Big Bang Theory: Is Everything Energy?

  • Context: Undergrad 
  • Thread starter Thread starter JeremyL
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Energy
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the nature of energy in the context of the Big Bang Theory and its implications for the universe's evolution. Participants explore whether everything in existence can be understood as evolving energy and the relationship between energy and matter following the Big Bang.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant proposes that the universe and life could be the result of energy evolving from the Big Bang, suggesting that everything exists as a form of expanding energy.
  • Another participant asserts that the conversion of energy into matter occurred immediately after the Big Bang and was not a random process, but rather a result of high energy photon interactions.
  • Questions are raised about whether energy is infinite or if the total energy of the universe can be quantified similarly to mass.
  • A later reply mentions a claim that the total energy of the universe, including mass energy and gravitational potential energy, could be approximately zero, though the participant notes uncertainty about the source of this information.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

The discussion contains multiple competing views regarding the nature of energy and its role in the universe's evolution, with no consensus reached on the questions posed about energy's properties and implications.

Contextual Notes

Participants express uncertainty about the sources of their claims, particularly regarding the total energy of the universe and its calculation. There are also unresolved questions about the nature of energy and its relationship to mass.

JeremyL
Messages
22
Reaction score
0
I have no idea what I'm talking about and I should really probably research more before I post here. Anyways, I have been thinking about the universe/life a lot lately and I was wondering if it is possible that everything we know to exist is simply expanding/evolving energy?

Could our present physical universe be the result of the big bang sending energy out in all directions which was left alone, untouched, over billions of years to only expand/evolve? Could that energy have evolved into matter, which evolved into planets and stars? Could this energy randomly form into life, which has evolved into our present self-aware human forms on Earth? Could everything that exists be explained by the unguided evolution of energy that was all originally found in the big bang?
 
Space news on Phys.org
The conversion of energy into matter took place immediately after the big bang. It was not a random process, but the result of extremely high energy photons interacting.
 
Is energy infinite or can the total energy of the universe be calculated in the same way that mass can?
 
Lost in Space said:
Is energy infinite or can the total energy of the universe be calculated in the same way that mass can?

I once read that the total energy of the universe, including mass energy and gravitational potential energy, is on the order of zero, but I'm not in a position to find a source for that, so don't quote me on that.
 

Similar threads

Undergrad Questions on the consequence of an evolving dark energy parameter
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
3K
Graduate Form of energy at time of big bang
  • · Replies 11 ·
Replies
11
Views
4K
Undergrad Laws Before Big Bang or After Big Bang
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
2K
High School Age of Universe: Big Bang, Braneworlds & Perspective
  • · Replies 22 ·
Replies
22
Views
4K
High School Can big bang be a part of a loop?
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
1K
Undergrad Big bang occuring everywhere vs everything "compressed"
  • · Replies 16 ·
Replies
16
Views
3K
High School Could Black Hole Collisions Trigger a Cyclical Big Bang and Universe Rebirth?
  • · Replies 19 ·
Replies
19
Views
3K
Undergrad Before the Big Bang
  • · Replies 31 ·
2
Replies
31
Views
3K
Undergrad Questions about the Location of the Big Bang and the Age of the Universe
  • · Replies 8 ·
Replies
8
Views
3K
High School Big Bang and Infinite Universe
  • · Replies 20 ·
Replies
20
Views
3K