Proof Of The Big Bang

Most scientists agree that the universe began with what is referred to as the "Big Bang". Scientists didn't arrive at the Big Bang, it was actually introduced by a Belgian Catholic priest, Georges Lemaitre, based on the Christian idea of the beginning, but is now very widely accepted in the scientific community. Before the Big Bang there was the "Steady State" Theory of the universe.

However there have always been a few doubters and doubt about the Big Bang still persists. For some reason my native Britain has been a haven for Big Bang doubters. The name of the "Big Bang" was actually coined by Sir Fred Hoyle, who was making fun of the idea.

I find that we do not even have to go beyond the earth to prove that there must have been a Big Bang. We can see it just by tracing where energy comes from. There are only three ultimate sources of energy, the sun, the supernova that preceded the sun, and the Big Bang.

Solar energy, from the sun, is all around us. The sun makes plants grow so all of our food and fuel is from solar energy. The uneven heating of the earth by the sun creates wind energy. The sun evaporates water and, if it falls as precipitation to a higher level, it gives us hydro power. 

The sun was preceded by a large star that exploded in a supernova. Some of the matter fell back together by gravity to form the present sun and Solar System. We know that the sun is such a second-generation star because it contains heavy elements that are beyond it's current stage in the stellar fusion process.

Tides can be harnessed and used to generate electricity. Tides also move boats, and other floating objects, which takes energy. Tidal energy does not come from the sun. The supernova threw the matter that formed the earth and moon out into space and tidal energy is a redirection of that, it comes from the supernova.

The ordinary stellar fusion process only goes as far as iron. Elements heavier than iron are put together from lighter atoms only when energy is released by a supernova. It takes this tremendous energy to crunch the smaller atoms together.

Some of these new heavy atoms are less-than-stable and gradually release particles or radiation in order to seek a more stable state. These emissions are known as radioactivity. This also releases heat, which builds up from radioactive decay inside the earth. Geothermal heat, some of which may also be directly left over from the supernova, is thus supernova energy. This includes the energy released by volcanoes.

Some of the heavy atoms that are crunched together from smaller atoms only during the tremendous release of energy by a supernova can be split by a high-speed neutron. These are thorium, the 235 isotope of uranium, and man-made plutonium. When this happens some of the binding energy of the nucleus of the atom is released. This is the basis of nuclear fission energy and so the energy from nuclear reactors and conventional nuclear bombs ultimately comes from the supernova that preceded the sun.

During the ice ages vast sheets of ice form at high latitudes. The centrifugal force of the earth's rotation pulls the ice sheets in the direction of the equator. These moving glaciers greatly change the landscape. This energy comes ultimately from the supernova. If there is a landslide the kinetic energy in the falling rocks is from the supernova.

There is one energy source that cannot be accounted for by energy from either the sun or the supernova. That source is nuclear fusion. Nuclear fission, the splitting of a heavy atom, is the opposite process. As the name implies nuclear fusion is the fusing of two or more small atoms together into a larger atom. The new larger atom contains less overall internal energy than the smaller atoms that were fused together to form it. The excess energy is released and that is why fusion is a source of energy.

Natural fusion takes place in the centers of stars. The gravity there is strong enough to overcome the electron repulsion between atoms and fuse lighter atoms into heavier ones. The excess energy is released as radiation, which is why stars shine. The current stage of fusion in the sun is crunching four hydrogen atoms into one helium atom, with the excess energy being released as sunshine.

Fusion of atoms can be done artificially, by pushing the atoms together with lasers or confining very high temperatures in a magnetic field. As with stars the excess energy is released when small atoms are fused into a larger one. There is a lot of hope for fusion as a future source of energy but, at the time of this writing, fusion is still at the experimental stage, no one has yet succeeded in making it into a practical source of energy.

We know from science class that energy can never be created or destroyed, but only changed in form. There are a number of ways that we get energy whose ultimate source is either the sun or the supernova that preceded the sun. The energy from the sun is not rooted in the supernova that preceded it because that star exploded before all of it's hydrogen atoms had fused into heavier atoms and then that process continued as some of the matter of the exploded star fell back together by gravity to form the sun and Solar System.

But neither of these sources can explain where the energy in fusion comes from. Since energy can never be created or destroyed, but only changed in form, it must have come from somewhere. Since it is the internal energy in all atoms, some of it being released when atoms fuse together, it must be from before the formation of atoms.

It's source can only be the Big Bang and it thus proves the reality of the Big Bang.