How the Universe Began: 7 (Of the Many) Theories

    Have you ever wondered how it all began? How our universe itself was formed? I know I have. People have tried to contemplate the answer to this mind-bending question since the beginning of time itself. And after years of wondering, they came up with 7 popular theories in response to one of humanities greatest mysteries.

** Note: These are in no shape or form all known theories, but merely the widespread or most popular ones

1. White Holes

In order to understand a white hole, you need to know how a black hole works. Black holes are created by a star that died. This star then creates a hole that sucks all light and matter into itself, where it cannot escape. A white hole does the opposite thing; It spits out the matter. So, a white hole lives in the hypothetical region in spacetime, where it can’t take any material in, but only expel it. But white holes haven’t yet been proven to exist, and are a hypothesis created by Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity.

2. Mirage of the Black Hole

In order to understand a white hole, you need to know how a black hole works. Black holes are created by a star that died. This star then creates a hole that sucks all light and matter into itself, where it cannot escape. A white hole does the opposite thing; It spits out the matter. So, a white hole lives in the hypothetical region in spacetime, where it can’t take any material in, but only expel it. But white holes haven’t yet been proven to exist, and are a hypothesis created by Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity.

3. Theory of Slow Freeze

The slow freeze theory is to some extent a combination of different theories. Based on this idea, the universe was empty before it started. And when the contents of this existence grew in weight while gravity lessened in strength, it created not a big bang, but a slow warming and expansion of the universe. This, in turn created stars and galaxies over time.

4. Plasma Creation

The theory of plasma creation focuses on electromagnetism. Basically, some kind of electrical process created everything in the universe as we know it. According to the theory, plasma would form enormous segments of matter and antimatter throughout the universe. It is also believed that our current segment of the universe probably has more matter that it does antimatter.

5. Pulsating Universe

This theory is also interesting. It talks about the expansion and the retraction of our universe. It says that our universe will always be expanding, until one day, it stops and retracts. The retraction would reach a certain size, and then a humongous explosion comparable to the big bang take place, thus beginning the procedure all over again.

6. No Beginning / No End

This theory was a popular belief until the 1960s. It argues that there is the perfect cosmologic principle which declares that our universe is the exact same no matter where you look. There is always creation of matter in our ever-expanding universe. Hence, our universe is and always was the same, everywhere, and all the time, so it has no beginning nor end.

7. Big Bang Theory

The Big Bang theory is by far one of the most popular of theories. It concludes that the universe came from a single solid mass. According to Edwin Hubble, who brought forth this theory in the 1920s, at one instant, everything began to expand. Energy and matter had flown throughout the nothingness to create the universe as we know it. Based on this theory, the universe is still expanding.

Summary

Overall, these are only a small, miniscule number of the thousands of possible explanations to our existence. For example, the Big Bang theory, which says that at a particular moment in time, everything began to expand. Or the Plasma Creation theory which talks about matter and antimatter. Even though some theories are more favored than others, like they say, anything is possible. Citations