Big bang Definition and 916 Threads

I had the pleasure of attending a lecture given by Paul Steinhardt, a Princeton professor, regarding the big bang and cyclic universe models at Fermilab this evening. Steinhardt, having written a book called The Endless Universe, is obviously a fan of the cyclic universe camp and the main focus...

I'm not entirely sure that this belongs here, but none the less here are some thoughts I had today. I am a working cosmologist, which is important to know when reading the following. Most Cosmologists today are pretty sure about the Big Bang being roughly the correct theory that describes our...

From my understanding, people have taken a picture of the big bang(or microwaves), and they did it by pointing whatever they took the picture with X number of light years(i forgot the the real distance). But my question was did they take a the picture from outside(like how they take pictures of...

How can the distance from the sun to the end of the universe be only 137 000 times longer than the distance from the sun to the end of the galaxy?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/3540714227/?tag=pfamazon01-20 This book goes on sale 1 July. If it is widely sold and widely read it will mark an historic watershed. It will indicate that we have gotten away from the idea of the big bang as a BEGINNING. I expect to watch the sales figures and I...

Where is the official version of the Big Bang? There are new discovery all the time. Is there a "board of experts" that puts out the official version? jal

I heard that at the time of the big bang the universe expanded faster than the speed of light, can anyone back me up on this? and if it is true then does that mean that the speed of light is not the universal speed limit?

I am fully aware that there is no point at which the big bang 'happened'. You cannot put your finger on it and say that is where it happened. My question is why? I have heard people explaining it as a rubber balloon, where the rubber represents the universe, as it expands you cannot pinpoint the...

What is wrong with the idea that the Big Bang is a finite structure a million or more times the diameter of the visible universe, and the universe surrounds it in the same way that the visible universe surround the Milky Way? -Cuetek

I am wondering what were the conditions before the big bang

was just reading about the Hubble ultra deep field photo / life the universe etc; here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Universe they re saying they can photograph the universe to 13billion light years distant / back in time (hubble photo caption a little way down says "Hubble...

Could the big bang be the point at which centrifugal force overcomes gravity? The fact that galaxies collide leads me to believe that the universe may be spinning, which may support the idea. All comments and ideas appreciated. Thanks, Hool

hi I am new here. i don't really know much about physics but i was thinking... A Supermassive Black Hole pulls in all this matter due to its gravitational pull. my question is due to the super high mass of the black hole and the curvature of time and space, would it be possible for the black...

I have no education in any of this material, only questions. this looked like a good place to ask :). So what I am wondering is if half way through the big bang's cycle (when the universe halts and then reverses) if i was on a solar system on the edge of the halted universe where would the light...

this 600-page book is now available for pre-order at Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/3540714227/?tag=pfamazon01-20 It's not my perfect cup of tea, but I am glad it is coming out because it helps give substance to the research area of Quantum Cosmology and make the field more visible. The...

By definition, the gravitational force associated with a black hole precludes anything, even energy, from escaping once inside the event horizon, hence the name. If all of the matter and energy which exist in the Universe today were supposedly once contained within a space no bigger than a...

I've read a few things about time, and some of them seem to contradict so I would like to sort out what is true and not. 1. Does time have to coexist with matter, or can time exist without the presence of matter?-[finished] 2. "If we take the smallest length and divide it by the fastest speed...

Hello, I'm wondering, how could the universe continue to expend directly after the big bang considering the total amount of mass confined to the relatively small space. As an example consider that it takes 8 minutes for light to travel from the sun to earth. If at the beginning of time someone...

What presents before big bang? and how energy, matter and everything come from without nothing.

Hey guys and girls, I have few questions regarding the-famous Big Bang. - From where do the particles come from that originated the Big Bang...? - This may be one of the-most-asked question, but how is it possible to say that our universe is expanding? And into what? For example, for...

People give me the reason--"As everything is moving apart, at some time in the past, all things were concentrated at a point!" Duh! How do they know that everything is moving apart if nothing is fixed ?

So if a black hole in summary is anybody massive enough to succumb to it's own gravity. And before the Big Bang all the Universe's matter was in one location. How was this not a black hole? Clearly if you have all the mass of the Universe you kind of pass that threshold of "just enough matter."...

if BB is true then there should be black holes which should also explode like the big bang...Do we have evidence for this type of small bang black holes...

We have seen some of the chapter material contributed by various people. The level is not too technical, so non-specialists will want to read it. But it is also not pop-sci either. Equations and precise language are used. I expect the book will help put Quantum Cosmology on the map for a lot...

Hello all, After reading about how time began at the moment of the big bang and how time ends in black holes, if there was only 1 big bang and many black holes, would times be decreasing i.e. slowing down. Any thoughts would be appreciated , thx

Two questions and theories... #1. Gravity The sun, a nuclear reactor, holds all the planets in orbit. However, if it's force is strong enough to reach Pluto, billions of miles away. Why then, hasn't Mercury been sucked into the sun? My theory is, nuclear reactors, like a blown out candle...

