Study Guide – Introduction and Geology
Eras, Eons, and Periods of Earth’s History.
Early Cosmology
Native American Cosmology
·
Brings benefits to
the survival of the tribe by knowing when to plant, hunt, and prepare for
winter, among other advantages.
·
Arithmetically
accurate, American Indians were capable of determining the changing seasons to
within a day
·
Based on
observations and knowledge of one’s place in the surrounding environment. Often the important observations are the
position of the sun at sunrise and sunset, or the passing of the sun through a
certain part of the sky as determined by sunlight passing through opening in
buildings used in rituals.
·
Culture builds up in
the form of ritual, mythology, politics and art to pass this knowledge down
through the generations.
Chinese Cosmology
·
Chinese culture
takes a holistic view of the universe. A
paradigm for this is the concept of the universe as one large organism like our
own bodies.
·
Astrology develops
since the universe is an organism all of its parts are connected therefore
events in the heavens, stars and constellations, should affect the comings and
goings of human beings and human culture.
·
Actual geometrical
models of the universe develop
Hemispherical
Dome Cosmology (
Celestial
Sphere Cosmology (
·
The concept of an
elixir of life develops and eventually becomes the basis for modern medicine
and homeopathic medicine.
Mesopotamian Cosmology
·
Source for this
information is the Enuma Elish
(2nd mellenium B.C.)
·
Belief that the
world was created by the gods and they propose a great pantheon of gods.
·
The concerns and
activities of the pantheon are used to achieve political manipulations.
·
A scientific and
observational astronomy develops that is capable of predicting planetary and
lunar phenomena with great precision.
·
Marduk – Head of the Babylonian Pantheon of gods. Son of Ea.
·
Tiamat is often thought to be feminine and even Marduk’s mother
Greek Cosmology
·
The magical powers
of gods, supernatural, are not invoked to explain nature. Cosmology become
philosophy instead of theology.
·
Two early schools of
thought
Materialists look for the fundamental substances that make up the
cosmos
Pythagoreans believe number was the pure stuff that made everything
up, a non-materialist view.
·
The concept of
principle matter or fundamental substances is proposed.
·
Principal matter,
(roughly 400 BC)
Earth
– positions itself down and under everything else
Water
– natural position is just above the earth
Wind
– move upward above water, sometimes thought to be rarified water
Fire
– naturally moves upward above earth water and wind
Quintessence or aether – natural place is
in the heavens moving in circular motion.
Life is associated with the existence of the quintessence in a compound
object.
·
Pythagorean
cosmology (
A
religious fraternity eventually destroyed by angry neighbors. Number is proposed as the principle of all
things, not substance. Music played a
primary role in their studies. Why do
some notes sound harmonious and others do not?
Certain ratios in the length of strings and pipes on instruments were
important. Harmonies in the motion of
the planets were related to musical harmonies.
Justice and goodness were studied in terms of harmonious ratios too.
·
Atomic Theory was
proposed by Democritus (Leucippus 450 to 420 BC)
Democritus
argued there must be some smallest indivisible piece of matter because it’s
illogical to be able to keep dividing objects up indefinitely. This is an alternate view from principal
matter which is thought to be a continuous substance filling space. Aristotle later argues against the atomic
theory since atoms must exist in a vacuum but a vacuum precludes the
possibility of motion and change because of lack of contact of an object in a
vacuum with other objects.. This implies a kind of view of space-time
argued by Ernst Mach (1880’s AD) where space-time only exists because of the
matter that exists in space-time.
·
Plato (427 to 346
BC)
The
proper way to study the cosmos was with geometrical models that can only be
fully conceptualized in the mind. If one
draws a circle, it is never a perfect circle except in the concept of a circle
that can only be held in the mind.
The
dialectic – Plato argues learning should be achieved through shared inquiry and
discussion. The allegory of the cave is used to describe how people respond to
education.
·
Aristotle (384 BC)
Aristotle
attempted to understand the dynamics of things in the universe, motion and
change. He concentrates on the causes of
these changes and dynamics.
Formal
cause – the shape of an object
Material
cause – what an object is made from
Efficient
cause – who made the object
Purposeful
cause – what is the use or purpose of the object
The
source of motion is internal to the object.
Objects are made from fundamental substance which has a nature that
determines the motion. (Earth want to move downward so object fall.) Motion is a fulfillment of potentiality.
Void
or vacuum cannot exist since in a vacuum there would be no natural place for a
body to move to, like earth moving below water, and so on. Motion requires constant contact with other
substance and therefore motion would cease in a vacuum and this seemed absurd
to Aristotle. (Antiperistasis as an example.)
Motion
was divided into three forms, rectilinear that required a force, rotational
that tended to continue indefinitely, and circular which was associated with
heavenly bodies and with the quintessence.
Aristotle’s
universe
Aether moved in
circular paths up in the heavens. The
planets and stars are made from aether.
Broken
into regions between nested spheres
Universe
is finite in size, Aristotle argues an infinite
universe is absurd.
There
is only one world or universe. Otherwise
substance wouldn’t know how to behave.
