• Question: If the big bang is a theory why is the scientific community now stating it as fact?

    Asked by to Amelia, Izzy, Sarah on 20 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Isabel Webb

      Isabel Webb answered on 20 Mar 2014:

      The big bang theory is still just a theory. Scientists will never accept anything as complete truth, because there is no way to prove something is definitely true. You can only ever prove something wrong!

      The evidence we already have include this:
      1. We can still see the universe expanding – so this could mean that the big bang is still happening. Distant galaxies are moving away from us in all directions.
      2. The big bang would have created bright light everywhere. As these light waves move apart they become stretched into lower frequency waves, like microwaves (yes, the same waves we use to cook our food!). These microwaves can be detected using our modern telescopes.
      3. The newest piece of evidence is that telescopes have detected a unique light wave that is twisted. We predict that only an explosion like the big bang could create this sort of wave.

      There is currently no evidence that disproves the big bang theory. There is lots of evidence that supports the theory though, and so this is what scientists use to make other predictions. If someone could provide real evidence that proves that it is not true, scientists would sit up and listen to them.

    • Photo: Amelia Frizell-Armitage

      Amelia Frizell-Armitage answered on 20 Mar 2014:

      Scientists are always very careful never to state things as absolute fact. Even if they have the best evidence ever which 100% proves the theory to be true, the scientists still won’t say that it is a fact. Instead they might just say there is a very high certainty it is a fact. This is because there is always a chance, however tiny, that the science got it wrong, or there is some other explanation that hasn’t been tested yet.

      With the big bang theory, Isabel has listed the main evidence scientists now have. All this evidence together is actually pretty good and provides amazing proof that the big bang did actually happen. The big bang remains a theory, not a fact, because no one actually saw it happen, but there is a very very high chance that the theory is correct.

    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 20 Mar 2014:

      I feel I might be guilty of this.

      The Big Bang theory is one of those things which there is an overwhelming amount of evidence to support it. You may have learnt about “red-shift” at school. Scientists work all the time to provide evidence for and against.

      Strictly speaking science never fully finds facts. There is always more work to do. Theories which seem to explain an idea are built upon with more evidence or disproved.

      I will be careful when using the term “fact” in future, but it is a hard habit to break!

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