Creation FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
Created | Updated Jun 18, 2002
About this FAQ
Please note this is under construction!
This FAQ is designed for users of BBCi's "Science: Creation" message board, aimed at providing the uninitiated with a brief but comprehensible guide to the scientific world's view of how things came to be. It has been compiled by regular users of the board, some professional scientists, and some dedicated amateurs; it is not exhaustive by any means, but it should answer some of the more common points or questions raised by those who take a less scientific view of creation.
How Does Science Work, and What is a Proof?
The Scientific Method
Science usually proceeds in the following manner:
- A phenomenon is observed
- A hypothesis is made
- A prediction is made using this hypothesis
- The prediction is tested against reality
- If the prediction fails, or a counter-example can be found, the hypothesis is discarded in favour of another, or modified, and the above two steps are repeated.
- If the hypothesis stands up to repeated scrutiny, it becomes a theory, but will continue to be "tested to destruction"; if at any point the theory is shown to be incorrect, then the above two steps are repeated.
Science has no "agenda", and most scientists are just as happy if their theory turns out to be wrong as even from a mistake something may be learned.
Proof Positive
[Definition of mathematical or rigourous proof, laws, etc.]
The Universe
In The Beginning
One of the most commonly asked questions is "How did the universe appear out of nothingness?" The generally accepted explanation is the "Big Bang Hypothesis", but what exactly does this mean, and what was it that went bang? And how about other theories?
The Big Bang
[big bang]
Branes
[branes]
Steady-State Hypothesis
[steady state]
Constant Creation
[constant creation]
How Does it Work?
So, we've made our universe, but what is it made of, and why are things the way they are? Well, at each end of the scale -- the very small, and the very large -- things behave very differently, and each has their own theory. The "holy grail" of physics is to combine the two different theories into one "Theory of Everything", the best contender for which is called variously "string theory", "superstring theory" or "M-theory".
The Very Small
[QM/QED - introduction, Feynamn diagrams]
The Very Big
[Relativity - general/special]
Tying It Together With Strings
[strings]
So How Old is the Universe, and How Do We Know?
[microwave background, COBE]
And How Big is It?
[c]
Is It Getting Bigger?
[redshift, Hubble constant]