There would be a ambiguity in determining the
natural place for a substance. This
would be absurd.
Stars
are fixed to concentric spheres, along with the planets on different spheres.
Saving
the phenomena – for century after Aristotle people attempted to explain the
motion of the moon and planets and the seasons of the year with circular
motion.
·
Ptolemy (
Ultimate
attempt to “Save the Phenomena” was given in the Almagest. Ptolemy uses both the eccentric hypothesis
and epicycles to describe the observed motion of the planets and the seasons.
Timeline from
modern scientific theory
13 Billion Years The Big Bang occurs; energy is dumped into the abyss
11 Billion Years Galaxies
form, first as quasars then as modern galaxies
9 Billion Years The Milky Way galaxy forms
5 Billion Years Our solar system forms
4.6 Billion Years Earth
condensed out of the interstellar gas
4.0 Billion Years Origin of life on earth
3.0 Billion Years One-celled
animals evolve
2.0 Billion Years Sex
evolves allowing the mixing of DNA from two organisms
1.0 Billion Years Plants
create an oxygen environment
600 Million Years Enormous
proliferation of life forms
300 Million Years Dinosaurs evolve
65 Million Years Dinosaurs die out
3 Million Years Australopithecus
evolve
300 Thousand Years Homo
sapiens evolve
3 Thousand Years Recorded history begins
General Universe Data
The
relationship between age and size of the universe
What
is the age and size of the universe
Big
Bang theory and the expanding universe model
Open
and closed universe models
Einstein
The
theory of general relativity - the basic theory underlying modern cosmological
theories
Curved
space time
Steady
State and Expanding Universe models
Lemaitre
Expanding
universe and the primeval atom hypothesis
Hubble and Humason
Measurements
of distances to the great spiral nebula (galaxies)
Parallax,
Apparent Brightness, Red Shift, Cepheid Variable Stars
Hubble's
contribution to the expanding universe models, Hubble's Law
Some Sample
Questions
1.
Where
did the heavier elements carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and others, come from in our
universe?
a.
From
black holes in the center of galaxies
b.
These
elements came out of the Big Bang at the beginning of the universe
c.
They
were formed in the centers of starts by fusion and in supernova, exploding
stars
d.
They
form in comets when they collide with hard rocky planets like Earth and Mars
e.
Scientist
have no theories about where these elements came from
2.
Which
of the following cultural cosmologies was characterized by the belief that the
universe is a single unified organism with interconnected throughout?
a.
American
Indian Cosmology
b.
Mesopotamian
Cosmology
c.
Chinese
Cosmology
d.
Greek
Cosmology
3.
Which
of the following cultural cosmologies was characterized by a replacement of
supernatural explanations with philosophical explanations of the universe?
a.
American
Indian Cosmology
b.
Mesopotamian
Cosmology
c.
Chinese
Cosmology
d.
Greek
Cosmology
4.
Modern
scientific cosmology believes the age of the Earth to be about
a.
4.6
thousand years
b.
4.6
million years
c.
4.6
hundred thousand years
d.
4.6
billion years
5.
If
it could be proven that the universe is only ten thousand years old, what other
conclusion can be inferred about the universe
a.
the
universe must have been created my God
b.
the
universe must be bigger than scientists think
c.
the
laws of physics must be different on Earth than far out in space
d.
the
universe must be smaller than scientists think
6.
In
the Big Bang theory of the universe matter, energy, and space-time
itself are thought to be in which of the following states
a.
uniformly
spread out across the universe in a relatively stable and steady state
b.
expanding
out across a uniform space-time that extends out forever
c.
expanding
out from some initial sudden event
d.
modern
cosmology has no theories that adequately describe the current state of the
universe
7.
Our
galaxy is referred to as
a.
The
Milky Way
b.
Andromeda
c.
The
Solar System
a.
The
Geocentric System
Choose one of these
topics and write a short answer consisting of one or two paragraphs.
1.
Briefly
describe the events that led to the formation of the solar system.
2.
What
are the two sources of energy for the Earth’s systems.
3.
Describe
the differences between big bang models and steady state models of the
universe.
4.
Describe
the contribution to modern cosmology made by Albert Einstein, George LaMaitre, and Edwin Hubble
5.
What
is a galaxy, what holds it together and what is it composed of.
6.
Why
do scientists believe the universe is expanding?
7.
Briefly
describe the formation of a solar system, stars and planets.
Short
answers (mini-essay) questions
- How is the expansion of the universe observed by astronomers?
- What is the Big-Bang described in modern cosmology?
- Describe the difference between steady-state and expanding
universe models?
- Describe Space-Time as seen by modern cosmologists, (how large,
how old, etc).
- Describe one of your own personal views on the universe. (Will it last forever, repeat in some
great cyclic process, or is it all just thoughts in God’s mind, etc?)
Sample Questions
For the following questions observe the photo’s on the screen to choose an answer. There are more than one answer for some of these.
|
|
|
|
|
D |
E |
F |
|
|
|
|
|
G |
H |
I |
|
|
|
|
|
J |
K |
L |
|
|
|
|
|
M |
N |
O |
