The Big Bang Theory | A Universe Bursts To Life!
Nothing To Everything In An Instant!
The universe is an unimaginably big place, which scientist say burst into existence from a single, incredibly hot and dense, point! After this Big Bang, as the young universe expanded, it began to cool and the material inside started to coalesce. Under the force of gravity, this matter would eventually form stars, planets and the galaxies we see today. This ‘Big Bang’ which created all the space, time, matter and energy is believed to have occurred 13.8 billion years ago!
The 'Big Bang' - A Theory How The Universe Was Born!
The Big Bang theory is currently how scientists believe the universe started and evolved into what we observe today. The theory states that the universe began from an infinitely dense, and hot, point (known as a singularity) before time or space even existed! In an instant, this point (which contained the entire mass and energy of the universe) then exploded and expanded in such a way to explain the elements and structures we see throughout the universe today.
Astronomers combined mathematical models, laws of physics, Einstein’s theory of general relativity and observations of the objects and radiation in space (such as the cosmic background radiation) to develop the theory of how the universe came to be.
Only one second after the Big Bang, when all the matter, space and energy in the universe was still a 10 billion degrees soup of strange particles, the initial subatomic particles, atoms and energy we recognise around us today started to form and coalesce as the young universe expanded and cooled.
Eventually, due to slight differences in temperature across this primitive stew of particles, different regions started to collapse due to their gravity to eventually form the earliest stars, galaxies and planets we see today.
Detailed measurements made by astronomers of the expansion rate of distant objects in space have meant they conclude that the Big Bang occurred around 13.8 billion years ago, which is thus considered the age of the universe!
These measurements of the universe’s expansion have revealed that the expansion is not slowing as expected, but in fact accelerating! This is likely due to the presence of the mysterious dark matter and dark energy which science is still working to understand! Maybe one day you’ll be able to help reveal some of astronomy's great remaining mysteries!
