Another Look at the “Cosmic Calendar”

13.7 billion years is easy enough to say for the age of the Universe, but do we really have a sense of what that means? In this activity we will try to get a sense of the major events that occurred during that timeline. 

Procedure:
1.	Use the Cosmic Calendar, starting with “Atoms Form” on Jan 1 at 12:14:24 a.m., to complete the following in the table: EVENT, TIME (in scientific notation) and TIME written out, showing the zeros.  We will complete the SCALE part and come back to the earlier events later.
2.	Now determine what would be a reasonable scale to use to make a timeline of these events that would fit inside your classroom or school hall, as directed by your teacher.
a)	The longest your timeline can be in meters is (the measured value of the wall rounded up):
meters

b)	The age of the Universe in years is (total time you need on the timeline):
years

c)	Your scale is [length (meters)/ age of Universe (years)]:
 meters/year

3.	Fill this in on the line next to scale on the chart and then convert all the years into meters.  Show your work under calculations and put your final answers in the column labeled scale distance.
4.	For each event draw a small picture to represent that event and label it with the actual years and the event name.
5.	Get a piece of string or yarn and measure out the length of your timeline.  
6.	Attach each picture at the distance you calculated to the string or yarn.

Discussion:
1)	Why didn’t we put in any of the events before “Atoms Form” such as nucleons forming or inflation?
2)	Convert the time nucleons formed (10^-4 seconds) into years.
3)	Calculate the length this event would be to the scale of your timeline. Add this value to the table.
4)	 Can you even measure this? What about the Planck Epoch?
5)	What would be a way to represent these early events and still have a sense of scale?  How do map makers do this?
6)	Using scientific notation compare the time for the development of the nuclei synthesis (protons & neutrons being held together) with the development of nucleons (quarks coming together forming protons & neutrons). Now write that number out with the zeros.
7)	Why did it take nuclei so much more time to develop than nucleons?