Technical Details
BANG!
The Universe Verse: Book 1
p.1
In the beginning, before Time had begun,
NOTHING existed, and nothing was fun.
p.2
Where did it come from? How did nothing appear?
When it comes to that nothing, well nothing is clear.
It’s the utmost unknown, but it’s nothing to fear:
That nothing is gone, and instead we are here!
p.3
So we know that from somewhere,
some something would come,
into existence, though we don’t know where from.
We think it all started from the same tiny spot:
the smallest, most teeny, most itty-bitty DOT
- denser than dense and hotter than hot.
p.4
Then lickety-split, things got going fast.
That dense little dot did not get to last.
A Bang, and a Boom, and a really massive blast!
in every direction existence was cast.
p.5
In the blink of an eye, from tiny and formless,
p.6
to highly complex and hugely enormous.
Still growing to this day, with remarkable pace,
creating as it goes, the existence of place.
Since beyond our expanding universe face,
nothing exists, not even SPACE!
p.7
At this point in the game, there’s just one thing to name.
Everything’s Energy, all one and the same.
Everything ruled by a singular FORCE,
so all of existence is from the same source.
p.8
But as it expanded, it quickly cooled down,
and developed the rules that are now so renown.
Instead of a single super force unified,
into four distinct forces that one did divide.
All things to this day still follow their guide.
With two Nuclear Forces, one Weak and one Strong,
Electromagnetism and Gravity keep things moving along.
p.9
As it cooled down further, there came the first splatter
of what was to come, just a split second latter
- a new form of energy: the first ever MATTER!
The creation of matter was a quite frightful storm,
as energy changed into physical form.
Each particle was born as part of a pair,
so the creation of matter was balanced and fair.
If a particle met with its opposite double,
back into energy, they’d pop like a bubble.
p.10
I know it would seem this could leave us in trouble,
but somehow, some matter emerged from the rubble.
This particle war with the changes it beckoned,
all of it happened in less than a second!
By the end of that second creation was able,
to build up real matter: solid and stable.
p.11
The first little bits to leave lasting marks,
as physical forms of those energy sparks,
are still around now, and they call themselves Quarks.
Bottom and Top and Charm and Strange,
into Up and Down they mostly will change.
These six different flavors are able to mix.
And these six, when they mix, can do all sorts of tricks!
They join to form triplets, that happily bind,
into the handful of hadrons which we can find.
p.12
The PROTON and NUETRON are the most famous pair,
but I’ll tell you right now, it didn’t stop there.
Other particles formed, like the whole class of leptons,
much smaller than others, they include the ELECTRONS.
And that is how, in less than one minute,
the universe came to have everything in it.
All of the upcoming matter creations,
are these three particles in new combinations!
p.13
Now let’s pause for a moment to talk about SCALE,
as it plays a huge role in the rest of this tale.
If the story of creation has one common theme,
it’s the sizes and times which are both so extreme.
Some things happen so fast, they’re hard to believe.
Some things are too small for our eyes can perceive.
Like the proton and neutron: so very scant,
I’d show you how small, but truly I can’t,
much smaller they are, than the tiniest ant!
p.14
Some things are larger than you thought things could be.
It’s like comparing the Earth to the size of a flea!
And some of the change that slowly appears,
takes thousands of thousands of thousands of years!
But with enough time, things settle and shift,
like the effect of the forces, some drop and some lift.
When the magnetic force started to rise
particles began to make electrical ties.
Until gradual shifts in the energy stratum
allowed for the birth of the first ever ATOM
p.15
Proton and electron, together are bound:
proton in the center, electron speeding round.
Held to each other by electrical bind,
Hydrogen is the name for this simplest of kind.
Almost all matter that’s ever been made,
started like this, and most of it stayed,
although some lucky atoms will get to upgrade.
p.16
The number of protons bears the most relevance.
As it distinguishes each of the ELEMENTS.
Although I suppose it worth-while to mention,
for the sake of a fuller, more sound comprehension:
The PROTON in the center may not be alone,
another has access to this VIP zone.
The NEUTRON may not be quite as attractive,
but it’s quiet, well mannered and rarely reactive.
And because of that fact we now shall return,
to the protons which are of greater concern:
Hydrogen has one, and Helium two,
Lithium three, and for the moment, we’re through.
Because only these three were so easy to glue,
they formed on their own in the early space stew.
p.17
So three types of atoms is a pretty good start,
but what a big shame they were so far apart.
See, the universe started out crowded and tight,
brimming with energy and bursting with light,
But with time, it expanded and thinly it spread,
so much space between atoms was empty and dead.
