if all the matter in the universe was contained in an infinite small point during the BB?
494727
The answer to your question lies with something called "inflation." The mechanics of inflation are very involved, but basically here's the gist of it: Long before the universe was even one second old it began to expand faster than the speed of light. Sounds like a violation of relativity, but it's not because at this point in the evolution of the universe there was no mass, only space-time which is not restricted by relativity. The bottom line is that with this FTL expansion rate, nothing could possibly pull the universe back into the initial singularity.\n\nFor a detailed look at inflation, check this website --> http://www.lifesci.sussex.ac.uk/home/John_Gribbin/cosmo.htm
2691
"Where?" requires the existance of space. There was no space before the Big Bang. We cannot even talk about "before", since there was no time, either. It's counterintuitive and cannot be assessed in a normal state of mind - logic won't help here, even a twisted one. Science struggles to answer the questions regarding the very beginning. What is known, however, is that right after the Big Bang there was no hydrogen - it was too hot for it to form. First quark-gluon plasma, then protons and neutrons, then hydrogen atoms. So it took some time, though, given the age of the Universe, it occurred almost instantaneously.
823226
Um...  No and Yes?\n\nThe Universe has infinate volume.  Most of this volume is empty...\n\nA Black hole has no more gravity than the star and matter that has fallen into it, so never fear that everything is going to be pulled into a single super Singularity...\n\nAs to it eventually causing another "Big Bang"...  How do we know that a "Black Hole Singularity" is the "Big Bang Singularity" of another universe?\n\nBlack Hole Theory states that a Black Hole is so massive that it gives space infinite curvature...\n\nPresuming that the multi-dimensions discussed be the Super String Concepts exist...  \n\nThen how do we know that this infinate Curvature does not extend to an infinate volume of other spacial dimensions? \n\nOr rather...  Give thought to the possibility that a Black Hole Singularity is the "Big Bang Singularity", and that our entire universe of infinate space may exist in the Black Hole in another Universe that uses diferent spacial Dimensions...\n\nThere's no evidence either way...  So to answer you question which askes for definate answers that no one can give definately, let me say...\n\nProbably not but Maybe yes...  But Maybe yes but not really...  8-)\n\n"There is more to Heaven and Earth than is dreamt of in your philosophy Horatio"  -Shakespeare
557686
Ok...we don't know how big the entire universe is. It may well be infinite, which, assuming it is homogeneous, would mean that it has infinite mass. At any rate, physicists currently think it is "much larger" than the observable universe. How much larger? I don't think that they have any evidence. But let's assume that we can see 1% of all visible space. This would make the mass of the universe = 100 * 3 * 10^52 kg, or 3 * 10^55 kg.
205236
No one anywhere has the answer to your question, or even if there was any "thing" before the Big Bang. The religious crackpot fundamnetalists certainly don't have the answer! By definition, the universe is everything there ever was, is now, or ever will be. At the instant of the Big Bang, all space-time and energy that will ever exist was created.\n\nGod is spelled B-I-G B-A-N-G\nPBrax@netscape.com
317862
Size & volume of the current universe have little bearing on how "big" or "small" the singularity was at the moment this universe came into being, since the structures of the various sub-atomic particles that make up atoms and unltimately the "stuff" you have difficulty in "compacting" were not yet defined sufficiently for your question to have meaning.  Not that it's a bad question.  It's just in the same family as "well i know the Universe is infinite, but what's outside it?"\n\nStephen W.Hawking might be a good place to start.
1048159
I'll assume you mean the beginning of the universe, not the beginning of the earth. The earth formed about 8 billion years after the universe did, so there was plenty of matter at that point.\n\nYou are wrong in saying that matter cannot come from nothing. There are always 'vacuum fluctuations' where matter and anti-matter are spontaneously forming and disappearing. This is a measured effect and is important in our understanding of electromagnetism.\n\nOn theory (and I want to emphasize that it is a theory) is that the vacuum with *nothing* in it is at a higher energy than one with *something* in it. The difference in energy is quite large and when the vacuum decayed, it allowed the formation of a *lot* of matter and anti-matter. Because of an asymmetry between matter and anti-matter, when thing recombined, there was a small amount of matter left over. This is the matter we see around us.\n\nAnother theory is that there was another 'universe' before ours that experiences a 'Big Crunch' and collapsed. There was then a type of bounce which formed our current universe. So there would have eben all the matter and energy of that previous universe to work from. This theory has recently been given more credence because of a calculation made with quantum loop gravity ( a proposed theory of quantum gravity).
