where did the matter come from that the big bang emitted?

Question

I believe in the big bang. But if matter was created by the big bang and there was not matter befor it, what caused the bang itself. How can matter come from nothing?

Answer 1

I don't think matter does come from nothing. First of all, we don't know what matter is, but I don't think we have any good reason to expect that matter/energy is fundemental. I think the entire idea of anything coming from nothing is nonsensical.

Max Tegmark speculates that nature is fundmentally based on mathematics. This seems to make a great deal of sense. Physicists have always been amazed at the degree that mathematical truths have been reflected in the physics we observe. Why should there be this incredible isomorphism between systems of mathematics and the nature we observe. It would seem the simplest explanation might just be that nature is mathematics, where mathematics can be thought of as necessary truths about logical systems.

I think part of the reason people have this picture of something coming from nothing is that they have what I consider a false picture of the nature of time. Time is not something apart from the universe. Indeed Einstein argued that time is not distinct from space at all but rather there is a unified idea called Space-Time.
So rather than picturing the universe as a dynamic entity changing in time, perhaps one should look at the universe as a static unchanging entity which we describe by space-time. With this picture the idea of something coming from nothing is revealed as meaningless, and there is just this static unchanging reality.

Man tends to talk about systems in terms of layers of understanding. Our picture of the universe is like this, with our understanding progressing to lower and lower layers. At first we just understood reality in terms of objects ( people, tables, trees etc. ) Then science revealed these objecs in terms of atoms. Then physicists described the atoms in terms of electrons protons and neutrons, Then came quarks. Then came string theory which is still speculative but at least one physicist has speculated that String Theory can most easily be explained as a layer directly over the set of mathematical logical axioms.

If we look at the universe just in terms of our matter/energy space/time layer (how we usually picture it). We know that The first law of thermodynamics states that the sum total of mass/energy is constant. However what many people do not know is that gravitational potential energy is considered to be negative. This allows the mass and energy we observe to increase with time as long as there is an equal amount of gravitational potential energy formed as well. In fact the total amount of mass energy may well sum up to zero. So essentially the mass/energy we observe was able to form because the rapid expansion produced a huge amount of negative gravitational potential energy to balance it.

If reality is based ( the lowest conceptual layer) on mathematics then the issue of why reality exists goes away, because then reality simply reduces to the class of what is necessarily true.

Answer 2

The scientific theory is that the Universe started as a fluctuation of the vacuum. Such vacuum fluctuations make appear a small amount of energy, for a small time. This phenomenon is responsible for the existence of forces, that hold the Universe and matter together.

Normally the bigger the energy fluctuation, the smaller the time it is in existence.

Not so the Big Bang. That was a HUGE fluctuation. So big that a lot of energy came to appearance in the form of mass, elementary particles. These particles started expanding, before the vacuum could reclaim the energy.

And it is still expanding today. 14 billion years later.

The Big Bang theory itself, doesn't say anything about the *cause* of the explosion. It describes only how the Universe evolved after the explosion took place.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_bang

Answer 3

The basic principle of the univerce is that there are fundimental constants that can not be changed.

One thing that comes from those constance is that a certian ammount of energy must exist. It is a nessesety that the energy and matter in the universe existist and thus exist the universe.

The old saying is that if only a grain of sand existed in the universe then that grain of sand would be the universe.

We can only describe every thing interms of what is...


It is a very good question and it really is "the question"







I do not know the exact theory but it is something like the universe would not beflat if the universe did not have so much energy, thus any particle that did exist would hit the edge of the universe and the speed up, thus creating enouph enengy to make it flat again (this is 4th dimentionaly flat)

I do not under stand this exactly, but that is what i belive is the gists of it.

Answer 4

It is not really apparent where the energy came from; however, it is evident that something created the big bang. It is thought that the energy could be created when our Universe itself was brought into existence. This would be similar to a energy leaking in from an alternate dimension or universe which created ours. Then our Universe would expand exponentially and eventually the energy would cool and create the particles that we are aware. This is a over simplified view, but still one possible solution. As to how that energy in the alternate universe was created we can get into an infinite number of Universes.

Answer 5

Matter is nothing more than slow energy. The big bang did not emit matter, it emitted pure energy that then eventually turned into matter.

Where did all of the energy come from? There are several theories that you can read. Just search on "Big Bang Theory". One of my favorites is that two other universes collided in the 11th dimension causing the big bang to create our universe. What's so interesting about it is if they are correct, then we can eventually create another universe in the laboratory.

God did create us in his own image, didn't He?

Answer 6

I think that it could have came from the last universe that contracted upon it's self.
Why else would everything in the universe be flying apart? Doesn't that indicate that everything is going to come flying back together again?
And, how many times has this happened before?
Just a guess based on the law that every action has an equal yet opposite reaction.

Answer 7

What if the massive Bang concept is unproven on the instant .Later we locate that its a pretend concept.What then? The atoms interior the Periodic table of components point out that there are a number of distinctive mass systems with synergetic residences. We do exactly no understand why. no longer to point how they have been Created nearly all of the Universe is composed of Hydrogen atoms. What led to them to Unite and variety Nuclear fusion replace into no simplistic massive Bang concept.

Answer 8

Evil Tiger Lily said
"It didn't come from anywhere, it was created in the big bang from hot radiation. According to E=MC2 energy can be exchanged into matter."

Where did the energy come from then since it is neither created nor destroyed? If it was "Just There" then one cannot favor the Big Bang Theory over Jehovah God since energy was "Just There" and Jehovah God was "Just There." (wink)

Answer 9

It didn't come from anywhere, it was created in the big bang from hot radiation. According to E=MC2 energy can be exchanged into matter.

Answer 10

our universe has its own unique laws of physics. simple okay. now think of the mass of energy and matter before the big bang was similar to a black hole. now theoretically the center of a black hole has no laws of physics. so with no laws the matter could have come from nothing at all. its difficult to realize this because we think by our laws of physics