How do you demonstrate the big bang theory?

Answer 1

A demonstration of the Big Bang Theory could be as simple as demonstrating the Doppler effect and then tying in an explanation of how the Doppler shift help to support the Big Bang Theory of a finite age for the observable universe.

My suggestion would be to use a Benham Disk to demonstrate the Doppler effect:

Experimenting With Optical Illusions

- Spin the disk at various speeds.

- Spin the disk clockwise and counterclockwise. The arcs will seem to close up and form six rings. At a slow speed, spinning clockwise, the outer rings look blue and the inner rings look red. Spin the top counterclockwise and the colors reverse!

Explaining This Visual Trickery

The entire color spectrum is present in white light. However, the human eye records the colors for different lengths of time. The eye sees part of the color spectrum - blue, the shortest rays, and red, the longest rays when the disk spins.

This is the same for measuring detected light from the stars. If the star is accelerating towards the Earth, then the light waves are perceived as shortened (or more compacted) and there is a shift towards the blue spectrum. If the star is accelerating away from the Earth, then the light waves are perceived as lengthened (or more stretched out) and there is a shift towards the red spectrum.