What Theories are there for what happened before the Big Bang? (NO RELIGIOUS ANSWERS!)?

Question

Please don't make this up, I'm really asking.

Answer 1

From what I have read, what happened before the big bang has no effect on the universe and therefore can not be theorized about.

Or, as Stephen Hawking said in "A Briefer History of Time"

"All our theories of cosmology are formulated on the assumption that space_time is smooth and nearly flat. That means that all our theories break down at the big bang: a space_time with infinite curvature can hardly be called nearly flat! Thus even if there were events before the big bang, we could not use them to determine what would happen afterward, because predictability would have broken down at the big bang.

Correspondingly, if, as is the case, we know only what has happened since the big bang, we cannot determine what happened beforehand. As far as we are concerned, events before the big bang can have no consequences and so should not form part of a scientific model of the universe. We should therefore cut them out of the model and say that the big bang was the beginning of time. This means that questions such as who set up the conditions for the big bang are not questions that science addresses."

Answer 2

One theory is the oscillating universe theory (I don't know if that's the name or not). The idea is that the universe expands so far, then begins to contract into a "Big Crunch", this happens just before a Big Bang starts another universe.

M Theory (or at least one version of it) suggest that the Big Bang is when nearby universes (in a larger "universe") bang into each other, so what it is suggesting is that the universe was here, but what we experience of it is the result of one of these Big Bangs.

There's also the view (what I subscribe to) is that there is nothing before the Big Bang. Time itself begins with the Big Bang, and there is no such thing as "what happened before the Big Bang". Think of the universe as being a sphere (this isn't correct, but it should give an explanation as to what I am saying). Think of north as the direction of time with the South Pole being the Big Bang. You can't go any further south than the South Pole. Same thing with time, you can't go back any further because there is nothing further to go to.

Answer 3

This is what my science teacher told me: The big bang:At first there was nothing, however time was there and matter and antimatter which we cannot see
When matter and antimatter meet they are detroyed into nothing and only matter remains- this process in scientific terms is known as annihilating
One day for some reason(scientists have not figured out the reason yet) but their figures became slightly different and it created a slight bit of antimatter over matter:1,000,000,000 particles to every 99,999,999 antiparticles. When the particles did cancel out, it created the """big bang""" .If those figures ahd been equal, the universe would today still be an ever expanding emptiness.
Hope thi helps alot ...~cheers~ :P

Answer 4

I think the theory of the big bang says that it's the moment in which a mass denser than anyones imagination reached a critical point and exploded, and the variable/dimension "time" strted there. So before that, time did not exist in ohysical terms (it is hard to grasp but that's what i've heard)
I also heard once that it was a big blackhole like the ones we know that got so filled with mass that it collapsed, giving birth to our known universe (this would be a less physical, more astronomical one)

Answer 5

A theory has to be based on some sort of observation. Since we cannot observe anything that preceded the big bang, no solid theory can be offered.
Some speculate that our universe is just a outgrowth from the edge of a previous universe, which does not answer anything, it just moves the question further to the past.

Answer 6

The theory is that the Big Bang happened when two atoms collided at speeds equal or greater to the speed of light. They tried an experiment with it recently with some form of particle accelerator and two atoms. They collided them and due to force and temperature increase (I think the heat created from the mini Big Bang was 100,000 times that of the hottest star or something like that... Don't quote me) it caused more atoms to be forced out of the two atoms and theoretically become born,
I guess they had some law of physics that was broken with this though, but then again many laws of physics are broken within the atomic and sub-atomic level.
-Dan

Answer 7

The theory most passed around is that our Universe is a black hole in a larger universe. Also, that black holes in OUR universe are other universes. So, "before" the big bang there wouldn't have been a black hole formed yet in the larger universe....at least, according to this idea.
There are others that say our universe is an electron in a larger universe, which is an electron in an even larger universe...and on and on forever....while electrons of our own universe are actually other universes.
None of which is proven!!!

Answer 8

String theory says that there could be flat sheets called branes that constantly wiggle and jiggle. When two branes touch, which happens often, they cause a big bang and create another universe.

Answer 9

the only logical answers are religious

Answer 10

someone designed the big firecracker