The Big Bang Bamma

If you really want to learn anything about this you'll have to use another method.To get a beginning, tiny view of it I suggest you read both of Brian Greene's books: "The Elegant Universe" and "The Fabric of the Cosmos".(the former one the Pulizer prize a few years ago).I know that the answer to your first question is "We don't know." I'm not sure that the second has an answer either. It may even not be a sensible question.What you may not realize is that you are not asking questions about the big bang. You are asking the questions that currently are interesting to cosmology and physics. That is looking at the source of the conditions that caused the big bang. This is where "string theory" (other terms: M-theory, branes ) is working.

I've been a bit frustrated by that missing next step. However, I'm rather sure that it involves the actual math behind this. I know I don't want to work that hard at it and I'm guessing you won't either.I think (emphasize *think* - we need cavediver and others to drop in here)that the "string" are objects in the mathematics and by adjusting one or more parameters (vibration modes) you get results consistent with the properties of individual types of particles. However, I don't have the math to understand that level of detail or derive the results myself.String theory isn't *the* answer yet anyway. It's got some interesting mathematical behaviour but it hasn't been tested yet. Until experimentation catchs up to theory it is just interesting.