SnitchSeeker.com - View Single Post - Astronomy Lesson 1 :: the Big Bang Theory

sweetpinkpixie · 01-22-2014, 10:27 AM

Airey rubbed his back as he waiting for hands to start shooting up with answers. His knees were aching a little as well. Looked like he was finally losing all of that astronaut training physique. Time to start up old work outs perhaps.

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Originally Posted by Saz Hale

Christmas thought about this and raised her hand and said "The egg came first professor and i think that it looks like an illustration of sick"

Seeing the first hand go up, Airey took a step forward and nearly stepped right in the smashed egg on the floor. But he missed it, just barely.

He wasn't going to address which came first part of her question - or any other student's for that matter since that wasn't the focus of the moment - but his brow furrowed in confusion at her response. "Sick?" Like....throw up?

Now he was feeling a little sick. MOVING ON!

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Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

Okay, so Adi was picturing a very, very, very, very tiny thing. And it was hot. And dense. Okay. Adi watched in shock as Airey dropped the egg. Erm...smashed raw eggs were not nice. But the second year raised a hand. "The Big Bang, Professor?''

"EGGACTLY," Airey said as he snapped his fingers together loudly and pointed at Mr. Rehman. Okay, so he wasn't sick anymore.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harry174

Laura just sat there, she seriously wasn't in the mood for this, how old was this Professor anyway six. Shaking her head she sighed as she slowly raised her hands. "Was it just to get attention?" Laura asked rolling her eyes a bit as she looked at the Professor. "You wanted everyone's attention so you decided to throw the egg on the floor."

Airey chuckled at Miss Hyde. "Well, it worked didn't it?" He certainly had her attention at least. "But no. Far from the truth, Miss Hyde."

Now on to the other raised hands.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

"Atoms exploding?" Tobias suggested as he raised his hand, feeling an unfamiliar twinge or protest in his muscles as he did so. "Or technically more like one atom. The first one, which is hot and dense 'cause it contains everything that'll make the universe." See? He was trying to make links here. Trying. It was just hard to try and remember what he'd read about this stuff, if he'd read anything at all.

The boy lowered his hand again and absentmindedly rotated his shoulder, trying to stretch out the stiffness a bit.

Airey flashed the bouncing Hufflepuff an appreciative smile for his continued support to Tiberius plight. It was the little things like a wave that made all the difference, you know?

"Yes, and no, Mr. Tempus," he said with a nod. "Contrary to what the name implies, the Big Bang was not an explosion in space. At least scientists do not portray it that way." But more on that in a bit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saiai

"The fact that there had to be something there in the first place for the Universe to begin, at a sub-atomic level, hence asking us to picture the egg as being tiny, yet we still don't know how those sub-atomic particles, like quarks were created, because there likely would have needed to be some reaction before they came into existence. So in that way would theories about the creation of the Universe be similar to the simpler question, what came first the chicken or the egg?" Ana postulated as she sunk further into her desk, hand only half raised, as she rested one elbow on the other arm to keep it in the air. Normally she'd be sitting upright and all into this discussion, especially when it seemed to involve physics, a subject she, like her brother Sasha, was passionate about. Right now though she was so tired that she couldn't even be completely sure that she was describing the theory that quarks were the building blocks of life correctly. "Because quarks and antiquarks are the foundation of all the other particles, which led to the Big Bang," Ana tacked on as an afterthought when she realised she maybe hadn't made clear why quarks were important.

Airey froze as his girls' bathroom acquaintance spoke, simply gawking at her for a few moments before a smile spread across his face. "ABSOLUTELY STELLAR, MISS ...." long pause while he completely forgot her last name. "Constantinople." Yes, that sounded about right. "Take three points for your house for that out of this world connection." And not one that he had thought about himself. He been mostly going for the image that everyone associated with the Big Bang. Space guts going all over the expanding universe and whatnot. "While not something I will be going into detail this lesson, I'll have you all get your feet a little wet with the concept of quarks."

And he would have jumped up on her desk had it not been for the throbbing pain in his back at the moment. Ouch.

"A quark, by definition, is any of a number of subatomic particles carrying a fractional electric charge. There are three quarks in every proton and three in every neutron, and protons and neutrons are the pieces of an atom. The very first quark probably came into existence immediately after the Big Bang. Furthermore, approximately 10 to the −12 seconds after the Big Bang is when something called the quark epoch. You can find more information on this in your textbook if you look in the physical cosmology chapter."

Which was also a not-too-subtle hint to the class that this discussion was finished for the time being.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rosa Chispa Princessa

Oichi raised her hand and answered, "I know this is quite obscure but that picture looks like an egg to me and I happened to read about a dwarf planet in the Kuiper Belt called Haumea. This planet is also believed to bs made of crystaline water. I'm not sure how that would work but it sounds awesome to me".

Squiiiiiiiiiint. Gryffindor say what? As awesome as the dwarf planet and all of that was, it was very far off topic from the set up he had given for the smashed egg on the ground. Pinching the bridge of his nose in mild agitation, he simply shook his head at the Gryffindor. "Afraid not, Miss Paulidine."

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Originally Posted by PhoenixStar

As far at the egg smashing into floor she immediately thought of the big bang theory. She heard a few other people mention it but she didn't want to be left behind. Her hand went into the air. "I think you are demonstrating the big bang. The universe was in a very hot state at the time and it quickly went boom... like the egg."

"Eggcellent," he nodded at the Slytherin. "Although, as I said to Mr. Tempus, there was no explosion in space per say, but that is how we tend to visual things happening - hence the use of the egg. More figuratively, however," and this was in response to everyone who felt the BOOM factor, as he liked to call it. "The figurative explosion of life in the cosmos that came from the Big Bang is an acceptable thought."

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Originally Posted by DuckyLinJi

No. Kevin shook his head as he looked at the Professor with his left hazel and right dark brown eyes. He was not taking off the baseball cap. His hand was still on top of his head to keep the hat in place as he shook his head. "I...i can't " he said, cursing at himself for letting out a stutter. An eleven year old with grey hair on the top of his head was just too embarrassing. "I have a..problem...and i don't want anyone to see..uhm...can i just...keep it on?" He wondered if someone had done a prank on his hair while he had been asleep.

Airey sighed and rubbed his back some more. He had put it specifically in his rules to arrive in class in uniform and it really was not that hard to throw it all on. He used to sleep in his as a student, actually, to cut down on prep time in the morning before those too early to be legal lessons. This changed later once his OCD about wrinkles kicked in.

The professor removed his wand from his charmed breast pocket and gave it a quick flick. "Accio hat," he commanded as he summoned it to him. He plucked it out of the air and set it down on his desk beside the black box. "You can come get it from my after class is dismissed."

No patience for that sort of thing right now.

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Originally Posted by hermygirl

The smashing egg soon got the sixth year's attention though. "Either an easy way to make a mess of your classroom, and start a food fight," Benjy answered, tilting his head so he could see the oozing mess on the floor, "Or , more likely, something to do with the big bang?"

While the first two options out of the boy's mouth were true, to an extent, the latter would never be a thing in his classroom. Save such fights for Defense Against the Dark Arts, yes? "A mess that is easily cleaned up," he nodded. Which he would do once he had gotten everyone else's raised hand. "But yes, the Big Bang was what I had been going for."

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Originally Posted by TakemetotheBurrow

"It's like what Toby said, Profesor. The idea was that the universe was stuck in this little compressed area all hot and bothered until it couldn't take it any more and BAM...the big bang happened and that released the universe, sort of. Let it expand and stuff."

Airey was just about to correct her with the whole BOOM factor again, but then Miss Ella brought up something important. "While there was no real BAM, you do bring up a good point about expansion. After the Big Bang, the universe was extremely hot and dense. As it cooled, conditions became just right to give rise to the building blocks of matter - the quarks Miss........Constantinople spoke of being included in this. However, all this moved extremely slow. It took some 380,000 years for electrons to be trapped in orbits around nuclei and form the first atoms."

A more detailed response than he wanted to give at this point, but it couldn't be avoided. Students were too bright and made such stellar connections without realizing they had.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lottiepot

But then Professor Flamsteed did something rather odd, picking up an egg and smashing it on the floor. He wasn't going to clean that mess up. The boy raised his hand, a slight smirk on his face. "An extremely odd method for baking a cake?" he suggested, glancing briefly at the messed up yolk on the floor. He chuckled but a though was sent through his mind whether the Professor was actually able to take a joke. "Or of course it could be an unusual representation of the big bang using food." He could think of a better way to use an egg though. Preferably in a cake or an omelette. His stomach was grumbling just thinking of the possibilities.

Pleased that he had an extra pair of eyes to watch Miss Cambridge, he chuckled a little. "Have you been spying on me in the kitchens, Mr. Radley?"

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Originally Posted by AlwaysSnapesGirl

"I'm guessing it's supposed to be an illustration of how the universe began. Or at least how people think it did now." However it should be worded. But that was all she was offering as an answer, so her hand went down again.

MORE DRAMATIC POINTING FOR YOU MISS GREENWELL. Oh, ouch, that hurt his shoulder a little. Maybe not too much more dramatic pointing for you, Miss Greenwell.

