Before the Big Bang?

Theoretical physicist Martin Bojowald has recently published a paper with some interesting findings. This is something very complex, but I will try to boil it down to make it simple. Basically, the Universe and everything in it was once all condensed into a very small point. Researchers believe that the energy and density of the Universe at that time were infinite, but Bojowald suggests that although the energy and density was extremely high, they were finite.

Einstien failed to successfully combine his theories of relativity and quantum mechanics, which are essential to look back to the very first moments of the Universe; and possibly even time 0, or even before that. Bojowald has worked on Loop Quantum Gravity to combine the two concepts and used a 'new type of math' to look back almost at time 0. His 'new math' still works where math always seems to break down when scientists try to look back to the exact moment of the Big Bang.

Image Credit: Space.com

If Bojowald's findings are correct, it may help to learning more about a Universe that existed before. A Universe that was once spread out, condensed, and then expanded as the Big Bang. Whether or not Bojowald's results are completely valid or not is still left to the scientific community, but it never hurts to wonder about what happened before the Big Bang.

*This article is just a small bit of the whole finding. Phil Plait at Bad Astronomy wrote an absolutely terrific article on this. Although it's long I highly suggest you read it here*

Explained: The Big Bang & The Universe

The Big Bang is a theory that explains how the universe expanded from a single point. The Big Bang occurred 13.7 billion years ago. All the matter, energy, and light; were all compacted into an infinitely dense point. The universe then expanded tremendously.

As the seconds passes; this condensed energy was spread out, and the forces such as gravity can into existence. Around 300,000 years after the Big Band, the universe was abundant with floating particles. These particles then slowly came to each other. The most simplest elements came into existence, most found was hydrogen (with 1 proton) and helium (with 2 protons).

Image Credit: NASA/WMAP Science Team
The different atoms were able to form and then these particles became more and more condensed. Soon matter was formed. The early stars were made up of very simple elements and so they had very short lifespans of only millions of years. But the nuclear fusion in the cores' of these early stars slowly created heavier elements; which when the star died, would become a part of a new star.

These stars were created in small groups and attracted other stars. These stars were grouped in irregular shapes. Then the different shapes merged to form the first galaxies.
Then as more galaxies formed, they became grouped in galaxy clusters, and then these clusters were contained in super clusters.

Today, scientist know about a force called dark energy. Dark energy acts like an anti-gravity and does the opposite of gravity. Dark energy is currently the cause of the expansion of the universe. The universe is expanding at an accelerating rate today.

With the discovery of dark energy, many scientist now believe the the universe will continue to expand forever and all of the matter in the universe will eventually decay within a trillion years.

Image Credit: NASA