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The Big Bang theory is the most widely accepted theory for the formation of the universe, despite its many flaws and questionable gaps. A lot is left unexplained by the theory, with the only concrete evidence in its support being the fact that space did start expanding about 13 billion years ago, as shown by cosmic background radiation. Other than that, there is little to back up the theory. Some of the biggest issues with the theory include the following:
The Singularity Problem
According to the Big Bang, the universe was originally a small and extremely dense region of space that contained all the matter that is now in existence. The main problem with this suggestion is that singularities are theoretical constructs that don’t conform to known laws of physics. Whether they can exist or not is still debatable, and it's unlikely that any experiment can be conducted to define them. The Big Bang Theory wholly relies on the existence of singularities to explain the origin of the universe. If it is ever proved that singularities don’t exist, the Big Bang Theory would cease to be valid.
The Flatness Problem
Cosmological observations generally show that the universe is flat. You can think of the universe as a square or rectangular box that contains all matter in existence. If the universe before the big bang was a curved singularity that contained all matter, then this curvature would still be retained, and the universe would be spherical. This would mean if you walked in a straight line in the universe, you would return to where you started. This is, however, not the case; the universe is cosmologically flat, meaning straight lines go on indefinitely without curving. This casts doubt on key assumptions of the theory, as it's practically impossible for matter dispersed by the expansion of space to take a perfectly flat shape.
The Horizon Problem
The universe is largely homogeneous, with almost all its parts having the same temperature. Technically, if all matter in existence resulted from the bang, different areas of space would have different temperatures. Unless objects are very close to each other, they will almost always have different temperatures. The cosmic microwave radiation (CMB), or the remaining light and heat from the big bang, has a uniform temperature and intensity in all parts of the universe. The fact that these distant parts of the universe, where light and heat take billions of years to travel to, have the same exact temperature raises questions on the validity of the Big Bang. The vast distance between these parts means that they are unconnected and should therefore have different features.
Origins of the Big Bang
There is also no universally accepted explanation of how the Big Bang happened. Even if everything in existence was in a singularity, there is no reasonable explanation of what caused the Big Bang. Objects at rest will, of course, remain at rest unless an outside force acts on them. How matter started expanding on its own with no known force acting on it remains a mystery to this day. The absence of any explanation of what was there before the Big Bang is therefore generally a key weakness of the theory that makes it impossible to confirm its validity.
The Big Bang theory therefore generally includes many half-truths and cannot be wholly accepted as a comprehensive explanation of how the universe came to exist. Unless there is a very unexpected discovery that can provide more information on how our universe started, it's most likely going to remain a mystery.
