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Callum Craigie
Student no: 42779006
Research Essay
What is the Big Bang’ theory? What evidence does this theory rest upon? In your
conclusion, indicate whether you think the Big Bang theory counts as ‘history’.
The ‘Big Bang theory’ was the creation of Edwin Hubble and is an explanation of
the origins of the universe, time and space. Evidence that proves and makes the
theory accepted lies of previous theories such as the ‘relativity theory’ by Albert
Einstein and the ‘Doppler effect’ by Christian Doppler. The ‘Big Bang theory’ is
historically significant as it was developed by the collection of previous
generations knowledge and findings. The conceptualisation of theory was
conceived by collective learning. Collective learning is unique to humanity and is
“an adaptive mechanism”1.
What is the Big Bang?
The Big Bang Theory is the “theory history that the universe began in a state of
extremely high density and has been expanding since some particular instant
that marked the origin of the universe”2. This theory can be summarised into
seven steps.
1 Christian. D, ‘Maps of Time’, 2011, p. 147.
2 McGraw-Hill, ‘Encyclopedia of Science and technology’, p. 772.

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Step one:
The beginning of time was a ‘big bang’ or an expansion. The cosmos inflated
incredibly fast at a fraction of second, expanding from the size of an atom to the
size of a grapefruit34.
Step two:
A second fraction within a fraction of a second later the universe was in a soup
like state. The universe was at a temperature of ten degrees Celsius to the power
of twenty-seven. With electrons, quarks and particles floating around5. Four
basic forms of energy appeared; gravity, electromagnetism, ‘strong’ and ‘weak’
nuclear forces6. The earliest matter appeared, dark matter and atomic matter7.
Accordingly with the theory of relativity, energy and matter were
interchangeable. Energy congealed into particles of matter, and these kept on
transforming into energy8.
Step three:
A third fraction within a fraction of a second later the universe rapidly began to
cool however still cooling to a catastrophic temperature of ten degrees Celsius to
the power of thirteen. Quarks joined together into protons and neutrons9.
3 Christian, ‘Big History’, 2014, p. 19.
4 Weinberg. S, 1994.
5 Redfern. M ‘The Birth of the Universe’, 1998.
6 Christian, ‘Big History’, 2014, p. 19.
7 Weinberg. S, ‘The First Three Minutes’,1994.
8 Singh. S, p. 244-245, 2004.
9 Weinberg. S, ‘The First Three Minutes’, 1994.

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Step four:
After three minutes of the beginning of time the temperature had cooled to ten
degrees Celsius to the power of eight. The elections and the protons collected
together creating a hot dense fog. The hot dense fog prevented any light from
shining through10.
Step five:
Twenty-five minutes after the beginning of time helium nuclei and lithium nuclei
were formed. Positive hydrogen atoms and neutrons fused together creating
helium nuclei, protons fused creating lithium nuclei11.
Step Six:
Three hundred thousand years later after the beginning of time the universe
cooled to ten thousand degrees Celsius. Electrons, protons and neutrons
combined to form atoms mostly being hydrogen and helium. Light was able to
shine through the universe12.
Step Seven:
After one billion years the first stars were formed and the universe cooled to
minus two hundred degrees Celsius. Hydrogen and Helium combined to make
massive clouds to collapse and became galaxies, smaller amounts of gases
10 Pasachoff J.M. and Filippenko. A, ‘The Cosmos; Astronomy in the New
Millennium, 2004.
11 Christian. D, ‘Big History’, 2014, p. 19.
12 Hawking S.W., ‘A Brief History of Time; the updated and expanded tenth
anniversary edition’, 1998.

