Inhomogeneous cosmology

High school (ages 12+)
Space & Astronomy

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/inhomogeneous-cosmology

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What does "inhomogeneous cosmology" mean?It means the universe isn’t perfectly smooth. It has lumpy bits, like clusters of galaxies, and empty spaces called voids.
2. Why did scientists first think the universe was smooth?They used the Cosmological Principle, which says the universe looks the same everywhere on large scales. This idea helped create simple models like the FLRW metric and matched early observations of the cosmic microwave background.

Isotropy: The property of being the same in all directions, a key component of the Cosmological Principle.
Lambda-CDM Model: The standard model of cosmology, which assumes a universe dominated by dark energy (Lambda) and cold dark matter (CDM).
Cosmic Web: The large-scale structure of the universe, characterized by interconnected filaments of galaxies surrounding vast voids.
Gravitational Instability: The process by which small density fluctuations in the early universe grow under gravity to form larger structures.