The Universe is 13 billion years old. What was out there before the universe existed?

Question

Surely if it was just gas, air, empty space then that should also be considered to be the universe but just in a different state than it is today.....

...and what is on the outside of the universe as it is said that it is not infinite...?

Answer 1

no one really knows for certain how old the universe is. still, and probably always will be, conjecture at best. moreover, time is all relative.

may be the universe doesn't even exist. may be you don't exist. may be you're just a figment of some mass-less anti-matter or non-matter's imagination or dream. may be the universe is just a figment of your subconscious dream. may be you're just loosely thinking that you're reading this in this dream.

Answer 2

The main problem is that we do not yet understand the nature of Time yet, and we do not understand what happens when enough mass exists in a small enough space to invoke Einstein's Theories of Relativity and Quantum Physics simultaneously. This is the same puzzle that surrounds the singularity at the center of a Black Hole.

One of the more modern String Theories speculates that we may exist on a Brane (think of a 3 dimensional grid). Almost everything we can sense is hooked up only with this brane. Now imagine a 4th dimension. A small space away, maybe less than a meter, another 3 dimensional brane exists. The theory speculates that every X Billion/Trillion years, the two branes collide, sparking off a Big Bang type of event, resetting the universe. They then bounce away from each other, only to repeat this bouncing some time in the future.

If this is correct, then one interpretation is that the universe has always existed and is continually reset by this rather large game of pattycakes.

Answer 3

The Zeroth (0D) dimension maybe, the universe is not 13 billion years old, the big bang happened at that time before now but the universe would been endless into the future and into the past, the universe is infinite in four dimensions, the 2D being make-up, 1D been particle make-up and 3D being 2D positional make-up, 4D meaning the three dimensions including time.
0D would of had time, otherwise there would be no process of universe creation, the semi-universe was created 13 billion years ago and the whole universe was made below infinite, that includes in all directions, even to the centre (Time) of one space.
0D + 3D = 4D. 1D + 2D = 3D. 0D + 1D = 2D.
There was nothing before the universe, although it happened as the big bang created the semi-sphere shape that was later called a 2 part hemisphere semi-sphere. This was and is thought to be the shape of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). The CMB is over fifteen million light years across
(15 MLY), as we can see further outside the CMB the universe is suggested to be infinite so I gave the un-named a name, the "semi-universe" the mass of the CMB and the 15 MLY shell that was formed 13 BY ago, the root measurement made by Einstein was used to say that the universe was a sphere and had a boundary but "what was behind that?" he died and left us the measurement of Energy = Mass x Speed of Light Squared as E=MC^2.
Last answerer answer:
Well the reason how the big bang happened as in the whole universe the dimensions caused static the word nothing means nothing but if it has a word it is something, the brother of the Kaluza Klien particle theory explains that, dimensions that collide caused shapes from 1D KK plates and 2D face plates made 3D atoms that fused to create Quarks, Leptons, Gluons and maybe gravitons, gravitinoes and neutrinoes, Electrons, Antimatter and Positrons, etc and Quarks of the Up Down and Right as well as Left structure was made to make up as a positive collection of proto Quarks and neutro Quarks from a negative collection to make up the two known nucleons protons and neutrons, thus creating matter, the fusion created energy and the big bang was made as the blast body vacuum made it turn into a massive explosion, the big bang and the elements were mainly Hydrogen at the Left period side and Helium on the right period side this created the upper left Lithium of second hand left periodic side, left wing, this is shared by the upper left and upper right as well as the top middle periodic lane.
Antimatter was converted to dark matter and filled the spaces between the normal matter bodies and energy that flowed through the dark matter and energy, also a gravity field amplifier.
The first stars were born by gravity and gases by energetic nuclear fusion and nucleosynthesis reactions (synthesis: Greek for growth, nuclear atom -by fusion- growth). The semi-universe sphere (CMB) was born/made.

Answer 4

Nothing!
Everything that exists today was concentrated together as a small ball of energy. Einsteins theory explains the relationship between matter and energy - both are interchangeable under the right conditions. At the time of the big bang, the conditions became right to change from energy to matter - and so the ongoing process of creating the Universe began.
A similar question for you to get your head around is "What exists beyond the outer edge of the Universe?"

Answer 5

Scientists say it started from a singularity. That is to say the entire mass of the universe was so dense it was the size of a pinhead. Something like a super black hole. That then exploded and the universe was created and thrown outwards.

Interesting to think though, if there was nothing there before the big bang there must have been no such thing as nothing. If there was no nothing and no solid gas or liquid, what was there?

Mind boggling isn't it?

Answer 6

Now Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, to consider what existed before the universe is itself absurd because all scientific measurements of time begin with the creation of universe. Therefore nothing was present for the birth of the universe and in order to hold the one universal law of conservation of energy nothing will exist at the end of the universe if there is any end

Answer 7

It is a meaningless question. There was no before because time was created along with everything else.
That may sound crazy but like relativity and quantum mechanics any attempt to visualise it is doomed to failure, you just have to do the maths.
Unfortunatly the laws of physics have known limitations which prevents the maths being done for the first tiny instant of time which makes the question not only meaningless but impossible to answer!
This is what makes science fun - trying to understand just that little bit further than anyone else has gone before.

Answer 8

Your question assumes that time existed before the big-bang. This assumption is incorrect. space-time was created at the big-bang and hence to ask "what happened BEFORE" time began is meaning less.

I think you meant to ask "what exists outside of the universe?"

Well the answer to this is: Nothing and Everything!!!!!!!!

Nobody knows or could ever know what is outside, by the virtue it's outside of the universe means that it plays no part in what happens in-side the universe otherwise would be .. well ... inside!!!

Since it's outside and has no effect on the inside of the universe, we therefore cannot observe it (with current techniques) and are unable to relate it to the physics that governs our existence.

Answer 9

From the today's knowledge / belief before the big bang there was another universe that shrunk into the big bang initial mass. So the possibility that you have asked this question before the last big bang and I would have answered the same thing more then 26 billion years ago is very very high :)

Answer 10

I often wonder the same thing - from the perspective of the 'Big Bang' theory. Great idea - but what was it that went BANG - and why did it happen?!!!!!!
Of course, what we should all accept, is that a force that we call God - created everything in the entire (infinite) universe out of absolutely nothing and then populated it with beings 'in his likeness'.
I'm a Christian and even I struggle with that bit!!!!!!

Answer 11

Science is yet to discover the same. The process is on, but probably just now we can try to get the answer from our ancestors. In Hindu mythology, Krishna, The LORD tells his disciple, ARJUN that there was never a beginning and never and end, that all things in this universe leads to HIM. All HIS creation gets destroyed and recreated. We humans with limitations of TIME cannot perceive with TIME - 1. So probably the answer suits our comprehension.