Lecture 36: The Big Bang
The Universe today is old, cold, low-density, and expanding. If we run\nthe expansion backwards, we will eventually find a Universe where all\nthe matter was in one place where the density and temperature are nearly\ninfinite. We call this hot, dense initial state of the Universe the Big\nBang. This lecture introduces the Big Bang model of the expanding\nuniverse, and how the history of the Universe depends on two numbers:\nthe curretn expansion rate (H0), and the relative density of matter and\nenergy (Omega0). Combined with observations, these give us an estimate\nof the age of the Universe of 14.0 +/- 1.4 Gyr. Recorded 2006 February 27 in\n1008 Evans Laboratory on the Columbus campus of The Ohio State\nUniversity.