Strengths and Weaknesses of the Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang
theory is an effort to explain what happened at the very beginning of our universe.
Discoveries in astronomy and physics have shown beyond a reasonable doubt that our
universe did in fact have a beginning. Prior to that moment there was nothing;
during and after that moment there was something (our universe).
According to
the standard theory, our universe sprang into existence as "singularity"
around 13.7 billion years ago as a result of the explosion of a big bang of a
small sphere of concentrated matter, which at first formed hydrogen before all
galaxies started, as a result of the expanding state of the big bang. According
to the theory, the creation of the universe followed orderliness; this
orderliness is said to be rising and setting of the sun.
The Big Bang
theory provides a scientific theory to explain the beginning of the universe.
Both supporters of the cosmological argument and those who deny it use the Big
Bang theory as a proof for or against the existence of God. Scientific
observation has confirmed that there was a beginning to the universe and has
provided further evidence that the universe developed a structure very early in
its history. The theory doesn't need the existence of God to support it as it
states that random chemical reactions occurred and a big bang occurred where
the universe began.
Darwin, a philosopher believed in the theory of evolution
where species evolved from their ancestors who had the fittest and healthiest
genes to become better, well adapted species to their environment that they
live in for the survival of the fittest. Darwin believed that we evolved from
sea to land over millions of years. We were once small microorganisms that
evolved as time went by. This is another possible scientific theory that
doesn't mention a supreme being from where we came from and is used very often
as evidence as to how everything came to be.
Weaknesses of the Big Bang Theory
The theory of
the Big Bang has some weaknesses as a result of the inability of the ancient
philosophers to answer convincingly, some questions that have been troubling
the mind of the human person. For instance, the theory believes that before the
universe, there was a pre-existing void (vacuum) – empty space, but has failed
to explain the origin of the empty space itself. It also believes that the
universe was formed by a concentrated matter, but has failed to convince us of
the creator of the matter itself.
The following
are the weaknesses of the Big Bang Theory:
- The theory has failed to explain how the creation of the universe took place without the unity of time, space and matter.
- The theory has failed to account for the origin of the pre-existing void which it said facilitated the origin of the universe.
- The theory has failed to explain the origin of the galaxies.
With these lapses, one can boldly say that the theory of the Big Bang is
contained with weaknesses.
Strengths of the Big Bang Theory
Just like it
has its weaknesses, the Big Bang theory also has its strengths.
The following
are the strengths of the theory:
- The evidence of the expansion of the universe.
Friedman, 1922; 1924 obtained models of the expanding universe as
solutions of the newly proposed theory of general relativity. The Friedman
models remained neglected for a new year largely because astronomers believed
the universe to be static. It was in 1922 that Hubble gave a linear law
relating the redshift of galaxies in our neibourhood to their distances
thereby; lending strong observational support for expansion of the space in
which these galaxies are embedded.
So, here we have a healthy situation in which a scientific theory made a
prediction which was subsequently verified by observers who were essentially
unaware of the theory.
- The Microwave Background
In early 1950s, Alpher and Herman (1948) and Gamow (1953) had from their
calculations predicted the existence of a thermal radiation background peaking
in the microwaves. Because cosmology was considered too speculative by the
physicists, the prediction was not consciously followed up but was only
serendipitously verified in 1965 when Penzias and Wilson (1965) discovered the
microwave background (MBR). Since 1965, the microwave background (MBR) has been
measured at several wavelengths and its intensity spectrum conforms remarkably
closely to the thermalized planckian form.
- Pimodial Nucleosynthesis
The prediction of MBR by Gamow et al came as a by-product of their work
on the hypothesis that most, if not all the nuclei of chemical elements we see
today in the universe were synthesized in the first few minutes after the big
bang. Although, some technical details of the work of Gamow (1946) and Alpher et al. (1948) turned out to be
inaccurate, their hypothesis were at least partially successful.
- Evidence of Evolution
The HBBM has the universe evolving from a very hot dense state to the
currently observed diffuse cool state. This evolution over a time scale of ~1010
yrs will have its impact on the time dependence of the physical
properties of its contents, eg. on the populations of discrete source like
galaxies, radio galaxies, quasars, etc.
References:
1.
Strengths
and weaknesses of the Big Bang cosmology, by Jayant V. Narlikar,
Inter-University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Ganeshkhind Pune,
411007.
2.
The
Big Bang Theory, Galaxies, Expanding Universes,
God & Theology Concepts – Part 3.
(http://www.sciencesuperschool.com/Big-Bang-Theory,-Galaxies,-Expanding-Universes,-God--and--Theology-Concepts-–-Pa.php)
3.
Steven
W. Hawking, George F.R. Ellis, "The Cosmic Black-Body Radiation and the
Existence of Singularities in our
Universe," Astrophysical Journal, 152, (1968) pp. 25-36.
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