Evolution and the Big Bang

Evolution and the Big Bang Theory

The metaphysical questions that have haunted us since the dawn of mankind are perhaps answered by the theory of evolution and "the Big Bang Theory." The Big Bang theory regarding the origin of the universe was created about 50 years ago, and soon became the creed of the evolutionary establishment. It has had much opposition, however. "

The Big Bang theory is an effort to explain what happened at the start of our universe (the Big-Bang Theory Web site, 2003). Research on astronomy and physics has shown that our universe did in fact have a beginning. Before this beginning, there was nothing. After this beginning, our universe came to be. The Big Bang theory is an attempt to explain what happened during and after the moment that the universe began.

According to the Big Bang theory (the Big-Bang Theory Web site, 2003), the universe came into existence as "singularity" approximately 13.7 billion years ago. Singularities are zones that defy our current understanding of physics. They are believed to exist at the core of "black holes," which are areas of major gravitational pressure. The pressure is believed to be so intense that finite matter is actually squished into infinite density (a mathematical concept which truly boggles the mind). These zones of infinite density are known as "singularities." Research suggests that the universe was once an infinitesimally small, infinitely hot, infinitely dense, something - a singularity. However, it is hard to prove how it got to be what it is now.

After the universe's initial appearance, it appears to have inflated (the "Big Bang"), expanded and cooled, growing from a very, very small and very, very hot entity, to the size and temperature of our current universe (the Big-Bang Theory Web site, 2003). The universe continues to expand and cool and humans are inside of it, living on this unique planet, circling a star clustered together with several hundred billion other stars in a galaxy. This is the Big Bang theory.

Research on Evolution and the Big Bang Theory

According to the Big Bang theory, approximately 10 to 20 billion years ago, all of the matter and energy of the universe was compressed into one cosmic egg, or plasma ball, consisting of sub-atomic particles and radiation (Gish, 1991). Nobody understands where the cosmic egg came from, or how it got there -- it just seems to have appeared. For some inexplicable reason, the cosmic egg exploded. As the matter and radiation expanded, so the theory says, it cooled sufficiently for elements to form, as protons and electrons combined to form hydrogen of atomic weight one, and neutrons were captured to form helium of atomic weight four. Most of the gas that formed was made up of hydrogen. These gases are believed to have expanded radially in all directions throughout the universe until they were so highly dispersed that a very low vacuum and temperature existed. No oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon, sulfur, copper, iron, nickel, uranium, or other elements existed. The universe was made up essentially of hydrogen gas.

Then somehow, it is believed that the molecules of gas that were coming out at an enormous speed in a radial direction started to collapse in on themselves in local areas by gravitational attraction (Gish, 1991). The molecules within a space of about six trillion miles diameter collapsed to form each star, a hundred billion stars somehow collected to form each of the approximately 100 billion galaxies in the universe, and our own solar system formed about five billion years or so ago from a cloud of dust and gas made up of the exploded remnants of formerly existing stars.

There has been a great deal of research on the Big Bang theory (the Big-Bang Theory Web site, 2003). Most researchers agree that the universe had a beginning. Second, galaxies seem to be moving away from us at speeds proportional to their distance. This is known as "Hubble's Law," named after Edwin Hubble, the scientist who discovered this phenomenon in 1929. This observation supports the expansion of the universe and holds that the universe was once compacted.

Third, if the universe was initially very, very hot as the Big Bang theory suggests, scientists should be able to prove that this heat really existed (the Big-Bang Theory Web site, 2003). In 1965, radioastronomers Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson discovered a 2.725 degree Kelvin (-454.765 degree Fahrenheit, -270.425 degree Celsius) Cosmic Microwave Background radiation (CMB) that pervades the observable universe. This is believed to be the remnant that scientists were looking for. Penzias and Wilson shared the 1978 Nobel Prize for Physics for this discovery.

Finally, the abundance of the "light elements" hydrogen and helium found in the observable universe are believed to support the Big Bang model of origins (the Big-Bang Theory Web site, 2003).

In 2003, Physicist Robert Gentry proposed an alternative to the standard Big Bang theory, an alternative that also accounts for the evidences listed above (Eastman and Missler, 1996). Gentry believes that the standard Big Bang model is founded upon a faulty paradigm that he claims is inconsistent with the empirical data. Gentry bases his model on Einstein's static-spacetime paradigm that he claims is the "genuine cosmic Rosetta."

Gentry is not alone. Other high-profile dissenters include Nobel laureate Dr. Hannes Alfven, Professor Geoffrey Burbidge, Dr. Halton Arp, and British astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle, who is accredited with first coining the term "the Big Bang" during a radio broadcast in 1950.

Religion and the Big Bang Theory

God is frequently a major part of the Big Bang discussion (the Big-Bang Theory Web site, 2003). This is because cosmogony (the study of the origin of the universe) is an area where science and religion meet. Creation was a supernatural event, meaning that it took place outside of the natural realm.

The Bible holds that, eventually, all scientific theories will fail, because God created the universe.

Conclusion

There are many misconceptions surrounding the Big Bang theory (the Big-Bang Theory Web site, 2003). For example, we tend to imagine a giant explosion. Experts however say that there was no explosion; there was (and continues to be) an expansion. Rather than imagining a balloon popping and releasing its contents, imagine a balloon expanding: an infinitesimally small balloon expanding to the size of our current universe."

The Big Bang theory is based on the mathematical equations, known as the field equations, of the general theory of relativity created in 1915 by Albert Einstein.

According to LaRocco and Blair (2003): "It is extremely difficult to separate this subject of science from daily existential pondering. Everyone at some point in time has grappled with the question of why we are here? Some have found refuge in the sheer philosophic nature of this question while others have taken a more scientific approach."

For many, it is hard to imagine the entire universe not existing. However, science has proven that the universe is, in fact, finite, with a beginning, a middle, and a future. According to LaRocco and Blair (2003): "It is easy to get caught up in the large scale of the issue in discussing years by the billions, yet, this time still passes. As we travel through our own individual lives here on Earth, we also travel through the life of our universe."