What is the Steady State Theory?
The Steady State Theory was the idea of an English man by the name of Fred Hoyle who was born on the 24th of June, 1915. The theory is that the universe had always existed and always will, the theory states that the universe has always looked as it does now and will forever appear the same. For the density and nature of the universe to remain constant, matter would have to be created at a rate of 100 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 kilograms per second! Most people believed this theory because the technology at this point in time was very limited compared to what scientists and astronomers have today. This theory also avoids the question of how the universe was actually born.
What is the Big Bang Theory?
The Big Bang Theory describes the universe as beginning 15 thousand million years ago which was caused by a massive burst of energy. Following the release of this massive explosion, energy moved out at greater speeds than the speed of light creating what is now known as the universe. The expansion of the universe in its initial stage was truly enormous with between ten trillion trillion trillionths of a second and ten thousand trillion trillion trillionths of a second, the universe increased one hundred trillion trillion trillion trillionth times which virtually created the universe matter. In its early stages the young universe was a fog like mass of radiation in which matter and anti-matter were continuously being created and destroyed. Then a particle known as quarks which form protons and neutrons filled the entire universe. The universe started to cool down to only a few trillion degrees Celsius after three minutes since the 'Big Bang' and the quarks slowed down enough to come together and create what is now known as protons and neutrons, which then went on to form the nuclei of the first elements - hydrogen (approximately 75%), helium (approximately 25%) and also tiny amounts of lithium. Over the next three-hundred thousand years the universe cooled dramatically to about 3000 degrees Celsius and formed atoms like the ones we know today from nuclei that combined with electrons. At this point in time the fog of radiation caused early on cleared and the light was able to travel very long distances through the universe. The temperature decreased further after about a thousand million years and as the hydrogen lost energy, gravity pulled them together to form clouds. With greater cooling the clouds collapsed to form galaxies and within them the hydrogen atoms began to fuse together in a nuclear fusion and produced the wonderful stars of our universe.
So Which is the Most Widely Believed?
Currently the Big Bang Theory is the most widely accepted theory of how the universe began throughout the world. Scientists questioned how the the Steady State theory depended on the continuous creation massive amounts of matter leading to people believing in the Big Bang Theory which also predicted the correct amounts of Hydrogen (H) and Helium (He) present in the universe. Recent astronomical evidence does not fit the Steady State Theory leaving it with very few supporters.