Page 145 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol V

1922 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

mology suggests about the nature of the early universe. expansion of the universe suggest that the universe
Measurements of the age of materials in the solar system appeared about 13.7 billion years ago. Before that time
have also failed to come up with anything more than we have no idea what there was.We don’t even know if
about 13 billion years old, which corresponds to the time and space existed, and the conventional wisdom is
most recent estimates of the age of the universe. Fur- that they, along with energy and matter, were probably
thermore, big bang theories suggest that most of the created at the moment of the big bang.We also have no
matter in the early universe would have consisted of idea why the big bang occurred when it did. Modern sci-
hydrogen and helium, with other elements being created ence is as powerless as traditional creation stories to
within stars or in the violent explosions of giant stars explain the moment of origin. But from a tiny fraction of
known as supernovae. This is consistent with what we a second after the appearance of the universe we can
observe: Almost three-quarters of all atoms are hydrogen, describe what happened with great precision. Something
almost one-quarter are helium, and the rest include all appeared within the primordial emptiness.This early uni-
other elements. verse was almost infinitely small, and almost infinitely
In its general outlines, the origin story of big bang cos- hot. At temperatures of billions of degrees, time, space,
mology is simple, even though many of its details are too energy, and matter would hardly have been distinguish-
complex to be understood by any but physicists and cos- able.The pressure of this concentrated energy drove the
mologists. The most recent estimates of the speed of early universe apart; indeed, for a moment within the first

A grazing encounter between two Spiral Galaxies captured by the Hubble telescope.