RE: Big Bang Theory
July 5, 2012 at 9:15 pm
(This post was last modified: July 5, 2012 at 9:19 pm by Cyberman.)
The honest answer is nobody knows yet, however we do know it wasn't an explosion of light and matter; it wasn't an explosion at all, as we normally understand them. The term Big Bang was coined by Sir Fred Hoyle as a disparaging expression of his contempt for the theory that the Universe expanded so explosively, ie rapidly, at its birth.
However, my take on it as a nominally informed layman is this. The basic idea is that everything we see as the Universe, not just the matter (including Dark Matter) but all of Space itself, was compressed into one virtually infinitesimal point, a singularity*. What reason do we have to suppose that such a thing might be stable? We know that atomic structures can and do break down spontaneously - look at Hiroshima.
If you really want to learn about this stuff, and it is a truly fascinating story involving some pretty remarkable people, one of the best books I can recommend is by Simon Singh ("An epic tale, brilliantly told" according to the Daily Telegraph).
* Unless Stephen Hawking is right and there was no singularity...
However, my take on it as a nominally informed layman is this. The basic idea is that everything we see as the Universe, not just the matter (including Dark Matter) but all of Space itself, was compressed into one virtually infinitesimal point, a singularity*. What reason do we have to suppose that such a thing might be stable? We know that atomic structures can and do break down spontaneously - look at Hiroshima.
If you really want to learn about this stuff, and it is a truly fascinating story involving some pretty remarkable people, one of the best books I can recommend is by Simon Singh ("An epic tale, brilliantly told" according to the Daily Telegraph).
* Unless Stephen Hawking is right and there was no singularity...
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
