igt;clicker Quiz #14.ppt

iclicker Quiz #14 Which of the following statements is TRUE? Hubble’s discovery that most distant galaxies are receding from us tells us that we are at the center of the Universe The Universe started with the Big Bang and will end in the Big Crunch The expansion rate of the Universe is speeding up because of a repulsive anti-gravity force The Andromeda galaxy is moving away from the Milky Way galaxy as a result of the expansion of the Universe Dark Matter and Dark Energy Critical density of matter needed to barely halt the Universe’s expansion: ρcrit ~ 10-30 g/cm3 Most of the matter in the Universe is DARK — total density of matter in the Universe ρ may or may not be equal to this critical density: Ωmatter ≡ ρ / ρcrit How much DARK ENERGY (anti-gravity) is present in the Universe? Determination of Ωmatter and ΩΛ are major goals / achievements of modern cosmology Methods: Density/dynamics of galaxies in the Universe Geometrical properties of the Universe Expansion rate in the Universe’s past Search for dark matter particles / physical origin of dark energy Olbers’ Paradox: Why is the Night Sky Dark? Assume uniform and infinite distribution of stars — night sky should be infinitely bright(!), but is observed to be dark Paradox phrased by Olbers in 1823, though already well known for about a hundred years at the time Stars are distributed over a finite volume (our Galaxy, for example) but the argument can be extended to the distribution of individual galaxies Can absorption by dust in galaxies solve the paradox? NO! Dust would heat up and glow as a black body radiator Universe has finite age t → observable Universe has a horizon at a finite distance ct — this is the most important factor in solving Olbers’ Paradox! iclicker Quiz #15 Which of the following statements is FALSE? Galaxies are generally moving away from one another because of the expansion of the Universe, but there are exceptions to this rule where collections of galaxies are bo