But Who are We?
Our Place in the Cosmos
Results of
the Opinion Pool
Some Representative CDs plus Covers:
Old Farts like the Professor's Selections:
The Cliff Notes Course Summary:
- Quantum Fluctuations --> Energy Fluctations:
The birth of the Universe (the cosmic womb)
- Mass-energy equivalence
particle production --> Quarks
- Strange physics in early Universe --> quarks survive over
anti-quarks by one part in one billion
- protons and neutrons can now form
- formation of helium preserves neutrons
- galaxies form somehow
large collections of gas which fragment in to stars
- fusion in stars builds lots of C,N and O
- massive stars go supernova --> homogenize the galaxy
Cosmic womb formation of the Periodic Table
- eventually planets form from the debris of supernova
- comets deliver water to earth which condenses amd removes carbon dioxide
- simple organic molecules form from atmospheric chemistry
- high tides due to nearby moon produce large tide pools which
help to concentrate monomers
- a billion years later polymers discover DNA
- photosynthesis evolves so that bacteria can metabolize water
- oxygen given off as a waste product combines with ionized
iron to make iron oxide
- eventually oxygen reaches the atmosphere
- eukarayotic cells form to protect DNA from oxygen
- ozone layer forms
- land surface is now safe and species emerge from the sea to the land
- random catastrophe ensues --> plate tectonics, ice ages, asteroid
impacts
- intelligence begins to slowly evolve in response to changing
environmental conditions
- the idea of the cosmic womb is born from question and observation
- aristotle draws the universe on a piece of paper
- are we done now?
- is there anybody out there?
- will we ever find out?
- can we resolve this?
The End
The Electronic Universe Project
e-mail: nuts@moo.uoregon.edu
