Questions about cosmology and the Big Bang
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Venkataraman Balakrishnan
Aug 7, 2010, 2:02:02 PM8/7/10
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Dear students,
I note that there have been a number of questions about the Big Bang and the expansion of the universe. The best way to answer them is perhaps to point you to a few references where you can get at least some of the doubts clarified.
The expansion of the universe is a subtle issue, and analogies with expanding balloons may sometimes create more confusion than clarity (because they lead naturally to questions like "What is the universe expanding INTO"?, for instance). Similarly, the Big Bang was not an explosion of something into some pre-existing space. In a sense, the Big Bang still continues to happen.
There's an article by C.H. Lineweaver and T.M. Davis in the February 2005 issue of Scietific American on some of the common misconceptions regarding the Big Bang and the expansing universe, that clarifies many of the points raised by several of you.
You might also want to look at some of Max Tegmark's articles on parallel universes, the multiverse, and so on. (Easily located by "googling":-) While reading and wondering about the awesome possible scenarios, it is important that you don't become mystical and confuse hard knowledge with speculation, or get into the "gee whiz" mode of substituting genuine science with vague generalities bordering on mysticism! (This is a danger that we in India seem to be particularly prone to.)
V. Balakrishnan
I note that there have been a number of questions about the Big Bang and the expansion of the universe. The best way to answer them is perhaps to point you to a few references where you can get at least some of the doubts clarified.
The expansion of the universe is a subtle issue, and analogies with expanding balloons may sometimes create more confusion than clarity (because they lead naturally to questions like "What is the universe expanding INTO"?, for instance). Similarly, the Big Bang was not an explosion of something into some pre-existing space. In a sense, the Big Bang still continues to happen.
There's an article by C.H. Lineweaver and T.M. Davis in the February 2005 issue of Scietific American on some of the common misconceptions regarding the Big Bang and the expansing universe, that clarifies many of the points raised by several of you.
You might also want to look at some of Max Tegmark's articles on parallel universes, the multiverse, and so on. (Easily located by "googling":-) While reading and wondering about the awesome possible scenarios, it is important that you don't become mystical and confuse hard knowledge with speculation, or get into the "gee whiz" mode of substituting genuine science with vague generalities bordering on mysticism! (This is a danger that we in India seem to be particularly prone to.)
V. Balakrishnan
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