Quote:
Originally Posted by LeftWriteFemme
Doesn't the law of conservation mean that before the "Big Bang" there was everything we have now simply in a different form?
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Not exactly. There are a number of conservation laws:
Energy is conserved---meaning that in an isolated system the total energy in that system remains steady over time.
Mass is conserved--meaning that in an isolated system, the total mass of the system remains constant.
Both linear and angular momentum are conserved--meaning that provided that an object is not effected by another force, it will remain moving in the direction it is going (linear momentum) or spinning as it does (angular momentum).
Now, it is true that ALL of the mass of the Universe (less the anti-matter which was annihilated) was in the singularity at the moment just prior to the Big Bang. No energy or mass has been created since that time. The reason I say 'not really' is that matter--as we understand it--didn't even begin to exist until quite a bit AFTER the Big Bang. (around 250,000 years give or take) Before that, the Universe was too hot for atoms to form.
After things settled down, sub-atomic particles could live long enough which is why we see, for instance, the CMBR (cosmic microwave background radiation).
Cheers
Aj