Accepted astrophysical theories posit that at one point there was nothing: no stars, planets, or galaxies-not even space itself. The matter that makes up everything that now exists was concentrated in a single, extremely dense point known as a singularity.
The force of gravity in a singularity is so great that the fabric of space time curves in on itself. In an instant known as the big bang, however, the contents of the primordial singularity escaped-and formed the universe.
The big bang is catchy shorthand for a complex astrophysical theory, backed up with sophisticated calculations. The term was coined in the 1950s by British astronomer Fred Hoyle, a proponent of a theory of the universe as a steady state. In fact, Hoyle used the term derisively. Though the name stuck, it gives a false impression, making it seem as though the event that unleashed all the energy of the universe almost 14 billion years ago was an explosion. Astrophysicists see the big bang more as an instantaneous expansion that within a few seconds created nuclear reactions and produced the protons, neutrons, and electrons that form the structure of matter today. Not long after, the nuclear reactions stopped. The universe was roughly one-quarter helium, three-quarters hydrogen a ratio exhibited in the universe's oldest stars today. The formation of the universe played out over billions of years. Our own Earth, along with our solar system, is a product of a stellar explosion almost five billion years ago.
The universe itself provides some concrete support for the big bang theory in the form of cosmic background radiation, the "afterglow" of the cosmic inflation. In 1965, engineers lookingfor the source of the static interfering with satellite communications found a consistent signal emanating from every point in the sky at the wavelength predicted for this radiation.
Composed by
Abhinav P Pradeep, wayanad, Kerala, India
Email:Abhinavppindia@gmail.com
Twitter: Abhinav P Pradeep
(@Abhinavppindia)
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