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collapsed to form the first stars13. “The solar nebula formed from a dense core in
a molecular cloud that collapsed under the pressure of gravity, a process that
may have also been triggered by a shock wave from a supernova. As it collapsed,
the cloud began to heat up, rotate, and spin, and matter fell into a disk that
formed around the developing proto-sun”14 Gravity forces the previously formed
galaxies and stars to meet with each other. The oldest stars died first causing
them to disintegrate spreading large elements into space. After time large
elements travel and collect other elements from other dead stars, forming new
stars but also new planets. This process is known as accretion where the
remaining debris trapped within the solar nebula gathered together into
planets15.
What evidence is the Big Bang theory based on:
Hubble used ‘the Doppler effect’ to determine that the universe is expanding.
Christian Doppler was a nineteenth century Austrian philosopher,
mathematician and physicist16. In 1842 Doppler presented theory ‘On the
coloured light of the binary stars and some other stars of the heavens’ that was
later coined ‘the Doppler effect’17. Hubble using ‘the Doppler effect’ found that
the light from distant galaxies was shifted towards the red end of the spectrum.
The red shift indicated that stars move away from this galaxy and each other.
Hubble used v= c x wavelength shift/ wavelength. Using ‘the Doppler effect’
13 Christian, ‘Big History’, 2014, p. 19.
14 Christian, ‘Big History’, 2014, p. 38.
15 Christian, ‘Big History’, 2014, p. 38.
16 Eden. A. ‘The search for Christian Doppler’, 1992.
17 Eden. A. ‘The search for Christian Doppler’, 1992.

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Hubble was able to map the shape of the universe and prove it was unstable
unlike previous conceptions made my Isaac Newton believing that is was stable.
Furthermore Hubble was able to prove that the red shift would become faster
the more it moved away from the galaxy18.
Hubble used Einstein’s ‘theory of relativity’ to measure the recession of velocity
in the ‘Red Shift distance law’19. Einstein’s ‘theory of relativity’ is difficult to
understand in non-mathematical terms, however “it explains the most
fundament ideas to describe natural happenings. These ideas are time, space,
mass, motion and gravitation”20. Immanuel Kant and Pierre Laplace
independently argued that a solar nebula was coalesced around the sun, and
from this the planets were created. The ‘nebula hypothesis’ argues that the sun,
and the planets of the solar system formed from a rotating and flattened cloud of
gas and dust being the solar nebula.
Hubble’s ‘Big Bang theory’ mentions dark matter. However the theory of dark
matter is unproven. Dark matter does exist and emit seventy percent of the mass
of universes energy21. ‘The Big Bang theory’ fails to illustrate the expansion of
the universe in it current and future state. “The discovery by Edwin Hubble that
universe is not static, but an evolving entity, is surely the most important finding
18 Weinberg. S, ‘Gravitation and Cosmology’. 1971.
19 Hubble. E, ‘A relation between distance and radial velocity among extra-
galactic nebulae’, 1929.
20 ‘The World Book Encyclopedia, World Book International, Vol. 16 Q-R, 1994.
21 Trimble. V, ‘Existence and nature of dark matter in the universe’, 1987, p. 425-
472.

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in extragalactic astronomy this century”22. There are various different arguments
that neither are clarified or unclarified by Hubble’s ‘Big Bang theory’. Hubble’s
theory does not illustrate whether the universe is expanding at a faster rate,
expanding a contracting or expanding in a consistent rate23.
What makes the ‘Big Bang theory’ historically significant:
The ‘Big Bang theory’ is historical significant for the conceptualisation of the
theory. “Collective learning is what gives humans a history, because it means that
the ecological skills available to humans have changed over time”24. The ‘Big
Bang theory’ is another stepping-stone to human beings individual ability to it
species to evolve over time through to exchange of language through
generations. “ We know of no animal that can describe what to do in the abstract-
no animal that could explain how to fish for termites without giving a
demonstration, or give an account of a pathway without walking along it; and we
certainly know of no animal that could describe abstract entities such as gods or
quarks or pink elephants”25. Hubble conceptualised his theory by the use of
other human being’s works of previous generations. Through the use of
Einstein’s ‘Relativity theory’ or Doppler’s the ‘Doppler effect’ Hubble couldn’t
have conceptualised the ‘Big Bang theory’. “The transmission of knowledge, ideas
and technique between generations has given humans an extra, and completely
unprecedented capacity for surviving in unfamiliar environments and for
22 Hanes. A. D, ‘Is the Universe expanding?’, 1981, p. 745.
23 Hanes. A. D, ‘Is the Universe expanding?’, 1981, p. 745-746.
24 Christian. D, ‘Maps of Time’, 2011, p. 147.
25 Christian. D, ‘Maps of Time’, 2011, p. 145-146 referenced Mears. A. J,
‘Agricultural Origins of the Global Perspective’.

