MnAstro Forums

Message received from 5th grade student Summer LIu. If you can help her, contact Secretary@mnastro.org and I will forward her contact information. Thanks.

Hello! This is Summer Liu, a 5th grade student from Valley Crossing Elementary School in Woodbury, Minnesota. We are working on a passion project to research a topic of interest to us. My topic is the origin of the universe. One of our resources needs to be an expert. I've come up with a few questions I would like to ask you to get a more real-world view of the topic I am researching.

1. What caused the universe to form and how was the universe created?
2. How did the universe evolve over time?
3. How will the formation of the universe impact the future?

I need the information by Feb. 25th so I can incorporate it into my presentation for the class. Would you be willing to help or can you refer someone to help me? I really look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for your time!

Sincerely,
Summer Liu

Should this appear in the Outreach forum? Likely as a cross post or duplicate rather than moving it.

FF2Rydia wrote: ↑Thu Feb 23, 2023 5:30 pm Should this appear in the Outreach forum?

It's just an astronomy question, seems like the appropriate place for a response.

Merle

I connected with the student and completed this yesterday evening.

zimitsj wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 5:09 pm I connected with the student and completed this yesterday evening.

Thank you John. Would love to hear your responses to her questions... or do we need to wait for the book?

Merle

Ha! You hit on a point that I began my response. I told her this is a very broad list of questions and that volumes of books have been written attempting to answer these questions. I had about a 45-minute phone conversation to accomplish this. Let's say it was a high-level overview delving into specific responses to her questions. Then the million-dollar question, "What caused the Big Bang?" Great books have been written on that subject, and I don't foresee me adding anything new, so it may be a long wait for the book. Ha!
These are the age-old questions humans have been asking since they could form a thought. How did we get here, what are we doing, and what's the end game?

Thanks, John. I appreciate your taking this on.