"ABSOLUTELY, MISS GREENWELL!" he said, still not jumping up on desks as per norm. "How people think it happened." And her classmates had already illustrated this notion a bit more as well. "Very good, Miss Greenwell. Take a point for your house."

SPOILER!!: ALEXA! <3

Airey gritted his teeth inside his closed mouth and clenched his jaw. Was she inferring that Tiberius was STUPID? He certainly had not been implying that of Miss Wisteria, but it always seemed that Miss Cambridge missed the mark with his obscure examples. "What I meant, Miss Cambridge, is that this bass is MY best mate and I do not want any harm befalling him just as you would not your best mate. Is that clear now?"

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Originally Posted by hermionesclone

"I... agree with the idea that it represents the big bang," he said, hand in the air, "Like the egg, it probably got hotter and hotter before the impact and then the explosion happened and... then it cooled down. And the insides of the egg are still spreading," Right? "... but slower than at first. Sort of... like the way the universe is still expanding today."

Airey grinned at Mr. No-Shave-November. "Eggcellent, Mr. Summers." Save for a few parts that had already been discussed with others' answers, so he would not repeat himself again.

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Originally Posted by Edward Penguin

Ian raised his hand and offered a couple ideas. "I'm guessing it is an illustration of the effects of gravity or perhaps 'for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction'. He just didn't buy the big bang idea, even though this was an astronomy class.

"While yes, that IS an excellent guess, it is not the one I was going for," the astronomer replied while shaking his head. It was a pity, however, that the Hufflepuff had not voiced his other thoughts out loud. The professor would have appreciated and rewarded them had he heard them.

Now, who was next?

SPOILER!!: Sander

Again with the explosion. Really, someone should have been a little more careful with their naming terminology. Big Expansion Theory instead of Big Bang perhaps. Although, this had also been the point of him dropping the egg and making egg go BOOM to help put this assumption to rest. No squeezzing in his hands because...ew. His suit would suffer.

"No. No explosions occurred," he said while shaking his head. "But your balloon helps explain this notion a bit more. An explosion implies that something exploded, or expanded, from one center point outward into space. In this case, a balloon being pumped up too much with air to its breaking point. The Big Bang theory suggests that space itself expanded. Space itself expanded and cooled down and, as you and Mr. Summers mentioned, continues to to this day."

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Originally Posted by Meizzner

Still was a waste of a perfectly good egg. Just dropping it like that. Should he say scrambled egg because that is what it looks like. "Something you should never get on your suit. It seems like it would take forever to clean it off the suit"

Even with magic. Or you know the the start of the big bang and the formation of the universe. Both seemed right to Nigel.

"Too true, Mr. Barrington. Too true," he chuckled as he gave the Ravenclaw a quick salute. "Although, I do know an incredible muggle dry cleaners in London that can work wonders." Just in case anyone was interesting. The only people, besides himself ~~and Medea~~ that he trust touching his suits.

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Originally Posted by HOPEendures

She raised her hand and gave a small smile. "Well, I would like to think that the answer to the whole flame or phoenix and egg or chicken thing, isn't really an answer of which came first at all. It's a never ending circle, much like the creation of everything in the universe, equal and opposite reactions and all. So really, what you just did was disrupt that circle. It will have an equal and opposite reaction to everything involved in or around it, potentially. The same could be said for stars and planets and well, everything." Boy that seemed like a mouthful to her ears. Maybe she should have shortened her answer. Oh, well.

Leave it to a Ravenclaw to answer a question with a riddle. At least he was pretty sure that he was able to see through her reasoning and find the answer hidden in there. Maybe.

This is why he never got into the Ravenclaw common room as a student, you see.

"I believe, what you are getting at Miss Evans, is how scientists and astronomers merely discovered a change in the universe's timeline and not necessarily the creation of it?"

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Originally Posted by ScarletCharm104

Marigold knew this! She had gotten a bit obsessive after her grandpa... passed away and so she chose Astronomy to be crazy about. She raised her hand and waved it around excitedly.

"The Big Bang, sir. I read that it started when everything was just so compact that it rapidly expanded and created our universe!" BEAAAAM.

But why the whole box thing for a single egg?

"AAAAAAAH, but was it really the start of everything?" he asked with some bounce to his step and a brief look back at the Ravenclaw. "Thoughts and arguments about whether or not the universe had a beginning, persisted into the 19th and 20th centuries. However, it is also said that time, since events before the Big Bang have no observational consequences, began at the Big Bang."

He turned to face the class, his eyes aglow with excitement. "There is a fascinating lecture included in your textbook on page 895 by Stephen Hawking for those of you who wish to read more on the metter."

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Originally Posted by Lockhartian

Anyway, her hand was up. "External forces' manipulation." Why, yes, she was talking about the Ravenclaw Prefect. Now, "But seriously, if we take you out of the equation, Professor, then I'd agree on the Big Bang theory, nuclear reactions and all, if not... then it's outside forces and their consequences." He did illustrate everything from the moment he took the egg, no?

Airey chuckled and resisted the urge to give Miss Wisteria's desk a soft knock. Nah, actually, he was going to do that. Twice. "Very clever of you, Miss Wisteria. Very clever indeed." But yes, stick with the Big Bang theory for now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HazelStone101

Emma gasped, watching the egg fall and splat on the ground. Poor baby chicken didn't even have a chance.."I think that the phoenix came first professor.. and I believe what you were just trying to demonstrate was the beginning of the creation of the universe, otherwise known as the big bang."

She smiled a little, turning her attention back to the egg. Poor birdy baby.

Shudder.

He was mildly amused at how many students felt the need to answer his phoenix or the fire and chicken or the egg question. That had simply been an illustration of things. A rhetorical question. Anhywhooo....

"Eggcellent, Miss Smith," he said with a nod. "Big Bang theory indeed."

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Originally Posted by the fastest seeker

She paused listening to other's thoughts and answers before formulating her own answer. "Like others said, it must have to do with the Big Bang. Like the egg represents the trigger that started the whole thing." She said upon raising her hand.

OH! TRIGGER! GOOD WORD! The Slytherin prefect got a dramatic point from the astronomer, causing his elbow joint to CRACK with the sudden movement. OPF. That hurt a little. But nothing would take away from the smile he wore thanks to her answer. "TRIGGER! Fantastic word, Miss Somerlad. The start of expansion and molding the universe what it is today. Take a point for your thoughts."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Awarlesta Black

Awar winced as the egg splattered on the floor, "Uhhh...well it just looks like a clear illustration of what gravity does..." hehehehe, "But, I suppose it has something to do with the beginning of the Universe or something." and a really weird and gross way of doing so.

Airye chuckled and shot a glance at Mr. Tempus. "At least we all know that the laws of gravity still apply to us today," he chuckled with a quick salute before moving on.

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Originally Posted by Tegz

Was it bad that all West could think was 'a waste of an egg'? Because honestly, he was hungry. He eyed the remains of said egg and wondered why it was necessary to waste food as part of an astronomy demonstration when there were so many alternative methods to show simple concepts.

He didn't even answer, he was so internally distraught about wasted food.

Airey paused at the quidditch captain and expected some sort of answer out of the boy. But no hand was raised, which left the astronomer feeling a little bummed out about it. Oh well. C'est la vie.

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Originally Posted by Presley Black

Gwen knew the answer to this! She was nearly bouncing out of her seat as her hand went up. Being a muggleborn was turning out to be good for something, right? "You're illustrating an event known as the Big Bang! It's the most commonly accepted theory as to how the universe began. The universe is still, expanding from that point, see? So they think it must have all been compacted, then it exploded and here we are!"

ALL SO EXCELLENT! Until the big BOOM bit.

"As I have said earlier, no big BOOM happened in the way we visualize an explosion" he replied with a smile. "But you are correct on all other accounts." So you got a thumbs up. He would save the rest of his explanation for when he got back to his lecture.

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Originally Posted by Cassirin

As the egg spread across the floor, Mo wrinkled his nose and offered, "In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move." Look, Professor. Mo Branxton has been doing reading about SPACE TRAVEL. Of sorts.

Airey BEAMED at the quidditch captain. "I see someone has been reading Douglas Adams," he said while giving the boy two very big thumbs up. "Excellent choice, Mr. Branxton. Not to mention a very well played quote. Take one point for the eggcellent reference."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lissy Longbottom

Caleb had been sitting quietly in the corner and wrinkled his eyebrows as Flamsteed dropped...an egg. What? This was not nearly as cool as the flying thing from last term.

BUT it dawned on him what that egg was supposed to represent. He raised his hand quickly. "That's meant to represent the Big Bang. There was one atom, or something, and it exploded and the whole universe came out of it," he explained.

And that concluded Caleb's knowledge on the Big Bang. But he had always wondered - where did the first molecules come from? WHO PUT THEM THERE?

