full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Tom Whyntie: The beginning of the universe for beginners

Unscramble the Blue Letters


The universe, rather beautiful, isn't it? It's quite literally got everything, from the very big to the very small. Sure, there are some less than sraovy elements in there, but on the whole, scholars agree that its existence is probably a good thing. Such a good thing that an entire field of scientific endeavor is devoted to its study. This is known as cosmology. Cosmologists look at what's out there in space and piece together the tale of how our universe evolved: what it's doing now, what it's going to be doing, and how it all began in the first place. It was Edwin Hubble who first noticed that our universe is expanding, by noting that geaixals seem to be flying further and further apart. This imiepld that everything should have started with the monumental explosion of an iifnlenity hot, infinitely smlal point. This idea was jokingly referred to at the time as the "Big Bang," but as the eicendve piled up, the notion and the name actually stuck. We know that after the Big Bang, the universe cooled down to form the stras and galaxies that we see toady. Cosmologists have plenty of ideas about how this happened. But we can also probe the oirgins of the urviense by recreating the hot, dense conditions that estexid at the bengnniig of time in the laboratory. This is done by particle pihycsitss. Over the past century, particle physicists have been studying mteatr and forces at higher and hehgir energies. Firstly with cosmic rays, and then with ptrlcaie accelerators, machines that smash together subatomic particles at great energies. The greater the energy of the acecoealtrr, the further back in time they can effectively peek. Today, things are largely made up of atoms, but hdneruds of seconds after the Big Bang, it was too hot for electrons to join atomic nuclei to make atoms. Instead, the universe consisted of a swirling sea of subatomic matter. A few seconds after the Big Bang, it was hteotr still, hot enough to overpower the fcoers that usually hold protons and neutrons together in aoimtc nuclei. Further back, microseconds after the Big Bang, and the protons and neutrons were only just beginning to form from quarks, one of the fundamental building blocks of the standard model of particle physics. Further back still, and the energy was too great even for the quarks to stick together. Physicists hope that by going to even gertaer energies, they can see back to a time when all the forces were one and the same, which would make uatdnsrnneidg the origins of the universe a lot easier. To do that, they'll not only need to build bigger colliders, but also work hard to combine our knowledge of the very, very big with the very, very small and share these fascinating insights with each other and with, well, you. And that's how it should be! Because, after all, when it comes to our universe, we're all in this one together.

Open Cloze


The universe, rather beautiful, isn't it? It's quite literally got everything, from the very big to the very small. Sure, there are some less than ______ elements in there, but on the whole, scholars agree that its existence is probably a good thing. Such a good thing that an entire field of scientific endeavor is devoted to its study. This is known as cosmology. Cosmologists look at what's out there in space and piece together the tale of how our universe evolved: what it's doing now, what it's going to be doing, and how it all began in the first place. It was Edwin Hubble who first noticed that our universe is expanding, by noting that ________ seem to be flying further and further apart. This _______ that everything should have started with the monumental explosion of an __________ hot, infinitely _____ point. This idea was jokingly referred to at the time as the "Big Bang," but as the ________ piled up, the notion and the name actually stuck. We know that after the Big Bang, the universe cooled down to form the _____ and galaxies that we see _____. Cosmologists have plenty of ideas about how this happened. But we can also probe the _______ of the ________ by recreating the hot, dense conditions that _______ at the _________ of time in the laboratory. This is done by particle __________. Over the past century, particle physicists have been studying ______ and forces at higher and ______ energies. Firstly with cosmic rays, and then with ________ accelerators, machines that smash together subatomic particles at great energies. The greater the energy of the ___________, the further back in time they can effectively peek. Today, things are largely made up of atoms, but ________ of seconds after the Big Bang, it was too hot for electrons to join atomic nuclei to make atoms. Instead, the universe consisted of a swirling sea of subatomic matter. A few seconds after the Big Bang, it was ______ still, hot enough to overpower the ______ that usually hold protons and neutrons together in ______ nuclei. Further back, microseconds after the Big Bang, and the protons and neutrons were only just beginning to form from quarks, one of the fundamental building blocks of the standard model of particle physics. Further back still, and the energy was too great even for the quarks to stick together. Physicists hope that by going to even _______ energies, they can see back to a time when all the forces were one and the same, which would make _____________ the origins of the universe a lot easier. To do that, they'll not only need to build bigger colliders, but also work hard to combine our knowledge of the very, very big with the very, very small and share these fascinating insights with each other and with, well, you. And that's how it should be! Because, after all, when it comes to our universe, we're all in this one together.

