Let's Talk About It - Ep. 1: Let's Talk About the Big Bang Theory

Marissa Wolbrink and her mother discuss the Big Bang Theory on their podcast. Marissa is skeptical while her mother, a science teacher, believes in it. They discuss how the universe began as a single point and expanded over billions of years. The explosion created particles that formed matter and led to the creation of stars and galaxies. They discuss black holes, the creation of elements, and the theory's connection to Einstein's ideas. They mention the James Webb Telescope and how it could provide more evidence for or against the theory. They also discuss how religious and philosophical ideas align with the Big Bang Theory. They plan to explore the topic further in future episodes. Hey guys, what's up? It's Marissa Wolbrink here at Let's Talk About It, back on another podcast. And today's topic is the Big Bang Theory. So, let's talk about the Big Bang Theory. And not the TV show with the characters Sheldon, Penny, Leonard, Howard, and so on. But, I want to talk about the Big Bang Theory as in the process of how the universe came to be. And today we have an OSA official guest, my mother. Everyone give her a round of applause. Yay! My mother here is a science teacher and knows a thing or two about this topic. So, I figured she'd be a good fit as a guest on our talk today. So, she and I do be talking about this topic a lot and have differing points of views. She believes that this theory makes complete sense, where I on others' hands struggle to grasp the concept. So, without further ado, let's get this ball rolling and I'm going to have my lovely mother introduce and explain the Big Bang Theory. You can also add a thing or two about your credentials if you have an idea of your science knowledge and whatnot. But, here she is. Thank you, Marissa. Hey, guys. So, as she said, my name is Liz and I graduated from San Jose State University with a Bachelor of Science. I also studied chemistry. I'm currently a middle school teacher at Toby Johnson Middle School in Elk Grove, California. I've been teaching middle school science for about 28 years and I'm going to start my introduction of this topic with this podcast regarding NASA's definition of the Big Bang Theory. So, this is the book definition. The Big Bang is how astronomers explain the way the universe began. It is the idea that the universe began as just a single point and then expanded and stretched to grow as large as it is right now. So, today, me and my daughter are here to talk about this debate, slightly debatable topic, because she has her suspicions about it, where I see no reason to be suspicious. The simple definition that I just read doesn't do this theory justice. Imagine at some point in the past the entire mass of the universe would have been concentrated into a single point from which the very fabric of space and time originated. This single point exploded and over billions of years formed the particles that create matter. Once protons, neutrons, and electrons were created, nuclear fusion began. So, nuclear fusion is the process inside stars that creates all elements that we know of on our planet. The effects from the explosion are still creating and expanding our universe today. That means that the universe gets bigger and bigger every single day. You have to remember that stars also have a life cycle. They're constantly being created, they live, and they die all the time. And this is where all the naturally occurring elements come from. That's actually insane. I mean, come on, you know you think it's insane. You are made of star matter. See, it would be actually insane if it made any sense, but that's where you lose me. I thought black holes were empty and had nothing, so how did you get the entire universe and how did you have everything become created from nothing? Well, a black hole isn't necessarily nothing. It's somewhere in the universe where the gravitational pull is so strong that it physically pulls all light in and lets no light out. They don't just appear out of thin air. They typically become a black hole when a massive star dies. So the biggest stars out there, when they explode into a supernova, they condense back on themselves and become a black hole. We believe all galaxies have black holes in the center of them. See, that makes more sense, but I still don't understand how the Earth and everything we know and are surrounded by was created by a singular collision. What were those particles and how did they create the perfect balance to enable us as humans living on Earth to be able to be alive and have everything we need to survive? Well, we don't know for sure. I mean, nobody was here billions of years ago. But the matter was so dense and hot that it exploded to create the universe. We just know that its collection of energy, matter, and radiation is part of the process. The matter was mainly electrons, positrons, and a very small number of protons and neutrons. It took millions of years for those particles to be created. The radiation heated the matter, causing them to constantly collide, and these collisions act like walls. So when the famous collisions happened and the universe started to expand indefinitely, the temperature and energy decreased. However, those particles were still colliding and reacting and creating new matter through the exchange of protons, electrons, neutrons, and positrons. Then over billions of years, they created the nebula, which are a bunch of gas and dust, galaxies, planets, stars, moons. And that happened roughly about 13.8 billion years ago. Okay, so that matter, radiation, and you created the universe, and the universe is everything that we're in. Then where was that original matter and radiation in? Well, like I said, it was nothing. But that doesn't make any sense. How can you get everything from nothing? Well, because it's just nothing, right? So basically, everything had to be created from nothing. And so when you have that dense ball of particles, when they exploded, that's how they created matter, time, and space. But remember that it took millions and millions and millions of years for that to happen. I don't know. I just don't get how you can have... but where did it come from if there was nothing before it? I don't know. I didn't come up with the theory. I just