Airey chuckled a bit more. "While what you described IS the common visual of what happened, you will see that this is not the case," he nodded towards the Slytherin.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holmesian Feline

Class began and the professor revealed what he had been hiding in the box. An egg? What was that about in relation to astronomy? Was there an egg constellation? Listening to the man speak of the phoenix and the flame or the chicken and egg (was that the reason for the egg?) Ben was doing his best to try and follow. He himself had no clue as to what came first, nor why the hair that kept falling in front of his face seemed off to him for that matter. Some of the strands didn't look normal...were they dirty...were they grey?

Ben absently shook his head to clear his mind and focus better on what was being said. Oh...okay...so the egg was meerly a tool to demonstrate. And the creation of the universe made sense in context, his classmates seemingly pretty certain of their answer so he simply remained quiet and listened.

Airey paused at the Gryffindor boy, waiting to see if he had anything to add to the conversation. But, seeing no hand raised and attentive listening instead, he gave the boy an encouraging nod and then continued on to the next hand.

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Originally Posted by Squishy

Lux was still feeling rather awkward seeing this Professor after the whole bathroom incident, but the starting of the class was enough to get her to forget about it and be very eager to learn. Listening to him teach while tossing the egg, she looked to the floor as it splattered and made a big mess. Not really knowing much about space, she still knew the answer to this one as it was what started the whole universe and she would be silly to not know where the universe came from. Raising her hand, she gave her answer. "That would be the Big Bang. It is said that something small exploded in space and that is where the universe came from."

"Big Bang, yes," he nodded. No more talk about the explosion bit though. That would soon be run into the ground.

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Originally Posted by emjay

Maybe she should take some notes if she couldn't add anything else. Brynn opened her parchment journal to the first blank page and wrote:
B i g B a n g T h e o r y.. but she waited till the professor explained to add any more in her notes. Some of them used such scientific words that she didn't quite grasp so maybe he would make it slightly more elementary.

Passing by the Ravenclaw, he gave her a thumbs up. Yep, nailed the topic of today's discussion for sure.

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaetha

Yeah, okay, it was official, Adrienne was currently in the classroom of someone who was completely bonkers. Egg-tossing, fish-speaking-to, one hundred percent crazy. What could a broken egg have to do with, well, anything, let alone Astronomy? She could tell she wasn't going to be learning much of anything during this lesson, at least, which was disappointing, though it lined up pretty accurately with her previous Astronomy experiences. Silly, not very practical, and not actually learning much of anything interesting.

"A failed attempt to make an omelette?" she volunteered dryly, not even bothering to deign the question with a proper answer. If he wanted to explain something to them, he could easily do so without messy, slimy metaphors.

He gave the girl an especially squinty look. A joking one mind you, but a squinty one nonetheless. "Been spying on me making breakfast?"

Because, really, all of his attempts were failed.

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Originally Posted by Expecto-Penguin

Uh...now the professor was asking what the egg splatting was an illusion of? Kace had NO idea. But he raised his hand and said, "Uhh...the illusion of being clumsy?" That is what he thought.

"Nope. I dropped the egg entirely on purpose," he nodded. Hadn't the boy seen how he had done so with such effortless grace?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Banana

Sophie leeeeeeeaned over and watched the egg as if it was a part of the best demonstration there ever was. She eyed it until SPLAT...it was no more. Oh, well. She sat up straight again and raised her hand. "I think the phoenix came first," she said. "I think it just went POOF and appeared after that egg dropped." Err... "I mean, the big bang theory, which is why I think you dropped that egg."

"Very good, Miss Newell," he nodded. "Due to the circularity of the statement, many come to the conclusion that something must of POOFed into existence - like the phoenix or even the universe. Although, it is important to remember that the Big Bang is not an explosion like how you imagine the phoenix poofing into existence."

Quote:

Originally Posted by lemon

"No." Her damn knee HURT.

And he was starting class already? The fact that her face was still contorted in pain paired with the continued throbbing of her knee meant Alice was far less interested in the crude demonstration as she would have normally been. It was obvious what the egg was meant to represent and all, but she didn't have the heart to add to her classmates' answers right now.

Stupid knee.

"You just wasted an egg, sir." Shame on him.

"One man's waste is another man's treasure," he replied to the quidditch captain, giving her a quick salute for emphasis.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rosebub6200

"Well um, I think the chicken did sir, or a version of it, through evolution and stuff until it stopped evolving and became a chicken it must have started out as something that wasn't an egg, I think you just showed us was the creation of the flame? like the flame of a phoenix formed suddenly, like how the egg was dropped?" She slunk down in her seat, face flushing from embarrassment.
"Oh and do you want me to help, um, clean that up?"

Er...he was pretty sure that he had just confused this student. "Try to connect your thoughts to Astronomy next time," he replied before giving the Gryffindor two soft pats on the shoulder. "Those were just expressions used as an introduction, not the emphasis of the class."

He glanced over at the egg on the ground. "Not necessary. I'm not done with it just yet. But thank you for your thoughtfulness."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bazinga

His hand went up, "Professor clearly the flame came first without the flame there would be no Phoenix. That was soo cool do we get to splatter eggs too?" What was it an illustration of who knows. "Are you demonstrating how quickly the groundskeeper is going to come fry an egg on your head when he finds out you are wasting his three breakfast meals?" Did he get it? Did he? Frying an egg on your head since he was using eggs... Bazinga!

There he was. The woman's support garment stealer ~~and the mirror image of him as a first year~~. "Not in my classroom," he said, shaking his head. He shuddered at the thought of the groundskeeper. The bloke probably would come up here and suck the raw egg right off the floor as part of his 5 dozen a day regime that the astronomer made up in his head. "Sweet solstice I hope not."

Quote:

Originally Posted by magikewe

Chicken and the egg joke? Big Bang Theory? Where were these people coming up with some of these ideas. Lily was thinking a lot more about the fact that the professor had said to think of the egg as something smaller... much smaller. A star perhaps?

"Does it possibly signify the death of a star, far out in a galaxy?" The seventh year asked having put her hand up to answer the question. It made sense, seeing as the egg had exploded on impact basically. Stars did that, right?? When they died?

He shook his head at Miss Potter. "A very good guess, Miss Potter, but not what I was going for. However, unlike the universe, stars CAN explode. Something referred to as a supernova." Which was discussed in previous terms for those who remembered.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saraie

Asher listened to all the others responses. He liked some of them and agreed with the Big bang theory one, the most. Anyway he though about the phoenix or the flame, chicken or the egg. And the Airey dropping the egg.

He raised his hand "Professor Airey, did you want your egg sunnyside up or scrambled?" Haha get it Sunnyside. Sun Astronomy. Yeah. Seriously, though what he wanted to say had already been said.

No sense in repeating it. Right? Right.

HA! Good one!

Airey chuckled and offered the Slytherin a fist bump for his pun. See? Professors could initiate these gestures as well. "Sunnyside up."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bubbles

Obvious much? She raised her hand up shyly. "An explosion."

"Something that is commonly misunderstood as an explosion," he said with a wink to the Slytherin as he passed by.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazykitty

There was something bothering her though. "Professor, are you okay? I mean, I could hear your knuckles cracking from here." Everyone had heard that, right? It wasn't just her?

Airey rubbed his back and pursed his lips for a moment. "I feel just fine. Joints must just be a little more exhausted than usual. Extra gas bubbles popping inside the fluid in my joints." Nothing to be concerned about.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cedric

"Nothing else borrowed, fortunately." And it was nice of him to ask.

But now she was in her seat and they were starting class. And Flamsteed was dropping an egg onto the floor. Her blue eyes followed it up above his head and then the splatter after it had fallen. What did this symbolize? Big Bang. Didn't have to be a pro astronomer to know that one. And a lot of other people started spewing out this answer, so Schuyler just wore a little smile and dipped her quill in her ink before beginning to doodle a stylized sun in the margin of her paper.

Good. No more incidents that he would have to report to the boy's Head of House then. Good to know.

Giving the Gryffindor a nod, he was about to walk past her and her note taking when he saw that there were no notes but a drawing. Of the sun. In his classroom. Peering over her a little, he lowered his voice just a little so hopefully only she would hear. "Be sure to take actual notes in my lesson, if you will." Pause. "And do you mind if I have that after you are done with it?" The drawing. He fancied students' artworok.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lexers

"The big bang!" Lucas piped up. "But I don't think a guy in a suit dropped an egg and created the universe. But yeah. Close enough." And anyway it was a COOL demonstration. Way cool.

Airey laughed a little more loudly than was really necessary and clapped his hands together for brief applause. "Very good, Mr. Rodemiere."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mell

Well he was certainly one for the dramatics wasn't old Airey? Michael was glad that he wasn't sitting near the front otherwise he would probably be wearing some of that egg.

He raised his hand when the Professor asked his question. "Besides being a very messy situation. I agree with everyone else that it is a representation of the Big Bang. The end of one thing and the beginning of another." Or something like that.

Oooooooh yes, the end of one thing and the beginning of another. A very interesting and intricate concept when it came to Astronomy and natural sciences in general. The third year got two thumbs up from the professor before moving along.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PotterHeadforLife

Astrid raised her hand. "It shows one of the bad sides of gravity." Heh. It was true though.

