SnitchSeeker.com - Astronomy Lesson 1

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- Term 36: January - April 2014 (https://www.snitchseeker.com/term-36-january-april-2014/)

- - Astronomy Lesson 1 :: the Big Bang Theory (https://www.snitchseeker.com/term-36-january-april-2014/astronomy-lesson-1-the-big-bang-theory-96325/)

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.

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 (Post 11522797)

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 (Post 11522800)

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 (Post 11522801)

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 (Post 11522802)

"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 (Post 11522803)

"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 (Post 11522810)

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 (Post 11522835)

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 (Post 11522836)

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 (Post 11522844)

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 (Post 11522866)

"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 (Post 11522873)

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 (Post 11522880)

"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?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by hermionesclone (Post 11522913)

"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 (Post 11522940)

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."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meizzner (Post 11522943)

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 (Post 11522986)

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 (Post 11522993)

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 (Post 11523005)

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 (Post 11523009)

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.

Quote:

Originally Posted by the fastest seeker (Post 11523049)

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 (Post 11523055)

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 (Post 11523063)

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 (Post 11523064)

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 (Post 11523069)

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 (Post 11523075)

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 (Post 11523123)

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 (Post 11523143)

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 (Post 11523163)

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 (Post 11523168)

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 (Post 11523188)

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 (Post 11523299)

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 (Post 11523406)

"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 (Post 11523414)

"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 (Post 11523451)

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 (Post 11523545)

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 (Post 11523567)

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 (Post 11523606)

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 (Post 11523619)

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 (Post 11523636)

"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 (Post 11523727)

"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 (Post 11523737)

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 (Post 11523768)

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

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rosa Chispa Princessa (Post 11523878)

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 (Post 11523919)

"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 (Post 11524017)

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.

Quote:

Originally Posted by amadshade (Post 11524058)

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 (Post 11524200)

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.

Text Cut: We like Flammy already ^_^

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie (Post 11524923)

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."

...

"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?"

Well, yeah. Gravity was good, too, like what Professor Flamsteed had said about it. We'd all be floating and stuff. That'd be COOL though, but of course it wasn't just "cool". It had its bad side, of course. But she wasn't going to keep thinking about that because they were moving on with the lesson. Yes, and Astrid was taking down notes like the good student she was. Also, she liked Professor Flamsteed. She did. She approved of him, so he got enthusiastic grins from the sixth year.

Anywaaaaaaay... Astrid listened. So the universe was super young, about a hundredth something-something. Blablabla. Astrid was scribbling that too fast on her parchment to catch up with what the Professor had said. Gosh. That was a lot.... but then, growth spurt. YES SHE KNEW THAT. OH SHE DID. Astrid raised her hand almost immediately after the question was asked. "It experienced some sort of expansion... which I think is called inflation!" She got that right, didn't she?

What was that look for? Again West didn't answer, he just sat back and listened to other answers. Why not, right? Give other people a chance to speak up? Sounded good to him. Not that he was taking notes mind you, just... listening.

Ohh, points. She could use those. Well really, her house could use those. It was also nice that he said her answer was Stellar. Now if only he'd gotten her name right. She was going to interrupt him but thought better of it. She'd wait until the next question.

Ana put her hand up, stifling a yawn as she did so. "Actually Professor Airey it's Konstantinova," repeat it with her please, "Constantinople was a city," which Ana thought might be called Istanbul now. But I think the name for that period is inflation," she finished off with another yawn as she put her hand down. She was too tired for class at night.

Well, I goth both answers wrong and the lecture to pay attention. Certainly deserved that. Thankfully the lesson being on the Big Bang theory, I know a lot about that too from reading astronomy books for fun. Oichi raised her hand and responded, "The first step after the Big Bang is called Planck epoch. In this time gravity was believed to be in equal force as every other force on Earth. It is basically a time when the universe is a hot dense of molten energy that is incredibly unstable as evolution happened out of the blue because there was no force to hold it back. Toward the end of the Planck era it is said gravity starts to gain and exceed all other forces on Earth by a tiny margin shaping the direction of the next steps in the evolutionary process.".

Adi grinned at Professor Airey's EGGACTLY response. What do you know. ~~Yawning through~~ Watching those space documentaries with his dad had actually paid off. But maybe if he had paid more attention to them, he just might have been able to answer the next question. But as it was, he did not have the slightest clue so he sat quietly at his desk and scribbled in his book. These en steps sounded quite interesting.

