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Josh Walter

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Do you believe in the "Big Bang Theory?" Why or why not?

The Big Bang theory claims that between ten and fifteen billion years ago, the Universe as we know it came into existence when a point of inconceivable density violently exploded and began rapidly expanding at speeds that may have surpassed that of light *, subsequently creating out of the cloud of hydrogen gas the first stars, planets, solar systems, and galaxies. Though many support this theory, there are also many people questioning the process of nothing existing, a sudden, inexplicable rapid expansion of a single point, and the creation of absolutely everything. According to the Big Bang theory, the universe is somewhere between ten and fifteen billion years old, but, based on countless observations, there are stars and galaxies older than the universe - how is that possible? The Big Bang theory is called a "theory" because all theories have the potential to be disproved, and I encourage you to keep this in mind while debating the validity of this popular theory of the creation of our universe.

* Though Einstein's Theory of Relativity prohibits anything within space from traveling at speeds faster than that of light, it does not define the maximum speed at which the fabric of space itself may expand.

Topics: big bang existence universe
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    Helen Hupe 30+

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    Jun 29 2011: I am going to tell you about an idea I have. I am not connected with the scientific community but I do read a lot and find physics tremendouly interesting. I find a lot of information on black holes where gravity is so strong that even light cannot escape. I am wondering where the black hole ends or does it ? If it is a cone and it ends in a singularity,,,Could that result in another big bang when it reaches critical mass ? Hawking finally admitted that information is not lost so what are the implications of that ? Please don't ridicule me just tell me why that could not be. There is probably something known that would negate that.................
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      Simon Tovey

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      Jun 29 2011: Anyone who would ridicule you for that post needs a good clip round the ear :)
      You've said nothing irrational, merely stated the boundary of your knowledge and proposed some ideas based on it.
      My knowledge of these things is similar yours I'm afraid so I can't enlighten you. However, I'm pretty sure I've heard of some fringe(or perhaps not so fringe) theories that suggest exactly what you have. That black holes infact spawn new universes.
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        Josh Walter

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        Jun 29 2011: I've had a few similar thoughts, Helen. If at the center of a black hole is an inconceivably massive and dense ball, could that ball not tear through the fabric of spacetime into a state of non-existence, only to exist as a separate universe once it began to rapidly expand? That would also support the multiverse theory, as well as the theory of an infinitely expanding universe!
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      Matthieu Miossec 100+

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      TED TranslatorAssociate
      Jun 30 2011: This is actually something that I have also thought myself. It has been suggested that black holes could indeed be responsible for budding off new universes. It's a fairly intuitive concept to think of, given that black holes end with a singularity whereas the Big Bang begins with one. It would be interesting so see where this hypothesis goes.

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        Simon Tovey

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        Jun 30 2011: You seem to get attacked a lot by irrational morons Mattieu. You must be doing something right :)
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          Nicholas Lukowiak 50+

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          Jun 30 2011: agreed.

          "If you have no enemies, you never stood up for something in life"
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          Matthieu Miossec 100+

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          TED TranslatorAssociate
          Jun 30 2011: It's the same guy on a different account. TED admin usually catch up with him after a few hours. Meanwhile I get sympathy upvotes. His insults are childish, but I guess his grasp of either the English and French language is so poor he can't really do better than call me stupid. You can flag a person's profile if anybody's interested.

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        Helen Hupe 30+

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        Jul 17 2011: I was very interested in the Black Hole thing for a long time and about six years ago I e-mailed Stephen Hawking about my idea. Of course I never got a reply. That was a post on his site that replies would not be written. But at least nobody said anything to the contrary., I am familiar with the Planck Epoch and I wonder if that will forever remain a mystery to us ? Thanks for the references to Brian Greene (:>)

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