Age of the Universe - Shedding light on the matter (1 of 2)

Starlight tells us the story of the cosmos. A story that differs greatly from religions stories. From Stephen Hawkings Universe. Part 1 of 2.

This video shows how studying the light coming from the stars can tell us the chemistry, distance and momentum of any glowing object. This leads to the discovery of other galaxies and the inevitability of the Big Bang theory.

Light put through a narrow slit, and then through a prism leaves a pattern of lines of light and shadow where the light casts. These lines are determined by the chemistry of what emitted the light. The light coming from stars can be compared to light coming from luminescant gas of any chemical. The lines line up perfectly with the chemicals we see within us, around us and in our sun. So the universe is made of the same stuff as us.

These lines of light will appear shifted if the origin of the light was in motion. Light waves are stretched apart as the object moves away and so the waves arrive less frequently (lower frequency). This can be heard in sound waves when a car passes. With light, objects moving away are shifted more towards the red end of the spectrum.

Light observed from distant galaxies is more red-shifted the further away they are. This means the universe is expanding. Think backwards through time and it must have been all together at one time. A time of infinite density. The beginning of time as we know it. The Big Bang, 13,700,000,000 years ago. Approximately.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Universe
• Science
• Light
• Spectroscopy
• Big
• Bang
• BigBang
• Genesis
• Hawking
• Einstein
• Relativity
• Creationism
• Religion
• God

[mortenrobinson]

Does the theory of relativity not state that it is impossible to establish the age of the universe? I mean the theory of relativity states that time moves at different rates in different places in the universe, and therefore the universe does not have the same age everywhere. That means that it should be impossible to put an age on the universe cause it's age depends where you meassure it.

[theinquisitor]

That's a really good question and I'm not sure what the answer is. I'll have to think about that and do some research. I suspect this is something that physicists have taken into account, but I would be interested to know how this problem could be resolved.

[jc00213]

hey u have any more videos. Im a eager 9th grade student who wants to learn more about the new discovies of the universe

[theinquisitor]

I have some physics lectures on my channel (click my username to see), they're very interesting, stuff about the big bang and relativity. Search youtube for "stephen hawking universe" to find all the episodes from this series. Google video often has a few episodes of Cosmos by Carl Sagan on there (one of the best science and history documentaries). Also google "nova science now" for some short science documentaries.

[wwhit2001]

@al424242 I just read that "The region visible from Earth (the observable universe) is a sphere with a radius of about 46 billion light years,[18] based on where the expansion of space has taken the most distant objects observed" but you said that the universe is 13.7 billion years how is that true if there is 46 billion year ago light?

[illuvitarv5]

@filmwannabe2009 infinite coldness is the end of the universe it will expand and expand until all matter is too far apart to get together and everything just ends as atoms.

[ivorbigun20]

@hamdanae um natural selection?

and laugh at it all you want all the elements that make me and you are found in the supernove of stars, somtimes only hydrogen healium and other basic elements but in big stars the entire periodic table can be found in layers of a star ready to go supernova

[hamdanae]

hehe,he says nitrogem hydrogem and other chimicals in the space are like us and what our bodies made up,i know where hes going on this,that we are coinsdence,fkr how do u explain our sex organs,liver kidnies heart,stomec,all desigened for purpos,how the fk u become scientist!

[al424242]

@vengencefrom1979 thats not true, although the estimates for age jumped up as more accurate messurements are taken the age has now shrunk slightly to 13.7 billion years plus or minus 0.37 billion years.

[cagefite007]

Relativity states time differentiates based on location; gravity and velocity. We can still easily date our universe based on time from which we experience on earth. We can even quantify time differentiation at, or very near the Big Bang. It is often refered as the million million fold in physics.

[vengencefrom1979]

flat earth was cool lol.

[vengencefrom1979]

something one rarely hears questioned, how old will the universe appear with the next generation of telescopes? 20 billion years old? 50? 100?