Evidence Of The Big Bang

There are still a few scientists who do not believe that there was a "Big Bang", which began the universe as we know it, even though we can detect it's radiation all around us in space. Today, I would like to add what I consider as another point of view on why there must have been a "Big Bang" to explain the universe as we see it today.

We know there is no actual energy in gravity, which is a force of nature. But whenever there is a gravitational attraction between two bodies, which are not in contact, there is kinetic energy (also known as "energy of position") in the bodies. The simplest example of kinetic energy is a ball in the air. The ball has the potential to come back down with force in it because of it's position.

This energy is not in gravity itself. When you throw a ball into the air, the ball will come back down with force. But the force is not from the gravity which brings it back down, the force is simply a redirection of the energy that you put into the ball in the first place by throwing it.

This means that there must be energy in the earth-moon gravitational relationship because the two have the potential to fall together, and if they did they would do so with quite a bit of force. If there is kinetic energy in the earth-moon relationship, then the universe must be full of kinetic energy. Remember Newton's Law that every object in the universe attracts every other object with a force inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

This kinetic energy is present in the orbits of moons around planets, in the orbits of planets around stars, in the orbits of stars around centers of galaxies, and in the binding of galaxies in the various galactic groups and clusters.

There is also kinetic energy involved whenever a body has weight. As I described in "The Weight Hypothesis", weight is a manifestation of incomplete gravitational attraction. As a simple example, the earth's gravity is trying to pull you toward it's center of mass. This is not possible because the negatively-charged electrons in the orbitals of atoms comprising soles of your feet repel the negatively-charged electrons in the orbitals of the atoms comprising the ground. Therefore, your body manifests weight because the gravitational attraction cannot be completed.

Across the entire universe, this must add up to a fantastic amount of energy. But where could this energy have come from? Remember that energy can never be created or destroyed, but only changed in form. It must have come from somewhere.

In the posting "The Supernova Energy Hypothesis And The Most Accessible Star", I explained where the energy of such things as the tides on earth originated. This energy could only have originated with the explosion of the star that preceded the sun. We know that the sun is a second-generation star because it already contains heavy elements, which are only cooked up inside stars. These stars then explode and scatter their component matter across space. Matter from this long-ago exploding star came back together by gravity to form the sun and planets.

But since energy can never be created, but only changed in form, even that energy must have originated somewhere. Wherever we can trace energy to, it must have originated somewhere else.

We end up tracing all of the energy contained in all of the gravitational relationships in the universe back to what must have been a tremendous source of energy. This proves that there must have been a Big Bang, which was a truly fantastic burst of energy that began the universe as we see it today. The Steady-State Theory, that the universe was always there and that there was no Big Bang, cannot explain where all of this kinetic energy came from.

Aside from the kinetic energy contained in all of the gravitational relationships in the universe, what about the energy that binds atomic nuclei together? The nuclei of atoms heavier than hydrogen can only be fused together by the tremendous heat and pressure at the center of a star.

Basically, the tremendous force of gravity of the star's mass forces smaller nuclei together into larger ones. The nuclei then contain energy, which brings about Einstein's formula, E = MC squared. But since there can be no actual energy in the gravity of the star's mass, but only a redirection of energy from somewhere else, that energy must have come from somewhere.

Where else can there be except the Big Bang again? The kinetic energy of the star's mass goes into fusing atomic nuclei together, and this is why they contain binding energy. The Big Bang threw matter and antimatter out into space, and this matter coming back together by gravity or undergoing mutual attraction by gravity, redirects the original energy of the Big Bang into kinetic energy, which is potential energy of position.

The way I see it, there must have been a Big Bang. If the Steady State Theory were correct, the stars would have no energy to shine and there would be no energy for your computer so that you could be reading this.