Lucas was kind of STOKED that Airey found him funny, no matter how weird the guy was. Like CHUFFED. He beamed like a Christmas tree display and didn't blush ONE IOTA when Airey clapped. Because, duh. He was cool now.

But no matter because he had absolutely no idea what was going on about the growth spurt whizzbang. Um. Yeah. His elementary school science classes got into like THEORIES of the universe but not whatever Airey was talking about.

He wrote down QUARKS in big letters on his parchment just because he liked the way it reminded him of ducks and then started jotting down what Oichi was saying. Because that girl was spouting some cool stuff that definitely sounded right. And anyway, surely there'd be a question he'd actually know some stuff about?

Wow Professor Flamedude was long winded and crackling did he know? Bart started to listen, but soon his mind was gone. He felt like slamming his head down on his desk. Why did all the professor seem to like to hear themselves talk? quantum fluctuatia what? Really how was a boy suppose to keep up with all this gibberish. He tried as much as Bart tried, but it was a fail always a fail and he turned in his desk fidgeting and tapping with his finger.

Soon a beat was in his head and he was bobbing it a bit to his tapping. Thoughts way out of the classroom until others started talking. Was there a question dung.. What was it? He listened to others and put his hand up, "Inflation, yep that's the answer I knew it." Really he might have just said whatever he just heard The blonde near him say, but still he said an answer that was what the man wanted right?

Ian was disappointed that his answer wasn't quite correct. This was really something he had done some research into and he still wasn't quite thrilled with the illustration. It helped a little that the professor did some explanation of what he was talking about. As Ian pondered the question, he rubbed his chin and was surprised to find that it was rough with stubble. That was odd as he hadn't yet had a chance to even experience his first chest hair. He took a moment to open the top of his robe and was shocked to find that not only did he have chest hair, but that it was graying. He quickly pushed his robe to the chest and lay back in the chair. He was really going to have to go to the healer. Maybe after class.

He slid his hand up in the air to answer the next question and it shook rather noticeably. Professor, the step is called inflation. Kind of like a balloon as it expands, except for expansion at an infinite rate. Those books he had read from Stephen Hawkings and other Cosmologists were really coming in handy, even if he didn't understand all the physics terms. Fortunately, some of the concepts had been broken down Barney style.

Heh. Stalking him in the kitchens? Of course not. The sixth year chuckled at the professors response, glad to see that he did indeed have a brilliant sense of humour. Terry had forgotten how great this guy was.

Wait. Did that mean he actually did bake? Or at least attempt to by the sounds of it. Because that would just make the guy even greater.

He jotted down a couple of notes on his parchment, mainly listening to the complex ideas rather than the basics, those he had already retained in his brain. His eyebrow shot up at Ana's quark analysis, who knew she was such a smarty? He was pleased about her points, perhaps she should've been in Ravenclaw. His attention then drew to West as the Professor gave him a look. It was kind of unusual for the Captain to remain silent in lessons. What was with everyone?

He raised his hand but a lot of others had got to it first. He racked his brains, thinking of some extra information which could help him stand out from the rest of the answers. Urgh, why was recalling information so difficult when you really needed it? "As a few have previously mentioned, I believe the process is called inflation." That much was obvious, everyone else had answered with that. "The theory was primarily first used in the 1990's" At least that was what he thought. Long time ago. "I think I've read somewhere that initially the 'inflation models' were used to solve 2 very important issues that Astronomists and Physicists had at the time. Something to do with horizons and flatness." He wasn't going to expand on that. A. the information might have been misquoted though he was fairly certain that it wasn't and B. he didn't know enough about it to speak anymore.

what what what WHAAAT?!

Kevin reached for the hat as it levitated off of his head and towards the Professor but he missed by an inch and he nearly tripped over the table. This was it, his "secret" was revealed. He quickly covered the top of his grey hair with his hands and GLARED at the man. "I DON'T GET YOU PEOPLE!" He SHOUTED throughout the class and even slammed his fist on the table. "You ALL tell me that i should be NICE and i was and its STILL not good?!" That was it, he knew that being calm and nice was just for losers. He had been right all along. Grown ups were mean and did not care about anything but themselves. "From now on i'm NEVER being nice again, ever!" and then he leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms over each other ~~because everyone probably already saw his greying hair~~ and placed both of his legs on top of his desk. Narrowing his missmatched colored eyes at the Professor as he kept staring at him with a glare.

