At about 1:14 it is mentioned that "energy took different forms including gravity". Is gravity a form of energy and not a force ?

Gravity is a force. The wording in the video is a bit confusing.

so if the big bang was so long ago how do we really know what happen we havent even made ti to mars and we reall cant depend on robots. so what i'm asking is how do we know this stuff really whent on?

We infer a lot of it by making observations from Earth, which is often (perhaps surprisingly!) a lot easier than getting things or people to Mars. Our instruments can detect light from extremely distant parts of the universe, in far more wavelengths than just the visible light that our eyes can handle. And since light takes a certain amount of time to travel from a distant source, we actually see distant objects as they were in the past--we see the Moon as it was over a second ago, the Sun as it was over 8 minutes ago, and distant galaxies as they were millions or billions of years in the past. So we can infer a lot from observations, and use theoretical physics to make educated guesses to fill in the "gaps" in what we can observe.

Main content

Course: Big History Project > Unit 2

Lesson 1: The Big Bang | 2.0

WATCH: Threshold 1 —The Big Bang

Name: WATCH: Threshold 1 —The Big Bang
Uploaded: 2014-05-14T16:40:29Z
Description: Space, time, matter, and energy. The Big Bang provided the raw materials for everything around us today.

Google Classroom

Space, time, matter, and energy. The Big Bang provided the raw materials for everything around us today. Created by Big History Project.

Want to join the conversation?

Sort by:

Enn
Posted 10 years ago. Direct link to Enn's post “At about 1:14 it is menti...”
At about
1:14
it is mentioned that "energy took different forms including gravity". Is gravity a form of energy and not a force ?
Button navigates to signup pageButton navigates to signup page
(7 votes)
Answer
- Cameron Gibelyou
  Posted 10 years ago. Direct link to Cameron Gibelyou's post “Gravity is a force. The w...”
  Gravity is a force. The wording in the video is a bit confusing.
  Comment on Cameron Gibelyou's post “Gravity is a force. The w...”
  (8 votes)
Paul Kang
Posted 9 years ago. Direct link to Paul Kang's post “In addition to the eight ...”
In addition to the eight thresholds of Big History that we currently know about, how many are anticipated for the future? If so, can experts in different fields use their knowledge about existing ingredients and speculations about goldilocks conditions to predict what specifically they will be?
Button navigates to signup pageButton navigates to signup page
(5 votes)
Answer
- Tyler Killham
  Posted 7 years ago. Direct link to Tyler Killham's post “The big bang's Goldilocks...”
  The big bang's Goldilocks is a thing to say how a planet needs to support life in space.
  Button navigates to signup page
  (1 vote)
Andrea Taylor
Posted 10 years ago. Direct link to Andrea Taylor's post “so if the big bang was so...”
so if the big bang was so long ago how do we really know what happen we havent even made ti to mars and we reall cant depend on robots. so what i'm asking is how do we know this stuff really whent on?
Button navigates to signup pageButton navigates to signup page
(3 votes)
Answer
- Cameron Gibelyou
  Posted 10 years ago. Direct link to Cameron Gibelyou's post “We infer a lot of it by m...”
  We infer a lot of it by making observations from Earth, which is often (perhaps surprisingly!) a lot easier than getting things or people to Mars. Our instruments can detect light from extremely distant parts of the universe, in far more wavelengths than just the visible light that our eyes can handle. And since light takes a certain amount of time to travel from a distant source, we actually see distant objects as they were in the past--we see the Moon as it was over a second ago, the Sun as it was over 8 minutes ago, and distant galaxies as they were millions or billions of years in the past. So we can infer a lot from observations, and use theoretical physics to make educated guesses to fill in the "gaps" in what we can observe.
  Button navigates to signup page
  (4 votes)
Katey Gordon
Posted 7 years ago. Direct link to Katey Gordon's post “Right now scientists don'...”
Right now scientists don't have the evidence but some believe there are other universes out there . I have one question could the big bang be cause by another Universe so before the Big Bang there is a much older universe this other universe had energy matter etc. As the older universe expanded it created ours like we have our Universe and how the Milky Way has a Universe etc. I happen to wonder how many universes are out there is there any any theorys or evidence that there is?
Button navigates to signup pageButton navigates to signup page
(4 votes)
Answer
- lilhuddy
  Posted 3 years ago. Direct link to lilhuddy's post “I am from the future. Her...”
  I am from the future. Here, we have discovered “parallel” universes. Universes that run parallel to our own but with some small changes. We haven’t “seen” them with our eyes but we know that they’re there from the amount of energy that they give off. We’re working on visiting them. “Together, these universes comprise everything that exists: the entirety of space, time, matter, energy, information, and the physical laws and constants that describe them. The different universes within the multiverse are called "parallel universes", "other universes", "alternate universes", or "many worlds".
  Button navigates to signup page
  (1 vote)
Legoboy1016
Posted 4 years ago. Direct link to Legoboy1016's post “what created the rocks an...”
what created the rocks and other things for the big bang?
Button navigates to signup pageComment on Legoboy1016's post “what created the rocks an...”
(3 votes)
Answer

Video transcript

NARRATOR: Our first threshold is the Big Bang, which happened about 13.7 billion years ago and led to the creation of the entire Universe. We don't know much about the ingredients and the Goldilocks conditions that led to this first threshold because we just don't have much evidence. For example, what made the Big Bang possible? We don't know. Why did the Big Bang happen? We can only speculate. Was there even space and time before the Big Bang? We don't know that either. What we do know is that the Big Bang provided the raw materials for everything around us today. After the Big Bang there was space, which was rapidly expanding, and there was time. There was also matter and energy. At first, the Universe was so hot that you couldn't tell the difference between matter and energy, but within the first billionth of a second after the Big Bang, matter and energy separated. Then energy took different forms, including gravity and electromagnetism. And matter appeared in the form of electrons and quarks. And quarks soon linked up to form protons and neutrons. Why is this so important? Because nothing had turned into something, and that something contained everything needed to build an interesting Universe, one that could eventually include you and me. Now let's take a closer look at how our Universe began to build more complex things.