“Adventures of the Primordial Atom”

Georges LeMaitre (1894-1966), a Belgian Catholic priest and a MIT-trained scientist, advanced the “Big Bang” theory in 1927. Many of his scientific peers were initially skeptical of his notion that the Universe began as an infinitesimally small, yet incredibly dense dot of energy and matter, which he called the “Primordial Atom.” Yet his idea became the foundation for a new “Big Bang” paradigm with Hubble’s observational evidenced (“red-shifting”) for an expanding universe, followed two decades later, in the 1960s, by Penzias and Wilson’s discovery of the Cosmic Background Radiation.

You and a partner will create a digital comic book using two ipad apps, Comic Maker and Skitch. Your comic book needs to tell the tale of what current scientific theory believes happened to LeMaitre’s “Primordial Atom” in the first 380,000 years of the Universe’s existence.

Your comic book must have at least five frames and provide a clear and accurate timeline of key events (some events will be measured in billionths of a second others in thousands of years) in the early Universe. Each frame must include a specific time reference using units of either seconds or years ABB (after the Big Bang).

Your comic book must also indicate the important transformations to this “Primordial Atom” over time. These are some of the elements and ideas that need to be incorporated in your story:

Inflation (rapid expansion) and cooling Emergence of four main forms of energy: gravity, electromagnetism, strong

nuclear force, weak nuclear force Formation of subatomic matter including quarks, protons, neutrons and electrons Nature and characteristics of the Plasma Universe Development of first atoms (hydrogen and helium) and the great unleashing of

protons in a flash of light (the remnants of which is the Cosmic Background Radiation).

You must use two short quotes (1-2 lines) from our readings: one from Bryson’s book and one from Shubin’s book.

Your last frame should be a list of sources you used to create your comic book. Use MLA format for web and ibook citations (see below)

Your Comic Books must be completed, saved as a pdf, and placed in Google Drive by the end of the period on Monday.

MLA Citation Examples:

Article from the web:

Harris, Robert. "Evaluating Internet Research Sources." VirtualSalt. 15 June 2008.  Web. 10 September 2013. http://www.virtualsalt.com/evalu8it.htm.

The first date refers to the page’s creation; while the second date is the day you accessed the page (today!). If there is no identifiable author, start citation with title.

Video from the web:

“The Beginning of Everything—The Big Bang.” Kurzgesagt. You Tube, 3 March 2014. Web. 3 October 2014. Ibook:

Shubin, Neil. The Universe Within: The Deep History of the Human Body. New York: Vintage Books, 2013. Ibook.

Article and Video from the Big History Website:

Brown, Cynthia. “Edwin Hubble: Evidence for an Expanding Universe.” Unit 2.0. Big History Project, 2014. Web. 3 October 2014. http://www.school.bighistoryproject.com.

“How Did Our View of the Universe Change?” Unit 2.1 Video. Big History Project. 2014. Web. 3 October 2014. http://www.school.bighistoryproject.com.