Astronomers Just Detected the Beginning of the Big Bang

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Jay Hathaway - Gawker


http://i.imgur.com/zIlVR3o.jpg

Radio astronomers operating telescopes at the South Pole said Monday that they've discovered evidence that the universe ballooned out of the Big Bang due to a massive gravitational force generated by space itself. The discovery is being called the "smoking gun" for the Big Bang theory, and it could have huge implications for our understanding of our universes (and possible others).

Harvard-Smithsonian astrophysicist John M. Kovac and his team detected gravitational waves—tiny ripples in the fabric of space—that could be the first real evidence for the "inflation" hypothesis of how the universe basically bubbled into being nearly 14 billion years ago. The discovery also suggests that our 14 billion light-years of space aren't all that's out there—our universe could be a tiny corner of something much, much bigger.

Stanford physicist Alan Guth, who first proposed inflation 35 years ago, told the New York Times he was "bowled over" that evidence of inflation has finally been spotted.

"With nature, you have to be lucky," he said. "Apparently we have been lucky."

Although this may be the biggest astronomical discovery since the Big Bang itself, the energy that powered inflation's repulsive force still remains a mystery. So does whatever came before inflation, as it was erased by the expansion of the universe.

[FBD]

http://l.yimg.com/ck/image/A7179/717979/300_717979.jpg

[Hal-9000]

WHAT CAUSES GRAVITY YOU BASTARDS????!!!!! :x

[PorkChopSandwiches]

The world we live in consists of four dimensions, the three space dimensions and one that is not exactly time but is related to time (it is in fact time multiplied by the square root of -1). This is not at all easy to understand but it means that space-time as we call it has some rather weird properties. In particular, when you move through one of the space dimensions you also travel, unwittingly, through time. You do not notice this, indeed as far as you are concerned nothing happens to you at all, but someone observing you would say that you have travelled through time. Of course, we are always travelling through time, but when you travel through space you travel through time by less that you expect. The most famous example of this effect is the "Twins Paradox".

All the effects of special relativity, such as the slowing down of clocks and the shrinking of rods follow from the above. In fact, it is often better to think of some things, such as electromagnetic fields as being four-dimensional objects. However, the important thing to remember for the moment, is: when you move through space you are compelled to move through time but, when you move through time (which of course you are always doing) you do not have to move through space.

So, what does this have to do with gravity? It is quite simple! When a mass is present in the above space-time it distorts it so that whilst it remains true that travelling through space causes you to travel through time, travelling through time now causes you to move (accelerate) through space. In other words just by existing, you are compelled to move through space - this is gravity.

The particular advantage of this theory of gravity (General Relativity) is that it explains, at a stroke, all the observed properties of gravity. For example the fact that it acts equally on all objects and substances becomes obvious when you thing of gravity as a distortion of space-time rather than a force.

Imagine that you are in free space, away from any planets or stars, when suddenly a planet is created quite close to you. You would not be aware that anything is happening to you, you would feel no force, but you would find that you started to accelerate towards the planet. This is just like the case where you travel through space, you are not aware that you have also travelled through time but people observing you are.

[Hal-9000]

I've read that jibba jabba before :lol:

okay, so if you believe the above now apply it to the first moments of the Big Bang...if there are no other objects how can gravity be created on a mass exploding outwards like a projectile?

I'll roll one and wait for the answer :face:

[PorkChopSandwiches]

http://i.imgur.com/oZ9x9P0.png

[Hal-9000]

"In other words just by existing, you are compelled to move through space - this is gravity."

thees is no explanation senor :hand:

[Hal-9000]

a better discussion

Imagine we're flying through space and there's no planets or stars...there is no gravity. If we step outside the craft, we float...

Now our spacecraft nears a planet. If we get close enough, we fall or get drawn towards the planet. So it seems simple...the closer we are to a large object, the more gravity exists...


So how come some planets have very little gravitational force on the surface, while others have tremendous gravity? The planet with tremendous gravity can also be smaller than the other.

So the force of gravity comes from where? An object simply existing? BULL PUCKEY!!! :x

[Hal-9000]

okay I was with a fat chick one night....she had a HUGE curvy booty

and for some reason I was drawn into it, I couldn't resist, there was no escaping...it was a force of nature upon itself






:-k I may answered my own question, nvrmind

[FBD]

okay, so if you believe the above now apply it to the first moments of the Big Bang...if there are no other objects how can gravity be created on a mass exploding outwards like a projectile?

mass=energy

bigbang=too high of an energy for anything to congeal into anything that could be called "mass" yet the whole bit of it has mass-energy

things cool, matter congeals, clumps. this happens because mass-energy embodies the gravitational force, so whether its mass or energy it doesnt make any difference at all, just the configuration and density will change slightly.

[FBD]

a better discussion

Imagine we're flying through space and there's no planets or stars...there is no gravity. If we step outside the craft, we float...

Now our spacecraft nears a planet. If we get close enough, we fall or get drawn towards the planet. So it seems simple...the closer we are to a large object, the more gravity exists...


So how come some planets have very little gravitational force on the surface, while others have tremendous gravity? The planet with tremendous gravity can also be smaller than the other.

So the force of gravity comes from where? An object simply existing? BULL PUCKEY!!! :x

"the more gravity exists"...its called inverse square law ;)

tremendous vs small....its called density :razz:

and yes...far as we can tell, gravity is part and parcel of mass-energy. fundamental property. just like an electron has a given spin and charge, its got a given mass.

[Hal-9000]

:nono:

still not answering the questions FBD Sagan

[Griffin]

If you are traveling faster than the speed of light, do you still cast a shadow?


...I'm talking daytime of course.

[RBP]

If it was really a big bang, it'd be called "your mom"