As for the question, the Gryffindor rolled his eyes. Stupid question was stupid. Who cared about a growth spurt HE was having a freaking AGE spurt!
"It was probably called the universal growing spurty spurt "

So the universe had a Big Bang, but without the ...bang? so like a sizzle? The Big Sizzle. Sounded like a steak house. Annnnd, she was now hungry. Awesome.

Caelen tried to listen more the the professor. So the universe had a growth spurt? Like a teenage style growth spurt? Those happened, and would hopefully happen to her body before she finished Hogwarts. The redhead didn't exactly want to be five feet tall forever.

But universal growth spurts were different, yeah? They didn't have to deal with any genetics, because there was no "parents" to the universe... the universe was done out of nothing.

Okay, so she didn't know the actual name of what she was talking about, but she could still give a semi-helpful anwser, right? Because she thought she knew what the professor was talking about.

"Well after the Big Bang-that-wasn't-a-bang-at-all the universe had to expand to make all of... everything, correct? So it was like created and then it hit it's growth spurt and got bigger?" Unhelpful anwser was unhelpful. She thought she had a grasp of it. Maybe a half grasp was just as well. And wasn't she supposed to be taking notes?

Bay looked around and everyone seemed to have the same answer in his head that they have said out loud. He raised his hand anyway. "why not give it a try" he thought while waiting to be called upon.

SPOILER!!: if called upon

No actual BAM but slow expansion. Ella nodded in understanding, letting Professor Airey know that she could let go of any previous thoughts about there being this bomb-like explosion. All set, Airey-face.

As for the little bee boy Ella had met at the hives, the eighteen year old looked in his direction and furrowed her brow. She understood the poor kid's feelings about his hair, which was gray. Like...O__O What was with the gray hairs? The blonde knew she was getting some from stress given NEWTs and Head Girling and such but him? That kid was a tiner! Strange...really strange. Him yelling about it and being all huffy didn't change the fact he lost his hat, though. You didn't behave like that, not in any class. It just wasn't a thing and the blonde had a feeling Airey was going to boot the kid out if he didn't get his act together. "Excuse me, show Professor Airey some respect. You throwing a temper tantrum isn't going to get your hat back any quicker, y'know." Merlin, KIDS THESE DAYS. No manners! Didn't he see he was only hurting himself by behaving like a little lion cub?

ANYWAY.

Ella's head was throbbing now as if speaking to that loud gryffindor ickle had drained her of all her energy. She squirmed a bit in her seat and wore a pained expression, listening to her classmates. Inflation. Okay. "I think it was getting cooler during this 'Inflation' period as well, Professor." Just so he didn't think she wasn't paying attention.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuckyLinJi (Post 11525051)

Woah, something intense was going on. The redhead couldn't help but turn her eyes towards the kid with the hat. Or now without the hat. Meh, she didn't like the hat anyway. No offense to him or his hat, but it didn't seem to work with him. In a weird fashion way.

He was SHOUTING. Like loudly. It made her jump. Weren't you not supposed to shout in class? The Ravenclaw couldn't help stare, though it was rude.

Woah, outburst. She couldn't catch all of it, but it was something about adults being selfish and being nice meaning nothing. All over a hat and some grey hair? Her hair was a weird colour of red, but she wasn't freaking out. Maybe the circumstances were different?

And she wanted to tell the kid that she actually liked his hair and that he looked cool without the hat, -even just to calm him down, but she did like the hair- but she wasn't sure if she was allowed to do that in class. She didn't want to lose housepoints again! Those things seemed to be important. At least Rockwell and her mom told her they were. But seriously, the kid needed someone to tell him that the hair looked cool.

"Actually, I like your hair. I mean, it's different. Not to say that you're hair is bad. It's actually cool. I never saw a kid with grey hair." And she wasn't going to get into the discipline stuff because someone else had already done it. And she was only a firstie. She didn't know how to discipline people. No matter how mature she tried to be at times. Also, failing at speaking while trying to calm someone down like that was the reason she would never be a therapist. Seriously.

The blue-eyed girl couldn't help but giggle behind her hand at his anwser though. It was really funny. And just out there.

She wasn't right? So even in muggle things she was wrong. Gwen frowned. She thought she knew the answer to the next question, but she wasn't sure she wanted to say, because she didn't want to be told she was wrong again.

Tentatively she raised her hand, nothing like the enthusiasm of her last answer. "Is it inflation?" She asked the question really quietly. Maybe if she was wrong, he would think she had said something else. She glanced around the room, a little resentful. All of these kids had grown up learning the basics of these things in every day life. Gwen hadn't had that luxury. She was still getting used to the idea of dragons and charms and plants that were venomous. It wasn't fair.

