The universe is all without exception. Matter, energy, space and time exist in every part of the universe. It is huge, but not infinite, otherwise there would be an infinite number of atoms in the universe, an infinite number of stars and matter. In fact, most of the universe is empty space.
What is the universe?
What do we know about the universe? The universe contains galaxies, clusters of galaxies and large-sized structures called superclusters. Intergalactic matter exists between galaxies. The dimensions of the universe are currently not precisely established, despite the rapid development of space technology. A rough estimate says its diameter is 150 billion light-years.
Matter is not evenly distributed throughout the Universe, but is concentrated in specific places: galaxies, stars, planets, etc. In addition, according to rough estimates, about 90% of the mass of the Universe falls on dark matter, which cannot be directly observed.
Answering the question “What kind of atoms does the Universe consist of?”, It should be said that the 10 most common chemical elements of the Universe include:
- hydrogen - 1,000,000;
- helium - 63,000;
- oxygen - 690;
- carbon - 420;
- nitrogen - 87;
- silicon - 45;
- magnesium - 40;
- neon - 37;
- iron - 32;
- sulfur - 16.
The numbers indicate the number of atoms of a given element for every 1 million atoms of the most common element of the Universe - hydrogen.
Place of planet earth in the universe
Our blue planet is a particle in the universe. It is located in the solar system, which is located in one of the arms of the Milky Way galaxy, that is, on its periphery. The number of stars in our galaxy is estimated at 100 billion. The photo below shows our galaxy and the place of the solar system in it.
The Big Bang Theory
According to the popular Big Bang theory, 13.7 billion years ago, all matter had infinite density and temperature and was concentrated at a small point in space. Moreover, the very concept of space and time did not exist. Scientists call this state of matter singularity. For some reason, an explosion of primordial matter occurred as a result of which the Universe began to expand, and its density and temperature began to decrease steadily.
Thus, the Big Bang came from a singularity, which is a physical object that cannot be described using the known laws of physics. However, modern physics can describe what happened after the Big Bang. Thus, the temperature of the Universe, one minute after this colossal process, is estimated at 1 billion Kelvin.
Interesting about space and the universe
The fact that the universe is expanding, now no one doubts. Moreover, various observations of distant galaxies have shown that these star clusters are moving away from each other with increasing speed. Such a rapid expansion of the Universe leads to its gradual cooling. One of the common theories of the end of the universe suggests that it will come when it is completely cooled.
Interesting about space can also be learned from the theories of modern physics. So, according to an analysis of the equations of the theory of relativity of Einstein, scientists came to the conclusion that there are only three possible forms of the existence of the universe: closed, open and flat. Recent astronomical observations confirm that the universe does indeed have a flat shape.
The existence of dark matter is also a proven fact, since humanity knows in general terms what is happening in the universe. Evidence of the reality of this matter is the effects of changes in the temperature of space objects, the orbital and rotational speeds of galaxies and some other phenomena of space.
The number of atoms in the universe
Exact calculations of the number of atoms in the Universe are impossible, since the sizes of the latter are not known reliably. Therefore, only a certain estimate of this quantity can be made. Suppose that in our universe there are about 300 billion galaxies, each of which has about 400 billion stars. These figures are true, since the diameter of the Universe observed by us is estimated at 93 billion light years, that is, more than half of the entire Universe mankind sees. Based on these estimates, we find that the total number of stars is approximately 10 23 .
Carrying out further calculations to determine the number of atoms in the Universe, we put the average mass of one star equal to 10 35 grams (the mass of the Sun is approximately 10 33 grams), then we obtain that the total mass of the Universe is 10 58 grams. Since each gram of matter contains about 10 24 protons, and also considering that hydrogen, which is the most common element in the Universe, contains one proton, we get the number of hydrogen atoms equal to 10 82 .
Note that more complex theoretical calculations indicate the existence of a much larger number of atoms in the universe than the resulting number. Such a difference in theoretical data is due to the existence of invisible dark matter in the Universe.
Universe and elementary particles of matter
As scientists studied and comprehended deeper the Big Bang theory, they noticed that the more they studied the processes occurring in the first minutes and hours of life of our Universe, the more often they dealt with dense and hot objects and high energies. It is curious to note that such conditions are characteristic of elementary particle physics, for example, for a brick of matter - an atom. Thus, in order to understand how the giant Universe began to form, it is necessary to deeply study the laws and processes that occur in its elementary particles.