Non-Religious Questions About the Big Bang Theory

[scarpetta]

Marshmallow Molecules - Atoms & Molecules

Grades 1-3


[SIZE=+1]Materials:[/SIZE][SIZE=+1] For this experiment you will need: a couple of bags of colored marshmallows (they usually come in four different colors) or colored gumdrops, toothpicks and paper plates.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=+1]
"A project the children enjoy is making marshmallow molecules. This experiment will help your students understand the difference between an atom and a molecule. [/SIZE] [SIZE=+1]Tell the children that each marshmallow represents an atom. Toothpicks are used to join the atoms. When atoms are joined they will form a molecule. To begin, each child should receive four different colors of marshmallows: 5 of one color that will represent Hydrogen, 3 of one color that will represent Oxygen, and one each of the third and fourth colors that will represent Carbon and Nitrogen."
http://ali.apple.com/edres/ellesson/elem-marshmallow.shtml
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[scarpetta]

Are you laughing yet, Details? I did! I was looking up information about your explanation.....and it took me to the Marshmallow thing. Even though I am apparently in the Grades 1-3 category...I still might go buy some marshmallows and try it!

 

[philamena]

Philamena, I am the only one here in need of an education.:waitasec:

These questions actually started when I watched the "strike anywhere" empty cardboard box burn up and stay intact for so long while completely glowing red. I probably also had a little too much time on my hands.

Oh honey, I'm teasing you. I think your questions are good........
too bad I don't know the answers. lol

 

[Details]

Are you laughing yet, Details? I did! I was looking up information about your explanation.....and it took me to the Marshmallow thing. Even though I am apparently in the Grades 1-3 category...I still might go buy some marshmallows and try it!

Ah - if you want fun, take a marshmellow, and throw it on a fire. You get a fun, slow, marshmellow volcano. Get the large ones. They turn black on the outside, but theres a continuing ooze of marshmellow creame coming out as it expands, then turning black as it too burns.

Hey, physics is interesting - the more you look at, the more there is to it.

 

[scarpetta]

Ah - if you want fun, take a marshmellow, and throw it on a fire. You get a fun, slow, marshmellow volcano. Get the large ones. They turn black on the outside, but theres a continuing ooze of marshmellow creame coming out as it expands, then turning black as it too burns.

Hey, physics is interesting - the more you look at, the more there is to it.

Details, I went and bought the marshmallows, the paper plates, and the toothpicks! I have already finished building my atomic model of an entire box of Trix Cereal.

 

[scarpetta]

Ok, I took a picture of it but I don't know how to post it because it won't copy/paste.

 

[scarpetta]

Here is the complex atomic structure of Trix Cereal...

 

[Penelope631]

i love trix and marshmellows..can I come to your house for breakfast?

 

[scarpetta]

Based on all the answers submitted here, as well as information found in other locations, here are the summarized answers for the first 6 questions....

1. Are all the elements in the universe, not just the earth, listed on the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements (Mendeleev Periodic Table)?
Scientists believe that, so far, the Periodic Table of Elements is a representation of what exists in the entire universe. However, many scientists believe that because the universe is vast and beyond our reach, they simply can not know with certainty that Mendeleev’s Periodic Table is a complete representation.

2. What shape is the universe? (Flat, round, etc.)
Scientists theorize that the shape of the universe is flat, like a sheet of paper.

3. What did the mass consist of that exploded? Was it a combination of all those elements?
Scientists vary in their answers about this one as well. The reason why the answer is not definitive is because from the point of “inflation” or explosion until now, the universe and all its’ properties began to change or become altered as everything cooled down. What they theorize as the beginning of things, has undergone too many changes in time and molecular structure to be able to trace it back to its point of original makeup as a guaranteed fact.

4. Why did it explode?
“The best, non-mathematical description that any cosmologist can create for describing the Big Bang is that it occurred in every cubic centimeter of space in the universe with no unique starting point. In fact, it was an event which our mathematics indicate, actually brought space and time into existence. It did not occur IN space at a particular location, because it created space ( and time itself) as it went along. There may have existed some state 'prior' to the Big Bang, but it is a state not described by its location in time or space. This state preceded the existence of our time and space.”

5. Do scientists theorize that it exploded in the center, or the edge of our known and existing universe?
The most consistent and scientific answer is that the Big Bang caused space and time itself to begin. Based on this theory, it makes it impossible to pinpoint an area of origination if the Big Bang was the origin of all things.

6. Depending on the location of the explosion, is the universe expanding in a circumference from the center of that explosion? Or did the blast propel the matter all in one singular direction?
Based on the theory that the Big Bang was the beginning of the universe, the universe itself is the direction.

 

[scarpetta]

i love trix and marshmellows..can I come to your house for breakfast?

Sure! I really like Fruit Loops but it didn't come in the packet of little cereal boxes this time.

 

[Peter Hamilton]

I just heard something incredible--Neil Degrasse Tyson, the "ambassador of Science', astronomer, and director of the Hayden Planetarium was on CBS News this morning and made a startling statement--He said that an asteroid may be headed toward Earth--Discovered 2 years ago, this Asteroid is named Apophus, named after the Greek God of death--Apophus is expected to come so close to the earh in 2029 that its path will actually go BENEATH some our own satellites--At that time,its path will be more fully predicable, but Tyson says there's a fair chance that on its next go-around,seven years later, in 2036, it may indeed strike the Earth with a catacylsmic force--It is predicted it will hit the Earth in the Pacific Ocean,creating a Tidal Wave so huge that it will wipe out the West Coast of the United States and Canada--It would also cause huge damage to Indonesia, Australia,the South Seas and Japan---hmmm--real esate prices on the west coast of the US may be in a little trouble by then lol but the real estate of the US EAST coast should skyrocket---start buying now! lol