Discovery of the Day reminds us of the importance of April 1 — no, not April Fools:
Let’s Start With a Bang
April 1, 1948: A paper published in the Physical Review proposes that the universe was created through a massive event that caused it to expand rapidly. This idea, developed by physicist George Gamow and his graduate student, Ralph Alpher, was later ridiculed as the “Big Bang” theory, although it never mentioned an explosion. Follow the debate between “Big Bang” and the competing “Steady State” theory of the universe. And check out the inside joke included in the Physical Review paper.
And when you click on that last link to see the joke, be sure to scroll down to Dr. Victor Alpher’s response, in which he suggests the joke may not have been exactly as I described it earlier.
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
Joe,
It’s been a bit busy. The specific question you ask about Big Bang is not one I know much about. From what I’ve been able to gather, the longer than 14 billion lightyear distance is a calculation concerned with something other than the simple size of the universe, but I also think the caculation assumes inflation in all directions almost equally — so that, if one were in the middle of the universe, it would be about 14 billion lightyears in any direction — add that together, and you get 28 billion lightyears across.
The quantum physicists I’ve read note that it can be very confusing. In my sidebar you will find, under “fountains of information – science,” a blog named Quantum Diaries Survivor. Give Tommaso Dorigo a hail there and ask him. He’s a particle guy, not an astronomer, but he knows much more than I.
Good luck!
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I guess I have my answer…thanks anyway Ed. I guess I’ll look elsewhere for an answer.
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Hey Ed,
Sorry to just barge in on your days here, but I’ve been pondering something and I wasn’t sure who else to run it past to see if they hold up under criticism (which I know I can always count on you to give, but that is what I’m looking for – a different point of view- peer criticism, if you will).
Ok, the question relates directly to the Big Bang (which is why I chose this thread – and since it’s dead I don’t feel like I’m hijacking it).
Recently I became aware that the farthest known galaxy from the earth is called “Abell 1835 IR1916” which was discovered in 2004ish. Scientists estimate that it is 13.2 billion light years away, a mere 500 million plus or minus years from the supposed Big Bang. That being said, these figures didn’t seem to ring true for me as being possible with the universe only being 13.4-7 (supposedly) billion years old. We are told that when we are seeing this galaxy we’re actually seeing it 13.2 billion years ago, since it would take that light from the galaxy 13.2 billion years to get here.
What doesn’t ring true to me, and why I thought I’d get your opinion is that when I researched the galaxy on wikipedia, it showed that the comoving distance (which relies on isotropy, I know) is 31 billion light years from the earth (the distance it has estimated to have traveled since the light that we now see left that galaxy). It didn’t seem like anyone from wikipedia thought that was a problem but just stated it as fact. The reason I find it to be problematic for the Big Bang Theory is because 1) how did the matter that formed this galaxy and the earth travel 13.2 billion light years apart from each other in 13.4-7 billion years? 2) Beyond that, how is it that they estimate that the distance between our galaxy and this galaxy presently stands at roughly 31 billion light years apart when the universe is supposedly only 13.3-7 billion years old and light could have only traveled 13.3-7 billion years? Even dividing it by half to account for us going one way and that galaxy going the opposite, you still give 15.5 billion light years each! It doesn’t make sense. 3) I’ve read that the “standard” (maybe you disagree) answer is that the matter after the Big Bang is expanding faster than the speed of light, which accounts for the distance of 31 billion light years – if that is the case, then how did that galaxy’s light ever reach us? Also, if the answer is that time changes as you approach the speed of light, you’re giving answersingenesis their argument they need to postulate that while 6,000 plus or minus years goes by here, it is possible to give the appearance that billions of years may go by in deep space given the factor that gravity has on light and time.
5) Hypothetically, (and you don’t have to answer hypotheticals, but I’m just wondering) what happens when we have more powerful telescopes and find galaxies 14 plus billion light years away?
Thanks Ed for letting me pose the questions. I know you are much more educated than I am and are more familiar with the Big Bang than I. That’s why I’m coming to you with these questions.
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I think that’s a truism all across the universe.
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And the proper answer to “what caused the Big Bang” is: “The Big Foreplay.”
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I’m not sure whether bang has the same vulgar connotation in the USA as it has in Britain, but we’ve always believed if you’re going to have a bang make it a big one.
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