Non-Religious Questions About the Big Bang Theory

[Peter Hamilton]

[FONT=&quot]9. How many Suns are there in the universe?[/FONT]

--I've been getting ASTRONOMY magazine every month for about ten years now,its only 40 bucks a year--you should get a subscription,its a great magazine with fantastic pictures---As for this question,well, there are 125 million galaxies in the Universe,so multiply that number by how many suns are in each galaxy--I think the total number of suns in the universe comes out to 70 million million,an unimaginable number

 

[Peter Hamilton]

Here's an interesting question: Does Time slow down as a spacecraft approaches the speed of light,thus allowing the spaceship to travel back or forward in Time?---Answer from Astronomy magazine: Theoretically, time would slow down,so,i effect, a craft could fly intothe future--Einstein says the same thing,in his theory of special relativity--time slows as speed of light is approached,this has been now verified in many experiments--Astronauts in a speed of light spaceship would find that if they left on a 50 year mission,they would only age ONE YEAR--but special relativity does not allow time travel to the past

 

[Peter Hamilton]

4. Why did it explode?

--not sure why but here are some facts or theories due to recent astrophysics experiments: About a millionth of a second after the Big Bang,temperatures exceeded a trillion degrees,according to physicists doing experiments at a lab with a super-collider--but they're not sure whether at that that time was a plasma gas or something more liquid, but they are leaning toward a Hydrogen plasma event

 

[Peter Hamilton]

4. Why did it explode?

--more info:--the term INFLATION is used to describe the expansion of the universe after the Big Bang--This started some ten trillion-trillion-trillionths of a second after the Big Bang---After 380,000 years of inflation, photons of light were set free,and atoms were first formed and created the cosmic microwave background or CMB,which we see evidence of today--CMB researchers have measured that light from the fathest edges of the universe took 13.3 Billion years to reach us--The first stars began shining 400 million years after the Big Bang

 

[Peter Hamilton]

6. Depending on the location of the explosion, is the universe expanding in a circumference from the center of that explosion? Or did the blast propel the matter all in one singular direction?

--Here ya go: At the time of the Big Bang some 13.7 billion years ago,the entire universe was concentrated in a single point--This point had an extremely small size,smaller than the size of any known particle, and it had an icredibly high density and temperature--Each part of the universe we see today originated from that original point where the Big Bang happened and expansion began--This is why the BIG BANG HAPPENED EVERYWHERE--Since the Big Bang occurred,the initial point in space has expanded into the galaxy-filled universe we see today--The universe cooled from a trillion degrees at that original millionth of a second to minus 454 degrees,which is the temperature of space today--(This is actually the answer to your question number FIVE not SIX)

 

[arielilane]

I was sitting outside late tonight burning some small dried branches in a large clay Chiminea. I started the fire with some wooden matches from a cardboard box, and some paper. Once the fire had burned down to glowing embers I grabbed a handful of matches out of the box and threw them in just to see how long it would take each sulfur tip to ignite. I got a little carried away and wound up emptying the entire box. That left the box! So I tossed in the cardboard box and it ignited, burning very quickly. As a matter of fact, it seemed to burn so hot and quickly that even though the entire box was glowing red, it stayed completely intact in its’ glowing form for several seconds before black spots began to appear, and just before the box fell apart and the ashes flew out the chimney. The black charred spots apparently indicated that those parts were as burnt as they could get and had turned to ash.

This made me think of the Big Bang Theory and the universe, and I realized that I am lacking a lot of information about that subject. The reason why I started this thread is because I am wondering if any of you have scientific knowledge about the Big Bang itself, because I have some questions and would appreciate it tremendously if any of you have the answers. Again, I am not asking these questions from a religious perspective. Purely scientific. In addition, I am not asking these questions because I already have answers in mind and I would like to debate. I don’t know the answers, nor do I have preconceived opinions about them.

I am going to ask each question in a separate post so that you can quote a question and answer it if you are so inclined. So, if any of the 10,494 members would like to take a stab at the answers I would really appreciate this shortcut I am attempting instead of spending hours researching.

Excellent thread, scarpetta. Here is a link from answers.
http://www.answers.com/topic/big-bang-theory

 

[arielilane]

12. My matchbox in the fire was a glowing shape and then it began to cool and crumble, and then the ashes floated off. Where did all the ashes in the universe go? Did they all become trapped inside of each planets atmosphere and then eventually settle on the surface?

