Continuation of my previous big bang question?

Question

If the big bang is unlike a traditional explosion in that space itself is expanding. How much smaller would space have been prior to the big bang? If everything was packed closely together before it "exploded" Then why would light take millions of years to reach us since all matter would have been in close proximity to each other. I would think that all stars and galaxies would be visible to us today because billions of years ago we were much closer to them than we are today.

Additional questions would be, if there is not enough matter in the universe to stop it's accelleration outward, then the universe' ultimate end is cold and dark without chance of rebirth? If that is the case then how could the universe evan have begun? Where could all the matter come from and how did it get there?

Im not trying to make this a religious question. I dont want to say if I am an Atheist or a Christian, I just want a honest answer to what I feel is a honest question.

Answer 1

There are some simple answers to your questions.

First, now one knows what was going on in the few seconds or whatever time frame before the 'big bang." Maybe there was nothing, just empty space, maybe there was another universe. We don't know and we can't know.

Since, the big bang happened around 13.7 billion years ago we know how far the universe has expanded. Thanks to dark energy (an energy we can't see or detect, but we know is there) the universe will continue to expand.

The universe is going through a continual birth and rebirth process. As stars form the larger ones age, and explode as nova or supernova. Then that matter forms new stars and the cycle continues. But the cycle has a limit, each time the stars formed are smaller and smaller. At one point, billions of years in the future there won't be any suns large enough to go nova. The birth and rebirth cycle of the universe will end.

As the universe continues to spread apart it will take longer for dust and gas to collapse and form into a star. At some point the distances involved will be far enough that there won't be enough gas and dust to form large stars, so there won't be any more novas so the birth and rebirth cycle ends.

As the matter in the universe spreads out beyond this point it will start to die. Everything will die, stars will run out of fuel and new star won't reform. The matter from exploded stars that didn't form other stars will be spread throughout empty space, but it will be so thin that space will still seem to be a vacuum. This time will be knows as the heat death of the universe.

There is a law of the universe that nothing runs forever, eventually some force will slow it down or stop it. This property is called entropy. We see it as friction, overcoming inertia and other inefficiencies that prevent our machines from being perfect. This property of entropy is what will finally kill the universe.

A decade or so ago there was another theoretical end of the universe. At the end the only thing left would be black holes, which would suck all the matter of the universe together. Eventually the black holes would suck each other in and create one huge black hole with all the matter of the universe. That black hole would explode as the cosmic egg that stated the big bang. This would mean that the universe would go in cycles or death and rebirth. The problem is that Steven Hawking found out that black holes are dead ends, they don’t last forever and eventually, through Hawking radiation, they will evaporate. This won’t be until they don’t have a lot of matter to suck in any more, but at some point the universe will be spread so far apart that it will happen. So thanks to dark energy and evaporating black holes the universe won’t give rebirth to itself.

Answer 2

"...How much smaller would space have been prior to the big bang?..."
Since cosmologists can't definitely describe what conditions were like before the Big Bang the majority of them consider there having been *no* space prior to the Big Bang. Only at the instant of the Big Bang did space first come into existence. Mind-boggling I know, but at this time we simply don't have the means to even attempt to research pre-Big Bang conditions.

"...why would light take millions of years to reach us since all matter would have been in close proximity to each other..."
Light from the farthest regions of the universe that we can see is some 13.7-billion years old. Earth is only about 4-billion years old, meaning that we weren't around to see the very early universe. Also, the farther away large systems are from us, the faster they're receding from us, therefore there are vast regions of the universe where space is expanding faster than the speed of light so we can never see anything there (..it's space that's expanding faster than the speed of light not matter, therefore relativity isn't violated..)

"...then the universe' ultimate end is cold and dark without chance of rebirth?..."
Recent research, particularly the WMAP project, strongly implies that our universe will indeed continue to expand indefinitely and eventually end up as you describe.

"...Where could all the matter come from and how did it get there?..."
That's the Big Question for which there is no answer. At the first instant of the Big Bang there was nothing but space and energy. We now know that given enough energy, matter can be created, and that's what happened in the Big Bang.

Answer 3

Scientists really don't have an answer for that "where did it all come from" question...but the idea was that it was a singularity of time and space. I think you are right that the current theory is that matter (Including dark matter and dark energy) is too limited to hold it all together and that, indeed, all the matter and energy will be eventually totally dispersed. Also, you are right, in that many of the galaxies we observe are as they were millions of years ago and we can predict they are much further from us today (except, of course, we can't really see them "today").

Answer 4

i'm afraid that what you call a query is properly a rant merchandising your man or woman ideals. regrettably, those have little or no foundation in technology, while the vast Bang theory incredibly does. As a proof for what we observe around us, it incredibly is the perfect we've. different theories have come and long gone, having failed alongside the way. opposite to what some have self assurance, the final public of scientists evaluate it to be the main possibly. the place some variety is interior the various significant factors, however the version won't be completely understood via the non-scientist. by using the years, it may easily be plenty changed, yet it extremely is the destiny of all theories that are taken heavily. till somebody comes up with a practicable decision, it incredibly is going to proceed to be the main possibly of our factors for the Universe that exists right this moment. stupid statements like planets older than the Universe do no longer help your reason.

Answer 5

Billions of years ago we didn't exist, and not every other star and galaxy existed either. Stars die and others are being born constantly. So a star may be born a million light year away today, but its light will not reach Earth for another million years.

Answer 6

thats what they are trying tof igure out. as humans we are programmed to think of everything as having a begining. the fact is that we dont knwo where it all came from. But for every action there is an = and oposite reaction. the univers is predicted to collapse upon itself in millions of years. porducing enourmous amounts of heat and energy and staring another big bang.

Answer 7

Where could all the matter come from and how did it get there?

Kinda reminds me of the story when Satan claimed to God that he too could create a man from dirt.
He reached down for a handful of dirt.

"AHH AHH AHH. Get your own dirt".

Answer 8

im a little lost... but good in depth question... keep it up:-)

Answer 9

You seem to be mixing this with that.