Solution


  1. stars
  2. forces
  3. existed
  4. understanding
  5. higher
  6. universe
  7. atomic
  8. particle
  9. implied
  10. evidence
  11. galaxies
  12. matter
  13. physicists
  14. today
  15. infinitely
  16. savory
  17. hotter
  18. greater
  19. beginning
  20. small
  21. hundreds
  22. origins
  23. accelerator

Original Text


The universe, rather beautiful, isn't it? It's quite literally got everything, from the very big to the very small. Sure, there are some less than savory elements in there, but on the whole, scholars agree that its existence is probably a good thing. Such a good thing that an entire field of scientific endeavor is devoted to its study. This is known as cosmology. Cosmologists look at what's out there in space and piece together the tale of how our universe evolved: what it's doing now, what it's going to be doing, and how it all began in the first place. It was Edwin Hubble who first noticed that our universe is expanding, by noting that galaxies seem to be flying further and further apart. This implied that everything should have started with the monumental explosion of an infinitely hot, infinitely small point. This idea was jokingly referred to at the time as the "Big Bang," but as the evidence piled up, the notion and the name actually stuck. We know that after the Big Bang, the universe cooled down to form the stars and galaxies that we see today. Cosmologists have plenty of ideas about how this happened. But we can also probe the origins of the universe by recreating the hot, dense conditions that existed at the beginning of time in the laboratory. This is done by particle physicists. Over the past century, particle physicists have been studying matter and forces at higher and higher energies. Firstly with cosmic rays, and then with particle accelerators, machines that smash together subatomic particles at great energies. The greater the energy of the accelerator, the further back in time they can effectively peek. Today, things are largely made up of atoms, but hundreds of seconds after the Big Bang, it was too hot for electrons to join atomic nuclei to make atoms. Instead, the universe consisted of a swirling sea of subatomic matter. A few seconds after the Big Bang, it was hotter still, hot enough to overpower the forces that usually hold protons and neutrons together in atomic nuclei. Further back, microseconds after the Big Bang, and the protons and neutrons were only just beginning to form from quarks, one of the fundamental building blocks of the standard model of particle physics. Further back still, and the energy was too great even for the quarks to stick together. Physicists hope that by going to even greater energies, they can see back to a time when all the forces were one and the same, which would make understanding the origins of the universe a lot easier. To do that, they'll not only need to build bigger colliders, but also work hard to combine our knowledge of the very, very big with the very, very small and share these fascinating insights with each other and with, well, you. And that's how it should be! Because, after all, when it comes to our universe, we're all in this one together.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
atomic nuclei 2


Important Words


  1. accelerator
  2. accelerators
  3. agree
  4. atomic
  5. atoms
  6. bang
  7. beautiful
  8. began
  9. beginning
  10. big
  11. bigger
  12. blocks
  13. build
  14. building
  15. century
  16. colliders
  17. combine
  18. conditions
  19. consisted
  20. cooled
  21. cosmic
  22. cosmologists
  23. cosmology
  24. dense
  25. devoted
  26. easier
  27. edwin
  28. effectively
  29. electrons
  30. elements
  31. endeavor
  32. energies
  33. energy
  34. entire
  35. evidence
  36. existed
  37. existence
  38. expanding
  39. explosion
  40. fascinating
  41. field
  42. firstly
  43. flying
  44. forces
  45. form
  46. fundamental
  47. galaxies
  48. good
  49. great
  50. greater
  51. happened
  52. hard
  53. higher
  54. hold
  55. hope
  56. hot
  57. hotter
  58. hubble
  59. hundreds
  60. idea
  61. ideas
  62. implied
  63. infinitely
  64. insights
  65. join
  66. jokingly
  67. knowledge
  68. laboratory
  69. largely
  70. literally
  71. lot
  72. machines
  73. matter
  74. microseconds
  75. model
  76. monumental
  77. neutrons
  78. noticed
  79. noting
  80. notion
  81. nuclei
  82. origins
  83. overpower
  84. particle
  85. particles
  86. peek
  87. physicists
  88. physics
  89. piece
  90. piled
  91. place
  92. plenty
  93. point
  94. probe
  95. protons
  96. quarks
  97. rays
  98. recreating
  99. referred
  100. savory
  101. scholars
  102. scientific
  103. sea
  104. seconds
  105. share
  106. small
  107. smash
  108. space
  109. standard
  110. stars
  111. started
  112. stick
  113. stuck
  114. study
  115. studying
  116. subatomic
  117. swirling
  118. tale
  119. time
  120. today
  121. understanding
  122. universe
  123. work