ChristianChadwickCatron Posted June 12, 2011 Report Posted June 12, 2011 Hello, I just signed up to find a answer to my question here. Hope you guys can help me: In the beginning of outer space is absolutely nothing, right? How does an atom made out of it, the empty space? Quote
C1ay Posted June 12, 2011 Report Posted June 12, 2011 Beginning? Assuming that you are referring to the Big Bang we have no way to know what did and/or did not exist prior to that event. In my personal opinion I tend to believe that matter cannot be created or destroyed which means that it has existed for eternity. An event like the Big Bang simply distributed matter that already existed. I have no reason to believe that you can truly get something from nothing. Quote
CraigD Posted June 12, 2011 Report Posted June 12, 2011 (edited) Hi Christian! Welcome to hypography :) In the beginning of outer space is absolutely nothing, right? How does an atom made out of it, the empty space?Good question. According to the quantum physics theory, empty space, the vacuum, isn't absolutely nothing, but is full of particles that exist very briefly, and can't, except in unusual situations, be detected. Strange as this theory seems, it's been supported by experiments - that is, it appears to be true. For an example of such an experiment, see the wikipedia article Casimir Effect With the right kind of experiment, we observe "something coming from nothing" only very rarely and on a very small scale. The beginning of our universe - the Big Bang - is theorized to be such an event on a very large scale. There are more or less 2 families of "what happened before the big bang" theories. In one, the sudden appearance of everything - all the particles of matter and energy we now observe and more - was simply a very unlikely, but not impossible event that, given enough time, happened. Such theories are sometimes called "nothing theories". Otherwise obscure physicist Edward Tryon is sometimes named as their originator, and is famous for the quote "the universe is simply one of those things that happens from time to time". In the other, the big bang was the result of an interaction of objects that can't be detected except indirectly, from events like the big bang. Brane theory is an example of such a theory. Edited June 16, 2011 by CraigD Fixed mispelled/broken wiki link Quote
geko Posted June 13, 2011 Report Posted June 13, 2011 I really like the branes idea. It's beautiful! :) Quote
Moontanman Posted June 14, 2011 Report Posted June 14, 2011 This video by AronRa has a pretty good description of where everything came from, sorry about the anti creationist aspects of it. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.