The Big Bang?

Question

How is it that prior to the big bang there was 'nothing', but somehow some atom or something exploded and caused the big bang (or something). So, how was there an atom or neutron or whatever if there was 'nothing'? what is the definition of 'nothing' in this context?

Answer 1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/physical_cosmology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/big_bang
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Big_Bang

as i understand it, there is no answer to this question. the big bang theory only describes the universe in its first few minutes. it does not actually make any predictions about where the universe came from. also, there is no way to predict what the universe was like in its earliest fractions of a second because general relativity isn't adequate.

matter is not expanding into existing space-time. it is space-time itself that is expanding. the big bang was the whole universe, and everywhere in the universe was once the big bang.

Answer 2

The main problem with your question is that something did exist before the big bang.

It is an observable fact that the universe is expanding, stars and galaxies are seen to be moving apart. This can be extrapolated back in time to the point when all matter was compressed into a single infinitely dense point.

When people say nothing existed before the big bang what they mean is that the universe as we know it didn't exist, no stars or planets existed. However everything, all of the energy that condensed into matter, existed prior to the big bang in the singularity which expanded to form the universe as we know it.

What we can't yet say is how long the singularity existed for prior to expansion and what caused it to expand.

Answer 3

The Big Bang Theory doesn't attempt to answer what existed or what happened prior to the Big Bang. It only describes the present back to the first nanoseconds (not minutes) after the bang. Mathematically speaking, it's entirely logical to believe that the Universe was infinitely small at some point in the past and that it got bigger by a type of explosion, the "bang" itself. One idea is that "nothing" existed previous to the Big Bang in the sense that there was no matter, everything was purely energy.

I couldn't begin to even pretend to tell you that I fully understand that or that I know what happened, what existed before, but I do know that a lack of understanding doesn't necessitate a belief in God.

And just a clarification on something a previous respondent said: theories of multiverses or a cyclical universe aren't competing theories of the Big Bang. They compliment the Big Bang theory by attempting to explain what initiated the bang.

Answer 4

Many of you talk of what existed before the Big Bang in terms of time. But since theory suggests that both space and time began with the big bang....then clearly NOTHING existed before then, because the was no before!
It is our primitive human understanding of reality that prevents us from grasping the fact that if time did not exist before the Big Bang, then NOTHING existed - because there was no reality to exist in!

Answer 5

One point everyone overlooks when attempting to learn about the Big Bang is its just a model. The real universe is not going to follow the dictates of a model and believing the model is real is a big mistake. Also-there is a lot of BS in this topic.

Answer 6

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen. - Wittgenstein

(Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.)

that's to say, there is no evidence concerning what, if anything, was before the big bang. cosmological theories have been advanced with or without some pre-existing 'stuff'. they seem to work roughly equally well, there is no clear winner. we could say though that whatever it was, it was almost certainly not an atom. there is fairly direct evidence in the form of the cosmic background radiation that atoms did not form until some 380,000 years after the big bang:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Big_Bang#Recombination:_380.2C000_years

Answer 7

I wish it were that simple but have struggled with this problem for many decades, al I can say is there is no such thing as nothing the nothing you referred is a seething mass of both energy and mass forming and anhyalating itself with matter and anti-matter, the something got out of order, hence the big bang

Answer 8

That there was nothing prior to the Big Bang is only one theory.

Others include, but are not limited to, a previous "incarnation" of a universe that collapsed back into a singularity.

Answer 9

We're too primitive at the moment to contemplate this subject and to expect any serious answer.

I'm not at all religious, but, until some positive evidence is produced, I am inclined to opt for an explanation that includes an 'almighty power' and 'life' out of life (i.e. where all our dead ancestors dwell)? Well! It's SOMETHING, which is better than 'nothing', isn't it?

Answer 10

And to add to what you said, the so called "Big Bang" is the equivalent of an explosion in a printing shop with the end result being a dictionary. To this day I still cannot believe that even a scientist who is an atheist can buy into this. Incredible.