Oh STELLAR! Pleased as plasma he could call her by this nickname, he chuckled a bit more at her response. "Oooooooooooh I think there is only good sides to gravity," he replied while shaking his finger. "Even if falling off one's broom in quidditch is unpleasant and can result in serious injury...without gravity - say we just were able to magically turn it off on earth - everything, even the atmosphere, would float right off."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rosa Chispa Princessa

Man Oichi felt foolish, somehow from the back of the classroom she saw the egg picture but she never saw it get crushed, but obviously her classmates had, now the term crude demonstration made more sense, and the answer she gave already was just plain silly. She raised her hand again and said, "Somehow I did not notice the egg getting crushed but now that I have I'd like to revise my answer. I think it is the demonstration of a meteor, comet, or asteroid hitting a planet because they are destroyed once they hit the ground and the impact and new chemicals they carry as they come hurdling toward a planet can end any life as they know it.".

Didn't notice? He had picked the egg up and dropped it. On the floor. SPLAT! Sort of hard to miss, wasn't it?

"Please try to pay better attention as the lesson progresses," he replied as he move passed the Gryffindor once more.

Quote:

Originally Posted by laurange

"I think it would be the phoenix. If it was 'Which came first, the [i]ashwinder[/s] or the flame?' we might have a different answer, though." Hayley liked the idea of magical creatures. Her mom dealt with those a lot.

Airey was just going to nod and smile at the girl. Er...right. Not the question he had been wanting an answer to, but alrighty then...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Princesspower

Sarah watched with interest the profossor as he began to talk.. than came the egg. By now Sarah had guessed what was going on and raised "Maybe it is abour the Big Bang Theory" Sarah emphasied the latter part, a theory it will always be. "There is a THEORY that long long ago... scientists are always adding years as to them time is infinite, and it takes a lot of years for their theory to make slight sense... there was a ball of something that exploded on the earth and supposedly made the world we live in, which started a chain of events called evolution... its a long story. Like all muggles science discoveries it is ikely to be debated on, changed, swayed, adapted forever more. Because scientists can never agree on anything" Sarah than eyed the egg on the floor, "Professor" she said in a calm voice, keeping her voice polite, "is it possible that if in the future you have to do such demonstrations you don't use food? Because It breaks my heart to see food wasted, food that could be put to better use" Also, she did not think nice things about people that waasted and she did not want to think that about the professor.

Airey sort of missed the first part of her response, something about a ball dropping on the Earth or something like that, because of her request. He had used food before...a jawbreaker to be precise. Maybe if he had dropped the ball in a glass bowl students wouldn't be as....squirmy? He kept the Astronomy Tower clean enough to eat right off the floor though - or so he thought at least. "Certainly, Miss Edwards," he said with a small nod. Was that what Miss Fischer had been referring to?

He wasn't going to insist that the food was not wasted because, well, he had dropped it with purpose so that was not waste in his book. Plus...he didn't want to see the Gryffindor cry. Tears made him squirmy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by amadshade

Tora knew Professor Flamsteed was referring to the Big Bang at the beginning of the universe, but she could relate it father back than that. The chicken and the egg, the phoenix and the flame. "Is this about the theory that the Big Bang was caused by a black hole in another universe?" she said, raising her hand to speak. She felt the need to elaborate though, just in case the professor didn't understand. "I mean the one where every black hole is a parent to another universe and that the black holes trigger what begins the Big Bangs of other worlds. Not String Theory... but the other one. I forget what it's called," she gave a hopeful grin. She might be reading too much into it, but it did fulfill the phoenix and the flame analogy.

Oh ho ho! He had not been expecting someone to bring this up, but he was certainly amused that someone had. "Do you mean the four-dimensional black hole explanation?" he asked, just to be entirely sure. Black holes were terribly fascinating things and he really had given just the very basics when they had covered them in previous terms. "For those of you unfamiliar with this, back in 2013 it was theorized that debris ejected when a four-dimensional star collapsed into a black hole is what created our universe. This theory perhaps gives us something that goes further back then even the egg and the chicken." Har har, see what he did there?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Govoni

For now, she began to sketch the egg falling in it's various stages; falling, then connecting with the ground and cracking...and then whites and yolk exploding from the scattered shell.

Oh, what was this? Another drawing? He leaned over to whisper to the Ravenclaw. "Bring me that when you are finished drawing it, yeah?" he asked. He was serious too. He appreciated student artwork. Although he really should not promote drawing in his lessons.

Quote:

Originally Posted by OwlEcho63

Hazel was confused. Why drop an egg? In cooking, maybe, but not Astronomy! "Erm, maybe that's what happens to a star when it explodes?" It had something to do with Astronomy, right? Otherwise, why would we do that? Unless... maybe stars are the same color as scrambled eggs? Enough with the eggs. Maybe it had something to do with black holes. Or astroids. Or maybe it had nothing to do with Astronomy at all and leads into something else! Astronomy was hard, that was for sure.

He nodded his head slightly. "Stars do go boom from time to time," he grinned. He had already gone into brief detail regarding this earlier, so he would not repeat himself now.

Looking around the classroom to see if there were any more hands raised, the professor absently began to rub the knuckles on his right hand. Seeing as there were no more hands up in the air, he decided to proceed with the lesson.

"As many of you guessed, what I was crudely demonstrating by having the egg splatter on the floor was the Big Bang Theory or, as Miss Greenwell implied, how many perceive the Big Bang Theory. Namely that it it one big EXPLOSION of stuff all over the universe." Not to feel bad. It was a very common thing, so no student should feel bad about it. "While no one knows for sure seeing as there was no eye witness to the beginning of all things, the most accepted theory until semi recently, as Miss Gallaway mentioned with the black hole suggestion, was the Big Bang Theory which is what I would like us to focus on today and for the rest of the term. Not just the theory itself, but creation." Pretty exciting stuff really. Not to mention he was keeping the promise he had made to a few seventh years regarding a project with jars.

"Despite what the name suggests, there was not a bunch of space guts and debris that sprang out of seemingly no where, whizzing out into the surrounding space. All explosions have a center. For this to be true about the Big Bang Theory, then there would need to be something that exploded, or expanded, from one center point outward into space. However, what the theory does is suggest that space itself is expanding and doing so in all directions and equally." He paused for a moment. "So, what I want you all to do is erase the image of a bomb going off from your mind as to what the Big Bang is. The Big Bang was not so much an explosion as the start of a great expansion, which continues even now. Can you all do that?"

Not waiting for any head nodding or protesting, he moved things along by flicking his wand towards a piece of chalk to make it write on the black board for him.

"Before we get more into the physics and logistics of the theory, I want us all to back up a bit and break things down so we can stomach things a little easier," he said with another step towards the broken egg on the floor and gave his wand another flick to put it all back together again. "We are going to understand the Big Bang in 10 steps. We have already gone over the first step, which is the initial "bang,"" he said while using air quotes when he said the word bang. "The Big Bang was caused by quantum fluctuations which are, in laymen's terms, temporary appearance of energetic particles out of nothing and in its first few moments the universe was extremely hot and dense. Now, when the universe was very VERY young - about a hundredth of a billionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second - it experienced a tremendous growth spurt. Can anyone tell me what the name of this growth spurt is called?"

OOC: I am so sorry for the delay everyone, but thank you for your patience <3

Have your character answer the question if they know it, or feel free to have them venture a guess if they don't. I like creative and wacky answers too :3 Sitting quietly and keeping notes is also perfectly fine!

Class will resume approximately 17 hours from now. Hopefully.

