The Big Bang theory: Explain it to me please.?

Question

I'm going to buy a book about it by Singh, I think it is, with my next paycheck, but I really want to get some knowledge of the basic theory before I get into the heavy reading. Thanks for the help...

Answer 1

Simply put: Everything in the universe as we know it originated from one compact "piece" of matter. When I say compact, don't imagine that it was tiny, but instead it was extremely dense. For whatever reason, this piece of matter exploded and was sent flying in billions of various size pieces (stars, planets, asteroids, comets, suns, etc.) through the universe as we know it today. Because of the expansion which originally caused the explosion, the universe is constantly expanding, and has been proven to be, by comparing directions and frequencies of the light given off by the various pieces that are the farthest away from us.

Answer 2

Big Bang Theory: At one time everything in the Universe was packed into a VERY small space (pin head size maybe?) something happened and it exploded. All known matter originated from this space. One source of proof is that some stars appear to have a Red tint to them, this is because the star is moving away at such a speed the the light emitted is actually being shifted to to a lower frequency.

If you like that book, and want to get a littler deeper into the link between Einstein and Newton's view of the universe check out Brian Greene's book "The Elegant Universe" about String Theory.

Answer 3

For any amatuer in Physics and Astronomy I would surely recommend the book :the big bang" by Simon Singh.. I just finished that book and found it good enuf..it gives u a good insight on big bang.

Answer 4

the universe was created from a singularity event where all matter "exploded" from basic primeval atoms and thus created the ever expanding universe where the galaxies and stars are expanding ad infinitum. This ever increasing expansion has now been measured by the "red shift" in cosmic radiation from stars and galaxies, which confirms outward expansion. That's the basic layman version, I am sure if you google it you can get the technical specifics

Answer 5

Alternate answer.

When God said "Let there be light" he created ALL of the light at the same time in the same location. Contained in this light was also all of the matter in the universe, in the form of energy. This explosion then cooled and became the known universe.

Answer 6

In physical cosmology, the Big Bang is the scientific theory that the universe emerged from a tremendously dense and hot state about 13.7 billion years ago. The theory is based on the observations indicating the expansion of space (in accord with the Robertson-Walker model of general relativity) as indicated by the Hubble redshift of distant galaxies taken together with the cosmological principle.


The Big Bang theory developed from observations of the structure of the universe and from theoretical considerations. Observers determined that most "spiral nebulae" were receding from Earth; but the observers themselves were unaware of the cosmological implications of this fact, or that the supposed nebulae were actually galaxies outside our own Milky Way.[5] Georges Lemaître, a Belgian Roman Catholic priest, independently derived the Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker equations from Albert Einstein's equations of general relativity in 1927 and proposed, on the basis of the recession of spiral nebulae, that the universe began as a simple "primeval atom"—what was later called the Big Bang.[6]

Soon after, in 1929, Edwin Hubble provided an observational basis for Lemaître's theory. He discovered that, seen from Earth, light from other galaxies is redshifted proportionally to their distance from Earth. This fact is now known as Hubble's law.[7][8] Given the cosmological principle whereby the universe, when viewed on sufficiently large distance scales, has no preferred directions or preferred places, Hubble's law implied that the universe was expanding, contradicting the infinite and unchanging static universe scenario developed by Einstein.[9]


Artist's depiction of the WMAP satellite gathering data to help scientists understand the Big Bang.This idea allowed for two distinct possibilities. One possibility was Fred Hoyle's steady state model whereby new matter would be created as the universe seemed to expand. In this model, the universe is roughly the same at any point in time.[10] The other was Lemaître's Big Bang theory, advocated and developed by George Gamow. It was actually Hoyle who coined the name of Lemaître's theory, referring to it sarcastically as "this big bang idea" during a program broadcast on March 28, 1949, by the BBC Third Programme. Hoyle repeated the term in further broadcasts in early 1950, as part of a series of five lectures entitled The Nature of Things. The text of each lecture was published in The Listener a week after the broadcast, the first time that the term "big bang" appeared in print.[11] While Hoyle's "steady state" and Lemaître's "Big Bang" were the two most popular models used to explain Hubble's observations, other ideas were also proposed. Some of these alternatives included the Milne model,[12] Richard Tolman's oscillatory universe,[13] and Fritz Zwicky's tired light hypothesis.[14]

For a while, support was split between the "steady state" and "Big Bang" theories. However, the observational evidence eventually began to favor the latter. The discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation in 1964 secured its place as the best theory of the origin and evolution of the cosmos. Much of the current work in cosmology includes understanding how galaxies form in the context of the Big Bang, understanding what happened at the Big Bang and reconciling observations with the basic theory.

