A question about the universe...?

Question

I was just browsing through the glossary of my science textbook when I saw something rather curious...

Universe: the space that contains all known matter and energy
Big bang theory: states that about 13.7 billion years ago, the universe began with a huge, fiery explosion

That pretty much defies the whole "matter cannot be created nor destroyed" thing. The universe is all of the matter/energy that is known, yet they say it BEGAN ~13.7 billion years ago. How could it BEGIN if matter is not created? Was some kind of energy CONVERTED in the explosion, not CREATED? If so, why would they say it began?

Then if you look more carefully, it says the universe is the SPACE that contains all known matter and energy. It's the SPACE that contains it, not the actual matter/energy. It's that void, that darkness, that emptiness. That's the universe? How could emptiness begin?

I'm sorry if this is a stupid question. I'm only 14. Thanks for helping.

Answer 1

This is a perfectly valid point, basically the textbooks give you the definition you need for the exam, not for real science. We know what happened after a billionth of a second after the big bang, but not before. In theory the big bang is actually where all matter in the universe was at a singular point, so this could be infinitely small and infinitely dense, and never have any matter created, it just got further and further apart.

I hope this makes some sense :)

Answer 2

That's a rather good question, there are many speculations about the universe and what it is and what it's not. Some people say there could be more than one universe, which is absurd because the definition, as you say, is the space that contains all known matter and energy, therefore, if there was "more than one" it couldn't be called a "universe" but back to your question, I don't think the universe began, I don't think space can begin, but the universe was there before the Big Bang, nothing was spontaneously created, everything was just in a different state of matter, not existence, all of the matter existed before, it just, like you said, was probably CONVERTED, not created. But you could also say the "matter cannot be created or destroyed" rule, may not have even existed then, there may not have been any laws of physics at all, you may be able to say that NOTHING existed before the Big Bang, maybe things HAD to be created for it to happen, or maybe they were just converted, I am not 100% sure. I for one am a believer of the Big Bang, I respect you for believing it as well, I don't see this as a dumb question, while I am only 15 myself, I don't expect this helped you at all, this is the first time I have ever answered a Yahoo! Answers question, I hope this helped a little bit, if not, I hope you figure it out, cheers

Answer 3

"Big bang theory: states that about 13.7 billion years ago, the universe began with a huge, fiery explosion



That pretty much defies the whole "matter cannot be created nor destroyed" thing."



That's not entirely accurate. The Big Bang Theory describes the universe's expansion from a singularity at its temporal origin point. It was the expansion *of* space, not an explosion *in* space, and there was no "fire", although it was very, very hot.



Nothing can be, or ever has been, "created" or "destroyed". All matter in the universe is made of condensed energy. The energy has always existed, and the causal chains of every particle of energy can be traced back to the universe's temporal origin point.



If you're really interested in the details, read the article in the following link. It's quite short, and it should answer all of your questions completely. If you have any further questions after reading it, I'll be glad to try to help:



"On the Origin of the Universe": https://sites.google.com/site/alexisbrookex/on-the-origin-of-the-universe

Answer 4

In fact this is a very good question. The universe is composed of the four factors; matter, energy, space, and time. The physical universe is a physical entity and therefore almost by definition must be finite in scope and measure. It had a beginning and will no doubt have an end. The universe exists in time as indicated. If you were to eliminate ony one of the four composite factors the universe would cease to exist... poof ! They are co-dependent and co-functional.

Now we can say that the universe had a beginning and that beginning is commensurate with the beginning of time.. "Before" this , there was no time... However there were non-physical creative forces. Cosmologists delight in telling us that the universe is 13 odd billions years old.. in fact this is pure speculation and no-one can really tell you the true age... it may in fact be trillions of years old.

See, these cosmologists etc., have to justify their huge gummint handouts and so they have to come up with answers no matter how ridiculous or ludicrous they are... they can get away with this because ... they are the "Authority" see..., and even the gummint cant say they are wrong.

Now they are trying to tell us that matter, energy, space, and time can suddenly exist out of nothing, by itself..through some kind of quantum process---. this is the sheer insanity of the most materiaslistic mode of thought... they are running away at top speed and screaming at the horrrible thought that all this may have been created !

You might enjoy the book found in........

www.energyandphysicsatotalbreakthrough.com

Answer 5

you have been mislead by the term "big bang" it is NOT scientifically accurate. Please, from now on, whenever you come across the words "big bang" mentally scratch them out and substitute "universal expansion". the theory you are talking about does NOT discuss either "what came before" OR "the cause", the theory MERELY says that "the universe stated expanding 13.7 billion years ago".... it is not STRICTLY true that the universe "began" then, but there is NO evidence that ANYTHING existed before.... all we know is that AT THAT MOMENT, what we CURRENTLY see started expanding. The "best guess" is that energy in a very compact state existed in some way "before" ((very very misleading term)) the big bang.



Also, the definition of the universe is NOT just the space but ALSO all the matter... and time... and energy....

It literally means "everything" there is.... not just the space that everything is in. Your text book was written to "cover" the subject, not deeply and thoroughly explin it.... if you are interested in science.... you'll start finding beeter textbooks soon. Dont take ANYTHING that ANY of them say as 100% true.... they get rewritten and revised every year.



Your questions arent stupid.... you are young and suffering from the limits of your education... your reach simply exceeds your grasp... keep reading.

Answer 6

Your book gives a poor definition of "Universe". The universe is

actually the space and everything in it. As for matter/energy not

being able to be created or destroyed, that refers to the universe

as it is now. No one knows what might have been "before" the big

bang. Actually the concept is pointless because there likely was

nothing. Hard concept to grasp, it's true, but there it is.

Answer 7

Ultimately everything that is here now was there before the big bang in one dense point in the universe. Then the big bang happened and atom out there today was basically put together then.

Answer 8

Matter and energy ARE INTERCHANGEABLE. Matter can be created from energy and energy can create matter, According to Einstein's' equation E = mc^'2 The Matter cannot be created of destroyed IS MISINTERPRETATION of the basic laws of physivcs.



It's VERY EASY to tell when a troll is trying to incite ANOTHER online argument by lying about his age.

Answer 9

It isn't stupid but I'm afraid that when you do real physics matter is not conserved. However, energy, which is what effectively matter is, is conserved. Hint. E=MC^2

Answer 10

This is my poem. Hope it helps.



Existence is the time expressed by light itself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjmOw1Pnc4s

Answer 11

lol