264754
Think of the universe as a giant bubble. Outside the bubble is nothing. nothing exists. no space. no time. Even though there is an edge to the universe, you cant reach it. If you started at the earth and went in a straight line. you would eventually come back to the earth. Also, we are not the only universe. there are other bubles. too. they are in the same nothing as ours. But you could not travel to other universes.
1000581
It is not a viable question, everything is crushed into a singularity, it is like a constricting consuming star, it may well produce light but that light is in turn sucked back in. Pushing aside the idea that you would cease to exist as your atoms are brokent down and crushed to miniscule size you would see nothing as not light escapes. And barring that obstacle and somehow light did you would probably see a swirling speck that is drawing in everything but not getting any bigger, feel an enourmous pull and see light being drawn in, broken down and consumed along with anything else.
1057541
Well, that would depend on your point of view.  Since there was no universe in existence before time zero, you would have to be inside of the rapidly expanding newborn universe.  Therefore, inside, there would've been extreme heat and pressures.  My guess is that you wouldn't have noticed any sound as you were boiled away into your constituent atoms.  So, I'm thinking a silent and dark time (as your eyes would've also been boiled off, so there would've been nothing to see with).
1106252
speaking in all logic terms all religon aside.  The universe always was it and it always will be here in one way or another.  But before the "big bang" the universe was smaller, much smaller infact than it was before this catastrophic event.  After the big bang everything that was once very very dense and all close together, is now moving apart from eachother at a considerable rate, leaving more and more area of what we call "space".
410136
As a corollary to Chris' answer; It has recently been concluded that in fact the universe will go on expanding forever, there will be no reverse followed by a "big crunch" because there is not enough mass to precipitate this.\n\nAs for what the universe is "expanding into", this is a question based on the belief that all things must be finite, which is probably a limitation of our minds. There doesn't have to be a "there" there. If it makes you feel better you can imagine an infinite "ether" into which we are expanding.  \n\nAs a self-proffesed "curious" person you should probably read some Richard Feynman.
38951
The universe has no center, but it is not infinite.  It is finite but unbounded, like the surface of a golf ball.  The surface does not have a center nor a boundary, but it is not infinite.
334137
the universe is finite yet has no boundaries. it may be something like the two dimensional surface of a sphere.  nothing inside or outside the sphere exists for the two dimensional surface.  nothing exists outside the universe in this model.
353833
There is conjecture that the universe began with a big bang, out of nothing. If matter formed, then anti-matter also must have formed at the same time to have the various laws of physics as we know them hold good. Some scientist postulate that the big mishap in Siberia in 1906 could have happened  because of the passing of a small quantity of anti-matter. Remember, for anti-matter, we could be as dangerous as is is to us. \n\nI think anti-matter has been created in small quantities in labs, and yes you are right, it could be harnessed to meet with our energy requirements.
786756
I think space is the container for the matter which makes up everything.  I also think there is more than one container which could potentially be parallel dimensions or other worlds with differenet physical rules.  I think the path to these other worlds lies in what is known as a black hole.  They say the universe is infinite so maybe there are an infinite number of containers which would mean they would never run out and have always existed.  Also, time may not me restriced to how we view it.  Our lives may be just a blink to other worlds or almost infinite to others.  There is no possible way to explain it definately, it is all speculation and beliefs.  One way to expalin it is with religion, but what is religion?  A belief in a greater being with absolute control? Or the belief that the "big bang" theory exists?  They are one in the same a belief nothing more.
300537
There is disagreement over whether the universe is indeed finite or infinite in spatial extent and volume. Many astronomers and cosmologists believe the universe is infinite due to recent findings in NASA's WMAP project supporting a flat (therefore infinite) universe\n\nHowever, the observable universe, consisting of all locations that could have affected us since the Big Bang given the finite speed of light, is certainly finite. The edge of the cosmic light horizon is 13.7 billion light years (4.19 Gpc) distant. The present distance (comoving distance) to the edge of the observable universe is larger, due to the ever increasing rate at which the universe has been expanding; it is estimated to be about 78 billion light years (7.8 × 1010 light years, or 7.4 × 1026 m). This would make the comoving volume, of the known universe, equal to 1.9 × 1033 cubic light years (assuming this region is perfectly spherical). The observable universe contains about 7 × 1022 stars, organized in about 100 billion galaxies, which themselves form clusters and superclusters. The number of galaxies may be even larger, based on the Hubble Deep Field observed with the Hubble Space Telescope. The Hubble Space Telescope discovered galaxies such as Abell 1835 IR1916, which are over 13 billion light years from Earth.\n\nBoth popular and professional research articles in cosmology often use the term "universe" when they really mean "observable universe". This is because unobservable physical phenomena are scientifically irrelevant; that is, they cannot affect any events that we can perceive.