The host of Ask a Spaceman and author of How to Die in Space is Paul M. Sutter.
The Big Bang theory is the sole surviving explanation for the history of the universe. The expansion of the universe, the formation of the light elements, the existence of the microwave background, and the evolution of the cosmic web are all evidence.
The universe began as a hot and dense point that became bigger and colder over time. That is the Big Bang theory.
To make a omelet, you have to break a few eggs. Over the years, the Big Bang theory has been challenged. Why did those alternatives not work?
There are alternatives to the big bang theory.
The way things were was the prevailing opinion among scientists before the Big Bang theory was developed. And always had been. And always would be. If you had a religious persuasion, there may have been some creation event in the distant past, but it was a universe that looked and acted the same as it does today.
The universe was unchanging even though stars blew up and a random comet appeared. At large scales, it was one great tapestry that remained the same for eternity.
Hubble discovered the expansion of the universe. The idea of an eternal universe was thrown out of whack by that discovery because the universe is different in the past than it is in the present.
The evidence shows that we live in an evolving universe.
Even though the universe is expanding, many people still don't like the idea of the Big bang. The steady state model was the biggest contender in the early 20th century.
In the steady state model, the universe is always expanding, but there is always new matter in the void to replace it. According to that theory, the universe gets bigger, but the density stays the same, thus saving the general themes of the eternal universe idea. In the steady state model, the universe is unchanging even though it is dynamic.
Steady state came to a screeching halt with two major observations. There are two sources of radiation that surround us: the distant universe's quasars and the Cosmic Microwave Background. The light comes from an earlier time in the history of the universe. The early universe should look like the modern universe in the steady state model.
With steady state done for good, another contender rose up, thanks to a physicist who won a prize for his work. A master of understanding the forces inside the gasses known as plasmas, he developed an entire branch of physics known as magnetohydrodynamics.
The consequences of electromagnetism should be better understood because they are stronger than gravity. The birth of stars, the expansion of the universe and the evolution of the solar system were included.
The universe was made up of large pockets of matter and antimatter, which were constantly in competition. He said that the expansion of the universe is caused by the bubbles expanding against each other.
There is no way for an electric universe to match the observations of Hubble. The expansion of space explains the speed of the recession of nearby galaxies. All the galaxies were at an equal rate. Sorry, Hannes.
No scientific theory is perfect. The universe is very smooth at large scales. The regions of the universe have the same temperature. There wasn't enough time in the early universe for all of these patches to come out.
In 1969 physicist Charles Misner came up with a solution to the horizon problem called mixmaster cosmology. The early universe was very chaotic, with space constantly shifting back and forth. The chaotic action mixed up material at small scales and evened it out at large scales to make the universe a homogeneity.
Inflation, a description of the early universe, was able to explain the horizon problem in a simpler way, despite the cool name.
One of the biggest problems with the Big bang is that it has a beginning. There was a time with no universe and a time with a universe. There have been many attempts over the years to come up with a scenario that would generate a big bang from some other physical process.
If you replace the Big Bang with another single occurrence, you don't really change anything. The models represent an eternal universe with more steps.
All of the models rely on speculative physics. branes keep colliding, triggering new Big Bangs. There is always a new universe right around the corner. Maybe the universe will eventually collapse and bounce back.
The expansion of our universe is not slowing down, and all of these models have difficulty explaining dark energy. The universe is a one-and-done affair.
All of the available evidence must be described in any model of the universe that is sophisticated. The Big Bang will always win no matter what.
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