Big Bang Theory Self-Contradictory!? There is so much hooplah floating around cyber-space. And there's way too much to talk about in terms of BBT. So, how is one to differentiate between truth and unfounded philosophy. And everyone seems to be shooting their mouth off lately as far as what...

Where did everything that went 'bang' come from ? It would seem to me that even potential must have a source of origin. Accepting that the Big Bang is true, where did it come from ? Where did all the potential of the unified field come from that went 'bang'? What caused all the 'matter' of the...

This is a big hole in the sky. Although you can't see it with the naked eye it actually covers almost 3 degrees of the sky, and to put that into perspective the full Moon covers about half a degree! Until recently no-one was sure how big or far away this void was but the latest calculations...

Roger Penrose's New Theory: What happened before the BIG BANG This is a lecture by Sir Roger Penrose that I was lucky enough to attend. Here is the flash presentation of it: http://www.Newton.cam.ac.uk/webseminars/pg+ws/2005/gmr/gmrw04/1107/penrose/ From what I can understand his theory...

Out of curiosity, as the universe started from a point and as we look ever further into space we are also looking back in time why don't we see matter from these furthest regions clumped together more as it was shortly after the creation of the universe and why don't we see space as a sort of...

Ive been told by a few people (note that these people were people who don't know much about science), that the big bang was proven wrong..Well I have two questions. Was it actually proven wrong? Because I remember watching a tv show about a year ago showing how I believe in the 60s? That Steven...

After mulling over special relativity for a while, I have come to some conclusions that seem correct, but I don't know if I'm on the right track. I'd like to know what some of you think. Please keep in mind that I only recently started learning about relativity, so I'm somewhat of a layperson...

I stumbled across a creationist site today (http://www.wasdarwinright.net/bigbang.htm). Almost all of their objections to the Big Bang have been solved except this: (c) Confusing supernova. Type Ia supernova explode with a known intensity, and therefore their distance should correlate well...

I am educated enough to know the Big Bang was not an explosion, but rather an expansion. However, does this not violate the Second Law of Thermodynamics? How can stars, galaxies, and planets develop and lose enthropy if the Second Law says that it should gain enthropy. Also, the universe was...

Today I have been traveling across the night sky with Google Earth a bit. As always I'm surprised about how inspiring the cosmos is for thinking about physics. But I've always been quite skeptical about the big bang theory. Nowadays we're unable to simulate even a single hadron. And the...

Three related papers came out today. One posted in astro-ph, and the other two in gr-qc. http://arxiv.org/abs/0710.5734 Dirac Fields in Loop Quantum Gravity and Big Bang Nucleosynthesis Martin Bojowald, Rupam Das, Robert J. Scherrer 15 pages, 2 figures (Submitted on 30 Oct 2007) "Big Bang...

I know that Hawking and Penrose proposed that a singularity existed at the beginning of the big bang (and that they apparently changed their minds later). They extrapolated GR back and according to the mathematics, the density and gravitational field becomes infinite. But doesn't quantum...

Just thought I would tell you guys about this new show called The Big Bang Theory. It is very geeky, and there is tons of Physics/Math/Computer Science jokes everywhere. There is also plenty of Quantum Mechanics and other really good stuff, I think most of you would really like it... (i just...

Short question; Matter attracts matter, black holes even attracts light. If all matter in this universe was together, wouldn't that create big enough gravity to never let that matter go? Or would it create some kind of implotion? Or how could Big Bang be? (Sorry for my bad english, and maybe...

The big bang theory states: That at one time, everything that is known of our universe was once at a single point before it commenced "The Big Bang". Correct me if I'm wrong but, that means that every single particle in our entire universe could have been seen at some point in time after...

Is the big bang a white hole? Ya know, the inverse of a black hole... Any reasons why it can't be?

Hi, I'm looking for an in-depth book discussing the Big Bang Theory. It is rather essential to me that it begins as a very basic explanation and then progresses into more interesting and more complex ideas. Any recommendations are appreciated, Thanks.

Good evening ladies and gents I'm in the process of wrapping my brain around Special Relativity, and I've come across an interesting application having to do with Cosmological Horizons. Basically, the question goes like this: "Assume a time T has passed since the Big Bang and that we are...

I watched the Big Bang show on the History channel and a couple of things they had said raised my eyebrows. I wanted to ask you guys what you think. First, they said that the Universe is 156 billion light years across. Where do they get that number? Is that based on the rate of inflation...

I found this article today. Makes my head hurt but I'm sure it will be of interest. (subscription required, so I'm not sure whether I would be allowed to post an extract) http://space.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg19526204.000&feedId=online-news_rss20

As i understand, the current idea is that before the big bang, the four forces were combined to make one force and gravity breaking apart triggered inflation and that gravity was for a period after the big bang negative and at some point became posative. What is this part of the theory based...

I realize without understanding maths I will be limited in my understanding of the answer. You may even point out that its the wrong question. However all I wish to know is what is currently mainstream physics view of what happened before the big bang (if there was a before) and is M theory...

What went bang to start everything?

I was wondering does the notion that the universe is expanding uniformly means there is no absolute rest, but there is absolute simultaneity?