believe in the science. How can you believe in something and not know whether it's real or even true? The same way people believe in different religions and different gods. But we're talking about science. Science can be proven as cold, hard facts. And now that we're on the topic, it's based in chemistry and the first law of thermodynamics, that matter cannot be... matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed, so how can you have literally everything be created? If matter cannot be created... like, if matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed, like, do you get what I'm saying? Yeah, I do. But remember that we're talking about a theory, right? So some things, it's just an idea. It hasn't actually been completely proven yet. However, we do have a lot of evidence that supports the Big Bang Theory, but it is still just a theory. And it's the most logical explanation that scientists have right now to explain how our universe was formed. Well, it's not logical enough. Well, then, do you have something a little better, Missy? No, but I'm sure there's people out there with a better idea. Well, when you find them, I'd like to meet them. Okay, well, I can do that, but I don't have a question. Well, I might have an answer. But, okay, so who came up with the idea of the Big Bang Theory? So I believe it was a gentleman named Georges Latamir? Yeah, I've never heard of him. From what I've read, he's a Belgian cosmologist and Catholic priest, and he started presenting the idea to others in 1931. Back then, this kind of thought was a radical departure from scientific thought back in the 30s, but today it's far more widely accepted. Nearly all astronomers today accept this theory. Also, did you know that Einstein contributed to the theory? What? Einstein? No way. Oh, it's not that surprising. Einstein's a genius. For the Big Bang Theory, Einstein didn't come up with the theory, but he did discover ideas that led to the creation of the theory and ideas that support the theory. Those theories were the speed of light, the relative motion of objects, gravitational effects, and the relationship between energy and mass. Einstein created these ideas in other astronomers, and scientists bounced his theories to create their own theories and assumptions about the universe. Hmm, I actually never knew that. Well, I mean, I did know that he created all the theories, but unlike the other scientists around the world who use his theories, but I never really had much thought that all those theories play a gigantic role in the theory of the Big Bang Theory. I mean, Einstein really can be a genius. And, uh, he has his reputation for a reason. How are you just now piecing this together? Oh my goodness. Well, it's not my fault, but... It's crazy how we went from Einstein to modern-day technology. Have you heard about the James Webb Telescope? Yeah, actually I have. My friend Dan won't stop talking about it. I swear the kid is obsessed with science. He never shuts up about it. Well, at least he's passionate. But, I mean, he always talks about how interesting it is to hear how some people theorize that the photos revealed from the James Webb Telescope disprove the Big Bang Theory. Well, we don't really know what the James Webb Telescope is going to bring back for us. It's only been out in space almost a year now. So, it was launched last year on Christmas Day, December 25th. And so, it's out on its mission, and it's going to be out in space for a long time. But it is true that it could bring back more information that may disprove the Big Bang Theory, but then would lead to other theories. He says that even though the Big Bang Theory, some people say the Big Bang Theory is fake. The James Webb Telescope has got pictures of time, literally showing through a picture how the Big Bang happened, something like that. But, I mean, he also talks about how the telescope uses heat signatures or something to track the expansion of the universe. I mean, the goal of the telescope isn't to see the beginning of the universe, but it's to see the period of the universe's history when the first objects were formed. After everything has been cooled down from the Big Bang Theory. But he also talks about how it's taken the first pictures into space, but the telescope hasn't necessarily seen the first objects. Yeah, the graphics and the cameras and digital equipment on the James Webb Telescope is super advanced. And so, it is sending back things that we're not even really sure what they are yet. So, it's definitely going to change our view of astronomy and how astronomers theorize about the creation of the universe. But they do have mapping technologies where they can trace back the particles of the universe to a single point, which hopefully the James Webb Telescope will help support that idea. I also find it interesting that religion and philosophy align with the Big Bang Theory. So, for example, in the story of Sheikah, the god of creation, destruction, and Hinduism, it's said that he danced in a circle of fire. From his dancing, he created the rhythm of the universe. All of the energy and mass exploding away from his dance. At the end of his dance, all the matter and energy rapidly exploded away from him, creating the universe. It's said that one day he will perform the dance of destruction where the universe will freeze and collapse in on itself. These ideas align exactly with the Big Bang Theory and even theorize destruction of the universe. After all, how big can the universe get if it's continually expanding? That's crazy, but that's really cool. I'd like to look more into that. Maybe on the next episode of Let's Talk About It. We'll have to talk about it. But I want to say thank you guys. We're going to cut this short right now. We'll maybe do a next podcast about the Sheikah and the god of Hinduism and more about the religion side of the Big Bang Theory and less about the factual side. So let me know in the comments if you guys want to hear about that. But I just want to say thanks to my mom for coming and being a guest in my podcast today. So I hope you guys all have a great day. And yeah. Do you have anything to say? Yeah, thank you so much, Marissa. I really enjoyed your podcast today. I would be happy to be a guest for you again. Thank you guys. Have a great day.