A hundred of thousand years ago, hydrogen was formed. This hydrogen started to form stars and galaxies. During the time, inside these stars, atoms were born. After 13.8 billion years ago, these atoms created the Universe and all of us. This beginning according to many cosmologists and theoretical physicists, is what we call today the Bing Bang. It is scientifically supported by the discoveries that are made in the field of astronomy and physics, and have shown beyond reasonable doubt that our universe had a beginning. So, the Big Bang is an effort to explain what happened at the very start of our universe. But, also it is a scientific idea about the history of space, time, and energy. This theory has survived’’ decades of scientists debating, criticizing, and arguing, all in the attempt to prove their challengers that their evidence was superior.
However, today there are still many misconceptions regarding the Big Bang theory. They are:
Big Bang Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Universe’s Start
Many scientists agree that the term Bing Bang signifies the powerful beginning of our Universe, but according to Alan Guth, an American theoretical physicist: The term “Big Bang” is a bit vague. People use it in all different ways.
Some people use Big Bang to mean the ultimate origin of the universe. That would have to come before inflation. I usually think of inflation as the precursor of the Big Bang, defining Big Bang as the period of enormous expansion that we study.”
The inflation theory was developed by Alan Guth, Andrei Linde, Paul Steinhardt, and Andy Albrecht in 1980 and it explains the period before the happening of the Big Bang.
According to the theory, the Universe was in a mode of extremely rapid expansion during its first few moments. This was prior to the more measured Big Bang expansion.
In only a small fraction of a second, the size of the universe was increased by more than 60 “e-folds”. The inflation was strong because the mass-energy of the universe was dominated by a cosmological type of vacuum energy.
This vacuum energy later produced the matter and radiation inside the universe today. Since this theory explains thoroughly this whole process of expansion in the universe, today by many physicists is considered and known to be the extension of the Bing Bang theory.
The Bing Bang: Expansion, NOT Explosion
Countless books, videos, articles, and statements declare that the Bing Bang was a giant explosion. But, according to Paul Steinhardt, the director of the Princeton Center for Theoretical Science: “If it were an explosion it would have a center. We actually observe that everything is moving away from everything else. It’s really about an expansion of the universe.
“Many scientists and experts agree that the Bing Bang was not an explosion, since no material was involved. Instead, they claim that the universe as we know it is the result of this singularity expanding and cooling, and that space is equally expanding everywhere. There was no boom. It was just a massive expansion of reduced material, because:
“Space isn’t just something that sits there and things happen in it – space is a dynamical thing” claims Andreas Albrecht, a theoretical physicist at the University of California.
Prior to the Bing Bang Singularity, NOTHING EXISTED
The Bing Bang Singularity or the Big Black Hole by many cosmologists is described as a point in space, or a moment in time where the universe was infinitely hot and dense.
There are many experts, who agree that nothing existed before this Big Bang singularity. No space, no time, no matter or energy. According to their calculations, time and space had a beginning, when they linked closely to the source of matter and energy. Also, they claim that the singularity didn’t appear in space, rather space began inside of the singularity.
On the other hand, Michio Kaku, a theoretical physicist at the City University of New York, speculated the opposite.
He said: “Our universe could have either popped into existence or collided with another universe. Imagine a bubble bath where each bubble represents a universe. In this multiverse tub that existed before our Big Bang—and still exists today—universe bubbles are colliding, popping, budding new bubbles, expanding, and contracting.
If this scenario really exists, Big Bangs happen all the time. As well, Kaky adds that our universe also may have jumped into existence from absolutely nothing, being a completely empty universe with no rotation, and no energy.
However, there is no confirmation that these speculations might be true, and that something might have existed before the Bing Bang.
But Katy and other physicists believe that they could conduct some space-based experiments, that may provide evidence to prove some of their theories. The results from these experiments are many years away, and until then a lot of people will expect that these experiments will finally discover the mystery, or whether there was really something’’ before the Bing Bang theory, or not.
Concluding Thoughts,
Since its conception, the Big Bang theory has been constantly challenged about the truthfulness, and credibility of her evidence. The creation of our Universe, as we know it, is still a supernatural event, who took place in a foreign land called space, and any started discussion, or debate about this event includes asking a lot of questions. This is very understandable because all of these questions arise from the gaps and inconsistencies in the knowledge we have about the beginning of our Universe. Sometimes even if we get some answers, we still feel ‘’hungry’’ for more and more answers.
However, we have to be careful, because, as they say: Curiosity can kill the cat, and today we can only be satisfied with the answers we have, and the notion that the Bing Bang theory is our only explanation for the beginning of our Universe.
Liked this post? Then, subscribe to us for more interesting articles.
FAQs On The Big Bang Theory
Where did the Universe come from?
Based on scientific theories, the universe is the outcome of the Big Bang expansion. However, what caused the explosion in itself is still an unresolved mystery.
What was there before the big bang?
Experts claim that the initial singularity is believed to have existed before the Big Bang. In other words, a smaller universe did happen to exist before the big bang, which expanded massively later as part of the Big Bang.
References:
- Mike Wall, (2011), The Big Bang: What Really Happened at Our Universe’s Birth?
- Paul Sutter, (2015), What Triggered the Big Bang? It’s Complicated
- Clara Moskowitz, (2010), Was the Big Bang Really an Explosion?
- Charles H. Lineweaver and Tamara M. Davis, (2005), Misconceptions about the Big Bang