Huge advances in Big Bang cosmology were made in the late 1990s and the early 21st century as a result of major advances in telescope technology in combination with large amounts of satellite data such as that from COBE, the Hubble Space Telescope and WMAP. Such data have allowed cosmologists to calculate many of the parameters of the Big Bang to a new level of precision and led to the unexpected discovery that the expansion of the universe appears to be accelerating.

Extrapolated into the past, these observations show that the universe has expanded from a state in which all the matter and energy in the universe was at an immense temperature and density. Physicists do not widely agree on what happened before this, although general relativity predicts a gravitational singularity (for reporting on some of the more notable speculation on this issue, see cosmogony).

The term Big Bang is used both in a narrow sense to refer to a point in time when the observed expansion of the universe (Hubble's law) began — calculated to be 13.7 billion (1.37 × 1010) years ago (±2%) — and in a more general sense to refer to the prevailing cosmological paradigm explaining the origin and expansion of the universe, as well as the composition of primordial matter through nucleosynthesis as predicted by the Alpher-Bethe-Gamow theory.[1]

From this model, George Gamow in 1948 was able to predict, at least qualitatively, the existence of cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB).[2] The CMB was discovered in 1964[3] and further corroborated the Big Bang theory, giving it an additional advantage over its chief rival, the steady state theory.[4]

Answer 7

wow, i guess i'm late here...
but it seems u have some pretty serious explaination here~
hope mine will shed some lights~

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AkCPpMGtXyWXPdUdLsDZiOAgBgx.?qid=20061028170634AAoJC8G&show=7#profile-info-AA11255480

Answer 8

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang this will help

Answer 9

In physical cosmology, the Big Bang is the scientific theory that the universe emerged from a tremendously dense and hot state about 13.7 billion years ago. The theory is based on the observations indicating the expansion of space (in accord with the Robertson-Walker model of general relativity) as indicated by the Hubble redshift of distant galaxies taken together with the cosmological principle.

Extrapolated into the past, these observations show that the universe has expanded from a state in which all the matter and energy in the universe was at an immense temperature and density. Physicists do not widely agree on what happened before this, although general relativity predicts a gravitational singularity (for reporting on some of the more notable speculation on this issue, see cosmogony).

The term Big Bang is used both in a narrow sense to refer to a point in time when the observed expansion of the universe (Hubble's law) began — calculated to be 13.7 billion (1.37 × 1010) years ago (±2%) — and in a more general sense to refer to the prevailing cosmological paradigm explaining the origin and expansion of the universe, as well as the composition of primordial matter through nucleosynthesis as predicted by the Alpher-Bethe-Gamow theory.[1]

From this model, George Gamow in 1948 was able to predict, at least qualitatively, the existence of cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB).[2] The CMB was discovered in 1964[3] and further corroborated the Big Bang theory, giving it an additional advantage over its chief rival, the steady state theory.[
The Big Bang theory developed from observations of the structure of the universe and from theoretical considerations. Observers determined that most "spiral nebulae" were receding from Earth; but the observers themselves were unaware of the cosmological implications of this fact, or that the supposed nebulae were actually galaxies outside our own Milky Way.[5] Georges Lemaître, a Belgian Roman Catholic priest, independently derived the Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker equations from Albert Einstein's equations of general relativity in 1927 and proposed, on the basis of the recession of spiral nebulae, that the universe began as a simple "primeval atom"—what was later called the Big Bang.[6]

Soon after, in 1929, Edwin Hubble provided an observational basis for Lemaître's theory. He discovered that, seen from Earth, light from other galaxies is redshifted proportionally to their distance from Earth. This fact is now known as Hubble's law.[7][8] Given the cosmological principle whereby the universe, when viewed on sufficiently large distance scales, has no preferred directions or preferred places, Hubble's law implied that the universe was expanding, contradicting the infinite and unchanging static universe scenario developed by Einstein.[9]


