Woo, Marcus. "The Cosmic Explosions That Made the Universe." BBC News. BBC, 21 Feb. 2017. Web. 05 Mar. 2017.
The article I read, “The Cosmic Explosions That Made the Universe” by Marcus Woo, discussed the fact that, in the early years of the universe, there is three times less lithium in our universe than there should be, and in the current universe there is four times too much lithium. The reason for this is unknown, however, several theories exist, though none of them are complete. One theory that explains why there might be too much lithium blames “cosmic rays: high-energy particles – mostly protons – that whiz around space. As a cosmic ray zooms around, it can crash into stray atoms like oxygen. The collision shatters the oxygen atom into pieces, fragmenting it into a flurry of smaller elements, including lithium.” This theory, however, only explains roughly 20% of the excess lithium. Another theory states that the lithium could have been produced by asymptotic giant branch stars which are dying “low- to intermediate-mass stars – no heavier than about 10 suns”. Another theory suggests that the excess lithium is due to novae, explosions on the surfaces of white dwarf stars. Most scientists believe that the lithium is due to a combination of all three of these things.
Much of modern technology is based on lithium. It is a crucial part of batteries in particular. Without it, pretty much any rechargeable device, such as phones and laptops, would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to make.
I found this article extremely interesting. It explained everything in adequate detail, as well as providing quotes from the scientists who discovered the possible sources of excess lithium. It explained the history of minor discoveries and theories that led to the three latest ones. Its only major flaw was that its tone was a little bit too conversational.
Alyssa Lee
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Biology 10H
10 March 2017
Woo, Marcus. "The Cosmic Explosions That Made the Universe." BBC News. BBC, 21 Feb. 2017. Web. 05 Mar. 2017.
Andrew Howson, a classmate of mine, wrote a review on the article “The Cosmic Explosions That Made the Universe” by Marcus Woo. His review was extremely well-written in that not only was he brief and succinct, but his explanations are simple while preserving the main points of the article. An area where he did this especially well was when he explains the multiple theories surrounding the reasons for the increase of lithium over the years since the Big Bang. Andrew explains, “‘As a cosmic ray zooms around, it can crash into stray atoms like oxygen… shatters the oxygen atom into pieces, fragmenting it into a flurry of smaller elements, including lithium.’ This theory, however, only explains roughly 20% of the excess lithium.” Andrew’s use of the quote from the article itself is self-explanatory. He then follows this quote with a counter argument of sorts, which explains to the reader why this theory cannot be wholly responsible for the lithium increase. Another aspect that Andrew performed noticeably well was his explanation of the significance of lithium to our modern world. It is brief, but it perfectly encapsulates the reason why we need this lithium in our universe today. Andrew states, “ It is a crucial part of batteries in particular. Without it, pretty much any rechargeable device, such as phones and laptops, would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to make.” Andrew also did a commendable job on analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the article, pinpointing each aspect without being overly wordy. Andrew opines, “It explained everything in adequate detail, as well as providing quotes from the scientists… It explained the history of minor discoveries and theories that led to the three latest ones. Its only major flaw was that its tone was a little bit too conversational.”
Despite demonstrating many strong points, Andrew’s review leaves some room for improvement. One area that Andrew could improve on is his grammatical word choice- he sometimes can be seen to change tenses or place commas where they are unnecessary, such as when he states, “in the early years of the universe, there is three times less lithium in our universe than there should be…” As one can see, there is a tense change from “the early years of the universe” to “there is”. This is only a minor flaw, however. The more noticeable flaw with Andrew’s review addresses why the the increase of lithium in the universe is so important. Although Andrew does state that lithium is extremely important in this age of technology, I did not see the connection between that claim and the increase of lithium over the years. In other words, the claim does not quite logically follow the thesis, and the impact of this increase in lithium was not made clearly enough. Despite these flaws, however, Andrew’s review was certainly an interesting and well-articulated read that greatly aided me in understanding the article, even before I had read it independently.
Andrew’s review of the article helped me understand the importance of lithium in our society today, and also the power that technology has over our lives. I chose this particular review to read because I was curious as to how lithium affects our society today, and why there has been such a substantial increase in lithium over the years. Reading his review has revolutionized my view of the world in that I have realized that there is much of the universe that we are still speculative about, as the universe is a constantly expanding space with objects far beyond our reach and sight. The increase in lithium is only one of the mysteries of space to mankind today that may one day be solved- and once it is solved, there will always be more to speculate about in this never ending home in which we reside called the “universe”.
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Core Bio H
March 14 2017
Woo, Marcus. "The Cosmic Explosions That Made the Universe." BBC News. BBC, 21 Feb. 2017. Web. 05 Mar. 2017.
I read my classmate Andrew’s report on "The Cosmic Explosions That Made the Universe." Andrew wrote a fantastic review and although brief, he did a good job explaining and reviewing the article’s main points. Andrew first opened up on a recent article that claims there is more or less lithium in the universe. He wrote a good explanation and gave background to the topic, while diving into the multiple theories surrounding the reasons for the increase of lithium over the years since the Big Bang. Andrew did a good job reporting the information concisely , using good vocabulary, understanding the article, and analyzing it proficiently. He also used the same scientific terms found in the article, which showed his understanding about the topic. He wrote with an intriguing tone all while explaining the significance of the Big Bang theory and the cosmic explosions that made the universe. Lastly, Andrew’s analysis was well done because his review was thoughtful and gave good feedback at the end on what the authors of the article should have done differently.
Although Andrew wrote about a very intriguing topic, he can improve in a few areas. He could have furthered the research and explained why the change in the amount of lithium matters in the universe and how it could affect planet Earth. Andrew did not have any grammatical issues and he wrote a great paragraph on the importance of “batteries in particular. Without it [lithium], pretty much any rechargeable device, such as phones and laptops, would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to make.” Andrew could have discussed more background information and explained the Big Bang theory and what cosmic explosions are. Ultimately his review was well written.
While reading Andrew’s review, I realized the importance of lithium batteries in our society today and the amount of technology that uses lithium to be powered. This review was interesting to read because I wanted to learn about the importance of lithium in our universe and the role it plays in our life today. The review was very interesting and was recent published which made the article even more interesting. Reading the review reminded me of the unknown areas of the universe and how important curiosity is in science to always continue speculating about the unknown.
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CoreBioH / Current Review #9 Comment
25 April 2017
Woo, Marcus. "The Cosmic Explosions That Made the Universe." BBC News. BBC, 21 Feb.
2017. Web. 05 Mar. 2017.
This review of Marcus Woo’s British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) article titled, “The Cosmic Explosions That Made the Universe” by classmate Andrew Howson, was thoroughly explained and examined. One well thought out aspect of Andrew’s review was his understanding of the article. I liked how he summarized the article, making it interesting for the reader. Andrew also explained the findings of the scientists, making the issue discussed in the article from a scientific matter to a world matter. Andrew told us why the information discussed in the article was significant. The clarity of his writing made the information straightforward and perceptive appealing to the reader Finally, I appreciated how he noted ways in which the author could have improved this BBC article, saying how it was too conversational.
Even though this was a well written review, I believe it could have been improved in a couple of spots. A couple of his sentences needed to be read a second time, not quite grasping the concept from the first read through. He also should have stated the problems with excess lithium in the cosmos.
While reading this review, I was shocked by the amount of lithium in the cosmos, and by how fast it increased.