Lonely and cold and dark as midnight,
What could have saved us, from such a big plight?
p.18
GRAVITY gives matter a small constant pull,
great for a universe that wasn’t so full.
So every last atom, through all of existence,
is pulled to the others by gravity’s insistence.
The strength of this force gets smaller with distance,
so the power of its pull comes from persistence.
Over time, it acts as a great cosmic girdle:
The thinly spread matter did eventually curdle.
p.19
Until gas did amass into great cloudy lumps:
A fast-spinning class of stunning stellar clumps.
Gravity continued to cause constant compressing,
bit by bit building, without ever less-ing.
While the pressure at the center became enormously stressing.
So much that our clump became such a tight ball,
the center ignited, and then we could call,
this clump by the name that is brightest of all:
This thing that allows us to be who we are,
the explosion inside has made it a STAR.
p.20
Ahhhh, glorious stars, shining so bright,
where, exactly, do you get all that light?
What is it that happens to make you ignite?
The answer is found to this most cosmic riddle,
deep down inside of the star’s inner middle,
where atoms are squished, so much that they fiddle.
p.21
In this hotter than hot, most pressure-filled zone,
they are so close together it becomes quite unknown,
as the atoms forget which electrons they own.
And if it wasn’t enough, not knowing who’s whose,
they get pushed closer still, ‘till whole atoms fuse.
p.22
Bigger atoms were formed, but the really big news,
was the teeny bit of matter they managed to lose.
A small part of each atom underwent liberation,
as each was released as energy radiation,
in accordance with that most famous equation…
Whose marvelous meaning can now be shared,
assuming, of course, that you are prepared,
for…
E to equal m c2
See “E” is the energy which does get produced,
by “m,” the tiny bit of matter reduced,
with the help of “c” - a speed of light boost!
C’s very big, C-squared’s even bigger,
So even a little matter makes a pretty big figure.
p.23
Hydrogen becomes Helium, in the opening act,
but in larger stars they can further react.
There are bigger venues for fusion to star in,
where Heliums fuse into the element Carbon.
And in larger stars, where more pressure locks ‘em in,
those atoms fuse further, resulting in oxygen.
All of the air that you’re breathing today,
was made ages ago in exactly this way.
And in truly big stars, some atoms keep fusing:
Neon, Sulfur and Sodium, and more for the choosing,
Silicon and Magnesium, it soon gets confusing!
And all of the time, there is matter they’re losing.
p.24
But as atoms continue to keep getting fatter,
the fusions which make them are losing less matter.
Once Iron is made, the whole structure will shatter.
The whole system snaps, sending atoms a-scatter.
You see, when the reaction to make iron is met,
more energy goes in than the amount that we get.
Instead of a surplus, there’s an energy debt,
which leaves the star’s core most truly upset.
Energy and gravity had been having a bout,
gravity pulling in, and energy pushing out.
With energy gone, there isn’t a doubt,
gravity will win in a riotous rout.
p.25
Now the star gets collapsed ‘til it’s dense as can be.
But here it turns out the star has a Plan B.
Those atoms, squeezed tight, are left with no room,
to the point where the joining of atoms can resume.
This last flurry of fusion sends the whole thing Ka-BOOM!
As supernova explosion goes out with great zoom.
p.26
It’s the only thing known to make heavier elements,
plus spread them around with such explosive elegance.
So all the silver and gold which people admire
was made long ago in a cosmic bonfire.
These stars were destroyed, but don’t be forlorn.
From the atoms they spread, new stars could be born,
and one of two ghosts might stay there to mourn.
A neutron star, that’s smallish but bright,
or a black hole, which sucks in all light.
Both are real dense, with great gravity might,
inside a star system center, they help hold it tight.
p.27
Millions of stars gathered into formations
of great spiral disks, with mighty rotations.
Galaxy is the name for these giant star groups.
Gravity holds them in spinning star loops.
p.28
The number of galaxies is way past the millions,
made up of stars that number in billions,
and whose atoms add up to some bazillion gajillions!
p.29
And that’s how all matter was ever created.
In a blink before time - a dot that dilated.
Energy into matter as the whole thing inflated.
Growing, and growing, it has never abated.
Powered by forces that repel and attract,
particles of matter were impelled to interact.
In the hearts of the stars they were forced to react.
Atoms fused into one, through gravity’s impact.
p.30
These new types of atoms are a cause for delight,
as atomic variation is sure to invite,
new levels of structure to amaze and excite.
