If energy cannot be created or destroyed, then how do we have it in the first place?

Question

Yeah, potential energy turns into kinetic, but how did we get the potential energy. Please make the answer understandable. Thank you!

But you guys say it was always there. How can it be if energy cannot be created? Sorry if I am being stubborn, it is just hard for me to understand why they say this.

Answer 1

A. This idea is actually outdated
-The universe is expanding and all of the new "space" has energy in it.
-Also, space is full of virtual particles that are constantly popping in and out of existence.
B. This idea also stems from our current laws of physics. When the universe was in the early early stages of the "bang", our physics were unknown. Our 4 fundamental forces were one. So any current laws were irrelevant.

Answer 2

You won't get any answer better than Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." There is no theory of science that tells where it all came from. Cosmology extrapolates back in time to what the universe might have looked like if it all went back to a Big Bang. But that's as far back as they can go. To say "it was always there" is another way of saying you don't have a clue.

Answer 3

very good point. My answer flies into loads of controversy, but still. Assumption 1 :matter cannot be created or destroyed .
Assumption 2: the universe started .
Ergo the mass/energy of the universe is zero , hence we have negative mass knocking about, ie we exist so ....
the rest follows

Answer 4

If you want to have a headache think on this.

Your question is what people base the premise of God on. That is there is a higher being out there that created all this. Then in turn who created God. I do not like to think on this cuz it gives me the chills at time.

Answer 5

E=mc2 energy equals mass times the speed of light squared, in other words action=reaction

Answer 6

dont know if this is gona make a tonne of sence but.........

Gravity causes gravitational potential energy which causes EK..... same goes with electrical fields.

Potential energy is caused by the position in either a gravitational or electrical field.

So energy is CAUSED by being created by the very things that create our universe....

yep....... i was right not a whole tonne of sence......

Answer 7

Because it is always there, but in a different form/formula/etc.
Probably the simplest way to explain would be snow/ice/water/steam..... the chemical makeup is always there, but maybe in a different form.

Answer 8

Energy is energy. Why can't it just have always been there....which it has.

:)

Answer 9

it is simply a presence in our universe. there is no life without energy.