The History of the Universe: The Big Bang and Beyond [Infographic]
What’s the history of the universe? Follow us on a journey that starts with the Big Bang. All the way to the formation of stars, galaxies and eventually us.
What’s the history of the universe? Follow us on a journey that starts with the Big Bang. All the way to the formation of stars, galaxies and eventually us.
In flesh and blood, 7.6 billion humans live on Earth. The emergence of humans has left a profound impact. The demand for resources is the human footprint.
Hubble galaxy classification assigns a class to galaxies based on their visual appearance. These classes of galaxies are ellipticals, lenticulars and spirals
Galaxies are just large accumulation of stars. For example, we live in the Milky Way galaxy. It houses about 200 billion stars including Alpha Centauri.
If you went 200 million years back in time, Earth was 1 supercontinent. Now, it’s made up of 7 separate continents. This is the supercontinent cycle at work.
Climate feedback loops either amplify or reduce climate change. Positive feedback loops like permafrost melt amplifies climate change because it releases methane.
By dating meteorites, we find the oldest rocks are 4.5 billion or so years old. Thus, we conclude the same staggering 4,543,000,000 years for Earth’s age.
Despite the popular belief that groundwater exists as a huge lake underground, water actually exists in tiny pore spaces within rock and soil beneath our feet.
About 200 million years ago, all the continents were together as one giant supercontinent known as Pangaea. Over time, these continents have broken apart.
From the remarkable process of plates colliding and building mountains. They are only to be dismantled by mass wasting (weathering, erosion and transport).
Biodiversity or “biological diversity” refers to the variety or genetic diversity of species in an ecosystem. Ecosystems rely on biodiversity for resiliency.
Four radioactive isotopes inside Earth account for 50% of its internal heat. Like a slow cooker, they slowly release heat within the planet keeping it warm.
Geotechnical Engineers understand the behavior of earth materials. For example, they interpret rock and soil samples to investigate subsurface conditions.
Carbon is re-purposed into fossil fuels in the long-term carbon cycle. The coal that we use today was produced millions of years ago from buried swamps.
Plate tectonics are deceptively slow. It’s just centimeters each year. Continental drift is the idea that continents passively move due to tectonic activity