what was before the big bang? if there was nothing how can nothing ignite something so big.?

Answer 1

this is actually a common misconception about the big bang. the big bang theory says that spacetime itself originated in that event. the big bang theory is supported by evidence very well. no other theory or hypothesis is.

read these:
http://www.sciam.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=0009F0CA-C523-1213-852383414B7F0147
http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_uni.html

Answer 2

I would imagine that as 3-d creatures, we will never fully understand a multi-dimensional universe. That doesn't mean to say we can't measure it. We can't really picture what electricity is, but we would be in trouble if we couldn't use it.

I am not a religious person, but it always amazes me that with a little bit of science we can pooh-pooh the Bible story of the creation, while giving the thumbs up to a theory where the mass of the universe (remember there are more suns than there are grains of sand in the world) suddenly popped out of nothing. It is more fantastic than the Bible story, yet many believe it because scientists tell us so.

But remember, it is only a theory. There is the possibility that our universe pulsates - in other words, the universe contracted to a point, then started expanding again with the big bang, but we only have observational evidnce for everything since the big bang- the way galaxies are speeding away from us and the famous background radiation.

But if it does expand/contract/expand/contract, then we are still stuck with where it all began, but at least we don't have to worry about where all the matter came from.

It is great though, that we don't know everything- how boring that would be.

Answer 3

We can speculate in religion or metaphysics about how things were like before the Big Bang, but we cannot use science to tell anything about it by using what we know about physics (Laws of Thermodynamics, Entropy, etc.) because the theories of physics break down at this point. Current theory is that the universe started with a big bang (or a rapid expansion from a very hot, dense state) about 13.7 billion years ago. Quantum cosmology states that in the beginning was Nothing. There was no space, no matter or energy. But according to the quantum principle, even Nothing was unstable. Nothing began to decay with billions of tiny bubbles forming and expanding rapidly. Each bubble became an expanding universe. So, according to some quantum physicists, universes can literally spring into existence as a quantum fluctuation of Nothing and our universe is actually part of a much larger multiverse of parallel universes, which is truly timeless.

That is my secular answer. Then again I am a Chrisitian and on Faith believe in Genesis. :)

Answer 4

Before the big Bang, when it is said nothing was available, it should be understood that there were no solar system as such. It must be remembered there are more galaxies other than the Milky way and the Universe consisted of great cloud or nebula, of gases and dust. Over a period,(5000 million years ago), the nebula began to collapse under gravitational forces. The gas and dust gradually came together to form thicker and thicker mass. As nebula collapsed it also started to rotate getting faster and faster, it turned into a spinning disc which was thickest at the centre, and the solar system was formed. P.S. de Laplace, the French mathematician had stated as for back as 1796 and it is called nebular hypothesis.
Ramachandran V.

Answer 5

Before the big bang there was nothing. No space, nothing in the lack of space, nothing. Space is only defined by events within the space so if there are no events there is no space. For the same reason it is impossible to look at size in the universe as an outside observer. The size of the universe is defined by things inside the universe. So to objectively measure the universe is impossible. I probably didn't say that well so let me make a (poor) analogy. Find a picture of an ant on line, now find a picture of the planet earth, or a galaxy. Now put them next to each other in your browser. Which is bigger? There's no scale to compare them off of, the ant seems as big as a galaxy. For an observer outside the universe there's no reference to gauge things off because there are no events taking place outside the universe to gauge space off of.

What this all means is that the universe is the same size as when it started, 0, at least according to a fictional outside observer, and the only way to observe the big bang is as an outside observer.

Answer 6

Scientists are able to study what happened just after the big bang happened (within less than a second!), but the real answer to your question you will have to go somewhere other than science for because there is no scientific or mathematical evidence about the universe prior to the big bang...we may never know.

Answer 7

You're right to be mystified here. It just goes against all logic that out of nothing, suddenly -- POOF! -- and here's the Universe. It violates all our cherished conservation principles (unless your other answerer who thinks it might be just another start of a cyclical universe that expands and then contracts and expands again is right).

It's clear that no one has any idea how this could be. And it probably means that something new waits to be discovered that might help explain it. Don't let anyone tell you that it's been figured out already.

Answer 8

It's not like someone lit a fuse on a firecracker and it went 'bang,' My personal guess would be that it was just a cycle starting over, the universe expanded till it stopped, then retracted back to a center point. Then it expanded again.

Answer 9

The Big Bang was not ignited. It was compressed so much that it exploded.

Answer 10

imagine a numberline with 0 in between and expanding all the way to +infinity and to -infinity....the zero just needed to expand ...that's how it's nature is defined in indian philosophy...brahma means something which expands..(literally) and interestingly the sum total of all the energies is = 0 in this whole universe......so before the big bang there was 0 which just decided due to a desire in it to expand....and this desire controls the whole of the universe...where does that come from...no one knows...not even god....