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Original poster

the big bang theory is *just* a theory

148 replies

Tortington · 17/03/2009 07:44

it was said on another thread that there is 'evidence'

I don't believe that god said 'let there be light' and all that malarky either.

but p[eople seem to spout that everything was created becuase of a big bang.

and i can't see ...if there was an exploson of this magnitude how there would be evidence to prove that it happened.

so, big bang theorists. without typing a thesis - or telling me to read a 'dawkins' book or some such - can you in lay mans terms explain where the evidence is for this theory.

i shall bump at lunch time when i have chance

OP posts:
DutchOma · 17/03/2009 07:54

Custard, I don't have a great knowledge of science and could not give you 'evidence' of anything. The only thing I know is that the whole creation speaks of a Creator who has ordered things with great precision. The more you look into it, the more you have to come to the conclusion that it can't have happened by 'accident'. Big bang does not make sense at all, the fact that God created, does. Whether that was in 7 x 24 hour periods is a different matter, I don't think that the Genesis stories were written as science text books.

Original poster
Tortington · 17/03/2009 07:56

oooooh, i didn't expect to get an intelligent design person. thanks Dutch.

OP posts:
Original poster
Tortington · 17/03/2009 08:55

little bump

OP posts:
HecatesTwopenceworth · 17/03/2009 09:02

Both theories have flaws

big bang - first there was nothing. Then there was the first second of time (why? where from? How did that happen?) where the building blocks of all matter formed (how? from what?) and it was very hot and it all snowballed.

Leaves the huge question - what was before that? how did time and matter come from nothing? Why did it superheat? did matter just appear in the middle of a void? how can that happen?

God - first there was nothing, then there was the universe, created by God. Why? because it is so complex that it couldn't have just appeared.

Leaves the huge question - where did God come from? And if the universe is too complex to just appear, then a being that can create a universe must, be an extension of that logic, have itself been created. Then we go on forever with - a being that can create a being that can create a universe, and a being that can create a being that can....

TBH, both are an equal leap of faith - and, both are the same really! First there was nothing, then out of nothing came something and we don't know why or how, but we believe in it.

HecatesTwopenceworth · 17/03/2009 09:03

by not be.

LauriefairycakeeatsCupid · 17/03/2009 09:05

To follow on from what Hecate said they are seeing matter randomly appear in controlled expirements (tis very weird) - one moment a quark (?) will be somewhere and then it will appear somewhere else.

All we do know is that once there was nothing and then there was something.

Pretty fucking incredible stuff this.

LauriefairycakeeatsCupid · 17/03/2009 09:06

that would be experiments not expirements

ruty · 17/03/2009 09:06

interesting Hecate.

HecatesTwopenceworth · 17/03/2009 09:07

of course, we could simply be not understanding time. Maybe it's not a straight line. Or maybe there's some dimensional thing or...

or maybe I watch too much star trek

Niftyblue · 17/03/2009 09:08

Are`nt they trying recreate "the BIG bang" at Cern in Switzerland ?

Reallytired · 17/03/2009 09:09

Physicists can tell that the all stars are moving away from us, by looking at the star light through a prism. The light from a star has dark lines in it from various elements that absorb light. This is known as the doppler effect The light from stars is red shifted (See article to explain what I mean) which is how physicists know that the stars are all moving away from each other.

The evidence that the universe is expanding is why many physicists believe that universe started as a big bang. Although there are a few other theories which are nowhere near as popular and probably more far fetched.

I hope this helps, custardo.

I don't understand why the big bang theory should upset some christians.

lisalisa · 17/03/2009 09:09

What DutchOma says. If you look at the intricate design of our world and the creatures who inhabit it and then at the temperatures and conditions required to sustain life and then at the very small margins within which these must operate in order to keep life sustained it is quite awesome and to my mind speaks of a creator .

LauriefairycakeeatsCupid · 17/03/2009 09:11

The big bang theory does not upset this Christian - I care not a jot if God created the universe or if the universe randomly exploded and then God did stuff.

ruty · 17/03/2009 09:12

Quantum physics, etc makes me believe in God. I am an agnostic, but the more we discover about our universe, the more fascinating and weird our origins seem. Much more Godlike than Genesis!

HecatesTwopenceworth · 17/03/2009 09:12

that's entropy, isn't it? then you get into the big crunch and all that.

HecatesTwopenceworth · 17/03/2009 09:14

maybe God created the big bang!

ruty · 17/03/2009 09:14

isn't that what is happening now?
Is the big crunch an inevitable consequence of the big bang then?

YouKnowNothingoftheCrunch · 17/03/2009 09:15

We do know that matter and anti-matter are both created and do appear from nothing (clever boffins have succeeded in creating them in laboratory tests as Laurie pointed out). So matter does appear from nothing and when it meets anti-matter it promptly goes back to nothing.

Why? From where? Ah, now you've got me there. Also the question I've always wanted answered to my satisfaction is when all this "matter" popped into being, where did all the "anti-matter" go?

But it is just a theory. And I love to choose to believe in it - very aware that a belief in science is still a belief.

I liked Karl Popper's take on it all - you can't prove anything, you can only prove something for now.

HecatesTwopenceworth · 17/03/2009 09:16

It's one theory out of a gazillion, ruty.

HecatesTwopenceworth · 17/03/2009 09:17

are they created out of nothing or are they pulled from somewhere else, somewhere outside what we can normally see or measure? We have no way of knowing.

ruty · 17/03/2009 09:20

anti-matter is terrifying.

mangolassi · 17/03/2009 09:25

saying 'it's just a theory' just shows a lack of knowledge about what a theory is, in science. For something to be worthy of the name in scientific terms, it needs to be proved (or rather, not disproved) loads of times in loads of different ways. Look.

HecatesTwopenceworth · 17/03/2009 09:32

how many years was the theory that the atom was the smallest thing in the universe?

how many theories have come and gone?

really, a theory IS 'just' a theory. They are always claiming something IS and getting very angry about it, and then someone finds out, well, actually, we were wrong.

Original poster
Tortington · 17/03/2009 09:38

oooh - so what is a theory?

you can't disprove god.

i'm not arsed how it all began, i am bothered that people spout off about a theory like big bang - like its a fact and that all naysayers are pantsoid plebian tambourine bashing god botherers.

OP posts:
Reallytired · 17/03/2009 10:06

I did read once that our universe as we percieve it is the inside of a huge black hole. Material that goes into this black hole is what makes our universe expand.
Ie. there may be greater universes beyond the one we inhabit.

I think different theories are interesting and ultimately they are just ideas. As more evidence appears then theories are adjusted. Theories stop being fun when people take them way too seriously. It starts wars and becomes religion.

There are interesting problems with the big bang theory. For example general relativity and quantum mechanics do cause conflicts, but I can't remember how.

Noone worries too much that Newton's laws of motion are wrong at high speed. They are accurate enough for everyday living. (Ie. we need relativity for calculating what happens to objects close to the speed of light.)

Prehaps the next Newton/ Einstien will come up with a better theory.

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