Delilah started taking notes, ignoring the kid who was screaming in class. Seriously! People were trying to concentrate. He could take his tantrums outside. Anyway. She finished scribbling on her parchment and looked at her notes for a minute, checking to see if she got it right. As much as she liked Astronomy, she knew it required a lot of hard work and a proper understanding of the subject since it involved a lot of technicalities.

"It's called inflation, professor.. and that period in which it occurs is called inflationary epoch." Delilah said, after raising her hand.

Sander was about to raise his hand and provide the answer but the other students beat him to it. He suspected that after the fifth person saying the word 'Inflation' the Professor would be eager to move on with his lesson. So Sander stayed quiet and just jotted down notes whenever one of his fellow classmates came up with something interesting.

Adrienne really wasn't doing well so far this lesson. She'd been taking notes, yeah, but Tora had just spouted some long, really interesting thing about black holes and she couldn't really think about anything except for wanting eggs, since she hadn't had a chance to eat dinner yet. And now she was supposed to answer questions about the stages of the universe, when she honestly hadn't even been able to come up with 'big bang' when she was shown a smashed egg.

"Universe puberty," Adrienne suggested, taking down a few notes as people mentioned things like 'expansion' and 'inflation'.

Eggcellent. Alec grinned at the man. Where was ~~Funny Dude~~ Nigel to appreciate this pun?

... Right. Words were being spoken which meant that notes needed to be taken, too. He wasn't sure how you could make something practical out of this topic. ... Unless... they would all be smashing eggs against the floor? That probably wasn't enough for a practical portion of a lesson but the boy would appreciate some pointers on how to properly crack open an egg.

Trying to imagine the Big Bang being a sort of expansion wasn't hard but what was hard was keeping up that image in his head when a boy, a Gryffindor, was shouting out about... being nice? Grey-blue eyes landed on him and Alec raised his eyebrows. The Head Girlfriend was stepping in, though, which was good. Awesome girl was awesome. And she was good at taking control which Alec found to be... very...

...

... He turned bright red and bent his head down to take some more notes. What were they talking about? Growth spurt? Linked to the universe? He could agree with the others, yeah? Inflation. It sounded right. Nodnod. ... Could he... offer something else? "I heard that it... didn't last very long, this inflation period," he said, his hand in the air.

Okay, right. LOTS of information to process and write down. Tobias nodded when it was necessary and generally smiled and tried not to get distracted by Professor Dursley, which he was actually remarkably good at today. He was still scrawling his notes down as quickly as possible (lot of notes to be taken) when Airey asked the quetion, so a bunch of other people got there first.

Once he'd finished writing his notes, Tobias set his quill down again and streeeeetched his fingers. Yeowch.

There was a question he wanted to ask, and a point he wanted to make, but they'd passed that opportunity now. Toby even started to raise his hand and then lowered it again a couple of times while he tried to decide whether or not to speak, but in the end just made a note at the top of his parchment to go see Airey again at the end of class if he didn't go into more detail over the course of the class.

For now, Toby just sat patiently and quietly, but as fidgety as ever. And watched that Gryffindor's temper tantrum. And tried not to get annoyed yet AGAIN. What was it with Gryffindors? All the ones he personally knew were awesome people.

So it wasn't a BOOM, but more like...growth? Ok, that made sort of sense to him. He quickly jotted it down in his notes and then raised his hand.

"Is it expansion?" he asked. He was a little lost but he figured he'd give it a try anyways.

SPOILER!!: sweetpinkpixie;11524923

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.

"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.

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Sarah listened with interest, and thanked the professor for bearing that in mind. She listened as the answers rolled off the tongues of those around her... what was the expansion called? Sarah actually did not know... although the name 'inflation' that the others were giving did seem to fit. She did not care about this part of science to much, it was going to be contested forever more. Instead she wanted to hear everyones opinions on it and as what people thought always interested her (unless they were about her... which did not faze her too much).
She listened carefully, in case she needed the information later

SPOILER!!: Professor!

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie (Post 11524923)

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."

"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.

Oooh. This man was PUNNY. Emma smirked, jotting down notes as the man continued discussing the Big Bang Theory and all the events that happened with it. One of them in particular they were now being asked to name.

She of course had no idea what the name of this growth spurt THING was called, so she continued to lay low, scribbling down notes as the other students answered. Better to be silent than stupid.