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creating new environments that meet immediate needs and wants’26. Hubble’s
conceptualisation of the ‘Big Bang theory’ is his invention however it is also the
result of a collection of generations of human beings knowledge being collective
learning, thus historical significant as it makes another evolutionary step in the
species capacity to pass down information to future generations.
Conclusion:
In conclusion the ‘Big Bang theory’ is an explanation of the origins of the
universe, time and space. It is difficult to explain the whole theory but only a
timeline in seven steps summarising the events leading up to the current cosmos.
The ‘Big Bang theory’ is viable by the other previous theories. Hubble’s use of
Christian Doppler’s theory of the ‘Doppler effect’, Albert Einstein’s theory of
‘relativity’, Immanuel Kant’s and Pierre Laplace’s ‘nebular hypothesis’ were the
foundations of the ‘Big Bang theory’. Hubble used ‘the Doppler effect’ to
determine that the universe is expanding. Einstein’s ‘theory of relativity’ was
used to measure the recession of velocity in the ‘Red Shift distance law’. The
‘nebula hypothesis’ by Kant and Laplace argue that the sun, and the planets of
the solar system formed from a rotating and flattened cloud of gas and dust
being the solar nebula in accordance with Hubble’s accretion. Hubble’s ‘Big Bang
theory’ is credible in accordance to Doppler, Einstein, Kant and Laplace. However
the theory is not viable to what black matter is and what it does. The expansion
of the universe is not clearly described to be expanding or contracting in the
current cosmos. The ‘Big Bang theory’ is historically significant because of its’
26 McMicheal. A. J, ‘Planetary Overload’, 1993, p. 34.

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conceptualisation. of the ‘Big Bang theory’. The theory constructed by a
collection of generations of human beings knowledge. The ‘Big Bang theory’ is an
evolutionary stepping stone of collective learning.
Bibliography:
Christian. D, ‘Maps of Time: an introduction to big history’, University of
California Press, 2011.
Christian. D, ‘Big History: Between Nothing and Everything’, McGraw-Hill
Education, Library of Congress, 2014, p. 19.
Eden, A, ‘The search for Christian Doppler’, Wien: Springer-Verlag, 1992.
Hanes. A D, ‘Is the Universe expanding?’, Nature Vol. 289, Feb 26, 1981,
Macmillan Journals Ltd, p. 745.
Hawking S.W., ‘A Brief History of Time; the updated and expanded tenth
anniversary edition’, Bantam, 1998.
Hubble E, "A relation between distance and radial velocity among extra-galactic
nebulae", 1929.
McGraw-Hill, ‘Encyclopedia of Science and technology’, 10th edition, Library of
Congress, p. 772.
McMicheal. A. J, ‘Planetary Overload’, Cambridge University Press, 1993, p. 34.
Mears. J. A, ‘Agricultural Origins of the Global Perspective’, Temple University
Press, 2001.
Pasachoff J.M. and Filippenko. A, ‘The Cosmos; Astronomy in the New
Millennium, Cengage Learning, 2007.
Redfern. M, ‘The Birth of the Universe: the Kingfisher Young People’s book of
space’, 1998.
Simon. S, ‘Big Bang’, HarperCollins Publishers, 2004, p. 244-245.
Trimble. V, ‘Existence and nature of dark matter in the universe’, Annual Review
of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 1987.
Weinberg. S, ‘Gravitation and Cosmology’, John Wiley, 1971.
Weinberg. S, ‘The First Three Minutes’, 2nd edition, BasicBooks, 1994.

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The World Book Encyclopedia, World Book International, Vol. 16 Q-R, 1994.