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Forum Discussion: The Big Bang Theory
Article:
A modern creation myth
Most cosmologists today believe that the universe we inhabit exploded into being some 15 billion years ago in a titanic fireball called the big bang. The modern big bang theory does not state that a concentrated lump of matter located at a particular point in space suddenly exploded, sending fragments rushing away at high speed, but that space itself came into being at the moment of the big bang.
The birth of the universe is said to have happened in the following
manner [1]. In the beginning, a tiny bubble of spacetime, a
billion-trillion-trillionth of a centimetre across (10-33 cm), popped
spontaneously into existence out of nothing as the result of a random
quantum fluctuation. It was seized by an intense anti-gravitational
force which caused it to expand with explosive rapidity. In scarcely
more than a billion-trillion-trillionth of a second the universe
swelled to about 10 cm, the size of a grapefruit. The
anti-gravitational force then disappeared, and the inflationary phase
of accelerating expansion came to an abrupt halt amid a burst of heat.
The heat energy and gravitational energy of expanding space then
produced matter and, as the universe cooled, more and more structure
began to 'freeze out' – first nuclei, then atoms, and finally galaxies,
stars, and planets.
Paul Davies and John Gribbin write: 'the big bang was the abrupt
creation of the Universe from literally nothing: no space, no time, no
matter. This is a quite extraordinary conclusion to arrive at – a
picture of the entire physical Universe simply popping into existence
from nothing' [2]. This theory is not just 'extraordinary' – it is
utterly absurd! If there was no space, matter, or energy before the
hypothetical big bang, then there was obviously nothing to undergo a
random fluctuation and nowhere for it to occur!
To avoid the illogical idea that the universe emerged from an
infinitesimal point, or 'singularity', of infinite density and
temperature, big bang cosmologists have invented the equally fanciful
notion of a 'smeared-out singularity'. They claim that prior to 10-43
seconds after the big bang, when the universe measured 10-33 cm across,
the distinction between space and time becomes blurred as a result of
'quantum fluctuations', so that an infinitesimal point can never form
and the origin of the universe cannot be said to occur at a precise
moment but is 'smeared out'.
Big bangers also theorize that if the universe contains sufficient
matter, space should curve round upon itself so that the universe is
'closed' and finite but has no boundaries or edges. However, to get
three-dimensional space to perform this remarkable contortion, advanced
mathematical acrobatics are required! If the amount of matter in the
universe is below the critical value, the universe is said to be
'open'; according to this scenario, although space popped into being a
finite period ago and expands at a finite pace, it somehow, and
probably instantly, became infinite – and yet even though it is
infinite it still manages to keep on expanding! We are told that a
closed universe will eventually stop expanding and start to contract,
culminating in a 'big crunch' in which it annihilates itself, leaving
behind nothing – no space and no matter. If, however, the universe is
open, it will expand forever; eventually stars will burn out, matter
will become utterly cold, all forces will fade out, and the universe
will suffer a 'heat death'. Such are some of the claims made by the
standard creation myth of modern science.
The big bang theory is based on three main pieces of observational
evidence. Firstly, in the early decades of the century it was
discovered that the light from distant galaxies is 'redshifted', i.e.
the spectral lines are displaced towards the red or long-wavelength end
of the spectrum as compared with similar spectra on earth. One possible
explanation is that the galaxies are rushing apart at great speed and
that the universe is expanding; from this it was inferred that the
universe originated in a huge explosion. Secondly, the universe is
filled with a uniform microwave radiation, which is claimed to be the
faint echo of the big bang. Thirdly, the big bang theory is believed to
explain the relative abundances of hydrogen, helium, and other light
elements in the universe. Commenting on the evidence for the big bang,
an editorial in the New Scientist stated: 'Never has such a mighty
edifice been built on such insubstantial foundations'
P. Davies & J. Gribbin, The Matter Myth, Simon & Schuster/Touchstone, 1992, pp. 162-73.
Ibid., p. 122.
New Scientist, 21/28 December 1991, p. 3.
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