Was matter ever created or did it always exist? ?

Question

If you think it always existed, at least in some form, how is that possible? It just blows my mind to think that something could always have existed without a beginning. If you think it was created, then how could that happen and how was the creator created? It just seems as though at some point something had to come from nothing anyway you look at it and like I say that blows me away.

Answer 1

According the the big bang theory, which is the consensus theory on how our universe was born, the initial bang, within the first instance of existance, consisted of pure energy.  The temperature of the universe .02 seconds after its birth was 10E11 degrees Kelvin. [See source.]  It was much hotter closer in time to the initial big bang.  I've seen estimates at 10E33 degrees Kelvin for that initial temperature.

Anyway, while the universe was so very hot, it consisted only of an almost uniform ball of energy.  In fact, all the forces were unified at that point in early time.  But as the universe began immediately to cool down rapidly, mass, in the form of quarks, began to gel out of the energy.  In other words, the E in E = mc^2 began to convert into the m of that equation.  At the same time, the uniform energy began to split up into the four forces: electro magnetic, strong and weak atomic, and gravity.

So, to answer your question, conventional wisdom says that mass (matter) did not come from nowhere.  It came from the energy ball of the big bang's first instance.

Of course, this begs the real question...where did that energy ball come from?  There are two WAGs, hypotheses: two or more null universes collided and the change in momenta caused the energy insertion; and a rip in the fabric of null space created the energy burst.  Both WAGs suggest there are likely more universes than our own; and, according to one WAG on time, time may be running backward compared to our time line in some of them. [See source.]

Answer 2

Mater and energy are the same thing just in different forms, like clouds and ice cubes are the same thng (water) in different forms.

Energy converts to matter, and matter converts to energy, according to Einsteins formula E=MC2.

It is thought that ENERGY was first present. It is not known HOW that energy came to be, or when.  It just "was".  In fact, the First Law of Thermodynamics satates that energy can neither be created nor destroyed -- it only changes form (matter being one form of energy).  This implied "always was" and "always will be".

From a theolological standpoint, God spoke the universe (and thus all matter and energy) into being with the power of His Voice.  "Let there be light!" is probably as good a description of the Big Bang as a person from 4000 BC could describe.  And it is exactly accurate -- energy came into the universe.

Genesis also speaks of "The Spirit of God floating (hovering) over the waters".  Now, the Hebrew word translated as "floating" is more accurately translated "fluttering" or "vibrating".  If we conside that electromagnetic energy is in the form of "vibrations", we can see how this biblical description of God ALSO fits well inhto the supposed physical creation of the universe. The Spirit of God was creating the electromagnetic spectrum of energy!

It takes quite a mind to grasp the concept of something (or someone) being outside our three-dimensional timespace, but if that were the case then that object or person would indeed be omnipresent (everywhere in all dimension at the same time) and etermal (outside the realm of human time).  If this being could indeed see everything, then He would be omnipotent, as well as being able to know all possible choices that any person could make, and thus able to plan ahead for all possible contingencies.  If this were the case, such a being would, from our standpoint, appear to have no beginning and no end.

This is really not so difficult to understand.  If I owned a box, and in that box I had tiny little worlds with tiny little people, I could manipulate them as guide them and provide for them as I saw fit.  But from THEIR standpoint they would know very little about ME personally.  from their standpoint I would be god.

So there are some things you have to take on faith alone.  In the Big Bang, energy came from nothingness, "ex nilho".  From a  theological argument there is a being that exists outside of the realm of 3D spacetime, and is thus omnipresnet, omnopotent, and eternal being "spoke" the universe into existence, literally providing the energy of the univese (and thus the matter) from Himself.

Answer 3

Energy can be converted to matter by the equation E=mc^2. I'm not sure if scientist have fiqured out where the energy in big bang came from.

Answer 4

conservation of matter.

Answer 5

I think it blows everyone away that really thinks about it.  The Big Bang is the accepted hypothesis of how matter came about, that the entire Universe of matter and energy emerged at some point in time from a singularity of energy.  But if the Big Bang is really the cause, then how did that singularity of energy get there - and if someone put it there then how did that someone get there?

First of all, there is a flaw in that question itself - if you say that the creator was himself created, then aren't you simply back at the same question, who created the being that created the creator?  To answer that question, there is one other possibility, that of the creator being eternal, never created.  

Christianity answers this question of matter's origin by speaking of the Universe being created from nothing by an eternal (always existing) creator God.  God does not exist in space and time, but outside of it (is supernatural), and He created the Universe out of nothing, as you said.  He did not have to use the energy, matter, space, and time of this universe, but in fact created all of that.  We have a hard time wrapping our minds around this concept, because we are finite beings, with limited understanding, but it seems to me to answer this question of origin.

Answer 6

The answer to your question does not require a creator or other supernatural agent.  We can test that we live in a world that at very small scales, matter/energy comes and goes all the time, apparently at random. So long as the net effect is zero, laws of conservation of matter and energy are not broken.  Now suppose that the whole universe that we live in is inside of one of these miriads of random fluctuations ( one that we experience as "very big" ).  We could then anticipate that this universe will cancel out leaving no trace anywhere. All the stories in it could happen without a creator, and without breaking any natural law.  Which sounds like a good reason to enjoy the present moment.