the big bang ( Questions from a Teen )

Eh. No. The other way around.Nothing exploded. The universe expands continously. As we get further back in time, the universe would thus be smaller and smaller.So it starts out as a singularity (think a point in space) and then it expands. Nothing blew up.

You know, there has been a lot of people getting very confused or angry over the name big bang.Nothing banged. The name is totally missleading in that sense.The reason it's called the big bang is that is shows the early universe as expanding outward, in a similar way as the shockwave and fire and such from a bomb does. But there were nothing like a bomb involved or anything.[This message has been edited by Melchior, 04-02-2004]

The stars and planets and such was formed later, out of the material that was initially in this point. Matter sort of clumps together due to gravity, to form things like stars more or less by itself, if there is enough 'stuff' nearby.

It has absolutely nothing to do with the big bang. For all the model says, planets can spin any way they want.You might be interested in this short animation (with commentary) from NASA that illustrates how the solar system formed out of a slowly rotating gas nebula. No webpage found at provided URL: http://www.star.ucl.ac.uk/~idh/solar/cap/misc/ssanim.htm