Name____________________

for experiment here Hr.___________

Staple Balloon used

here
used for experiment
Staple rubber band
Modeling Observations of the Universe Lab
Engel’s earth science on a shoe string©

Objective: According to the Big Bang Theory, almost all galaxies are moving outward from all other
galaxies. You can demonstrate the principles of this expansion with a simple model.

Materials: Balloon, pen, string, ruler

Procedure.
1. Mark a pair of dots 0.5 cm apart across the middle of the
uninflated balloon. Label them A and B. Mark a third dot 5.0
cm away from B. Label this dot C.
2. Blow into the balloon for 3 seconds. Record your elapsed
time. Pinch the end of the balloon between your fingers to
keep it inflated, but do not tie the neck.
3. Use the string and ruler to measure the distance between A and B and between B and C. DO NOT
LET THE AIR OUT OF THE BALLOON!
4. Calculate how fast the galaxies (dots) moved apart from each other,
to calculate this, use the following formula:
After inflation 1distance between A - B (step 3)
- -- Original distance between A - B

Divide this number by 3 (the number of seconds you blew into the balloon)
This is your rate of change - record it in the data table.

5. With the balloon still inflated from Step 2, blow into the balloon for an additional 3 seconds.
6. Measure and calculate the rate of change in distance between A and B. and between C and B. To
calculate the rate, use the distance measures in Step 3 as the 'original' distance.

Distance between Distance between Rate of change Rate of change

points points with galaxies A - B with galaxies C - B
A-B C-B

Uninflated --------- ---------

After inflation 1

After inflation 2

1. In this lab what do the following items represent:

a. The balloon _____________________________________________________________
b. The dots (a, b, c) _________________________________________________________
c. The inflation of the balloon/spreading out of the dots _____________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

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 2. Did the distance between A and B or between C and B show the greatest rate of change?
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

3. Suppose dots C and A represent other galaxies and dot B represents our Milky Way. How does the
distance between the galaxies relate to the rate at which they are moving apart?
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

4. Explain the Big Bang Theory?

_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

5. Explain how this lab modeled the movement of our universe and the Big Bang Theory?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

CMB radiation of the Universe Lab

Engel’s earth science on a shoe string©
Materials: Rubber band pen stars ruler scissors

Procedure:
1) Make one cut in you rubber band so that it makes a flat piece.
2) Every two cm draw a dot on the top edge of the rubber band and along the bottom draw a dot 1 cm
from each n the top edge. Draw a regular wave pattern, connecting the top dots to the bottom dots,
from one end to the other end.
3) Place 4 stars randomly on the rubber band. Number each star starting with number one.
4) Now stretch the rubber band and describe:
a) What happens to the distance between the stars?
b) What happens to the wavelength?
5) Pretend you are on a spaceship hovering near star 1, describe what you see happening to the
Universe. What would you see from your spaceship hovering Star 2? Star 3? Star 4?
6) Now let’s look at this using measurement. Complete the following data table before you stretch
the rubber band and after:
Before stretching After stretching
Length of rubber band

Number of waves

Average wavelength

Distance between stars 1-2

Distance between stars 2-3

Distance between stars 3-4

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Discussion:
1) Since the rubber band represents space, and the stars represent stars or galaxies (things made up of
matter) explain what happens to matter as space expands.
2) What happens to the total number of waves as space expands?

3) As space expands what happens to the wavelength?

4) How does this relate to the Red Shift?

5) If you could continue to stretch the rubber band (and it did not break) what would happen to the
wavelength?

6) How are wavelength and temperature related?

7) Shortly after the Big Bang occurred, about 14 billion years ago, the Universe was very hot, about
3000 K, why then today, is the CMB at about 2.7 K ?

8) How does the temperature of the CMB support the theory of the Big Bang?

9) What other evidence is there that supports the Big Bang Theory?

10) Why do scientists say that there is no center of the Universe or conversely everywhere is the
center? (Hint: think about procedure 5.)

Further Analysis:
Using the CMB’s peak wavelength of about 10-3 m and its present temperature, calculate its peak
wavelength when it formed at the surface of last scattering. What type of electromagnetic (EM) wave was
that at that time? What type of EM wave is it today?

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The diagram below shows a standard
spectrum compared to a spectrum
produced from a distant star.

Which conclusion can be made by

comparing the standard spectrum to the
spectrum produced from this distant
star?

(1) The star’s spectral lines have shifted

toward the ultraviolet end of the
spectrum and the star is moving toward
Earth.

(2) The star’s spectral lines have shifted

toward the ultraviolet end of the
spectrum and the star is moving away
from Earth.

(3) The star’s spectral lines have shifted toward the infrared end of the spectrum and
the star is moving toward Earth.

(4) The star’s spectral lines have shifted toward the infrared end of the spectrum and
the star
is moving away from Earth.

The diagram below represents a swinging Foucault pendulum.

This pendulum will show an

apparent change in the direction of
its swing due to Earth’s
(1) curved surface (3) rotation
(2) tilted axis (4) revolution

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 The diagram below shows the spectral lines for an element.

The diagram below illustrates three stages of a current theory of the formation of the
universe.

A major piece of
scientific evidence
supporting this
theory is the fact that
wavelengths
of light from galaxies
moving away from
Earth in stage 3 are
observed to be
(1) shorter than
normal (a red shift)
(3) longer than
normal (a red shift)
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(2) shorter than normal (a blue shift) (4) longer than normal (a blue shift)

Which of the above

evolutionary stages of a
massive star is called a
supernova?
F1
G2
H3
J4

Which of these elements does this star

contain?
A Mercury
B Calcium _
C Sodium
D Neon

From Rubber Bands to Big Bangs

The Universe has been expanding for 13.72 billion

years from a smaller, hotter, denser form to its present
cooler, larger, and less dense form. You might ask,
“What is expanding, and how do we know that?” The
Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMB) is
scientific evidence that shows space itself is
expanding. As space expands it cools and the original
CMB waves have been stretched with this expansion
of space. Although space has more than the two
dimensions we will focus on with our rubber bands in
this lab, we will gain a feel for the expansion of space.

Evidence for the Big Bang:

Red shift CMBR
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 Nueclieosysnthisis
Observations of galaxies and stars
(Earlier stars have less heavy elements)
CMBR fluctuations
CMBR Polarization