and neutrons.
These ultra-tiny particles travel at nearly the speed of light…which, FYI, is pretty
fast. The speed of light is often called the “universal speed limit” because nothing in
the universe can travel faster.
 A positron is something different. It’s created when a proton converts into a neutron.
The positive charge has to go somewhere, so we get a positron.
 Next step. Remember we started with two protons. We got the positron from changing
one of them into a neutron, so now we have one proton and one neutron. There’s a
special name for this combination—it’s a type of hydrogen atom called deuterium.
Now let’s crash our deuterium into another proton.
 This time, we’re not going to get any more neutrons out of it. We’re keeping our two
protons and our neutron. But this kind of collision is going to release energy—in the
form of a gamma ray, a type of radiation.
 Now we have a helium nucleus. Helium is an atom with two protons. Usually it also
has two neutrons, but we only have one.
 Now remember, we started out with four protons, but we only crashed two at a time.
So let’s assume we did this whole process twice, and now we have two helium nuclei,
each with one neutron.
 To finish off the proton-proton chain, let’s crash our helium nuclei together.

CARBON, NITROGEN, OXYGEN CYCLE
Case is different in massive star or star eight times larger than solar mass. They undergo
CNO (Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen) cycle to convert Hydrogen into Helium.
You can see at the right how Carbon 12 fused with proton (H) and form Nitrogen-13.
Nitrogen-13 undergoes beta decay to form Carbon-13. Carbon13 captures proton (H) and
Nitrogen 14 is formed.
Nitrogen 14 captures proton and Oxygen-15 is produced. Oxygen-15 undergoes beta decay
and produces Nitrogen-15. Nitrogen-15 fused with proton gives off Helium and ends up with
Carbon-12. Then the process repeats again.
The ‘CNO cycle’ refers to the Carbon-Nitrogen-Oxygen cycle, a process of stellar
nucleosynthesis in which stars on the Main Sequence fuse hydrogen into helium via a six-
stage sequence of reactions. This sequence proceeds as follows:

 A carbon-12 nucleus captures a proton and emits a gamma ray, producing nitrogen-
13.
 Nitrogen-13 is unstable and emits a beta particle, decaying to carbon-13.
 Carbon-13 captures a proton and becomes nitrogen-14 via emission of a gamma-ray.
 Nitrogen-14 captures another proton and becomes oxygen-15 by emitting a gamma-
ray.
 Oxygen-15 becomes nitrogen-15 via beta decay.
  Nitrogen-15 captures a proton and produces a helium nucleus (alpha particle) and
carbon-12, which is where the cycle started.

TRI-ALPHA PROCESS
Tri alpha process happens in red giant star once they leave the stage of main sequence star.
This is how three Helium-4 are converted into Carbon. The triple alpha process is
responsible for the conversion in stars of the alpha particles (or 4He nuclei) made in the Big
Bang to the carbon we find around us and in us. This process underlies Carl Sagan’s famous
statement that “we are made of star-stuff.”
In the triple alpha process, two alpha particles combine to form the nucleus 8Be which then
captures another alpha particle to form the Hoyle state in 12C. This state can then decay to the
ground state of 12C by emitting gamma rays and thereby making 12C , or decay back into
three α’s. The production of 12C in nature is proportional to the probability of decay of the
Hoyle state to the ground state of 12C.
ALPHA LADDER PROCESS
A star accumulates more mass and continues to grow into red super giant. Alpha
particle fusion happens at its core and creates more heavy elements until Iron. This is known
as the Alpha ladder process.
The alpha process, also known as alpha capture or the alpha ladder, is one of two classes
of nuclear fusion reactions by which stars convert helium into heavier elements. The other
class is a cycle of reactions called the triple-alpha process, which consumes only helium, and
produces carbon. The alpha process most commonly occurs in massive stars and during
supernovae.
Both processes are preceded by hydrogen fusion, which produces the helium that fuels both
the triple-alpha process and the alpha ladder processes. After the triple-alpha process has
produced enough carbon, the alpha-ladder begins and fusion reactions of increasingly heavy
elements take place, in the order listed below. Each step only consumes the product of the
previous reaction and helium. The later-stage reactions which are able to begin in any
particular star, do so while the prior stage reactions are still under way in outer layers of the
star.
 NATURAL DECAY EXPRESSIONS ((TRANSMUTATION)
(December 12 – Thursday)

All the elements listed on the periodic table are made up of atoms, the smallest
particle of an element that retains the characteristics of that element. Atoms are composed of
nucleus (which contains the protons and neutrons) surrounded by moving electrons. All
atoms of the same element have the same number of protons and electrons. However, the
atoms of any one element are not entirely identical because the atoms of most elements have
different numbers of neutrons. When a sample of an element consists of two or more atoms
with different numbers of neutrons, those atoms are called isotopes. To distinguish between
the different isotopes of an element, and to determine the element’s number of protons,
neutrons and electrons, we use nuclear notation as shown below:

Some isotopes are stable, and others are unstable (called radioisotopes), which can emit, or
kick out, subatomic particles to reach a more stable, lower-energy, configuration. The process
in which they release particles and energy is known as decay. Radioactive decay can cause a
change in the number of protons in the nucleus; when this happens, the identity of the atom
changes. There are 6 types of radioactive decay as shown in the table:
In a process called radioactive decay, a nucleus spontaneously breaks down by emitting
radiation. The process can be written as a nuclear equation

The aforementioned nuclear reactions are mostly

radioactive decay in which an alpha or beta particles are
emitted during the spontaneous decay of the nucleus.
Here now comes Ernest Rutherford who discovered in
1919 that it is possible to change the nucleus of one
element to another. Such process can be controlled in the
laboratory and is termed as transmutation, where a new
element is formed by bombarding the nucleus with
nuclear particles or nuclei. In Rutherford’s experiment,
he allowed a radioactive element (source of alpha
particle) collide with nitrogen nuclei. The equation is:

Transmutation-When an element turns into a different element. This occurs when the
number of protons changes.
Natural Transmutation- Without the presence of an another entity, the number of protons
change. In simpler terms there is only one reactant.

Artificial Transmutation- A change in the number of protons caused by another entity. So

there are two reactants.

Alpha Emission: a particle with two protons and two neutrons is emitted resulting to a
lighter new element.

Radium-222 undergoes alpha decay to produce radon-218.

The total mass on the left is 222 and the total mass on the right is 222 (4 + 218). The total
number of protons on the left is 88 and the total number of protons on the right is 88 (2 + 86).
During alpha decay, the mass of the parent atom decreases by 4 and the atomic number
decreases by 2.

Beta Emission: a neutron becomes a proton, and an electron will be ejected resulting to a
new element with the same mass.

Thorium-234 will become protactinium-234 by producing a beta particle.

During beta decay, the mass does not change but the atomic number increases by 1.

Gamma Emission: gamma ray will be emitted when a radioactive nuclide leaves a nucleus in
an excited state.

Nowadays, particle accelerators are used to synthesize new elements. This device accelerates
electrons, protons, alpha particles and other ions into very high speeds. Thus, producing the
so called transuranium elements with atomic numbers greater than that of Uranium (Z=92) –
the naturally occurring element of greatest atomic number (Z). The first transuranium
element was discovered by E.M. McMillan and P.H. Abelson in 1940 at University of
California, Berkeley and was named Neptonium:

Since then 24 other transuranium elements were synthesized. All the isotopes of these
elements are radioactive. Some examples of transuranium elements, their atomic numbers,
symbol and the reactions through which they are formed are shown in the table on the next
page.