Artist's depiction of the WMAP satellite gathering data to help scientists understand the Big Bang.This idea allowed for two distinct possibilities. One possibility was Fred Hoyle's steady state model whereby new matter would be created as the universe seemed to expand. In this model, the universe is roughly the same at any point in time.[10] The other was Lemaître's Big Bang theory, advocated and developed by George Gamow. It was actually Hoyle who coined the name of Lemaître's theory, referring to it sarcastically as "this big bang idea" during a program broadcast on March 28, 1949, by the BBC Third Programme. Hoyle repeated the term in further broadcasts in early 1950, as part of a series of five lectures entitled The Nature of Things. The text of each lecture was published in The Listener a week after the broadcast, the first time that the term "big bang" appeared in print.[11] While Hoyle's "steady state" and Lemaître's "Big Bang" were the two most popular models used to explain Hubble's observations, other ideas were also proposed. Some of these alternatives included the Milne model,[12] Richard Tolman's oscillatory universe,[13] and Fritz Zwicky's tired light hypothesis.[14]

For a while, support was split between the "steady state" and "Big Bang" theories. However, the observational evidence eventually began to favor the latter. The discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation in 1964 secured its place as the best theory of the origin and evolution of the cosmos. Much of the current work in cosmology includes understanding how galaxies form in the context of the Big Bang, understanding what happened at the Big Bang and reconciling observations with the basic theory.

Huge advances in Big Bang cosmology were made in the late 1990s and the early 21st century as a result of major advances in telescope technology in combination with large amounts of satellite data such as that from COBE, the Hubble Space Telescope and WMAP. Such data have allowed cosmologists to calculate many of the parameters of the Big Bang to a new level of precision and led to the unexpected discovery that the expansion of the universe appears to be accelerating.

Based on measurements of the expansion of the universe using Type 1a supernovae, measurements of temperature fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background, and measurements of the correlation function of galaxies, the universe has a calculated age of 13.7 ± 0.2 billion years. The agreement of these three independent measurements is considered strong evidence for the so-called ΛCDM model that describes the detailed nature of the contents of the universe.

The early universe was filled homogeneously and isotropically with an incredibly high energy density and concomitantly huge temperatures and pressures. It expanded and cooled, going through phase transitions pertinent to elementary particles.

Approximately 10−35 seconds after the Planck epoch a phase transition caused the universe to experience exponential growth during a period called cosmic inflation. After inflation stopped, the material components of the universe were in the form of a quark-gluon plasma (also including all other particles—and perhaps experimentally produced recently as a quark-gluon liquid [3]) in which the constituent particles were all moving relativistically. As the universe continued growing in size, the temperature dropped. At a certain temperature, by an as-yet-unknown transition called baryogenesis, the quarks and gluons combined into baryons such as protons and neutrons, somehow producing the observed asymmetry between matter and antimatter. Still lower temperatures led to further symmetry breaking phase transitions that put the forces of physics and elementary particles into their present form. Later, some protons and neutrons combined to form the universe's deuterium and helium nuclei in a process called Big Bang nucleosynthesis. As the universe cooled, matter gradually stopped moving relativistically and its rest mass energy density came to gravitationally dominate that of radiation. After about 300,000 years the electrons and nuclei combined into atoms (mostly hydrogen); hence the radiation decoupled from matter and continued through space largely unimpeded. This relic radiation is the cosmic microwave background.

Over time, the slightly denser regions of the nearly uniformly distributed matter gravitationally attracted nearby matter and thus grew even denser, forming gas clouds, stars, galaxies, and the other astronomical structures observable today. The details of this process depend on the amount and type of matter in the universe. The three possible types are known as cold dark matter, hot dark matter, and baryonic matter. The best measurements available (from WMAP) show that the dominant form of matter in the universe is cold dark matter. The other two types of matter make up less than 20% of the matter in the universe.

The universe today appears to be dominated by a mysterious form of energy known as dark energy. Approximately 70% of the total energy density of today's universe is in this form. This dark energy causes the expansion of the universe to deviate from a linear velocity-distance relationship, observed as a faster than expected expansion at very large distances. Dark energy in its simplest formulation takes the form of a cosmological constant term in Einstein's field equations of general relativity, but its composition is unknown and, more generally, the details of its equation of state and relationship with the standard model of particle physics continue to be investigated both observationally and theoretically.

All these observations are encapsulated in the ΛCDM model of cosmology, which is a mathematical model of the Big Bang with six free parameters. Mysteries appear as one looks closer to the beginning, when particle energies were higher than can yet be studied by experiment. There is no compelling physical model for the first 10−33 seconds of the universe, before the phase transition that grand unification theory predicts. At the "first instant", Einstein's theory of gravitation predicts a gravitational singularity where densities become infinite.[15] To resolve this paradox, a theory of quantum gravitation is needed. Understanding this period of the history of the universe is one of the greatest unsolved problems in physics.