The cause of the Big Bang is largely speculative and is one of the most difficult questions to answer. It is a complicated and perplexing issue that is a topic of some serious research by scientists. We will probably never find concrete evidence for what caused it because this is outside our realm of observation. The Big Bang describes some of the earliest moments in the Universe's existence, but it cannot go back to time zero.
For many, "God caused the Big Bang" is a perfectly reasonable response and helps them cope with the unsatisfying prospect of an event without a cause. However, one is then forced to ask "From where did the creator come?" If the answer is "he always existed" then we have a situation, from a causality standpoint, that is no more satisfying than a universe that springs forth from nothing. A creator that has always existed is an entity that somehow exists without a cause.
Another hypothesis is that the Universe is cyclical and that it goes through an infinite number of "Big Bangs" and "Big Crunches". However, the Big Crunch has been determined to be unlikely due to the discovery that the Universe is actually expanding faster. Not only that, an infinitely cyclical Universe has other problems having to do with entropy and thermodynamics.
One of the most popular current theories is that the Universe is one of an infinite number of Universes collectively known as the multiverse. According to this, universes have always existed, popping in and out of existence like bubbles. Scientists are currently searching for possible evidence of the multiverse. One suggestion proposed by M-theory is that the collision of "membranes" existing in higher dimensions causes Universes to come into existence. Another associated theory is string theory.
For the serious investigator, there are a group of highly complex theories that can possibly explain the Big Bang. The origin of the singularity that appeared in the first instant of the Big Bang is uncertain. Though our understanding of natural laws expands all the time, we still don't have the tools to pin down the answer to this question, and it is likely that we may never know for certain.
If you want to learn more about this contentious topic, follow the links below regarding various theories.
At the moment there is no definitive answer to this question, though various theories do try to address the question.
One idea is that it is merely a consequence of quantum mechanics and the uncertainty principle..basically it's the highly unlikely, though possible, spontaneous creation of particles.
Given that time did not really exist before the big bang, it doesn't really matter how long such a thing would take.
Another idea in string theory is that two universes, composed of 'branes' collided, and spawned ours in the reaction.
We may never know the answer to that question. We know what happened a fraction of a second after the Big Bang, but we don't know what happened at or before that point, because that is the origin of space and time.
We can only speculate, because whatever caused the Big Bang lies outside space and time, and if it lies outside space and time, it is impossible to observe.
Some hypotheses include a multiverse, quantum fluctuation, and even a supernatural being.
No one even knows for sure if there was a big bang, let alone what caused it. The big bang is a hypothesis based on extrapolation of alleged outward motion of galaxies back in time from the earth as center of the Universe, which motion is based on the assumption that the cosmological red shift is caused by a Doppler red shift of the light. Unfortunately for that hypothesis there is no other additional evidence of that Doppler shift or that motion. To see an alternate explanation of the loss of energy by light as it passes through the Universe
ADDITION:
Because we can only view our universe from Earth (which, by the way, is not the centre of the universe), we could also be viewing what we 'perceive' to be an expanding universe (Red Shift) only because we are withdrawing (being pulled away from) from the rest of that universe - along with the local group within our galaxy (Large Cloud of Magellan, Small cloud of Magellan, M32, NGC147, Andromeda, Ursa Minor and the rest . . . all of which are not redshifted and rapidly moving away from us, and in fact from our perspective from Earth, Andromeda is rapidly moving towards us). This would imply that a super massive Black Hole is effecting all of these local bodies (including our own solar system).
No one even knows for sure if there was a big bang, let alone what caused it. The big bang is a hypothesis based on extrapolation of alleged outward motion of galaxies back in time from the earth as center of the Universe, which motion is based on the assumption that the cosmological red shift is caused by a Doppler red shift of the light. Unfortunately for that hypothesis there is no other additional evidence of that Doppler shift or that motion. To see an alternate explanation of the loss of energy by light as it passes through the Universe see http://www.geocities.com/isoptera.geo/redaw.html for a possible gravitational interaction with masses passed in space.
ADDITION:
Because we can only view our universe from Earth (which, by the way, is not the centre of the universe), we could also be viewing what we 'perceive' to be an expanding universe (Red Shift) only because we are withdrawing (being pulled away from) from the rest of that universe - along with the local group within our galaxy (Large Cloud of Magellan, Small cloud of Magellan, M32, NGC147, Andromeda, Ursa Minor and the rest . . . all of which are not redshifted and rapidly moving away from us, and in fact from our perspective from Earth, Andromeda is rapidly moving towards us). This would imply that a super massive Black Hole is effecting all of these local bodies (including our own solar system).
