What Happened before the Big Bang?

Adnan balboa19@idt.net
Sat, 27 Sep 1997 02:49:41 -0700 (00875375381, 3.0.1.32.19970927024941.006c2854@idt.net) 


>From the same (excellent) site. 


Ask the Astronomer: 

http://www2.ari.net/home/odenwald/qadir/acosm.html

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What existed in space prior to the Big Bang ?

This is similar to other questions in the Ask the Astronomer Big Bang
Cosmology area. The answer is that we do not know. What we don't know, in
particular, is whether this question has a meaningful answer. Many
cosmologists feel that it is very much like asking 'How many angels can
dance on the head of a pin?' It SOUNDS like a sensible question, but in
fact its physical basis and foundation
may be utterly lacking. 

Einstein's theory of general relativity, our premier theory of how gravity
works, tells us that in the cosmological setting, the concepts of time and
space did not pre-exist the Big Bang. The Big Bang is seen as the defining
event that CREATED space, time, matter, energy and gravity. You cannot,
should not, ask what happened before the Big Bang because this 'state' was
a timeless and spaceless state that lacked the concept of 'before' and
'place'. This is serious business, and not just some stupid semantic hop
scotch game that astronomers and physicists play. 

The one thing we have learned over and over again is that Nature is nothing
like the fuzzy, intuitive gut feeling we have about what is real and what
is not. Evolution did not prepare us to understand intuitively the laws of
quantum mechanics and relativity. These are things we had to teach
ourselves about the physical world. We fully expect that any investigation
of the origin of the universe will force us to reconsider the very fabric
of space and time itself in some blurry state that merges with the
indeterminacy of quantum laws. 

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So I guess I wasn't off the mark when I said that the time is not eternal.