What was the Big Bang and how can we prove it? These are questions that scientists have been trying to answer for decades. Where did our universe come from? When did it start? Is it still going? Is there any way for us to be able to track the big bang? The big bang was billions of years ago, but how can science prove that it actually happened? If scientists can prove this then how could this affect religious beliefs? These questions have been asked, yet still remain unanswered. When asking questions, getting the answer can bring a whole lot more questions. When it comes to the creation of the universe, there are just as many questions as there are theories as to how the universe was created. Just a few of them have been stated above, and only a couple have been answered below.
But how did it begin? The universe as we know it started in one extremely hot and dense point that inflated and stretched, first at unmeasurable speeds, then slowly over time, it became measurable. 13.8 billion years later, the cosmos is still expanding and creating life and planets throughout space. According to www.uwa.edu.au, “the Universe probably did not launch with a literal bang. Rather, it was a rapid expansion of spacetime, during which the building blocks for what we see in the universe were created. Rather than everything flying away from a central point, everything in the universe is getting further away from everything else. In other words, the scale of space itself is increasing. Physical matter, on the other hand, is finite.” By using this information, scientists can make the hypothesis that if the universe is still expanding, that means it had to have started from one point. Yet scientists still have trouble figuring out just when/where it started.
Of course, with any set of theories, there are counterarguments. The counterarguments for the Big Bang theory come from www.sciencefocus.com. “First, in the standard Big Bang model, galaxies grow by gravitationally pulling in the matter. But if this were the only thing going on, it would take much longer than 13.82 billion years for them to form. Astronomers fix this by postulating that the visible stars and galaxies are outweighed by a factor of six by invisible ‘dark matter, the extra gravity of which speeds up galaxy formation. Second, the basic Big Bang predicts that the gravitational attraction between the galaxies acts as a web of elastic, slowing cosmic expansion. However, in 1998, astronomers discovered that the Universe’s expansion is speeding up. They fix this by postulating the existence of ‘dark energy, which is invisible, fills space and has repulsive gravity.” This means that the theories that professional scientists have, could be wrong. Also now dark matter and dark energy are introduced into the Big Bang theories which bring in a whole new set of questions, research, and theories that will come with finding out exactly what happened during the big bang.
Can the big bang can be found/tracked and researched? by using a microwave telescope scientists are able to learn more about the Big Bang. But what is a microwave telescope? These are telescope satellites in space that track the Cosmic Microwave Backgrounds of the universe. What is a “Cosmic Microwave Background?” A CMB is an in Big Bang cosmology, is electromagnetic radiation that is leftover from an early stage of the universe, AKA "relic radiation". The CMB is small traces of cosmic background radiation filling all space. Using these telescopes, scientists can predict and make hypotheses about how the universe began.
How do these theories affect religious beliefs? Well according to school-for-champions.com, “This idea of the Universe being created at a specific time, years ago, has religious implications. It points to the idea that God or some Supreme Being created the Universe and our Earth at that time. A number of religions allude to such a situation in their Holy Books. Since many religions have a similar view of how the Universe and world started, you could wonder if there is any tie between these religions, even if their other beliefs are different. On the other hand, if evidence shows that the Universe did not start at a specific time, then the concept of God creating the Universe years ago takes a hit and may seem doubtful.” This explains the different theories that have been created and how they have been affecting the religious side of the world. Because there are so many theories, religions have created their own in order to not get stirred up when it comes to which theory is actually true.
Kurtis, R. (n.d.). Big bang theory and religion. Big Bang Theory and Religion by Ron Kurtus - Succeed in Understanding Religion: School for Champions. Retrieved May 30, 2022, from https://www.school-for-champions.com/religion/big_bang_theory_and_religion.htm
Chown, M. (2021, February 7). What was before the Big Bang? Everything you need to know. BBC Science Focus Magazine. https://www.sciencefocus.com/space/what-was-before-the-big-bang-everything-you-need-to-know/
Howell, E., & May, A. (2022, January 10). What is the Big Bang Theory? Space.Com. https://www.space.com/25126-big-bang-theory.html
https://www.watchmojo.com/video/id/31423#:~:text=While%20often%20mistaken%20for%20a,Bang%20is%20actually%20still%20ongoing.
https://www.uwa.edu.au/study/-/media/Faculties/Science/Docs/Evidence-for-the-Big-Bang.pdf
https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/toolbox/emspectrum_observatories1.html#:~:text=Microwave%20observatories&text=The%20Earth's%20atmosphere%20blocks%20much,(or%20CMB%20for%20short).
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