If the universe really was created by the big bang, and before the big bang there was nothing?

Question

Does that mean that the definition of nothing changes in that something must have existed to cause a reaction in the first place.

Answer 1

science knows what happened a few milliseconds after the big bang ,but not before it,they can only make calculated guesses based on what they know,But all the matter in the universe had to come from somewhere,many theories abound,1 it came from the previous universe(ie the universe has exsisted before) 2 the matter was just floating around and collapsed in on itself under gravity and then the big bang 3(the most unlikely)God!!
Matter cannot be destroyed,only converted,ie water into steam,matter into energy,so possibly energy converted back into matter.either way I think we shall all be long dead before the answers are fully known

Answer 2

Well frankie before the big bang there was NO TIME which means nothing happend, time is a dimension in the universe e.g if time stoped in the universe now just like it did before the big bang everything will be completely still (nothing happens, nothing changes), until something happend which created time and that all was matter in the universe colliding with each other there was a reaction then which began time and that matter and few elements changed in to other things for example simple elements like hydrogen which was around for a long time can change to water then water changes to things like steam and ice and all sorts of things. and their are lots of rocks that have formed and changed over millions of years we have complicated and all sorts of different elements compounds and molecules today like yttrium and berryliem both ones of the less important elements in the periodic table wich when together as a solid called galodium are used for the red colour in your tv!
so anyway everything just slowly changed and settled down after the big bang just like the earth did and their are similarities between before the big bang and now see so that does actually make sense about nothingness.
WELL I HOPE THAT ALL HELPS!!

Answer 3

It's just a guess really, the Big Bang. Science measures the rate at which the Universe is expanding - as far as modern techniques allow.

From that they can wind the clock back twelve billion years or so and surmise that the whole Universe came from one single point.

It's a widely accepted theory that doesn't really adequately explain where the material to cause the Big bang came from.

As far as I can remember, there is another theory that states that prior to this Universe coming into being, there was another one and another before that.

We are limited in what we can understand with this, as pretty much any number you use to describe anything in Astronomy is so vast that it becomes meaningless to most people.

Answer 4

I too heard of the multiple universes theory which says that our universe is one of many universes where the constants (the physical constants that is) are just right for life, etc. to evolve. There may be other variables. Of course it is not answering your question what was there 'before' the big bang. Of course the Membrane theory postulates that multiple collisions (and universes) can occur. Any way, here we are speculating about all these things......

Answer 5

M theory or membrane theory is now gaining acceptance for the theoretical model of the "life the universal and everything" and explains the big bang quite nicely...

M theory was born out of the original quest for a grand unifying theory between relativity and quantum mechanics, was brought on through string theory, super gravity and then to it's current form.

Basically m theory sees all matter existing on a membrane which vibrates at different speeds in different areas, these speeds give the matter in that area it's different properties...

Mathematically it also shows there are up to 11 dimensions in each possible universe, and in each the interactions between these determines the "laws of physics" for that universe..

M theory is great as it can be used to explain the very small, the very large and everything in between, and shows universes are popping in and out of existence all the time, and the maths stands.

Of course if your from Indiana and believe in intelligent design then it's all the work of god and there was nothing before.. which then begs the question.. if time is eternal.. which we know it is coz god is eternal.. but the world and everything in it is like only 6000years old or whatever it is meant to be.. what was god doing during the infinite amount of time that passed before he decided to create the universe?

Give me m theory

Answer 6

Debating what happened "before" the creation of the universe (and therefore what caused it) is fraught with issues. Not least of which is that time itself was created at that point. Asking what happened before time was created is obviously nonsensical since there can be no "before" using our current definition of time.

A similar argument can be applied to the statement that something must have "caused" the Big Bang. Having a concept of "caused" implies a concept of "time" and time didn't exist before the Big Bang. Therefore, depending on one's point of view, either the Big Bang didn't have a cause or that cause is unknown and, probably, unknowable.

Answer 7

There is also a theory of the Universe having elastic qualities. There is a Big Bang, and the Universe expends. When it reaches a critical level, it compacts back into a singularity, just to go back into a Big Bang.

It still is basically an eternal Universe that has no cause, though.

Answer 8

Even if there was things before the big bang they would not be considered at all, because time started at the big bang and therefore any prior event would have no effects on the current universe.

Answer 9

When people suggest that the universe was created by the big bang, they are misquoting scientific opinion. The universe as we know it was created in the big bang. The big bang theory itself does not have any suggestion as to whether there was a time before the bang or what it might have been like.

Answer 10

Nothing in theory says there was "nothing before the big bang." We don't know what came before that--and may not ever be able to know.