Did you know that our universe is constantly expanding? This fun and easy activity shows us how the spaces between stars and galaxies is growing bigger.
KAI: I like to make things and learn about things. Sometimes it’s fun to just to think about the big mysteries of the universe, like what happened with the Big Bang. How did the universe get to be the way it is today. There is a simple way we can imagine the Big Bang. All you really need is a balloon and a marker.
KAI: I’m drawing some dots on my balloon to represent the start and galaxies. According to the Big Bang Theory, the universe started out really small with everything jammed in super close together. But something called inflation happened, and the universe started to expand. And you can see how when my balloon universe expands, the dots, which are stars and galaxies, grow further and further apart. The same thing is happening with all the stars and galaxies of the universe. And it’s all still expanding to this day. The weird thing is, the rate of expansion is accelerating. The physicists are trying to figure out exactly why. Astronomers say that if the universe keeps expanding, in several billion years, we won’t be able to see any stars outside our galaxy. Can you imagine? Well, it started with a Big Bang, and I think it should end with one. You knew this was coming, right? Like I said “Big Bang”!