The Big Bang

Facts concerning the Big Bang

The Big Bang is currently accepted by most scientists as the method by which the physical universe came into being. Before the event known as the Big Bang most scientists assume that there was a Big Squeeze. During the Big Squeeze all of the the matter of the universe was supposedly condensed into a space not much bigger than a human fist. This matter then exploded in the event commonly called the Big Bang. After this explosion all of that matter expanded outwardly away from the center of the explosion. This expansion is thought to be continuing to this day.

The strongest evidence for the Big Bang is the red-shift of light from stars. Light waves behave similarly to sound waves when either the source or observer is in motion. A train whistle goes up in pitch as a train approaches and then it goes down again when the train passes by. The reason for this change is that as the train approaches the sound waves are compressed resulting in a higher pitch. As the sound waves recede they are stretched out resulting in a lower pitch. This is known as the Doppler effect. Light behaves in the same way except instead of changing pitch it changes color. Light from an object that is approaching has its wavelengths compressed and shifted to the blue side of the visible spectrum. Light from an object that is moving away has its wavelengths stretched out and shifted to the red side of the spectrum. The light from most, but not all, stars is shifted to the red side. This is commonly known as the red-shift. This red-shift of light leads most scientists to conclude that the stars are moving away from some central point in the universe. This then leads to the conclusion that at one time back in the past all of the matter in the universe was located at one central location.

Other evidence for the Big Bang is background "noise" or radiation. After every explosion there is the initial noise from the explosion and then there are the after effects, or echoes, from the event. Scientists predicted that if the Big Bang actually happened then there should be some type of after-effect or background noise. This background radiation was subsequently discovered with radio telescopes. The discovery of this background radiation was considered a major vindication for the Big Bang theory. There are many variations on this idea and even the physicists who work in this area do not agree on all of the details. However, the Big Bang is generally accepted as the most reasonable explanation for the creation of the universe.

Observations on the Big Bang

The evidence for the Big Bang is very strong. It seems apparent that at one time all of the matter of the universe was indeed located at one central point. Not all of the evidence agrees with an expanding universe as there are some stars that have a blue shift in their spectrum. This would indicate that these stars are travelling towards us and not away. But for the most part, the overwhelming evidence does agree with the scientific model that is commonly called - The Big Bang.

The question may not be so much as to "what happened?" but "how did it happen?". The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics shows that order never comes from disorder without the input of energy in conjunction with a directional force. Therefore, an orderly universe resulting from the Big Bang clearly indicates that there was an outside force present at the time of its' creation. Due to the self-imposed limitations of science this force may never be identified using modern scientific methods.

Age of the Universe