ENVS 1060 Midterm: Principles of Geology: Lecture Notes

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Unit: 1 - the origin of the solar system and the earth. Prior to 13. 7 billion years ago, the entire mass of the universe was concentrated at a si(cid:374)gle poi(cid:374)t; a (cid:858)si(cid:374)gula(cid:396)it(cid:455)(cid:859). The age is still su(cid:271)je(cid:272)t to de(cid:271)ate (cid:449)ith esti(cid:373)ates (cid:396)a(cid:374)gi(cid:374)g f(cid:396)o(cid:373) Was an incredibly hot and dense point in space, infinitely small and with infinite density. At this stage there were no atoms, in fact nothing existed that you would recognize as being from our universe. A(cid:271)out (cid:1005)(cid:1007). (cid:1011) (cid:271)illio(cid:374) (cid:455)ea(cid:396)s ago, the (cid:858)si(cid:374)gula(cid:396)it(cid:455)(cid:859) (cid:271)e(cid:272)a(cid:373)e u(cid:374)sta(cid:271)le a(cid:374)d e(cid:454)ploded i(cid:374) the big. Bang, scattering subatomic particles into cold space in two separate stages. To date, physicists have no theory to describe the precise physical conditions but in general there was; Inflation stage: extremely rapid expansion (a factor of 1050 to about the size of a grapefruit in 10-32 seconds) and extremely high temperature (1027 degrees k) Positive pressure expansion: more leisurely rate of expansion that continues today.