Science-and-Faith Snacks: The Big bang Hannah Robinson

Picture this Once there was no universe Nothing existed No matter No time No space Nothing

The Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago, the universe expanded out of nothing, releasing tremendous amounts of energy After a short time, hydrogen and some helium formed After 400 million years, the first stars formed Space and time continue to expand, carrying with them the matter of the universe with evolving nebulae and galaxies

The priest who proposed the Big Bang Theory Father Georges LeMaître proposed the Big Bang theory. He was a Belgian priest with a PhD from MIT & a teacher at French Catholic university. In 1927 he published a paper in French that solved Einstein’s General Relativity equations after LeMaître realized the universe must be expanding. At that point, Einstein thought the universe was unchanging. By 1932 LeMaître proposed the universe expanded from a single particle or “primeval atom” at a definite point in time.

Universe expansion At the same time, Edwin Hubble (and others) at the Mount Wilson, CA, telescope discovered that distant galaxies were moving apart. This evidence supported LeMaître but Hubble didn’t know that as he didn’t read French. Eddington, LeMaître’s friend and teacher, told Hubble and Einstein about LeMaître’s 1927 paper, and got it translated into English. After that, Einstein and others threw out their ideas of an unchanging universe in favor of the Big Bang theory and agreed with LeMaître.

Questions When did Earth begin on this graph? Can we see back in time? Did our Sun form when the first stars formed? What does this mean about our Sun?

Evidence that supports the BiG Bang Theory Galaxies are receding (observations 1920s-now): Hubble and red-shift. Red-shift: light is stretched as stars moves apart. Microwaves (a small percentage of “static” in badly tuned TVs) remain from the time when matter and anti-matter canceled out early in the Big Bang. Bang. (Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson 1965). An isotope of hydrogen, deuterium, is evenly spread throughout the universe. This supports that it was made at one stage of the Big Bang.

The formation of the universe after the big bang was not a sure thing

Our universe was highly unlikely, yet it exists The probability of the universe forming out of the Big Bang was highly unlikely: 1. Particles of matter and antimatter cooled at 1 millisecond of time after the Big Bang and canceled each other out, making matter disappear. But for every billion pairs that canceled out, there was an extra quark. This extra matter is what our universe is made out of. If matter and antimatter had been even, our universe would not exist.

Our universe was highly unlikely, yet it exists The probability of the universe forming out of the Big Bang was highly unlikely: 2. The expansion after the Big Bang was just enough to stop the universe from collapsing back on itself. If it had been one part in 100 thousand million slower, we wouldn’t be here.

Our universe was highly unlikely, yet it exists The probability of the universe forming out of the Big Bang was highly unlikely: 3. The force that holds the nucleus of atoms together was just strong enough to form hydrogen. As a result, stars are able to trigger nuclear fusion, releasing energy including light. If the force was a tiny bit stronger, matter would have become helium. Helium would not have been able to start nuclear fusion. Then there would have been no stars, no other elements, no light, no energy for life.

Did this happen just by chance? Several explanations The universe is one of a set of multiverses happening all at once, with maybe different physical laws in each one There is only one universe. Something amazingly and exceedingly unlikely happened. There is only one universe, It is “not an accident, but reflects the action of the one who created the universe in the first place.” (and the first two points do not exclude the last point)

The universe’s existence is so unlikely, some believe God is the only explanation Time Magazine: Could the answer be God? Scientist Dawkins, an Atheist: There could be something incredibly grand and incomprehensible and beyond our present understanding. Scientist Collins, a Christian: That’s God. Dawkins: Yes, but . . . it could be God of the Martians or of the inhabitants of Alpha Centauri. . .

Does the Big Bang Theory mean Genesis is Wrong?

What did Father LeMaître think about science and Faith? LeMaître did not feel there was a conflict between science and faith. He believed they were parallel interpretations of the world, but one did not prove or disprove the other. “As far as I can see, such a [Big Bang] theory . . . is consonant with Isaiah speaking of the hidden God, hidden even in the beginning of the universe.”

Astrophysicist Robert Jastrow “The details differ, but the essential elements and the astronomical and biblical accounts of Genesis are the same; the chain of events leading to man commence suddenly and sharply at a definite moment in time, in a flash of light and energy.”

Biologist Francis Collins of the human genome project “I have to agree [with Jastrow]. The Big Bang cries out for a divine explanation. It forces the conclusion that nature had a definite beginning. “I cannot see how nature could have created itself. “Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that.”