A theory that states that the universe began to expand with the explosion of concentrated matter and energy
After the “Big Bang”
The force of gravity began to affect the matter shooting outward in every direction
Gravity began to pull matter
Into clumps
Gravity
A force of attraction between objects
These clumps formed huge clusters which became galaxies of the universe
The galaxies are moving away from the center of the universe
The explosion took place
About 14 billion years ago
Open Universe
Saddle shaped; galaxies will continue racing outward and the universe will continue to expand until all stars die off; leads to total emptiness
Closed Universe
Sphere shaped; the expansion of the universe will finally come to a halt; gravity will pull the galaxies back toward the center of the universe; leads to a Big Crunch followed by another big bang
Our book states that the universe is a closed universe
They believe that a big bang may occur once every 80 to 100 billion years
Most of the universe is empty space: a vacuum which is defined as a volume containing no particles, force fields, nor waves
By definition a vacuum has no energy
The law of conservation of energy demands that energy cannot be created nor destroyed
The universe has too many large structures to be created in 10-20 billion years
It would take about 100 billion years for these structures to form (Condradiction 2).
St. Augustine: '“Ex nihilo” is a Latin term that translated means “out of nothing.”'
Ex nihilo
An idea presented by St. Augustine that became Church doctrine; a philosophical explanation of how God created everything out of nothing
Scientists now believe in a new theory according to Albert Einstein, the universe is a space-time continuum
Forms of the universe
Closed (looks like a sphere)
Open universe (looks like a saddle)
Flat universe
Closed universe
Travel far enough and you always come back to the starting point; the universe will slow down, stop, then reverse direction causing a new Big Bang
Open universe
Galaxies continue to expand forever; most scientists agreed that this theory was correct up until this summer
Flat universe
When traveling in a straight line you will never return to your starting point; the universe will expand forever, but more slowly all the time