(D Y-M) is David Yeaton-Massey
B.A. Berkeley '06 Physics, Mathematics, Astrophysics
Ph.D. Candidate Caltech Physics Dept.
(T M) is Tim Morton
(J L D) is me
The Big Bang is the model most agreed upon by scientists for the origin of the universe. The study of beginning of our universe is cosmology, BANG! is an introduction to this field. The basics concept is that the universe is 13 billion years old and has been expanding that entire time. 13 billion years ago all of the universe was in a much smaller space, and it was all so hot, dense and crazy that we have no idea what came before it. It is impossible to know what happened before the Big Bang. Our universe began with a singularity: a condition of such extreme gravity that we can’t know what preceded it, as the evidence could not survive. Currently, there is no scientific basis for any ideas about what occurred before the Big Bang, it could have been nothing, but it also could have been something. It is only “nothing” in the sense that we have no information on it. (J L D)
Possibly incorrect to say that space doesn't exist past the edge of the universe. I'm not sure that's in any way knowable (ever), and depending on whose kool aid you drink, some people might disagree. Some people drink some pretty far out kool aid.
(D Y-M)
I think most cosmologists would agree that space _does_ exist outside of our observable horizon (if the inflationary scenario is true); however, if the "expanding universe face" includes all of that too (the extra-horizon stuff) then you're fine...
(T M)
I assumed you were talking about a grand unified theory where all the forces are expressed as by a single field?
(D Y-M)
The main arguments here hold that either the baryonic number (some metric of number of matter - number of antimatter) was either not zero, and there was some initial concentration of matter to the universe, or that it was zero, and some physical process somehow shooed all the antimatter away during the universes formative years. I think both of us were nervous about possibly glossing over the matter-antimatter imbalance, but the somehow feels uncertain enough to reflect that we don't really know.
(D Y-M)
As I understand it, just a tiny matter-antimatter imbalance is necessary to explain all the matter in the universe today, and does things like set the baryon-to-photon ratio, which I think is pretty well understood. Anyway, bottom line is there was a slight imbalance, most of it annihilated away into photons, and here we are. I guess "somehow" can capture most of that.
(T M)
Between http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baryogenesis
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CP-symmetry
I gathered that the main point is that the net baryon number is NOT zero today (though I have no idea if someone has somehow been able to prove that the antimatter doesn't exist somewhere out there, e.g. maybe it got the stuffing kicked out of it early on and got ejected. Maybe there's an antimatter Universe! Maybe there is a universe antimatter halo! Crazy ideas like that.) I guess for the purposes of this, just stating that there is somehow more matter in the Universe captures enough of it.
But with enough time, things settle and shift,
like the strength of the forces, some drop and some lift.
Seems to imply the strength of the forces are changing with time, where it's just the changing composition and density of the universe that's causing different forces to dominate.
(D Y-M)
The first atom would probably have occurred at around (250,000 - 310,000) years, during recombination. Nucleosynthesis was around the first 5-20 minutes. I don't know if you are fully ordering your book temporally, but you discuss the atom before you go into nucleosynthesis.
Suggestion: move the above lines to somewhere after you talk about H, He, Li forming.
(D Y-M)
Addendum to suggestion: though maybe make clear that these are just the nuclei of H, He, Li--the atoms themselves, as discussed above, aren't made until recombination.
(T M)
Held to each other by magnetic bind,
Hydrogen is the name for this simplest of kind.
OOPS! So the first printing of the book has this scientific error in it, where I say that protons are attracted to electrons with a magnetic force when it’s really electrical. As you can see below, my scientist fact-checkers caught it, but I failed to make the change until after the firs printing, when I got the same feedback from multiple scientists. Those first 300 will be a rare limited edition. (J L D)
Magnetic is probably the wrong word to use here. Electric would be much more correct. Spinning things give magnetic force, like an electron orbiting around the proton has a magnetic moment, and thus a magnetic field. As a pair they will exert force on anything else with a magnetic moment, like other proton electron pairs. The ties that bind in this case are the electric force (q*q/r^2) rather then (q*v x B).
(D Y-M)
Yes, magnetic is definitely wrong wrong here.
(T M)
Everything is ionized in the core, and has been for a while. If you want to talk about when they get ionized, Tim thinks it happens around 10^4 K. No one has had their electron for a while by the time you get to the center of a star. Those electrons should be whizzing about freely, independent of what their former nuclei are doing.
