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I was discussing the Big Bang theory with a friend, but couldn't answer a question he asked. Why is it that people believe that the Big Bang is true? Is there any scientific proof to it?
Neutralino said:So, what existed before the Big Bang?
Pakbabydoll said:... all the matter was so closed together and the pressure was probably so great that it could not handle it anymore so Big Bang ...
Pakbabydoll said:Thanks Marcus I will read those articles... I am new to all this.
Neutralino said:Did you know that the Big Bang was supposed to prove Genesis in Christianity?
Neutralino said:So, what existed before the Big Bang?
malawi_glenn said:i. Will never be possible to prove what existed before big bang empirichaly and scientificly
ii. All models / theories on what happen before big bang is ad hoc and meta physical.
•H3TTING3R said:...what did it all start as, and are we going on the belief that all matter has already been created, so no more is bieng made? thanks
marcus said:it isn't known
I picture mankind as just being at the beginning of a drive to understand the universe---and the big bang models are just a first step
there are different models.
some include a prior contracting phase that preceded a kind of bounce
some include "inflation scenarios" of various kinds involving exotic matter called "inflatons" that no one has ever seen
they don't make up this stuff for fun, or to impress people, they make it up because they can't think of any simpler way to explain the observational data.
all we can do is construct models of the past and check them against what they say should be observable in the present. it's hard. none of the models AFAIK is able to answer all the questions. none AFAIK is perfectly consistent and in perfect agreement with the data.
but they are improving rapidly at this stage---ever since 1998 cosmology has been on a roll largely because of technical improvements in the instrumentation---so stay tuned
Neutralino said:So, what existed before the Big Bang?
the matter of the universe, from stars and galaxies to atoms and subatomic particles, are progressively torn apart by the expansion of the universe at a certain time in the future. Technically, the scale factor of the universe becomes infinite at a finite time in the future.
Nick666 said:If I remember correctly, Hawking said that its non-sense to ask what was before the big bang (or before the singularity) cause time started with the bb, so its like asking what's north of the north pole?
marcus said:Starting around September 2005, Roger Penrose has taken the opposite position.
there is a great talk by Penrose online, given at Cambridge just two months after he changed his mind. He illustrates it with his own cartoons and vivid language so he gets the basic reasoning across without too much math.
http://www.Newton.cam.ac.uk/webseminars/pg+ws/2005/gmr/gmrw04/1107/penrose/
The Big Bang Theory is a scientific explanation for the origin of the universe. It suggests that the universe began as a single point of infinite density and exploded, expanding and cooling over billions of years to form the universe we know today.
The Big Bang Theory was first proposed by Belgian astronomer Georges Lemaître in the 1920s. It was further developed by scientists like Edwin Hubble and George Gamow in the 1940s and 1950s. The discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation in the 1960s provided strong evidence for the theory.
There are several pieces of evidence that support the Big Bang Theory. These include the expansion of the universe, the abundance of light elements, and the cosmic microwave background radiation. The theory also accurately predicts the observed distribution of galaxies and the large-scale structure of the universe.
While the Big Bang Theory is the most widely accepted explanation for the origin of the universe, there are some alternative theories. These include the Steady State Theory, which suggests that the universe has always existed and is continuously creating new matter, and the Oscillating Universe Theory, which proposes that the universe goes through cycles of expansion and contraction.
While the Big Bang Theory is supported by a vast amount of evidence, it cannot be proven definitively. Science does not deal in absolute proof, but rather in theories that are supported by evidence and can be tested and refined over time. The Big Bang Theory is constantly being studied and refined by scientists, and new evidence may emerge in the future that could change our understanding of the theory.