How do we measure masses of astronomical objects? What is Dark Matter and how do we know it’s there? How did the Universe begin?
All these questions can be addressed with relatively straightforward observations and maths suitable for school students. A number of resources are available below, including Heavens’ Kitchen, a Universe simulator.
Heaven’s Kitchen
Heavens’ Kitchen allows you to create your own Universe, with various amounts of normal matter, dark matter and dark energy. It then shows how observations of your Universe would compare with those we make of our own Universe, such as the Cosmic Microwave Background and the distribution of galaxies.
At the beginning of the simulation, you can alter the initial amounts of normal matter, total matter, and dark energy, to see what kind of Universe your ingredients create.
Download and Installation
Download link (zip) [Warning: This is an 800MB download!]
Unzip the file to get the Heavens’ Kitchen Java application
Hints and tips
- You will need Java 1.6 or later already installed – this should be standard on most modern machines.
- If you are using Windows, you should simply be able to double-click on JavaApplication2.jar, which should be in the directory you unzipped to.
- Under Linux or a Mac, you may be able to double click on the application, though you can also type ‘java -jar JavaApplication2.jar’ to run the program from the command line
- It’s designed to run at 1024×768 resolution, so change your resolution to that first if you want it to look its best.
- Once running Heavens’ Kitchen, pressing ‘q’ or Escape will exit the program.
Simple CMB Simulator
If the installation and use of Heavens’ Kitchen proves too difficult to achieve, then a much simpler CMB simulator is available. This allows the user to change the relative amounts of normal matter, dark matter and dark energy in the Universe and see how it would affect the Cosmic Microwave Background.
Educational resources linked to Gravity and Cosmology
The resources below cover a wide range of topics in gravity and cosmology, and can be run together or separately. See the teacher outline for more details.
- Teacher Outline [MS Word]; [PDF]
- Teacher Powerpoint [MS PowerPoint]; [PDF]
- Student Worksheets:
- Section A: Scales of the Universe worksheet [MS Word]; [PDF]
- Section B: Mass of the Sun worksheet [MS Word]; [PDF]
- Section B: Mass of Jupiter worksheet (using Stellarium) [MS Word]; [PDF]
- Section C: Finding Dark Matter worksheet [MS Word]; [PDF]
- Section D: Expansion of the Universe [GCSE]; [A level]
- Section E: Heavens’ Kitchen worksheet [MS Word]; [PDF]
Curriculum links
AQA | GCSE Physics | P1.5.4 P3.2.4 |
Red-shift Circular Motion |
Sections D, E Sections B, C |
Edexcel | GCSE Physics | P1 Topic 3 | Waves and the Universe | Sections A, D, E |
Edexcel | GCSE Astronomy | Unit 1 Unit 2 Unit 4 |
Earth, Moon and Sun Planetary Systems Galaxies and Cosmology |
Sections A Sections B Sections C, D, E |
OCR | GCSE Physics A | Module P1 Module P7 |
1.1 The Earth in the Universe 7.5 Mapping the Universe |
Sections A, B, D, E Sections C, D, E |
OCR | GCSE Physics B | Module P2 | P2f Exploring our Solar System P2h the Big Bang |
Sections A, B Sections D, E |
WJEC | GCSE Physics | Physics 1 | The Solar System and its place in an evolving Universe | Sections A, D. E |
AQA | A Level Physics A | 3.4.1 3.4.2 A1.4 |
Further Mechanics Gravitation Cosmology |
Sections A, B, C Sections A, B, C Sections D, E |
AQA | A Level Physics B | 3.1.2 Module 2 3.4.1 Module 1 |
E:Larger and Larger A: Attracted to the Earth |
Sections D, E Sections A, B, C |
Edexcel | A Level Physics | Unit 4 Unit 5 |
4.3 Further Mechanics 5.6 Astrophysics and Cosmology |
Sections B, C Sections D, E |
OCR | A Level Phyics | G484 G485 |
Module 2: Circular Motion Module 5: Modelling the Universe |
Sections B Sections A, C, D, E |
WJEC | A Level Physics | PH4 | Module 4.1 Vibrations Module 4.5 Application to orbits in the Solar System and the Wider Universe |
Sections B, C Sections B, C, D, E |
Credits
The original Heavens’ Kitchen resource was developed for an Oxford University exhibit at the 2006 Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition. Lead developer: Jonathan Patterson, Oxford University Astrophysics and Theoretical Physics sub-departments.
Additional resources were developed by Chris North, Cardiff University