(D Y-M)
Yeah, as a proto-stellar cloud collapses and heats up, the hydrogen atoms ionize themselves long before the cloud gets dense enough and hot enough to ignite fusion in the core. And the mental picture I have a fusion isn't really atoms (protons, really) getting pushed closer and closer together (this implies a sort of QM degenerate state), but rather protons whizzing into each other so fast that they stick. Might want to adjust this image a little bit.
(T M)
I agree here - its just the fermi dirac velocity distribution tails making whiz! bang! collisions happen in the picture that I like. More dense is hotter = faster = things can hit hard enough to fuse.
(D Y-M)
C’s very big, getting squared makes it bigger,
which makes the equation a truly huge figure.
This massive energy is a star’s fusion trigger.
Seems to imply that the energy released by the fusion (radiation pressure) is causing more fusion, rather than the thermal pressure of the gas itself giving some particles enough energy to overcome the energy barrier.
(D Y-M)
Not really energy in general. There is radiation pressure from all the photons zooming outwards from the fusion, which is significant in some stars. There is also regular pressure b/c you have a gas.
Suggestion: Replace Energy with Pressure
(D Y-M)
Yeah, it's really mostly thermal pressure vs. gravity is the story here. Actually technically the thermal pressure gradient vs. gravity, but close enough.
(T M)
Both are real dense, with great gravity might,
at a galaxy’s center, they help hold it tight.
Neutron stars white? - unsure, possible.
Black holes are all around. Supermassives are at the center of most galaxies. We think it might be all galaxies, we don't know.
For the Milky Way:
The supermassive: 4,000,000 M_sun
All stars: 90,000,000,000 M_sun
The Dark Matter Halo: 3,000,000,000,000 M_sun
Once you get out a little bit in the radius of the galaxy, the force you would feel from the supermassive would be eclipsed buy the force you feel from the stars inside. I would say that the stars hold themselves together. I am not sure what the current model for the dark matter halo is. If you are just talking about the galaxy in steady state holding itself together, I would say that the stars do it.
I also thought it was misleading to say that "at the galaxy's center" since that is only one, it is a black hole, and I am unsure if we know how it formed. (accretion? mergers? I am not sure what theories are still on the table, or if we have ruled anything out). The neutron stars and black holes that get created whenever a star dies like that happen all the time (maybe 1/50 years in the milky way?) and stay wherever they happen to be.
(D Y-M)
I'd be more in favor of saying that the dark matter is doing the majority of the holding-together. But if you're not going to talk about dark matter, then yeah, the stars do it, and the BH at the center is completely negligible. A common misconception is that BH's somehow have "stronger" gravity than other things. This isn't true- the gravitational pull of something is based solely on its mass, whether it's a star, a black hole, or a giant cucumber. I'd be careful about accidentally reinforcing that misconception.
(T M)
I misread the density profile.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navarro-Frenk-White_profile
I thought you could have a density in the halo while not having that much in the center. (I think if you allow constants in the NFW profile to be negative, you can get some maximum at a positive distance - but I think this is nonphysical). If the density profile for the dark matter distribution is monotonically decreasing, then yes, it's clearly the dark matter which holds everything together. Then the luminous matter, then the black hole at the center. Thanks!
(D Y-M)
I also thought it was misleading to say that "at the galaxy's center" since that is only one, it is a black hole, and I am unsure if we know how it formed. (accretion? mergers? I am not sure what theories are still on the table, or if we have ruled anything out). The neutron stars and black holes that get created whenever a star dies like that happen all the time (maybe 1/50 years in the milky way?) and stay wherever they happen to be.
(D Y-M)
Right. No one knows about how the huge central BH's form, and stellar BH's are presumably scattered all around.
(T M)
The number of galaxies is up in the millions,
Low by a factor of 10^4...Tim says that 10^10 is about right. He thinks the number of stars per galaxy is about equal to the number of galaxies.
(D Y-M)
I tried to make BANG! both accurate and entertaining.
There were a number of places where that was very difficult.
The creation of the universe was messy, complicated and it happened a long time ago.
Scientists have managed to figure out a remarkably large amount of what happened,
as well as when and how it happened. However, many of the details are still being debated
and many of the concepts are complicated enough to make them difficult to explain in a rhyming comic book.
For these reasons I wanted to have my book checked by some real live scientists.
I found two who were interested in reading the manuscript while I was still working on
the illustrations. As a result of their input I made some changes in the book,
but there may still be elements of this book that are not entirely correct.
On this page you can see the text from the book on the left, and their scientific criticisms on the right.
If you’re a scientist and you would like to see something added, please e-mail me at dunbarjam@gmail.com