I – A Time-scale Model of the Universe A scale model of the solar system, according to distances between planets, would fit all the planets and the Sun within the boundaries of a football field – if Earth were the size of a peppercorn. In this activity, we compressed space. But scale models can also compress time. These can be called "temporal scale models." In this part of today’s lab, you will use the calendar of the year to show when significant events took place in the universe, which is thought to be 13.8 billion years! It’s so difficult to consider just how old the universe is, that if we compress time to that of a calendar year on Earth, we can visually see how vast that time is. In this model, we will compress 13.8 billion years into one calendar year, which means that one second on our calendar will be equal to 438 years. One day on our calendar is equal to 37.8 million years. Here are the events you need to transcribe onto your graphic calendars. In the column on the right, calculate the approximate number of years before today that the event took place!