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There is a quote or a theory out there that says "Matter cannot be created or destroyed." (I think that is how it goes) If this is true then how was (I'll try and make as much sense as possible but its a complicated question) matter first created? Before there was anything? Everything has to begin from something am I correct? I mean its not like one day in space something just went poof and matter was created. How was the first "substance" I guess you can say, created? How did that happen if there was nothing for it to originate from? I hope I'm making sense, I'm just curious as to whether or not this has actually be thoroughly explained at some point in history.
It's called the Theory of Relativity, and it is ENERGY that cannot be created or destroyed, it just changes form.
There's just no substitute for an education. You don't have to go to school to get one, but you do have to study.
It's the First Law of Thermodynamics, which was around for a few centuries before Einstein. This Law was generally proved by using large objects that could easily be observed with the human eye, but it was long believed to also hold true on the minute level. Einstein proved, through E=mc^2, that this Law did indeed extend down to the particle.
Also, everything is comprised of particles- atoms, protons, quarks, etc-thus, matter. But yes, it is about energy.
The truly succinct answer is that scientists don't know. Our current understanding of physics only provides insight up to immediately before the suspected singularity and the beginning of the visible universe.
As you move backward in time, the conservation of energy is still believed to be true, so the same amount of energy must be stuffed into a smaller and smaller space, causing the density of that space to go up (in reality, it went the other way, from an initially hot, dense state to our current universe). At some point, the density of the universe was so high that all physical laws as we understand them break down.
"We don't know" is not very satisfying, but it's better than saying there are tortoises all the way down. If we knew everything, science wouldn't be very fun. There may one day be a theory that describes the universe to its initial singularity and can answer your question, but there may also one day be a theory that says that no such theory is possible. Physics can't answer those questions yet, so you'll either have to become content with not knowing, figure it out for yourself (and probably win a few prizes), or make something up that you believe.
Why did the big bang take place when it did, and not earlier or later than that? What triggered it to make it happen when it did, if nothing existed that could have been the trigger?
Why did the big bang take place when it did, and not earlier or later than that? What triggered it to make it happen when it did, if nothing existed that could have been the trigger?
Perhaps it's not so much a question of when the Big Bang took place, as much as why it took place. There are thoughts that Big Bangs might happen rather frequently. There are numerous ideas that have been suggested, some of which involve a multiverse scenario; that our universe might be one of countless other universes, some perhaps similar to our own, and many very different from ours. It also suggests some kind of hyperspace or quantum foam beyond the universe. One concept is that the start of the Big Bang may have been triggered at a contact point between two rippling branes. A collision. Another idea is that universes, including our own, might propagate new universes. We simply don't know what happened to cause the Big Bang.
I think when it comes to wondering about nothing existing before the Big Bang, it helps to understand what that "nothing" means. It's a subject that cosmologists and theorists are trying to understand. Regardless, I think when the question of how could the universe exist if nothing existed before it, is more relevent to what exists within our own universe. In that sense, nothing in our universe existed before the Big Bang because our universe didn't come into existence until after the Big Bang took place. If there is some kind of a hyperspace or quantum foam or static field of probabilities, then that would have preexisted our own universe. In brane theory, branes would've prexisted our universe. Think of a house on a piece of land as far as the eye can see. If you go back far enough before the house was built, the land itself was still there. But looking at it now, there's a house on it.
Again, if the Big Bang happened resulting the formation of everything within the universe, then it's reasonable to think something caused it to happen. We just don't know exactly what caused the event.
Perhaps it's not so much a question of when the Big Bang took place, as much as why it took place. There are thoughts that Big Bangs might happen rather frequently. There are numerous ideas that have been suggested, some of which involve a multiverse scenario; that our universe might be one of countless other universes, some perhaps similar to our own, and many very different from ours. It also suggests some kind of hyperspace or quantum foam beyond the universe. One concept is that the start of the Big Bang may have been triggered at a contact point between two rippling branes. A collision. Another idea is that universes, including our own, might propagate new universes. We simply don't know what happened to cause the Big Bang.
I think when it comes to wondering about nothing existing before the Big Bang, it helps to understand what that "nothing" means. It's a subject that cosmologists and theorists are trying to understand. Regardless, I think when the question of how could the universe exist if nothing existed before it, is more relevent to what exists within our own universe. In that sense, nothing in our universe existed before the Big Bang because our universe didn't come into existence until after the Big Bang took place. If there is some kind of a hyperspace or quantum foam or static field of probabilities, then that would have preexisted our own universe. In brane theory, branes would've prexisted our universe. Think of a house on a piece of land as far as the eye can see. If you go back far enough before the house was built, the land itself was still there. But looking at it now, there's a house on it.
Again, if the Big Bang happened resulting the formation of everything within the universe, then it's reasonable to think something caused it to happen. We just don't know exactly what caused the event.
We have bantered back and forth with this question many times before.....I lean towards Brane Theory and a Brane collision iniatiating the Big Bang. It follows that we MAY be able to go further back in time through those Branes and see what came before "our" Big Bang. However, eventually we will probably still be left with the initial question of what came into being first(be it Brane...etc) and we will probably not be able to ever answer that "first" question as we go back in time infinitely. .
It's called the Theory of Relativity, and it is ENERGY that cannot be created or destroyed, it just changes form.
There's just no substitute for an education. You don't have to go to school to get one, but you do have to study.
Actually, it's the first law of thermodynamics, not relativity. Theory of Relativity has to do with gravitation and structure of spacetime.
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