The Big Bang

[T.G.G. Moogly]

I think it is somewhat misleading to say that the Big Bang happened 14 billion years ago. It is probably more accurate to say that the Big Bang started 14 billion years ago and continues to the present.

Is that splitting hairs? Does that make sense?

I mean, if the Big Bang happened 14 billion years ago the implication is that it is over. But of course it is not. We are living in the Big Bang. We are the Big Bang.

 

[Kharakov]

Big Bang is an anagram for bib gang... which everyone knows.

 

[skepticalbip]

Actually the big bang theory (properly known as the expanding universe model) is just a mathematical model that describes how the universe is currently behaving as informed by observations that it is expanding. Fred Hoyle was an avid proponent of a steady state model and called the expanding universe model "Big Bang" ridiculing it. His ridiculing term caught on and was adopted by media and by those advocating the expanding universe model. The Big Bang model says nothing about "beginnings", only current behavior. However theoretical cosmologists have expanded on the Big Bang theory and currently propose a "Big Bang plus inflation" model which is the model that claims a 13.8 billion year old universe but this theory is hotly debated by cosmologists.

 

[ryan]

The Big Bang refers to the moment that a singularity began its rapid expansion into what is now the universe. The Big Bang is over.

 

[Kharakov]

Hint: Big Bang is a Nicky-name of the universe.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

The Big Bang refers to the moment that a singularity began its rapid expansion into what is now the universe. The Big Bang is over.

When did it end? Or how, or where, or however you choose to respond.

 

[Bomb#20]

The Big Bang refers to the moment that a singularity began its rapid expansion into what is now the universe. The Big Bang is over.

That's a misunderstanding spread widely by popularizers. There is no singularity in the Big Bang theory, any more than there's an emergence of life from non-life in the theory of evolution. The theory of evolution is about living species originating from earlier living species; the Big Bang theory is about cool sparse matter originating from earlier hotter denser matter. To extrapolate backwards from a theory of how things change to a conclusion about how things started is a perfectly normal human reaction, but it's not a scientific reaction. To do so is to step outside of the theory into the realm of speculation. We have no physical theory that tells us how an infinitely dense infinitely hot point can convert itself into a finite volume with finite temperature and density.

 

[ryan]

The Big Bang refers to the moment that a singularity began its rapid expansion into what is now the universe. The Big Bang is over.

When did it end?

I suppose when it went from infinite density to finite density.

Or how, or where, or however you choose to respond.

Nobody knows how. The answer to where is everywhere. All points in the universe made up the singularity before the Big Bang.

 

[ryan]

The Big Bang refers to the moment that a singularity began its rapid expansion into what is now the universe. The Big Bang is over.

That's a misunderstanding spread widely by popularizers. There is no singularity in the Big Bang theory, any more than there's an emergence of life from non-life in the theory of evolution. The theory of evolution is about living species originating from earlier living species; the Big Bang theory is about cool sparse matter originating from earlier hotter denser matter. To extrapolate backwards from a theory of how things change to a conclusion about how things started is a perfectly normal human reaction, but it's not a scientific reaction. To do so is to step outside of the theory into the realm of speculation. We have no physical theory that tells us how an infinitely dense infinitely hot point can convert itself into a finite volume with finite temperature and density.

Whether the singularity is officially part of the Big Bang Theory or not, typically the Big Bang refers to a possible singularity where everything came from.

I found this, "The standard Big Bang models are the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) solutions of the gravitational field equations of general relativity. These can describe open or closed universes. All of these FRW universes have a singularity at their beginning, which represents the Big Bang.".

from http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/Relativity/BlackHoles/universe.html

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

The Big Bang refers to the moment that a singularity began its rapid expansion into what is now the universe. The Big Bang is over.

That's a misunderstanding spread widely by popularizers. There is no singularity in the Big Bang theory, any more than there's an emergence of life from non-life in the theory of evolution. The theory of evolution is about living species originating from earlier living species; the Big Bang theory is about cool sparse matter originating from earlier hotter denser matter. To extrapolate backwards from a theory of how things change to a conclusion about how things started is a perfectly normal human reaction, but it's not a scientific reaction. To do so is to step outside of the theory into the realm of speculation. We have no physical theory that tells us how an infinitely dense infinitely hot point can convert itself into a finite volume with finite temperature and density.

Duh... God... Geesh.

 

[Kharakov]

We have no physical theory that tells us how an infinitely dense infinitely hot point can convert itself into a finite volume with finite temperature and density.

You know she was just pretending to be dense.

 

[Wiploc]

The Big Bang refers to the moment that a singularity began its rapid expansion into what is now the universe. The Big Bang is over.

The big bang was a tiny bang?

- - - Updated - - -

I think it is somewhat misleading to say that the Big Bang happened 14 billion years ago. It is probably more accurate to say that the Big Bang started 14 billion years ago and continues to the present.

