From the Big Bang to Today

Go to After the animation loads, click and slide along the timeline and answer the following questions.

  1. What was the “unique event” that appears to be the cause of the existence of our universe? What is the estimated age of the universe?
  2. What does the “Big Bang” represent?
  3. What is the “Red Shift” as proposed by Hubble, and what does it indicate about the universe?
  4. Approximately how long ago did our solar system take shape? How long after that did it take earth to form?
  5. Describe the conditions of early earth, during the Hadean Era (be sure to include the chemicals present on the surface and in the atmosphere).
  6. When did the moon form, what happened on earth soon after?
  7. After the ocean formed over the crust what new chemical formed? Whose experiment replicated this?
  8. What other organic molecules joined the “chemical soup” (also called primordial soup)?
  9. What were the first cells like? What era did this begin, and how long ago?
  10. When did photosynthesis start? What did this do to the atmosphere? What did this provide?
  11. When did cells begin to “interact”? – describe this process (also known as endosymbiosis).
  12. Where did the mitochondria possibly come from, what do they allow for?
  13. When did the nucleus arise? What evidence do scientists have for this? What purpose does the nucleus serve?
  14. What does the proterozoic era mark in the development of cells? When did this occur?
  15. When did the first photosynthesis on land occur? Why is this important?
  16. When was the start of the Vendian period? What life forms where present at this time?
  17. When was the start of the Cambrian period (within the Paleozoic Era)? What happened to life during the “Cambrian Explosion”?
  18. When was the start of the Ordovician period? How did the complexity of life change during this period?
  19. What major even marks the beginning of the Silurian period? What is happening to “life” during this period?
  20. What does the earth look like at the beginning of the Devonian period?
  21. How are life forms changing during this period? What important organism left a fossil record in Poland? What does this show?
  22. What major adaptation occurred in insects during the Carboniferous period? Why might this have occurred?
  23. What other groups of organism appear during this period? What do you think was going on during this time period?
  24. When does the Permian period begin? What does the earth look like at this time? How did scientists develop this predicted orientation of land on earth?
  25. What do scientists believed caused the mass dying that marks the end of the Permian period and beginning of the Mesozoic Era and Triassic period?
  26. What appears to be happening to the plants and animals shown during the Triassic period? What new organisms make a showing during this period?
  27. What appears to be happening to the atmospheric oxygen concentration during the Jurassic period? What might have caused this?
  28. When did the Cretaceous period begin? What is happening to the earth and the atmosphere during this period?
  29. What resulted in the mass extinctions between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods (and Mesozoic and Cenozoic Eras)? We call this the K/T boundary – how did life on earth change due to this event?
  30. What appears to be happening to life during the Tertiary period? What is happening to the atmosphere?
  31. What is the Genus species name of the closest fossil to human-chimp ancestor? When did this primate live?
  32. How long ago do scientists believe “Lucy” lived? What did scientists find to exist approximately 3.2 million years ago?
  33. When did the Quaternary period begin? What is happening with the temperature and atmospheric CO2 levels during this period?
  34. What is happening to the hominids (human ancestors) during this period?
  35. When do Homo sapiens sapiens first make their appearance? Why two sapiens here?
  36. According to the human migration maps shown on the earth, where did humans originate? Where did humans spread to by 70,000 years ago?
  37. According to evidence, when did human develop writing?
  38. What happens to the human population in the last 100 years? To the CO2 levels? To the temperature? What the heck is going on here?
  39. What are your overall impressions of this timeline? What questions do you still have?