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Activity 1- A timely activity

This Activity and the related Essays on the History of Mathematics are on-line at MATHGYM( http://www.mathtrak.com.au/mic/ )

In this activity you will represent some milestones in the age of the Universe as if they had occurred over the past 24 hours. In this way you get an insight into the relatively small time that humans have inhabited the Earth.
INSTRUCTIONS:
  1. Put the present time (to the closest hour) in the grey box at the bottom of the timeline and next to the milestone 2 000 AD at the left.
  2. Now, for the timeline at the right, going upwards from this present time, count backwards in hours so that you enter each hour over the past 24 hours.
  3. Now, convert the given milestones of the past 2 x 10 10 years so that they fit into the last 24 hours. That is, if the Universe started 24 hours ago (really 20 000 000 000 years ago) what would have been the time in the last 24 hours when the Solar System was formed etc? Write each of these calculations beside each milestone.
  4. Now, starting with 20 000 000 000 B.C.E. at the top of the page, draw lines to connect each milestone to where it occurred on the timeline of the last 24 hours. (I have done this for 20 000 000 000 BCE and 2 000 AD.)


               Milestones in Universal History                                       Timeline for past 24 hours

Question: If the age of the Universe is represented as 24 hours, for how much time (in seconds) has mankind been in existence? (Use 5 000 000 BCE as the beginning of mankind).