Is that splitting hairs? Does that make sense?

I mean, if the Big Bang happened 14 billion years ago the implication is that it is over. But of course it is not. We are living in the Big Bang. We are the Big Bang.

That's certainly how I think of it.

 

[Bomb#20]

Whether the singularity is officially part of the Big Bang Theory or not, typically the Big Bang refers to a possible singularity where everything came from.

I found this, "The standard Big Bang models are the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) solutions of the gravitational field equations of general relativity. These can describe open or closed universes. All of these FRW universes have a singularity at their beginning, which represents the Big Bang.".

from http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/Relativity/BlackHoles/universe.html

But a possible singularity would imply unlimited temperature. Known physics doesn't go up high enough to predict a singularity.

"Planck temperature, denoted by T_P, is the unit of temperature in the system of natural units known as Planck units. ... As for most of the Planck units, a Planck temperature of 1 (unity) is a fundamental limit of quantum theory, in combination with gravitation, as presently understood. ... At temperatures greater than or equal to T_P, current physical theory breaks down because we lack a theory of quantum gravity."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_temperature

 

[ryan]

Whether the singularity is officially part of the Big Bang Theory or not, typically the Big Bang refers to a possible singularity where everything came from.

I found this, "The standard Big Bang models are the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) solutions of the gravitational field equations of general relativity. These can describe open or closed universes. All of these FRW universes have a singularity at their beginning, which represents the Big Bang.".

from http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/Relativity/BlackHoles/universe.html

But a possible singularity would imply unlimited temperature. Known physics doesn't go up high enough to predict a singularity.

"Planck temperature, denoted by T_P, is the unit of temperature in the system of natural units known as Planck units. ... As for most of the Planck units, a Planck temperature of 1 (unity) is a fundamental limit of quantum theory, in combination with gravitation, as presently understood. ... At temperatures greater than or equal to T_P, current physical theory breaks down because we lack a theory of quantum gravity."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_temperature

Yeah, I know what you're saying; the singularity presents problems and even paradoxes. But because the universe regresses nicely into a singularity, they probably like to use it as a point of reference just to provide markers for stuff that happens x seconds after the Big Bang. It has probably become a tradition or formality, but I don't know for sure.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

Singularity is communication. As a word it simply states that we can't explain the condition, but we can describe what we think we're talking about. The difference between a singularity and a googleplex of singularities is zero because we don't know enough about the singularity.

Sagan opined that we might be inhabiting a black hole, so that if you want to know what that possibly looks like, just have a look around.

Let's propose singularism as the most stable state of matter/energy.

 

[ryan]

Singularity is communication. As a word it simply states that we can't explain the condition, but we can describe what we think we're talking about.

I heard of that being one of the definitions, but I was talking about this one: "a point at which a function takes an infinite value, especially in space-time when matter is infinitely dense, as at the center of a black hole.". from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/singularity

But in general, I would say that the Big Bang is still happening the same way that the bomb dropped on Hiroshima is still exploding.

 

[Malintent]

I think it is somewhat misleading to say that the Big Bang happened 14 billion years ago. It is probably more accurate to say that the Big Bang started 14 billion years ago and continues to the present.

Is that splitting hairs? Does that make sense?

I mean, if the Big Bang happened 14 billion years ago the implication is that it is over. But of course it is not. We are living in the Big Bang. We are the Big Bang.

One of the first high power radio broadcasts was from Hitler, addressing Nazi Germany. Those radio signals are, to this day, still racing across the universe. The broadcast is not over, we are living in it.
We are all Nazis.

 

[Shake]

Actually the big bang theory (properly known as the expanding universe model) is just a mathematical model that describes how the universe is currently behaving as informed by observations that it is expanding. Fred Hoyle was an avid proponent of a steady state model and called the expanding universe model "Big Bang" ridiculing it. His ridiculing term caught on and was adopted by media and by those advocating the expanding universe model. The Big Bang model says nothing about "beginnings", only current behavior. However theoretical cosmologists have expanded on the Big Bang theory and currently propose a "Big Bang plus inflation" model which is the model that claims a 13.8 billion year old universe but this theory is hotly debated by cosmologists.

What I heard...

"Big Bang ... Big Bang ... Big Bang!...
It's only a model."

 

[Shadowy Man]

A quick google search on the phrase "after the Big Bang" gives results that imply that the "Big Bang" is being used to mean t=0, for better or for worse. Technically speaking, the "Big Bang" isn't an event, it is a description of the model that says the universe was once in a hot, dense state and has been expanding since then.

 

[Wiploc]

A quick google search on the phrase "after the Big Bang" gives results that imply that the "Big Bang" is being used to mean t=0, for better or for worse. Technically speaking, the "Big Bang" isn't an event, it is a description of the model that says the universe was once in a hot, dense state and has been expanding since then.

There was no heat--and no bang--at T=0.