Even if we lacked the capability to determine red-shifts of distant galaxies, Big Bang Cosmology would still be the only explanation for what we see. The Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation, for instance, can only be explained by the BB. Same with the ratio of hydrogen to helium in every part of our Universe.
If our Universe was eternal in time, then we should have no trouble finding
1) white dwarf stars older than 13.7 billion years,
2) just as many quasars with small red shift as we see with huge red shifts
3) radioactive elements and their decay products in a ratio showing the former began to decay more than 13.7 billion years ago.
The answer to each is "We don't."
The idea that the observed red shift is caused by interaction of light with matter as it travels through our Universe is called "Tired Light." It was first proposed many decades ago, and has been repeatedly refuted. It is on the same scientific footing as a flat Earth, and scientists now call it the "Tiring, Tired Light Idea."
We do not know how the "Big Bang" came about, and may never really know. However, scientists are beginning to identify hypotheses that may explain it, and thus tell us what existed just before the (first) "Big Bang".
A natural scenario, that is not yet a scientific theory but is consistent with all current knowledge is that by means of a random quantum fluctuation the universe 'tunnelled" from pure vacuum ("nothing") to what is called a false vacuum, a region of space that contains no matter or radiation but is not quite nothing. The space inside a bubble of false vacuum is curved, or warped, and a small amount of energy is stored in that curvature. This ostensible violation of energy conservation is allowed by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle for sufficiently small time intervals. The bubble then inflated exponentially and its curvature energy transformed into matter and radiation. Inflation stopped and the more linear big bang expansion commenced.
An excellent question. There's a Nobel Prize waiting for the person who can answer it.
There may never be a way to know for certain, since it was 14+ billion years ago. Certainly our current understanding of the physical universe suggests no explanation of what caused the big bang, or what came before it - or if the concept of "before" really means anything in terms of the big bang.
Be aware that, despite the many popular presentation that describe the event WRONG, the Big Bang was NOT an explosion of dense matter into empty space. Instead, it was an expansion of space itself, taking matter along with it.
At present we do not know why this expansion began, nor what was "before" his expansion (or eve if that word has any meaning). In that sense, we are like Johann Kepler after he saw that planets moved in eliptical orbits. He couldn't explain WHY the planets did so, he could only observe that it was TRUE. Fortunately for human advancement, nobody responded to Kepler with, "If you can't explain why planets move in elliptical orbits, then your observation must be false."
This is because when the big bang theory was in it session it made a big plasma wave that had moved the compositions of every planet depending on its distance .
According to the big bang theory, humans were not created by the event itself. The big bang theory explains the origin of the universe and the subsequent formation of galaxies, stars, and planets, including Earth. Human evolution is a separate process that took place over millions of years through natural selection and genetic variation.
The concept of "before the big bang" is still a topic of speculation and debate in cosmology. Some theories suggest that our universe may have originated from a pre-existing state, such as a previous universe contracting into a singularity before expanding again in the big bang. However, the idea of planets existing before the big bang is not well-supported by current scientific understanding.
The planets orbit the Sun because of gravity and their angular momentum, which ultimately derives from the energy of the Big Bang.
According to the believes of physics and the big bang, we know that the big bang was both big and a bang. Since we are still receiving radiation from the big bang, So considering that factor I would say that it was big and a bang. What do you believe?
Pieces of rock clumped together to make big ones
The big bang theory has nothing to do with the formation of planets.
Everything happened after the big bang.
big bang
Well there are two theories: 1) The Big Bang Theory; There were two planets and they crashed together and formed the earth. 2) The Christian Theory; God created it day by day.
By winning games on planets!
Without the Big Bang there would be NOTHING. The entire Universe - including space, and apparently even time! - is the result of the Big Bang.
It started with the big bang. This created the stars and planets
The Big Bang did not directly create Earth or any other planets. The Big Bang theory describes the initial expansion of the universe and the formation of fundamental elements. Planets formed later through processes like gravitational attraction and accretion of matter in solar systems. Each planet's formation is a result of its unique conditions and history.
Neptune came from the big bang like the rest of the planets it was formed by all of the gasses that were let off when the big bang happened.
They say it all had to do with the Big Bang Theroy!
Scientists "speculate" that the Big Bang created antimatter, but it was destroyed when coming into contact with stars, planets, and other matter.