Is it true that whenever a radio/TV is getting static, that's actually leftover radiowaves from the Big Bang?

Question

Whenever you turn on your radio or TV and it's not tuned in you get just noise or static - someone told me that this staic is actually leftover radiation from the big bang, which is all around us and is actually what finally proved the big bang theory...? Is this at least partially correct?

Answer 1

A small amount of the static picked up is from the big bang (or, at least, from the few hundred thousand years after the big bang when the universe finally became transparent to photons). But the static on your TV isn't really the supporting evidence for the big bang, it's more of an inference about how much of the noise picked up by your TV is leftover based of of better measurements of this radiation made elsewhere.



Now, this radiation really is a very compelling piece of evidence for the big bang. It's called the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation. The theory makes a very precise prediction about what this "leftover" radiation is supposed to look like. A few years ago, a satellite called COBE was used to study this CMBR and it was found to match the theory to within experimental error (in other words, the theory was dead-on correct). That's the "leftover" radiation which provides the conclusive evidence for the big bang, but your television static wasn't making a good controlled measurement of it of the kind needed to prove the theory. You can read about it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_microwave_background_radiation



Some of the best evidence for the big bang is the abundance of certain elements created by Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. When the universe was very young, it was also very dense and hot. The theory predicts that there are certain elements which would have been created by nuclear fusion during this time. The theory also predicts the abundance of these elements. The observations of these elements in the predicted amounts is good evidence for the big bang because 1) the big bang model got them right and 2) no other theory does that.

You can read more about big bang nucleosynthesis here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang_nucleosynthesis

and here:

http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2009/08/how_sure_are_we_that_the_big_b.php



Regarding a couple of posts downthread:

The CMBR radiates as a blackbody across a large, large range of frequencies. Its peak frequency is well outside of the range of UHF antennas, but this isn't the only frequency found in the CMBR (which has easily detectable radiation in the 0.3 GHz to 300GHz range). UHF ranges from 300MHz to 3GHz, so that it is entirely capable of picking up part of the CMBR.

Answer 2

no one can say it isnt partially true but i know there is a real reason that takes part in why electronics produce static. just small currents of elctricity going to places it shouldnt and the energy is produced in other parts that it shoudnt such as on a tv if you feel the screen when you have just turned it on it feels static thats because the sudden shock of electricity goes everywhere including the screen for a couple of seconds but because the glass actually cant conduct electicity it goes away after a while. The question you have asked is not THE reason but the big bang theory is very true in my opinion and if you are intelligent i think you would agree that that is the reason we are here today.



i'd say along with 99 percent others that this reason form static is made up.



But maybe a tiny bit of the reason is, because where does elecricity come from? The big bang theory maybe, so we could say static would never come in the first place without the big bang (because it produced electricity) (and in general produced everything) BUT it is definately not the radio waves because there is an actual reason.

But radio waves do exist dont get me wrong

Answer 3

Rooker, please allow me to recommend a book to you. It's A Short History of Nearly Everything, written by an excellent writer, Bill Bryson. The first chapter, How to Build a Universe, gives a very clear description of the experimental evidence that is the background of the Big Bang theory. Until you've had a chance to carefully and thoughtfully read this or to do some other research, you should avoid questions that involve cosmology. Its just too embarrassing.

Answer 4

Partially, yes. About 1% of the static your television receives is from the cosmic microwave background. Don't know about radio - that's a whole other frequency range.

Answer 5

The static you receive on your radio or TV comes from a lot of different sources, but the cosmic background is not one of them. The cosmic background is a form of microwave emissions which oscillates at a slightly higher frequency than radio.



Don't worry about be cooked by it either. The heat generated by the cosmic background is about 3 degrees Kelvin (-454 Farenheit, -270 Celsius). It takes some good instruments to detect it.



Static on the radio or TV is the result of different frequencies interfering with each other, distortions caused by physical objects or electromagnetic distortions and discharges in the atmosphere.

Answer 6

Yes it is true, although not if you have cable. You're mistaken about the proving the big bang part. It wasn't TV signals that proved the big bang, but the detection of the CMBR via a radio telescope (well it was an early kind of radio telescope).



There were other discoveries that proved the big bang, besides the CMBR, however.

Answer 7

No.

The cosmic background radiation is confined to a rather

narrow band of frequencies.

There are a lot of other things that generate 'static'.

Answer 8

Capt. Kirk: What big bang? Good Luck Steve

Answer 9

a little bit of it, yes. most of the static is from other sources.

Answer 10

Not at all.



And it's The Big Bang Theory, not The Big Bang.

Answer 11

Yes, it is correct.

Answer 12

no...lord people are so gullible