Big Bang by Simon Singh

Author:Simon Singh [Simon Singh ]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780007375509
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

From the Cosmic to the Atomic

In order for the Big Bang model to be accepted, there was one seemingly innocuous question that could not be ignored: why are some substances more common than others? If we look at our own planet, we find that the Earth’s core is made of iron, its crust is dominated by oxygen, silicon, aluminium and iron, the oceans are largely made of hydrogen and oxygen (i.e. H2O, water), and the atmosphere is mainly nitrogen and oxygen. If we venture slightly farther afield, then we find that this distribution is not typical on a cosmic scale. By using spectroscopy to study starlight, astronomers realised that hydrogen was by far the most abundant element in the universe. This conclusion was celebrated by updating a famous nursery rhyme:

Twinkle, Twinkle little star,

I don’t wonder what you are;

For by spectroscopic ken,

I know that you are hydrogen;

Twinkle, Twinkle little star,

I don’t wonder what you are.

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