Originally posted by Cannikin
Theoretical astrophysics lesson time (skip this post if you just don't care).
Ummmmm... no, black holes are theoretical coordinate points of mass in dimensional space which are generally accepted to have NO SIZE AT ALL. A dead star the size of our moon would be more like a white dwarf. Even a neutron star is hella smaller. The black area you observe as a black hole (which no one really has observed) is just the area around it which light cannot escape. The actually singularity (which its name implies) is an infinitely small point (a mere coordinate) and thus can no longer be defined as matter.
This brings me to one thing that REALLY bugs me: people are always saying "the material of the universe was compressed into a ball the size of a marble/baseball/golf ball or whatever crap they made up. That is all full of BS. First of all, if such a mass were to exist in our universe it would be like a black hole having no size at all. But the real point is that you cannot even begin to comprehend what the original universal mass was because in it was contained ALL of space, time and all higher dimensional planes. The cataclysmic explosion known as the Big Bang was the sudden expansion of space and all the higher dimensions, thus allowing the mass to spread into this space. Thus before this event this singular "thing" (for lack of better words) did not float around in space, it had no size (because size made no sense) and contained everything in it. Beyond its boundries is what can truly be described as "void" because it had absolutely NOTHING. No space, no time, no nothing. Try and comprehend that.
That's what's fun about these things. Average people delude themselves thinking they can visualize and describe things such as black holes, higher dimensional planes, the Big Bang etc. Humans are physically incapable of even beginning to comprehend what things are/were really like.
Where'd you learn that one?
"Big Bang" was a tragic name for the beginning of time.
Time and space (as known to all) are invariably linked, the point is, when the "Big Bang" went off, it wasn't the begginning of this matter spreading, "
the beginning" is the wrong term.
It was ALWAYS Expanding, Time is due to the expansion of the universe, if it weren't for the fact that the big ball of mass was expanding all things would just sit still unmoving, it is indeed hard to convey in simply words...
When I'm in the right mood I've managed to explain this to people who lecture at universities... however my attempts for the most part fail cuz most people don't know the peripheral knowledge (Yeah, that is partly my fault I don't know the right words... but it works in my head) there is simply nothing outside the universe, you say 'void' you're wrong, there isn't even a void, the simple point is as you said the human mind can't comprehend that...(Although, some can...normally children who're very good with spacial awareness) either you did just as bad a job at explaining things as I sometimes do, or you don't understand it yourself.
The universe is still a mystery to the whole of humanity, however such theorums as "The Big Bang" Give very flawed impressions to the untrained and uneducated mind (note; even worse impressions to those who have a half way decent understanding of the topic...); you did make a few good points though, enough to make me want to post..hmm, nice one
I never post here O.o
