8.1.6

The Universe

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Red-shift

Light from distant objects in space becomes shifted towards the red end of the spectrum. This effect is called red-shift.

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Red-shift

  • As an object moves away from us, the wavelength of light that the object emits (sends out) gets longer.
  • The light gets redder because red has the longest wavelength of the visible colours.
  • This effect is called red-shift.
  • The faster the object is moving away from us, the longer its wavelength gets and the redder it appears.
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Evidence for an expanding universe

  • Light from distant galaxies in space is red-shifted.
  • The further a galaxy is from Earth, the greater the red-shift.
    • This means that the further away a galaxy is, the faster it is moving away from us.
  • This is evidence that the universe is expanding.

The Big Bang

The Big Bang theory says that the universe began from a single point.

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The Big Bang

  • The universe began from a very small region that was hot and dense.
  • This region ‘exploded’ and started expanding.
  • This expansion is still happening.
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Evidence

  • There are many forms of evidence to support the Big Bang model of the universe.
  • An example is the observation of red-shift in distant galaxies.
    • This suggests that the universe has expanded from a single point and continues to expand today.

Gaps in Knowledge

Although science can explain so much of what we see in the universe, there is still a lot we cannot currently explain.

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How expansion happens

  • Scientists still don’t understand everything about the universe.
  • They don’t understand much about how the universe is expanding.
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Dark matter and dark energy

  • Some scientists think that the universe is mostly made up of dark matter (an unknown substance that holds galaxies together but doesn’t emit electromagnetic radiation) and dark energy (the thing that causes the universe to quickly expand).
  • But no one really knows what these are - they are just theories.

Jump to other topics

1Energy

2Electricity

3Particle Model of Matter

4Atoms & Radiation

5Forces

6Waves

7Magnetism

8Astrophysics

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