Chapter 1: How Did Everything Begin? – The Big Bang Theory

By. Yaşar Cahit Uyar Yaşar Cahit Uyar -

Hello everyone!

We're starting a brand-new series: The Formation of the Universe Series. In this series, we'll have your eyes fixed on the stars and your minds embarking on an intergalactic journey. If you're ready, today we're going back to the very beginning of everything in the universe: The Big Bang Theory. But we won't just gloss over it with a simple "it exploded and that's it." What really happened? Why did it happen? How do we know? Together, we'll explore all these questions.



The Moment Everything Began: What is the Big Bang?

The Big Bang is an event that occurred about 13.8 billion years ago, when the universe began expanding from a point of nearly zero volume but infinite density (which we call singularity). The word "bang" here is actually a bit misleading because it wasn't like a bomb exploding in space. On the contrary, it was the expansion of space itself. From the moment it began expanding, time, space, matter, and energy came into existence.
So, as you can see, the Big Bang wasn’t just an explosion—it was the birth of everything.


What Was There Before Time and Space?

dhjdYes, perhaps one of the deepest questions that everyone wonders: “What was there before time?” While the philosophical and physical side is complicated, scientifically, we can say this: Before time, there was no "before." Because time itself began with the Big Bang.

Thanks to Einstein's theory of relativity, we know that time and space are interconnected (this is called spacetime). Therefore, time was born alongside space. In other words, before the Big Bang, there was no time, so the question "What was there before?" may be meaningless. Shocking, right?


How Did the Big Bang Happen?

The exact "how" of the Big Bang is still not known. However, we have some strong ideas and observations. In the early moments, the universe was extremely hot and dense. The energy was too dense to transform into matter. During the first 10⁻³⁵ seconds (yes, 34 zeros after the decimal point!), the universe expanded incredibly quickly in a process known as inflation. It was like a snowflake suddenly expanding to the size of the Solar System.

During this expansion, energy began to cool down. As it cooled, energy started transforming into particles—protons, neutrons, electrons. And then the atoms, stars, and galaxies we know began to form. Everything started to take shape slowly.


So How Do We Know This?

Okay, my friend, how do we know about something that happened 13.8 billion years ago? Great question!
Here’s where scientific observations come into play:

The Expansion of the Universe (Redshift)
In 1929, Edwin Hubble discovered that galaxies are moving away from us, and this can be measured by the redshift of their light. This shows that the universe is expanding and that it was smaller in the past. Although it caused a lot of debate back then, it's now an accepted fact.
hjdj


Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMB)
In 1964, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson discovered a faint microwave signal coming from all directions in space. This was the "heat signature" left over from the Big Bang—the baby picture of the universe. Today, CMB is one of the greatest pieces of evidence we have about the early universe.


The Distribution of Light Elements
In the first moments of the universe, only hydrogen, helium, and small amounts of lithium were formed. The ratios of these elements today surprisingly match the predictions made by the Big Bang theory.


Does the Big Bang Explain Everything?

No. While the Big Bang does an excellent job of explaining the origin and development of the universe, there are still some unanswered questions. For example:
Why is the universe almost perfectly uniform?
What is dark matter and dark energy?
What happened in the early moments? (We can’t explain the physical events during the tiny time known as Planck Time.)
But the beauty of this is: There’s still so much to discover.


Conclusion: The Big Bang—A Story of Beginnings

The Big Bang doesn’t just tell us how the universe began. It also opens the door to big questions about ourselves:
Who are we? Where are we in the universe? Are we alone? Does the universe have a purpose?
The answers to these questions may come through science, philosophy, or perhaps from a place we never expected. But one thing is certain: Everything began at one point. And that beginning has sparked in us an endless curiosity.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Chapter 5: The Dance of Elements – The Matter Born in Stars

By. Yaşar Cahit Uyar Yaşar Cahit Uyar -
Image
We’ve witnessed the end of the cosmic dark age and the birth of the first stars. The universe is no longer just a place of glowing light; it has become a stage where chemical diversity is born — where elements begin to form. But how exactly do these elements come into being? Do stars really act like factories that produce matter? In this episode, we’ll dive into the extraordinary furnaces inside stars. We'll explore how carbon, oxygen, iron, and other elements are forged in stellar cores, how supernova explosions enrich the cosmos, and why people say we are made of stardust. Beyond Hydrogen: The Power of Fusion The first stars were primarily composed of hydrogen and helium. But creating heavier elements required extreme heat and pressure in their cores. Luckily, nature delivered. Thanks to nuclear fusion happening deep inside stars, lighter elements began fusing into heavier ones: - Hydrogen → Helium - Helium → Carbon - Carbon → Oxygen - Oxygen → Neon, Magnesium, Silico...
Read more »

Neptune's Sky Ignites for the First Time: Scientists Detect Aurora at the Edge of the Solar System

By. Yaşar Cahit Uyar Yaşar Cahit Uyar -
Image
First-Ever Aurora Observed on Neptune: Solar Winds Step In The scientific community is abuzz with excitement these days—because for the first time, auroras have been observed on Neptune! Previously detected on gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn, these mesmerizing light shows have now been discovered on the most distant planet in our solar system. But this isn't just a stunning cosmic spectacle; it’s also a crucial step in our journey to understand the universe. What Is an Aurora, and Why Is It Important? An aurora is a luminous phenomenon created when charged particles from the Sun interact with a planet's magnetic field and atmosphere. On Earth, they’re known as the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) and Southern Lights (Aurora Australis). When solar particles collide with Earth’s magnetic field, they create dazzling displays in the polar regions. But what about Neptune? Located 4.5 billion kilometers away, our knowledge of this icy giant’s magnetic field has been q...
Read more »

Chapter 4: The First Stars – From the Cosmic Dark Age to Light

By. Yaşar Cahit Uyar Yaşar Cahit Uyar -
Image
For millions of years after the birth of the universe, there were no stars. No galaxies. Just pure, pitch-black darkness. In the previous episode, we talked about how light finally began to travel freely through space after photons were released. But that light wasn’t from an active source—it was the cosmic microwave background radiation, the fading echo of the universe itself. Now it’s time to witness the rise of the first true sources of light: the very first stars. In today’s episode, we’ll explore our emergence from what’s known as the Cosmic Dark Age, how the first stars formed, and how they forever transformed the universe. The Cosmic Dark Age: The Absence of Light Although the universe became “transparent” after the Recombination Era—when photons could finally move freely—there were still no stars or galaxies to actively emit light. This dark period began around 380,000 years after the Big Bang and lasted until the birth of the first stars. It stretched across a few ...
Read more »