Harilal asked:

“During the big bang it is supposed that the small particles expanded in a very very small interval of time and there was nothing before that. If it is so, then how can it in be good agreement with law of conservation of mass?”

Ans:

After the Big Bang, the universe expanded rapidly. The big bang theory is not a theory which is completely resolved. There are many questions to be answered.

Further, mass alone is not conserved, it is mass+energy  which is conserved.

Energy can be converted into matter and vice versa. ()

Dark Energy and Dark Matter are two widely discussed concepts in association with the Big Bang. These correspond to the mass (matter) and energy which we cannot account for by calculations and theory.

Further, BIGBANG is not the only possible cause of the Birth of Universe. There are many other possibilities.

Big Bang theory originated after the discovery that the universe is expanding. SO if we think in reverse direction, we can imagine that the entire universe was confined to an infinitesimally small (Compared to the present size of the universe) space. This idea started the theoritization of the Big Bang.

Please visit the following links for further reference:

http://www.aip.org/history/cosmology/ideas/bigbang.htm

http://www.aip.org/history/cosmology/ideas/journey.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang

http://www.aip.org/history/cosmology/ideas/expanding.htm

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