As with many other scientific hypotheses, the Big Bang theory is not completely infallible. Although much current evidence supports the Big Bang theory of the creation of the universe, there is still some level of uncertainty surrounding it. In fact, there are a couple fundamental problems associated with the Big bang. These problems include the question of: why there is so little antimatter in the universe, and what happened prior to the initial instant of creation? These questions bring up important issues relating to the universe which have not been properly answered by the Big Bang theory.
In 1932, Carl Anderson, a physicist at the California Institute of Technology, discovered a new type of particle called a positron, which had the same mass of an electron, but instead of a negative charge, had a positive charge. This was the first example of antimatter to be seen in a laboratory setting. (Peebles 106)
Antimatter basically is a form of matter that, at the particle level, consists of a particle whose mass is equal to that of a normal particle but carries opposite electrical charges. There are other important properties of antimatter as well. Antimatter annihilates whenever it comes in contact with ordinary matter and also can be created in energetic reactions between elementary particles. Also, every particle has a corresponding antiparticle (Lerner 92). If we have a collection of particles and certain anti-particles at a very high temperature, we would expect a balance to occur between these processes of annihilation and creation. Every time a pair annihilates each other, such as an electron (particle) and a positron (anti-particle), another pair would be created in a collision at a different place. But as the temperature falls, creation cannot proceed any longer with annihilation since there is not enough energy to produce the mass of the pair of particles. Then the balance dissipates and annihilation occurs until all the particles or antiparticles are used up entirely
The issue that the Big Bang theory has a hard time resolving is that in this particle period which scientists refer to, taking place approximately thirteen minutes after the Big Bang, both annihilation and creation of particles involved pairs, so therefore, for every particle which was created or destroyed, a corresponding process occurred for antiparticles as well. But one of the interesting facts about the earth is that there is very little antimatter at all, almost none. Satellites and planetary probes which have explored the galaxy return with the same verdict that there is no antimatter anywhere(Lerner 98). The question is how to explain this complete imbalance between matter and antimatter, not only on Earth but also in our galaxy.
Explanations for this imbalance include hypotheses that before the particle era of the Big Bang there was already an imbalance between matter and antimatter, either by the universe starting out with more matter, antimatter being segregated to another region of the universe, or a process occurring before the particle period creating matter disproportionately to antimatter. Advances in astronomy have given the most credence to the theory that some process did occur that created matter before the particle period of creation(Smoot 274).
An interesting question that comes to mind when dealing with the Big Bang theory is; if the Big Bang created the universe as we know it, then what, if anything, existed before it? A modern speculation for many contemporary scientists and physicists is that the present expansion may be one cycle of many which this closed universe has undergone. But in reality, it is impossible to know what could have existed or occurred before the Big Bang scientifically. We can only speculate philosophically about what could possibly have been before the initial moment of creation. It is remarkable that although modern science can determine what occurred one minute after the big bang, that it is impossible to determine what existed or occurred before. We face the prospect of never knowing the answer to this and other related questions regarding creation of the universe.
One can see that the Big Bang theory of creation is by no means an air-tight, completely secure theory. Questions such as that of the formation of galaxies, and antimatter can be hypothesized about but never completely explained. Problems with this widely accepted theory do exist as one can see, but the dearth of evidence may indicate that the Big Bang theory is more accurate than not.
Although the Big Bang theory does not yet explain everything about the evolution of the universe, it does indeed explain an ample amount. With the advances in modern technology, much convincing evidence has been discovered adding further credibility to this framework of the universe. The Big Bang theory makes evolution and change the central concept of its cosmology. As astronomers and physicists gain more information from more technical instruments such as the COBE space satellite and the Hubble Space Craft, they will undoubtedly discover more elements of the universe that will contribute to our understanding of its evolution. “Smaller” questions such as the lack of antimatter, the universe status before creation, and the possibilities of universal contraction still puzzle scientists. However, the biggest question that they have yet to determine is whether the universe will expand indefinitely or will ultimately collapse upon itself and perhaps repeat the process, forever.
Works Cited
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Gribbin, John. “In Search of the Big Bang.” New Scientist Feb. 1992: 24.
Lerner, Eric L. The Big Bang Never Happened. New York: Random House, Inc., 1991.
“Monsters at the Heart of Galaxy Formation” Science 1 Sept. 2000: 1484-5.
Peebles, James E. The Evolution of the Universe. 26 Oct. 1994.
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Silk, Joseph. The Big Bang. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman and Company, 1980.
Silk, Joseph. Cosmic Enigmas. Woodbury, NY: The American Institute of Physics Press,
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Silk, Joseph. The Big Bang. New York: W. H. Freeman and Company, 1989.
Smoot, George and Keay Davidson. Wrinkles in Time. New York: William Morrow &
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