• Question: Do you believe that the big bang theory began the world?

    Asked by Beng to Pete, Natalie, Keith, Abbey, Aaron on 10 Nov 2015. This question was also asked by lebo.
    • Photo: Natalie Garrett

      Natalie Garrett answered on 10 Nov 2015:

      To be a pedant, I would say the Big Bang theory describes the start of the universe rather than the world, but I get your meaning.

      Science is not about sticking with what you believe no matter what. Science is about looking at the evidence and shaping our ideas and theories to best describe and explain the evidence. So, I think the current evidence we have (e.g. red shift, cosmic microwave background radiation etc. – see this link for more information http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/aqa_pre_2011/radiation/originsrev2.shtml ) seems to back up this idea, and until/if we have a better theory, this is the one I’m going to believe for now.

    • Photo: Aaron Boardley

      Aaron Boardley answered on 10 Nov 2015:

      The current evidence we have points to a ‘Big Bang’, because the universe is expanding and there is radiation in the background that suggests there was a time nearly 14 billion years ago when everything we see suddenly expanded outwards from a single point.

      The ‘Big Bang’ theory is a way of tying all this evidence together and explaining it, and everything we see so far fits in with this suggestion. As we continue to make measurements about the universe we might make changes to this theory – but at the moment it’s the best way of explaining the beginning of the universe.

    • Photo: Keith Franklin

      Keith Franklin answered on 11 Nov 2015:

      “Believe” is probably not the right word. Do I think it is the best way to describe things based on what we know at the moment, then the answer is yes.

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