The Big Bang Theory in Astronomy
Scientists still do not have exact information about how the universe came into being. The most widespread in astronomy is the theory of the big bang. It is difficult to understand this concept succinctly and clearly. Its foundation was laid by Einstein, who created the relativistic theory of gravity and introduced the cosmological constant.
A Historical Excursion into Explosion Theory
If you describe the concept in simple words, then in astronomy, the big bang is a theory about the appearance of the universe. She was born from a small point and planets and stars appeared after her. Charles Messier in 1917, during observations, noticed that some nebulae had lines shifted towards the red spectrum.
But at that time, optical instruments were not yet so advanced and therefore it was difficult to specify the objects of observation. Only Edwin Hubble was able to determine that some nebulae are clusters of stars.
After its opening, rarefied clouds of gas and dust began to be emitted as well. The stars of the system were called galaxies.
By the 30s, astronomers had made several conclusions:
- the galaxy is the main component of the universe;
- it contains cosmic dust and rarefied gas;
- each galaxy consists of approximately one hundred billion stars.
Edwin Hubble was able to collect all the data and conclude that the redshift value was dependent on the distance to the radiation source.
The further the object is from the observer, the more the change occurs.
The Doppler principle confirmed that the universe is in motion and is expanding all the time. Before that, space was considered a static space. Einstein proposed a model of a closed universe. It was four-dimensional, but it is impossible to visualize it. According to the scientist, she had:
- weight;
- volume;
- radius.
This model was refined by Alesander Friedman. He was able to prove that it is unstable and constantly expanding. After that, I had to radically change the idea.
The essence of the big bang theory
Briefly, the big bang hypothesis reflects the idea that the universe began about 14 billion years ago. At that moment, she was a small bundle of energy and substances. It was very dense, but something happened and an explosion occurred. As a result, the clot shattered into billions of fragments.
If the expansion continues, then the world is threatened with complete dissolution. The theory was completely opposed to ideas about the material world. The concept of the big bang has changed the concept of the structure of space.
In order to more easily understand the features of the theory, you need to represent the Universe as a point. It is not possible to explain its features from the point of view of physics. After the explosion, this point, in fact, turned around on a large scale.
As an example, you can roll a piece of paper tightly into a ball, and then flatten it. This is how the universe appeared. Another theory explains that before the explosion, the point was very hot and therefore objects began to cool after it.
This process cannot be compared with the undermining of a checker when a gas cloud with a clear front of expansion is formed. It happened at once in all points, it has no beginning or center, everything happened synchronously.
Major criticism of the big bang theory
There are many articles today that touch on the big bang theory. But there is still a lot of unclear in it. The universe has existed not so long ago, so it is impossible to say what was before it and what will appear after. Today, scientists can predict the future, but they cannot say how the universe began before the explosion.
But not everyone agrees with the theory. So, some scientists assume that the world has no beginning and end, it is stationary. In Soviet science, the idea of the big bang was also not perceived for a long time; it was forbidden to mention it in dictionaries and books.
Interestingly, even in the middle of the 20th century, Pope Pius XII declared that the theory of the explosion did not contradict Catholic ideas. Later, Orthodox and Protestants spoke with approval, even some Muslims agreed with her.
Any article on the big bang theory generates a lot of discussion. Today the theory is being developed by many scientists. While nothing can be said for sure about the evolution of the Universe, only one thing is certain: the world is developing, and it is not yet known what exactly it will come to. It is possible that the expansion process stops and compression begins.