01-22-2014, 10:27 AM	#102 (permalink)
sweetpinkpixie Wizarding World RPG Admin Minister for Magic Alley Proprietor Romanian Longhorn Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: The Paths Posts: 39,796 Hogwarts RPG Name: Anna Walles Hufflepuff Seventh Year Hogwarts RPG Name: Sage Ransom-Kruus Slytherin Seventh Year Ministry Department Head: Charles Hollingberry Minister's Office Ministry Department Head: Airey Flamsteed Mysteries Diagon Alley Proprietor: Zachaël Lufkin Owl Post x12 x12	astronomizzle ♧ gryffinDORK \| & the rest is drag ♣ #badluckDerf Airey rubbed his back as he waiting for hands to start shooting up with answers. His knees were aching a little as well. Looked like he was finally losing all of that astronaut training physique. Time to start up old work outs perhaps. Quote: Originally Posted by Saz Hale Christmas thought about this and raised her hand and said "The egg came first professor and i think that it looks like an illustration of sick" Seeing the first hand go up, Airey took a step forward and nearly stepped right in the smashed egg on the floor. But he missed it, just barely. He wasn't going to address which came first part of her question - or any other student's for that matter since that wasn't the focus of the moment - but his brow furrowed in confusion at her response. "Sick?" Like....throw up? Now he was feeling a little sick. MOVING ON! Quote: Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19 Okay, so Adi was picturing a very, very, very, very tiny thing. And it was hot. And dense. Okay. Adi watched in shock as Airey dropped the egg. Erm...smashed raw eggs were not nice. But the second year raised a hand. "The Big Bang, Professor?'' "EGGACTLY," Airey said as he snapped his fingers together loudly and pointed at Mr. Rehman. Okay, so he wasn't sick anymore. Quote: Originally Posted by Harry174 Laura just sat there, she seriously wasn't in the mood for this, how old was this Professor anyway six. Shaking her head she sighed as she slowly raised her hands. "Was it just to get attention?" Laura asked rolling her eyes a bit as she looked at the Professor. "You wanted everyone's attention so you decided to throw the egg on the floor." Airey chuckled at Miss Hyde. "Well, it worked didn't it?" He certainly had her attention at least. "But no. Far from the truth, Miss Hyde." Now on to the other raised hands. Quote: Originally Posted by Felixir "Atoms exploding?" Tobias suggested as he raised his hand, feeling an unfamiliar twinge or protest in his muscles as he did so. "Or technically more like one atom. The first one, which is hot and dense 'cause it contains everything that'll make the universe." See? He was trying to make links here. Trying. It was just hard to try and remember what he'd read about this stuff, if he'd read anything at all. The boy lowered his hand again and absentmindedly rotated his shoulder, trying to stretch out the stiffness a bit. Airey flashed the bouncing Hufflepuff an appreciative smile for his continued support to Tiberius plight. It was the little things like a wave that made all the difference, you know? "Yes, and no, Mr. Tempus," he said with a nod. "Contrary to what the name implies, the Big Bang was not an explosion in space. At least scientists do not portray it that way." But more on that in a bit. Quote: Originally Posted by Saiai "The fact that there had to be something there in the first place for the Universe to begin, at a sub-atomic level, hence asking us to picture the egg as being tiny, yet we still don't know how those sub-atomic particles, like quarks were created, because there likely would have needed to be some reaction before they came into existence. So in that way would theories about the creation of the Universe be similar to the simpler question, what came first the chicken or the egg?" Ana postulated as she sunk further into her desk, hand only half raised, as she rested one elbow on the other arm to keep it in the air. Normally she'd be sitting upright and all into this discussion, especially when it seemed to involve physics, a subject she, like her brother Sasha, was passionate about. Right now though she was so tired that she couldn't even be completely sure that she was describing the theory that quarks were the building blocks of life correctly. "Because quarks and antiquarks are the foundation of all the other particles, which led to the Big Bang," Ana tacked on as an afterthought when she realised she maybe hadn't made clear why quarks were important. Airey froze as his girls' bathroom acquaintance spoke, simply gawking at her for a few moments before a smile spread across his face. "ABSOLUTELY STELLAR, MISS ...." long pause while he completely forgot her last name. "Constantinople." Yes, that sounded about right. "Take three points for your house for that out of this world connection." And not one that he had thought about himself. He been mostly going for the image that everyone associated with the Big Bang. Space guts going all over the expanding universe and whatnot. "While not something I will be going into detail this lesson, I'll have you all get your feet a little wet with the concept of quarks." And he would have jumped up on her desk had it not been for the throbbing pain in his back at the moment. Ouch. "A quark, by definition, is any of a number of subatomic particles carrying a fractional electric charge. There are three quarks in every proton and three in every neutron, and protons and neutrons are the pieces of an atom. The very first quark probably came into existence immediately after the Big Bang. Furthermore, approximately 10 to the −12 seconds after the Big Bang is when something called the quark epoch. You can find more information on this in your textbook if you look in the physical cosmology chapter." Which was also a not-too-subtle hint to the class that this discussion was finished for the time being. Quote: Originally Posted by Rosa Chispa Princessa Oichi raised her hand and answered, "I know this is quite obscure but that picture looks like an egg to me and I happened to read about a dwarf planet in the Kuiper Belt called Haumea. This planet is also believed to bs made of crystaline water. I'm not sure how that would work but it sounds awesome to me". Squiiiiiiiiiint. Gryffindor say what? As awesome as the dwarf planet and all of that was, it was very far off topic from the set up he had given for the smashed egg on the ground. Pinching the bridge of his nose in mild agitation, he simply shook his head at the Gryffindor. "Afraid not, Miss Paulidine." Quote: Originally Posted by PhoenixStar As far at the egg smashing into floor she immediately thought of the big bang theory. She heard a few other people mention it but she didn't want to be left behind. Her hand went into the air. "I think you are demonstrating the big bang. The universe was in a very hot state at the time and it quickly went boom... like the egg." "Eggcellent," he nodded at the Slytherin. "Although, as I said to Mr. Tempus, there was no explosion in space per say, but that is how we tend to visual things happening - hence the use of the egg. More figuratively, however," and this was in response to everyone who felt the BOOM factor, as he liked to call it. "The figurative explosion of life in the cosmos that came from the Big Bang is an acceptable thought." Quote: Originally Posted by DuckyLinJi No. Kevin shook his head as he looked at the Professor with his left hazel and right dark brown eyes. He was not taking off the baseball cap. His hand was still on top of his head to keep the hat in place as he shook his head. "I...i can't " he said, cursing at himself for letting out a stutter. An eleven year old with grey hair on the top of his head was just too embarrassing. "I have a..problem...and i don't want anyone to see..uhm...can i just...keep it on?" He wondered if someone had done a prank on his hair while he had been asleep. Airey sighed and rubbed his back some more. He had put it specifically in his rules to arrive in class in uniform and it really was not that hard to throw it all on. He used to sleep in his as a student, actually, to cut down on prep time in the morning before those too early to be legal lessons. This changed later once his OCD about wrinkles kicked in. The professor removed his wand from his charmed breast pocket and gave it a quick flick. "Accio hat," he commanded as he summoned it to him. He plucked it out of the air and set it down on his desk beside the black box. "You can come get it from my after class is dismissed." No patience for that sort of thing right now. Quote: Originally Posted by hermygirl The smashing egg soon got the sixth year's attention though. "Either an easy way to make a mess of your classroom, and start a food fight," Benjy answered, tilting his head so he could see the oozing mess on the floor, "Or , more likely, something to do with the big bang?" While the first two options out of the boy's mouth were true, to an extent, the latter would never be a thing in his classroom. Save such fights for Defense Against the Dark Arts, yes? "A mess that is easily cleaned up," he nodded. Which he would do once he had gotten everyone else's raised hand. "But yes, the Big Bang was what I had been going for." Quote: Originally Posted by TakemetotheBurrow "It's like what Toby said, Profesor. The idea was that the universe was stuck in this little compressed area all hot and bothered until it couldn't take it any more and BAM...the big bang happened and that released the universe, sort of. Let it expand and stuff." Airey was just about to correct her with the whole BOOM factor again, but then Miss Ella brought up something important. "While there was no real BAM, you do bring up a good point about expansion. After the Big Bang, the universe was extremely hot and dense. As it cooled, conditions became just right to give rise to the building blocks of matter - the quarks Miss........Constantinople spoke of being included in this. However, all this moved extremely slow. It took some 380,000 years for electrons to be trapped in orbits around nuclei and form the first atoms." A more detailed response than he wanted to give at this point, but it couldn't be avoided. Students were too bright and made such stellar connections without realizing they had. Quote: Originally Posted by Lottiepot But then Professor Flamsteed did something rather odd, picking up an egg and smashing it on the floor. He wasn't going to clean that mess up. The boy raised his hand, a slight smirk on his face. "An extremely odd method for baking a cake?" he suggested, glancing briefly at the messed up yolk on the floor. He chuckled but a though was sent through his mind whether the Professor was actually able to take a joke. "Or of course it could be an unusual representation of the big bang using food." He could think of a better way to use an egg though. Preferably in a cake or an omelette. His stomach was grumbling just thinking of the possibilities. Pleased that he had an extra pair of eyes to watch Miss Cambridge, he chuckled a little. "Have you been spying on me in the kitchens, Mr. Radley?" Quote: Originally Posted by AlwaysSnapesGirl "I'm guessing it's supposed to be an illustration of how the universe began. Or at least how people think it did now." However it should be worded. But that was all she was offering as an answer, so her hand went down again. MORE DRAMATIC POINTING FOR YOU MISS GREENWELL. Oh, ouch, that hurt his shoulder a little. Maybe not too much more dramatic pointing for you, Miss Greenwell. "ABSOLUTELY, MISS GREENWELL!" he said, still not jumping up on desks as per norm. "*How people think* it happened." And her classmates had already illustrated this notion a bit more as well. "Very good, Miss Greenwell. Take a point for your house." SPOILER!!