HOw was the temperature of the Big Bang determined .There was nothing to boil it to make it hot?

Answer 1

The "temperature" is an abstract term when talking about this much energy. They define it as the kinetic energy of the particles. Since they know* the total energy and total mass, they can solve for T and have a temperature.

*Obviously no one was there with a thermometer, it is all very theoretical and a tad abstract.

Answer 2

1) you don't need to boil something to make it hot

2) the temperature of the big bang is a reasonably good estimate, not a precise number calculation

3) they estimate the big bang's temperature because the universe is a closed system. whatever energy is present in the whole universe today is the same ammount that was present back then. So if we can estimate a total of all the energy in the universe today (mass, kinetic, etc) then we can arrive at a reasonable estimate of the temperature of the big bang based on calculations of volume, expansion, and total energy.

Answer 3

The concept of the "big bang" is a theory. No matter what a person professes to understand about its formation, it is all conjecture on their part.

There is evidence that the "big bang" is a physical impossibility. The evidence lies within the core area of our own planet and that of our sun. Were you to determine the acceleration of a mass within our planet at the 0.716 mile location from its very center, you would find that were a mass able to be released there, and it were free to fall, the mass would exceed the speed of light in one second. Mass cannot exceed the speed of light in one second and remain mass. According to present theory, a black hole would have to form. This would be especially true of our sun where the distance that mass exceeds the speed of light is 400 miles from its center.

http://360.yahoo.com/noddarc there is a short writing entitled "The Problem and Repair of Relativity" that speaks further to this. It may be of interest