by Ann » Fri Nov 18, 2011 7:52 pm
I wonder if the answer made that much sense to you, babaonet.
The problem here is the assumptions most of us tend to make about reality. These assumptions are not necessarily correct when we talk about the universe.
One of the most self-evident assumptions most of us make about our own planet is that it has air, so that we can breathe wherever we go on the Earth. At least as long as we stay on the surface and don't dive deep in the ocean, there is air.
Of course, there is not that much air at the top of Mount Everest. We understand that if we go even higher up we will run out of air, and if we go to space we have to carry our own air with us.
Okay, so there is no air in space. But surely, at least, there is space in space. There is room for us to move about, and for our spacecraft to travel, and for the Earth to orbit the Sun and for the Sun to orbit the center of the Milky Way and for the Milky Way to dance with other galaxies. Surely there is always space where things can move about? Space is only emptiness for goodness sake, surely that is no big deal! Surely space has always existed?
And if space has always existed, then surely the Big Bang must have been an explosion that happened somewhere in space. Surely astronomers should be able to find out where in space the Big Bang happened?
The answer to all of the above is - NO.
No, space has not always existed.
No, space is not just emptiness.
No, the Big Bang was not an explosion that happened in a pre-existing space.
Instead, the Big Bang created space.
Before the Big Bang, there was no space.
If there was no space, then what was there?
As far as astronomers understand, there was nothing before the Big Bang happened. Literally nothing. Nothing doesn't mean the emptiness of space, because space isn't truly empty, and the apparent emptiness of space is not nothing.
There was literally nothing before the Big Bang. Oh, there may have been other universes. But we can't know anything about them, because we are cut off from them. That is why they are other universes, if they exist in the first place.
In the timeless non-existence before our universe existed, something suddenly burst forth. That "something" was the Big Bang. The Big Bang wasn't an explosion, but a violent incursion of something into nothing, and an exponential growth of this "somethingness".
This means that all of our universe is the cooling, expanding and evolving Big Bang. We are inside the Big Bang. The Big Bang is everywhere, and we ourselves are a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny part of it. So where is the central part of the universe? Nowhere and everywhere.
Ann
I wonder if the answer made that much sense to you, babaonet.
The problem here is the assumptions most of us tend to make about reality. These assumptions are not necessarily correct when we talk about the universe.
One of the most self-evident assumptions most of us make about our own planet is that it has air, so that we can breathe wherever we go on the Earth. At least as long as we stay on the surface and don't dive deep in the ocean, there is air.
Of course, there is not that much air at the top of Mount Everest. We understand that if we go even higher up we will run out of air, and if we go to space we have to carry our own air with us.
Okay, so there is no air in space. But surely, at least, there is [i]space[/i] in space. There is room for us to move about, and for our spacecraft to travel, and for the Earth to orbit the Sun and for the Sun to orbit the center of the Milky Way and for the Milky Way to dance with other galaxies. Surely there is always space where things can move about? Space is only emptiness for goodness sake, surely that is no big deal! Surely space has always existed?
And if space has always existed, then surely the Big Bang must have been an explosion that happened somewhere in space. Surely astronomers should be able to find out where in space the Big Bang happened?
The answer to all of the above is - [b][size=200]NO.[/size][/b]
No, space has not always existed.
No, space is not just emptiness.
No, the Big Bang was not an explosion that happened in a pre-existing space.
Instead, the Big Bang [b][i][size=150]created space.[/size][/i][/b]
Before the Big Bang, there was no space.
If there was no space, then what was there?
As far as astronomers understand, there was nothing before the Big Bang happened. Literally nothing. Nothing doesn't mean the emptiness of space, because space isn't truly empty, and the apparent emptiness of space is not nothing.
There was [i][b]literally[/b][/i] nothing before the Big Bang. Oh, there may have been other universes. But we can't know anything about them, because we are cut off from them. That is why they are other universes, if they exist in the first place.
In the timeless non-existence before our universe existed, [b][i]something[/i][/b] suddenly burst forth. That "something" was the Big Bang. The Big Bang wasn't an explosion, but a violent incursion of something into nothing, and an exponential growth of this "somethingness".
This means that all of our universe is the cooling, expanding and evolving Big Bang. We are inside the Big Bang. The Big Bang is everywhere, and we ourselves are a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny part of it. So where is the central part of the universe? Nowhere and everywhere.
Ann