*: ALEXA! <3* Quote: Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo ............. ....................... Er..."What...?" The Gryffindor's brows crinkled in confusion. "Lottie's not dumb enough to get herself transfigured into a piece of musical instrument and even if by some wild chance it happened, I wouldn't let anyone blow her up." The hell did that have to do with a fish? He could have just said no and be done with it, no need to be giving her serious looks. NO ONE WAS BLOWING UP HER BESTIE! Ahem. The Gryffindor resisted the urge to make a face at the man and instead went to take her seat--oh that now had a Terry sitting next to it. "Hey." She muttered, completely over the fish. Pffft. Dumb fish. Lex trained her eyes on the box, that was the only thing that still held any interest to her and listen while he revealed...an egg. .... Okay. The girl would wait to see where this was going as it clearly wasn't headed in the direction of black holes and explosions. Just fish rights. The splat took her by some surprize, given the Professor's dislike of messes but she willed herself to focus. "Im gonna guess it's an illustration of the Big Bang Theory I've heard about on account of that's what everyone else said." Copy cat answer? YUP, because Lex's mind was still back on the Professor suggesting they blow up her bestfriend. Airey gritted his teeth inside his closed mouth and clenched his jaw. Was she inferring that Tiberius was STUPID? He certainly had not been implying that of Miss Wisteria, but it always seemed that Miss Cambridge missed the mark with his obscure examples. "What I meant, Miss Cambridge, is that this bass is MY best mate and I do not want any harm befalling him just as you would not your best mate. Is that clear now?" Quote: Originally Posted by hermionesclone "I... agree with the idea that it represents the big bang," he said, hand in the air, "Like the egg, it probably got hotter and hotter before the impact and then the explosion happened and... then it cooled down. And the insides of the egg are still spreading," Right? "... but slower than at first. Sort of... like the way the universe is still expanding today." Airey grinned at Mr. No-Shave-November. "Eggcellent, Mr. Summers." Save for a few parts that had already been discussed with others' answers, so he would not repeat himself again. Quote: Originally Posted by Edward Penguin Ian raised his hand and offered a couple ideas. "I'm guessing it is an illustration of the effects of gravity or perhaps 'for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction'. He just didn't buy the big bang idea, even though this was an astronomy class. "While yes, that IS an excellent guess, it is not the one I was going for," the astronomer replied while shaking his head. It was a pity, however, that the Hufflepuff had not voiced his other thoughts out loud. The professor would have appreciated and rewarded them had he heard them. Now, who was next? SPOILER!!: Sander Quote: Originally Posted by FireboltAvis88 Strand listened as the others gave their answers before raising his hand. "Professor I agree with some of those who mentioned that what you were demonstrating is known as the Big Bang Theory. The egg represents how the universe looked like in the beginning. It was just very hot, small and dense with no stars, atoms or structure. Like everything which is hot, it expands. So that's what the universe did, the hotter it got, the more it expanded. Until about 14 billion years later it suddenly expanded very quickly, and then 'boom' the Big Bang happened." Sander paused for effect. "It's like blowing into a balloon. It expands until it has reached it's maximum stretching point and then like the universe, it explodes." Sander added. Was it relevant to his answer, he believed it did. It just showed that something can expand so much before eventually something else has to happen to slow down its process. "Anyway, when that great expansion happened it resulted in the formation of atoms, which led to the creation of the stars and the galaxies. The universe is still expanding though only at a slower pace now," Sander concluded. "As for which comes first, the Phoenix or the flame, I would have to say the flame for without it the Phoenix wouldn't burn into ashes and regenerate from that stasis. Hence, no Phoenix," Sander added what his thoughts were on that matter. Again with the explosion. Really, someone should have been a little more careful with their naming terminology. Big Expansion Theory instead of Big Bang perhaps. Although, this had also been the point of him dropping the egg and making egg go BOOM to help put this assumption to rest. No squeezzing in his hands because...ew. His suit would suffer. "No. No explosions occurred," he said while shaking his head. "But your balloon helps explain this notion a bit more. An explosion implies that something exploded, or expanded, from one center point outward into space. In this case, a balloon being pumped up too much with air to its breaking point. The Big Bang theory suggests that space itself expanded. Space itself expanded and cooled down and, as you and Mr. Summers mentioned, continues to to this day." Quote: Originally Posted by Meizzner Still was a waste of a perfectly good egg. Just dropping it like that. Should he say scrambled egg because that is what it looks like. "Something you should never get on your suit. It seems like it would take forever to clean it off the suit" Even with magic. Or you know the the start of the big bang and the formation of the universe. Both seemed right to Nigel. "Too true, Mr. Barrington. Too true," he chuckled as he gave the Ravenclaw a quick salute. "Although, I do know an incredible muggle dry cleaners in London that can work wonders." Just in case anyone was interesting. The only people, besides himself ~~and Medea~~ that he trust touching his suits. Quote: Originally Posted by HOPEendures She raised her hand and gave a small smile. "Well, I would like to think that the answer to the whole flame or phoenix and egg or chicken thing, isn't really an answer of which came first at all. It's a never ending circle, much like the creation of everything in the universe, equal and opposite reactions and all. So really, what you just did was disrupt that circle. It will have an equal and opposite reaction to everything involved in or around it, potentially. The same could be said for stars and planets and well, everything." Boy that seemed like a mouthful to her ears. Maybe she should have shortened her answer. Oh, well. Leave it to a Ravenclaw to answer a question with a riddle. At least he was pretty sure that he was able to see through her reasoning and find the answer hidden in there. Maybe. This is why he never got into the Ravenclaw common room as a student, you see. "I believe, what you are getting at Miss Evans, is how scientists and astronomers merely discovered a change in the universe's timeline and not necessarily the creation of it?" Quote: Originally Posted by ScarletCharm104 Marigold knew this! She had gotten a bit obsessive after her grandpa... passed away and so she chose Astronomy to be crazy about. She raised her hand and waved it around excitedly. "The Big Bang, sir. I read that it started when everything was just so compact that it rapidly expanded and created our universe!" BEAAAAM. But why the whole box thing for a single egg? "AAAAAAAH, but was it really the start of everything?" he asked with some bounce to his step and a brief look back at the Ravenclaw. "Thoughts and arguments about whether or not the universe had a beginning, persisted into the 19th and 20th centuries. However, it is also said that time, since events before the Big Bang have no observational consequences, began at the Big Bang." He turned to face the class, his eyes aglow with excitement. "There is a fascinating lecture included in your textbook on page 895 by Stephen Hawking for those of you who wish to read more on the metter." Quote: Originally Posted by Lockhartian Anyway, her hand was up. "External forces' manipulation." Why, yes, she was talking about the Ravenclaw Prefect. Now, "But seriously, if we take you out of the equation, Professor, then I'd agree on the Big Bang theory, nuclear reactions and all, if not... then it's outside forces and their consequences." He did illustrate everything from the moment he took the egg, no? Airey chuckled and resisted the urge to give Miss Wisteria's desk a soft knock. Nah, actually, he was going to do that. Twice. "Very clever of you, Miss Wisteria. Very clever indeed." But yes, stick with the Big Bang theory for now. Quote: Originally Posted by HazelStone101 Emma gasped, watching the egg fall and splat on the ground. Poor baby chicken didn't even have a chance.."I think that the phoenix came first professor.. and I believe what you were just trying to demonstrate was the beginning of the creation of the universe, otherwise known as the big bang." She smiled a little, turning her attention back to the egg. Poor birdy baby. Shudder. He was mildly amused at how many students felt the need to answer his phoenix or the fire and chicken or the egg question. That had simply been an illustration of things. A rhetorical question. Anhywhooo.... "Eggcellent, Miss Smith," he said with a nod. "Big Bang theory indeed." Quote: Originally Posted by the fastest seeker She paused listening to other's thoughts and answers before formulating her own answer. "Like others said, it must have to do with the Big Bang. Like the egg represents the trigger that started the whole thing." She said upon raising her hand. OH! TRIGGER! GOOD WORD! The Slytherin prefect got a dramatic point from the astronomer, causing his elbow joint to CRACK with the sudden movement. OPF. That hurt a little. But nothing would take away from the smile he wore thanks to her answer. "TRIGGER! Fantastic word, Miss Somerlad. The start of expansion and molding the universe what it is today. Take a point for your thoughts." Quote: Originally Posted by Awarlesta Black Awar winced as the egg splattered on the floor, "Uhhh...well it just looks like a clear illustration of what gravity does..." hehehehe, "But, I suppose it has something to do with the beginning of the Universe or something." and a really weird and gross way of doing so. Airye chuckled and shot a glance at Mr. Tempus. "At least we all know that the laws of gravity still apply to us today," he chuckled with a quick salute before moving on. Quote: Originally Posted by Tegz Was it bad that all West could think was 'a waste of an egg'? Because honestly, he was hungry. He eyed the remains of said egg and wondered why it was necessary to waste food as part of an astronomy demonstration when there were so many alternative methods to show simple concepts. He didn't even answer, he was so internally distraught about wasted food. Airey paused at the quidditch captain and expected some sort of answer out of the boy. But no hand was raised, which left the astronomer feeling a little bummed out about