The Expanding Universe and How the Big Bang Could Explain it

Written by: Ricky • Edited by: Laurie Patsalides
Updated Sep 11, 2009

You surely must have inflated balloons in a birthday party decoration. I remember how elated I used to feel when the tiny rubber piece got transformed into a gigantic ball when filled with air. This leads me to think whether the creator of the Universe has similar elation on seeing the expanding universe.

Next up: The Big Bang to Explain Why the Universe is Expanding ►

Finding the Origins of the Universe

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Certain things do not require any proof since they form the very basis of existence. For example I do not need to tell you that you exist, for you know it. But knowledge or rather the familiarity of something may not be same as the understanding of the same. Infact most of the times, the things that we know for sure, we take them for granted without reflecting on their origin or cause. The universe in which we live in and exist, is similarly taken for granted by most people. But there are certain minds which go beyond the normal and seek an explanation even for the existence and origins of the universe. Of course this is an area in which a great paradox exists since even after knowing so much about the universe, we hardly know anything. Yet challenges do not deter intelligent and inquisitive minds to go deeper into the mysteries even if it means the formation of more questions than answers in the process of doing so.

The Big Bang to Explain Why the Universe is Expanding

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Several theories have been put forward to explain the origin of the universe, none of which can be said to be sure for the moment. One of the most convincing and plausible theories is the big bang theory. Earlier it was believed that the universe has been in existence since infinite time and there is no beginning or end to it. But the big bang theory states that the universe did begin at a particular moment of time. This time frame is put by different experts in the region of about 12-15 billion years. Nobody knows what existed prior to that although several speculations do exist regarding the same.

Then suddenly a point in space which contained infinitely dense mass appeared and it started to expand at an enormous rate. Although this might look somewhat like a fairy tale story and many people might tend to disbelieve it, yet that is the best answer that scientists have been able to find till date.

Proving The Cause of Expansion

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We know that science believes only in endorsing something after full and valid proof for that something exists, but unfortunately this hasn't happened in the case of big bang theory as yet. There do exist several scientific signs which are in tune with the postulates of the big bang theory. Some of these are as follows:

Hubble's law states that the recessional velocity of galaxies is proportional to their distance from the earth which has been confirmed by experiments. It shows that the universe is really expanding as postulated in big bang.
Observations confirm the abundance of lighter elements in the universe as stated in the big bang theory.

There are several other observations but we will not go into details of this topic here. It simply must be remembered that though the big bang theory is very convincing it still requires a lot of research before anything could be said with certainty. In the mean time just relax and wonder at the marvel which the creator has created in the form of an immense universe.

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