Before the Big Bang, all that existed was a singularity. This means that everything that now exists in our universe was compressed to a point that only has reality in a mathematical sense. When the Big Bang occurred, it wasn't an explosion in the sense that everything 'blew' from that single point. The explosion occurred all over the area that is now occupied by our universe - which is thought to be a 'closed' system. This is a wriggler of a concept; as everyone knows the universe is expanding, so it must be expanding from the source of the explosion…right? In reality, the universe is expanding all over, not from a central point. A popular metaphor to explain this phenomenon is blowing up a balloon; all the points on a balloon are travelling away from each other as the same rate as the balloon expands…and our universe is expanding in a similar manner.

There was an interval at the very start of time when matter, space, time and energy were interchangeable, and when gravity didn't exist. The four forces of physics; strong nuclear, weak nuclear, electromagnetic and gravity were combined as a single "super force". This time period is referred to as Planck Time, when the Laws of Physics were yet to form. It is theorised that these conditions occurred in the first 10-43 seconds of time (that's 10 to the minus 43 zeros). After this point, in the next fifteen seconds, things were still chaotic but space and time became distinct from matter and energy, and the first elementary particles started to form. Gravity asserted itself. And the colossal expansion of the universe was well and truly commenced.

Now, in the formation of the particles, both matter and anti-matter were formed, and then annihilated as the particles cancelled each other out again. (The term anti-matter is being used here for convenience…there are no terms to really describe what was occurring.) Radiation is so dense; no light is visible…so this is all happening in the dark. Within the ionised plasma of our infant universe, our matter has a slight bias. For every billion pairs of particles created and destroyed, one pair might survive, thanks to the slight fluctuations occurring throughout the plasma. Anti-matter decays rapidly. The expanding universe is cooling rapidly, allowing the formation of neutron, protons and electrons of matter to exist. Only the lightest elements, hydrogen and helium, can exist in the inferno of creation. It's only three minutes after the Big Bang.

So, if the Universe is expanding, it must be expanding into something…right? So, where's the edge? Our universe is a 'closed' system; it has no edge. Theoretically, it you could live forever and travel faster than the speed of light, you could set off in one direction and eventually you would return to your starting position; Space and Time are curved. (Don't ask me the mathematics behind this…go look it up yourself.) The universe isn't sitting in nothing, like some great crystal ornament hanging in a vacuum, it's just there - or here - whatever.

• The background radiation of the universe is an artefact of the Big Bang. This is one the facts that supports the theory behind the Big Bang.
• There is a sudden interest that 'cosmic strings' may have formed as the universe cooled down, the same way that ice crystallises out of water. These strings are thought to (may) have formed when the universe went through the phrase transition from 'no time and space' to 'curved time and space'. If these strings would be proven to exist, or to have existed, there would be more evidence to support the Big Bang theory.
• There is speculation about a 'fifth' physical force in the universe, as to create a symmetry with gravity. After all, all the other physical forces have a positive and a negative to balance each other…only gravity remains as the sole 'positive' with no real negative. This is pure speculation, as there is no evidence of a 'fifth' force in nature.