Sifting through ashes of the first stars, astronomers have found significant amounts of iron, which dates the initial stellar furnaces to as early as 200 million years after the universe was born.
The discovery, announced today, supports and builds upon similar evidence derived by a different method earlier this year. Combined, the findings push stellar origins back to an earlier epoch than scientists thought just a few months ago.
Researchers do not understand how the first stars and their associated galaxies formed so rapidly. The new findings won't directly help unravel that mystery, but they pin down the time frame beyond dispute.
Ironclad evidence
Iron was not present when the universe was formed, presumably in a Big Bang, according to the leading theory. It and all other elements heavier than hydrogen and helium were forged in stars, chemical factories that produce successively heavier elements, from nitrogen to carbon and finally iron.
The earliest stars were massive, theory contends, and they lived short lives and died in fiery explosions, sending their ashes into the interstellar medium where the fresh elements mixed with existing gas to fuel new star birth.
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/hubble_first_stars_030430.html

 

[scarpetta]

--I've been getting ASTRONOMY magazine every month for about ten years now,its only 40 bucks a year--you should get a subscription,its a great magazine with fantastic pictures---As for this question,well, there are 125 million galaxies in the Universe,so multiply that number by how many suns are in each galaxy--I think the total number of suns in the universe comes out to 70 million million,an unimaginable number

Thank you PH for answering some of these questions. I was thinking that the sun was different from the stars, and yet the information I am looking up is indicating that suns are stars. The link below is to a site I found that gives a lot of info about the sun.


"Our Sun is a normal main-sequence G2 star, one of more than 100 billion stars in our galaxy."
http://www.nineplanets.org/sol.html

 

[scarpetta]

--not sure why but here are some facts or theories due to recent astrophysics experiments: About a millionth of a second after the Big Bang,temperatures exceeded a trillion degrees,according to physicists doing experiments at a lab with a super-collider--but they're not sure whether at that that time was a plasma gas or something more liquid, but they are leaning toward a Hydrogen plasma event

#4

PH, I am also getting a lot of unknowns in researching this. Still a mystery I guess, sort of like a calf that goes straight for the udder after it is born. how does it know where to go?

 

[Peter Hamilton]

You are welcome scarpetta--You are asking some very intelligent and thought-provoking questions,that's for sure---That's intersting info you gave that says 100 billion suns in our own galaxy alone--That means, Good Lord, the number of stars/suns in the universe is 125,000,000 X 100,000,000,000 which equals ...lol---Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is a spiral galaxy,and is one of the more beautiful galaxies in the universe

 

[Peter Hamilton]

Sifting through ashes of the first stars, astronomers have found significant amounts of iron, which dates the initial stellar furnaces to as early as 200 million years after the universe was born.
The discovery, announced today, supports and builds upon similar evidence derived by a different method earlier this year. Combined, the findings push stellar origins back to an earlier epoch than scientists thought just a few months ago.
Researchers do not understand how the first stars and their associated galaxies formed so rapidly. The new findings won't directly help unravel that mystery, but they pin down the time frame beyond dispute.
Ironclad evidence
Iron was not present when the universe was formed, presumably in a Big Bang, according to the leading theory. It and all other elements heavier than hydrogen and helium were forged in stars, chemical factories that produce successively heavier elements, from nitrogen to carbon and finally iron.
The earliest stars were massive, theory contends, and they lived short lives and died in fiery explosions, sending their ashes into the interstellar medium where the fresh elements mixed with existing gas to fuel new star birth.
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/hubble_first_stars_030430.html

--nice article

 

[scarpetta]

--Here ya go: At the time of the Big Bang some 13.7 billion years ago,the entire universe was concentrated in a single point--This point had an extremely small size,smaller than the size of any known particle, and it had an icredibly high density and temperature--Each part of the universe we see today originated from that original point where the Big Bang happened and expansion began--This is why the BIG BANG HAPPENED EVERYWHERE--Since the Big Bang occurred,the initial point in space has expanded into the galaxy-filled universe we see today--The universe cooled from a trillion degrees at that original millionth of a second to minus 454 degrees,which is the temperature of space today--(This is actually the answer to your question number FIVE not SIX)

Ok PH, this answer makes me wonder this….