it. Oh well. C'est la vie. Quote: Originally Posted by Presley Black Gwen knew the answer to this! She was nearly bouncing out of her seat as her hand went up. Being a muggleborn was turning out to be good for something, right? "You're illustrating an event known as the Big Bang! It's the most commonly accepted theory as to how the universe began. The universe is still, expanding from that point, see? So they think it must have all been compacted, then it exploded and here we are!" ALL SO EXCELLENT! Until the big BOOM bit. "As I have said earlier, no big BOOM happened in the way we visualize an explosion" he replied with a smile. "But you are correct on all other accounts." So you got a thumbs up. He would save the rest of his explanation for when he got back to his lecture. Quote: Originally Posted by Cassirin As the egg spread across the floor, Mo wrinkled his nose and offered, "In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move." Look, Professor. Mo Branxton has been doing reading about SPACE TRAVEL. Of sorts. Airey BEAMED at the quidditch captain. "I see someone has been reading Douglas Adams," he said while giving the boy two very big thumbs up. "Excellent choice, Mr. Branxton. Not to mention a very well played quote. Take one point for the eggcellent reference." Quote: Originally Posted by Lissy Longbottom Caleb had been sitting quietly in the corner and wrinkled his eyebrows as Flamsteed dropped...an egg. What? This was not nearly as cool as the flying thing from last term. BUT it dawned on him what that egg was supposed to represent. He raised his hand quickly. "That's meant to represent the Big Bang. There was one atom, or something, and it exploded and the whole universe came out of it," he explained. And that concluded Caleb's knowledge on the Big Bang. But he had always wondered - where did the first molecules come from? WHO PUT THEM THERE? Airey chuckled a bit more. "While what you described IS the common visual of what happened, you will see that this is not the case," he nodded towards the Slytherin. Quote: Originally Posted by Holmesian Feline Class began and the professor revealed what he had been hiding in the box. An egg? What was that about in relation to astronomy? Was there an egg constellation? Listening to the man speak of the phoenix and the flame or the chicken and egg (was that the reason for the egg?) Ben was doing his best to try and follow. He himself had no clue as to what came first, nor why the hair that kept falling in front of his face seemed off to him for that matter. Some of the strands didn't look normal...were they dirty...were they grey? Ben absently shook his head to clear his mind and focus better on what was being said. Oh...okay...so the egg was meerly a tool to demonstrate. And the creation of the universe made sense in context, his classmates seemingly pretty certain of their answer so he simply remained quiet and listened. Airey paused at the Gryffindor boy, waiting to see if he had anything to add to the conversation. But, seeing no hand raised and attentive listening instead, he gave the boy an encouraging nod and then continued on to the next hand. Quote: Originally Posted by Squishy Lux was still feeling rather awkward seeing this Professor after the whole bathroom incident, but the starting of the class was enough to get her to forget about it and be very eager to learn. Listening to him teach while tossing the egg, she looked to the floor as it splattered and made a big mess. Not really knowing much about space, she still knew the answer to this one as it was what started the whole universe and she would be silly to not know where the universe came from. Raising her hand, she gave her answer. "That would be the Big Bang. It is said that something small exploded in space and that is where the universe came from." "Big Bang, yes," he nodded. No more talk about the explosion bit though. That would soon be run into the ground. Quote: Originally Posted by emjay Maybe she should take some notes if she couldn't add anything else. Brynn opened her parchment journal to the first blank page and wrote: B i g B a n g T h e o r y.. but she waited till the professor explained to add any more in her notes. Some of them used such scientific words that she didn't quite grasp so maybe he would make it slightly more elementary. Passing by the Ravenclaw, he gave her a thumbs up. Yep, nailed the topic of today's discussion for sure. Quote: Originally Posted by aaetha Yeah, okay, it was official, Adrienne was currently in the classroom of someone who was completely bonkers. Egg-tossing, fish-speaking-to, one hundred percent crazy. What could a broken egg have to do with, well, anything, let alone Astronomy? She could tell she wasn't going to be learning much of anything during this lesson, at least, which was disappointing, though it lined up pretty accurately with her previous Astronomy experiences. Silly, not very practical, and not actually learning much of anything interesting. "A failed attempt to make an omelette?" she volunteered dryly, not even bothering to deign the question with a proper answer. If he wanted to explain something to them, he could easily do so without messy, slimy metaphors. He gave the girl an especially squinty look. A joking one mind you, but a squinty one nonetheless. "Been spying on me making breakfast?" Because, really, all of his attempts were failed. Quote: Originally Posted by Expecto-Penguin Uh...now the professor was asking what the egg splatting was an illusion of? Kace had NO idea. But he raised his hand and said, "Uhh...the illusion of being clumsy?" That is what he thought. "Nope. I dropped the egg entirely on purpose," he nodded. Hadn't the boy seen how he had done so with such effortless grace? Quote: Originally Posted by Anna Banana Sophie leeeeeeeaned over and watched the egg as if it was a part of the best demonstration there ever was. She eyed it until SPLAT...it was no more. Oh, well. She sat up straight again and raised her hand. "I think the phoenix came first," she said. "I think it just went POOF and appeared after that egg dropped." Err... "I mean, the big bang theory, which is why I think you dropped that egg." "Very good, Miss Newell," he nodded. "Due to the circularity of the statement, many come to the conclusion that something must of POOFed into existence - like the phoenix or even the universe. Although, it is important to remember that the Big Bang is not an explosion like how you imagine the phoenix poofing into existence." Quote: Originally Posted by lemon "No." Her damn knee HURT. And he was starting class already? The fact that her face was still contorted in pain paired with the continued throbbing of her knee meant Alice was far less interested in the crude demonstration as she would have normally been. It was obvious what the egg was meant to represent and all, but she didn't have the heart to add to her classmates' answers right now. Stupid knee. "You just wasted an egg, sir." Shame on him. "One man's waste is another man's treasure," he replied to the quidditch captain, giving her a quick salute for emphasis. Quote: Originally Posted by rosebub6200 "Well um, I think the chicken did sir, or a version of it, through evolution and stuff until it stopped evolving and became a chicken it must have started out as something that wasn't an egg, I think you just showed us was the creation of the flame? like the flame of a phoenix formed suddenly, like how the egg was dropped?" She slunk down in her seat, face flushing from embarrassment. "Oh and do you want me to help, um, clean that up?" Er...he was pretty sure that he had just confused this student. "Try to connect your thoughts to Astronomy next time," he replied before giving the Gryffindor two soft pats on the shoulder. "Those were just expressions used as an introduction, not the emphasis of the class." He glanced over at the egg on the ground. "Not necessary. I'm not done with it just yet. But thank you for your thoughtfulness." Quote: Originally Posted by Bazinga His hand went up, "Professor clearly the flame came first without the flame there would be no Phoenix. That was soo cool do we get to splatter eggs too?" What was it an illustration of who knows. "Are you demonstrating how quickly the groundskeeper is going to come fry an egg on your head when he finds out you are wasting his three breakfast meals?" Did he get it? Did he? Frying an egg on your head since he was using eggs... Bazinga! There he was. The woman's support garment stealer ~~and the mirror image of him as a first year~~. "Not in my classroom," he said, shaking his head. He shuddered at the thought of the groundskeeper. The bloke probably would come up here and suck the raw egg right off the floor as part of his 5 dozen a day regime that the astronomer made up in his head. "Sweet solstice I hope not." Quote: Originally Posted by magikewe Chicken and the egg joke? Big Bang Theory? Where were these people coming up with some of these ideas. Lily was thinking a lot more about the fact that the professor had said to think of the egg as something smaller... much smaller. A star perhaps? "Does it possibly signify the death of a star, far out in a galaxy?" The seventh year asked having put her hand up to answer the question. It made sense, seeing as the egg had exploded on impact basically. Stars did that, right?? When they died? He shook his head at Miss Potter. "A very good guess, Miss Potter, but not what I was going for. However, unlike the universe, stars CAN explode. Something referred to as a supernova." Which was discussed in previous terms for those who remembered. Quote: Originally Posted by Saraie Asher listened to all the others responses. He liked some of them and agreed with the Big bang theory one, the most. Anyway he though about the phoenix or the flame, chicken or the egg. And the Airey dropping the egg. He raised his hand "Professor Airey, did you want your egg sunnyside up or scrambled?" Haha get it Sunnyside. Sun Astronomy. Yeah. Seriously, though what he wanted to say had already been said. No sense in repeating it. Right? Right. HA! Good one! Airey chuckled and offered the Slytherin a fist bump for his pun. See? Professors could initiate these gestures as well. "Sunnyside up." Quote: Originally Posted by Bubbles Obvious much? She raised her hand up shyly. "An explosion." "Something that is commonly misunderstood as an explosion," he said with a wink to the Slytherin as he passed by. Quote: Originally Posted by lazykitty There was something bothering her though. "Professor, are you okay? I mean, I could hear your knuckles cracking from here." Everyone had heard that, right? It wasn't just her? Airey rubbed his back and pursed his lips for a moment. "I feel just fine. Joints must just be a little more exhausted than usual. Extra gas bubbles popping inside the fluid in my joints." Nothing to be concerned about. Quote: Originally Posted by Cedric "Nothing else borrowed, fortunately." And it was nice of him to ask. But now she was in her seat and they were starting class. And Flamsteed was dropping an egg onto the floor. Her blue eyes followed it up above his head and then the splatter after it had fallen. What did this symbolize? Big Bang. Didn't have to be a pro astronomer to know that one. And a lot of other people started spewing out this answer, so Schuyler just wore a little smile and dipped her quill in her ink before beginning