If I fire a gun into the air, the bullet is going to travel somewhere between the earth and the “canopy” we call our atmosphere that surrounds the earth, before it comes back down to the surface of the earth. There is a lot of space between the surface of the earth and that canopy. We know that the canopy is made out of something because chunks of stuff from space usually smack into it like hitting a brick wall and burn up from the friction before they have a chance to reach the earth. Rockets have to pass through it at a certain angle in order to get through it. There is the earth, there is the space between the earth and the canopy, and then there is the canopy. All three are made of something.

So, if we try to look at the universe as a big picture….there is the stuff that exploded that is all now floating around….and then there is the what that contains it all? Does the universe itself have a canopy? If the universe was once smaller than any known particle then the answer would be no. But that is not making sense to me because you have all the stuff that exploded (or expanded, inflated), and then you have all the black space that contains what exploded, right? Where did all that empty space come from if the sum total of the universe was simply a particle? Maybe I don’t understand space. In researching these questions I found a site where a 3rd grader also asked my question #4.

 

[Peter Hamilton]

The universe is mostly made up of the mysterious "dark matter",which scientists recently discovered--but what is it? They don't really know

 

[Peter Hamilton]

13. Are some places in the universe expanding faster than other places?

--Another good question of yours, but I think its equal expansion everywhere...maybe--think its called the cosmological constant theory

 

[scarpetta]

The universe is mostly made up of the mysterious "dark matter",which scientists recently discovered--but what is it? They don't really know

I don't mean to be dense here, but scientists just recently discovered that all the stuff that blew up is floating within all the black stuff we call space?

 

[poco]

This is all just too mind boggling for me - I'm still stuck on the how does the calf know where the udder is question...........

 

[scarpetta]

Sifting through ashes of the first stars, astronomers have found significant amounts of iron, which dates the initial stellar furnaces to as early as 200 million years after the universe was born.
The discovery, announced today, supports and builds upon similar evidence derived by a different method earlier this year. Combined, the findings push stellar origins back to an earlier epoch than scientists thought just a few months ago.
Researchers do not understand how the first stars and their associated galaxies formed so rapidly. The new findings won't directly help unravel that mystery, but they pin down the time frame beyond dispute.
Ironclad evidence
Iron was not present when the universe was formed, presumably in a Big Bang, according to the leading theory. It and all other elements heavier than hydrogen and helium were forged in stars, chemical factories that produce successively heavier elements, from nitrogen to carbon and finally iron.
The earliest stars were massive, theory contends, and they lived short lives and died in fiery explosions, sending their ashes into the interstellar medium where the fresh elements mixed with existing gas to fuel new star birth.
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/hubble_first_stars_030430.html

This is a really good article arielilane, thank you for finding it.

 

[Peter Hamilton]

lol--no--dark matter is something else,but I'll have to read back some of these articles in Astronomy magazine to find out just what the heck we are talking about

 

[scarpetta]

Sifting through ashes of the first stars, astronomers have found significant amounts of iron, which dates the initial stellar furnaces to as early as 200 million years after the universe was born.
The discovery, announced today, supports and builds upon similar evidence derived by a different method earlier this year. Combined, the findings push stellar origins back to an earlier epoch than scientists thought just a few months ago.
Researchers do not understand how the first stars and their associated galaxies formed so rapidly. The new findings won't directly help unravel that mystery, but they pin down the time frame beyond dispute.
Ironclad evidence
Iron was not present when the universe was formed, presumably in a Big Bang, according to the leading theory. It and all other elements heavier than hydrogen and helium were forged in stars, chemical factories that produce successively heavier elements, from nitrogen to carbon and finally iron.
The earliest stars were massive, theory contends, and they lived short lives and died in fiery explosions, sending their ashes into the interstellar medium where the fresh elements mixed with existing gas to fuel new star birth.
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/hubble_first_stars_030430.html

#12 Where did the ashes go.

Arielilane, in addition to your article I found info at a NASA site that indicated there is a great deal of dust and ashes in our galaxy. Didn't know that. So does that mean that the ashes from the cooling earth were released before an atmosphere was formed? If a rocket has a hard time getting through then I am guessing ashes didn't just float out into space. So maybe our ashes stayed put. Don't know.

 

[scarpetta]

lol--no--dark matter is something else,but I'll have to read back some of these articles in Astronomy magazine to find out just what the heck we are talking about

That should be really interesting PH. Look forward to reading what you find out.