to doodle a stylized sun in the margin of her paper. Good. No more incidents that he would have to report to the boy's Head of House then. Good to know. Giving the Gryffindor a nod, he was about to walk past her and her note taking when he saw that there were no notes but a drawing. Of the sun. In his classroom. Peering over her a little, he lowered his voice just a little so hopefully only she would hear. "Be sure to take actual notes in my lesson, if you will." Pause. "And do you mind if I have that after you are done with it?" The drawing. He fancied students' artworok. Quote: Originally Posted by Lexers "The big bang!" Lucas piped up. "But I don't think a guy in a suit dropped an egg and created the universe. But yeah. Close enough." And anyway it was a COOL demonstration. Way cool. Airey laughed a little more loudly than was really necessary and clapped his hands together for brief applause. "Very good, Mr. Rodemiere." Quote: Originally Posted by Mell Well he was certainly one for the dramatics wasn't old Airey? Michael was glad that he wasn't sitting near the front otherwise he would probably be wearing some of that egg. He raised his hand when the Professor asked his question. "Besides being a very messy situation. I agree with everyone else that it is a representation of the Big Bang. The end of one thing and the beginning of another." Or something like that. Oooooooh yes, the end of one thing and the beginning of another. A very interesting and intricate concept when it came to Astronomy and natural sciences in general. The third year got two thumbs up from the professor before moving along. Quote: Originally Posted by PotterHeadforLife Astrid raised her hand. "It shows one of the bad sides of gravity." Heh. It was true though. Oh STELLAR! Pleased as plasma he could call her by this nickname, he chuckled a bit more at her response. "Oooooooooooh I think there is only good sides to gravity," he replied while shaking his finger. "Even if falling off one's broom in quidditch is unpleasant and can result in serious injury...without gravity - say we just were able to magically turn it off on earth - everything, even the atmosphere, would float right off." Quote: Originally Posted by Rosa Chispa Princessa Man Oichi felt foolish, somehow from the back of the classroom she saw the egg picture but she never saw it get crushed, but obviously her classmates had, now the term crude demonstration made more sense, and the answer she gave already was just plain silly. She raised her hand again and said, "Somehow I did not notice the egg getting crushed but now that I have I'd like to revise my answer. I think it is the demonstration of a meteor, comet, or asteroid hitting a planet because they are destroyed once they hit the ground and the impact and new chemicals they carry as they come hurdling toward a planet can end any life as they know it.". Didn't notice? He had picked the egg up and dropped it. On the floor. SPLAT! Sort of hard to miss, wasn't it? "Please try to pay better attention as the lesson progresses," he replied as he move passed the Gryffindor once more. Quote: Originally Posted by laurange "I think it would be the phoenix. If it was 'Which came first, the [i]ashwinder[/s] or the flame?' we might have a different answer, though." Hayley liked the idea of magical creatures. Her mom dealt with those a lot. Airey was just going to nod and smile at the girl. Er...right. Not the question he had been wanting an answer to, but alrighty then... Quote: Originally Posted by Princesspower Sarah watched with interest the profossor as he began to talk.. than came the egg. By now Sarah had guessed what was going on and raised "Maybe it is abour the Big Bang Theory" Sarah emphasied the latter part, a theory it will always be. "There is a THEORY that long long ago... scientists are always adding years as to them time is infinite, and it takes a lot of years for their theory to make slight sense... there was a ball of something that exploded on the earth and supposedly made the world we live in, which started a chain of events called evolution... its a long story. Like all muggles science discoveries it is ikely to be debated on, changed, swayed, adapted forever more. Because scientists can never agree on anything" Sarah than eyed the egg on the floor, "Professor" she said in a calm voice, keeping her voice polite, "is it possible that if in the future you have to do such demonstrations you don't use food? Because It breaks my heart to see food wasted, food that could be put to better use" Also, she did not think nice things about people that waasted and she did not want to think that about the professor. Airey sort of missed the first part of her response, something about a ball dropping on the Earth or something like that, because of her request. He had used food before...a jawbreaker to be precise. Maybe if he had dropped the ball in a glass bowl students wouldn't be as....squirmy? He kept the Astronomy Tower clean enough to eat right off the floor though - or so he thought at least. "Certainly, Miss Edwards," he said with a small nod. Was that what Miss Fischer had been referring to? He wasn't going to insist that the food was not wasted because, well, he had dropped it with purpose so that was not waste in his book. Plus...he didn't want to see the Gryffindor cry. Tears made him squirmy. Quote: Originally Posted by amadshade Tora knew Professor Flamsteed was referring to the Big Bang at the beginning of the universe, but she could relate it father back than that. The chicken and the egg, the phoenix and the flame. "Is this about the theory that the Big Bang was caused by a black hole in another universe?" she said, raising her hand to speak. She felt the need to elaborate though, just in case the professor didn't understand. "I mean the one where every black hole is a parent to another universe and that the black holes trigger what begins the Big Bangs of other worlds. Not String Theory... but the other one. I forget what it's called," she gave a hopeful grin. She might be reading too much into it, but it did fulfill the phoenix and the flame analogy. Oh ho ho! He had not been expecting someone to bring this up, but he was certainly amused that someone had. "Do you mean the four-dimensional black hole explanation?" he asked, just to be entirely sure. Black holes were terribly fascinating things and he really had given just the very basics when they had covered them in previous terms. "For those of you unfamiliar with this, back in 2013 it was theorized that debris ejected when a four-dimensional star collapsed into a black hole is what created our universe. This theory perhaps gives us something that goes further back then even the egg and the chicken." Har har, see what he did there? Quote: Originally Posted by Govoni For now, she began to sketch the egg falling in it's various stages; falling, then connecting with the ground and cracking...and then whites and yolk exploding from the scattered shell. Oh, what was this? Another drawing? He leaned over to whisper to the Ravenclaw. "Bring me that when you are finished drawing it, yeah?" he asked. He was serious too. He appreciated student artwork. Although he really should not promote drawing in his lessons. Quote: Originally Posted by OwlEcho63 Hazel was confused. Why drop an egg? In cooking, maybe, but not Astronomy! "Erm, maybe that's what happens to a star when it explodes?" It had something to do with Astronomy, right? Otherwise, why would we do that? Unless... maybe stars are the same color as scrambled eggs? Enough with the eggs. Maybe it had something to do with black holes. Or astroids. Or maybe it had nothing to do with Astronomy at all and leads into something else! Astronomy was hard, that was for sure. He nodded his head slightly. "Stars do go boom from time to time," he grinned. He had already gone into brief detail regarding this earlier, so he would not repeat himself now. Looking around the classroom to see if there were any more hands raised, the professor absently began to rub the knuckles on his right hand. Seeing as there were no more hands up in the air, he decided to proceed with the lesson. "As many of you guessed, what I was crudely demonstrating by having the egg splatter on the floor was the Big Bang Theory or, as Miss Greenwell implied, how many perceive the Big Bang Theory. Namely that it it one big EXPLOSION of stuff all over the universe." Not to feel bad. It was a very common thing, so no student should feel bad about it. "While no one knows for sure seeing as there was no eye witness to the beginning of all things, the most accepted theory until semi recently, as Miss Gallaway mentioned with the black hole suggestion, was the Big Bang Theory which is what I would like us to focus on today and for the rest of the term. Not just the theory itself, but creation." Pretty exciting stuff really. Not to mention he was keeping the promise he had made to a few seventh years regarding a project with jars. "Despite what the name suggests, there was not a bunch of space guts and debris that sprang out of seemingly no where, whizzing out into the surrounding space. All explosions have a center. For this to be true about the Big Bang Theory, then there would need to be something that exploded, or expanded, from one center point outward into space. However, what the theory does is suggest that space itself is expanding and doing so in all directions and equally." He paused for a moment. "So, what I want you all to do is erase the image of a bomb going off from your mind as to what the Big Bang is. The Big Bang was not so much an explosion as the start of a great expansion, which continues even now. Can you all do that?" Not waiting for any head nodding or protesting, he moved things along by flicking his wand towards a piece of chalk to make it write on the black board for him. "Before we get more into the physics and logistics of the theory, I want us all to back up a bit and break things down so we can stomach things a little easier," he said with another step towards the broken egg on the floor and gave his wand another flick to put it all back together again. "We are going to understand the Big Bang in 10 steps. We have already gone over the first step, which is the initial "bang,"" he said while using air quotes when he said the word bang. "The Big Bang was caused by quantum fluctuations which are, in laymen's terms, temporary appearance of energetic particles out of nothing and in its first few moments the universe was extremely hot and dense. Now, when the universe was very VERY young - about a hundredth of a billionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second - it experienced a tremendous growth spurt. Can anyone tell me what the name of this growth spurt is called?" OOC: I am so sorry for the delay everyone, but thank you for your patience <3 Have your character answer the question if they know it, or feel free to have them venture a guess if they don't. I like creative and wacky answers too :3 Sitting quietly and keeping notes is also perfectly fine! Class will resume approximately 17 hours from now. Hopefully. __________________ When you’re stuck in a moment and your spark has been stolen .................................................. ........... this is our time to own it, so own it..................................... baby we were born with fire and gold in our eyes