Artist’s logarithmic scale conception of the observable universe. Note that we’re limited in how far we can see back by the amount of time that’s occurred since the hot Big Bang: 13.8 billion years, or (including the expansion of the Universe) 46 billion light-years. Anyone living in our Universe, at any location, would see almost exactly the same thing from their vantage point. (WIKIPEDIA USER PABLO CARLOS BUDASSI)

Ask Ethan: How Would You Explain The Big Bang To A Child?

It’s something most adults don’t understand very well. So what should you tell a child?

If you’ve ever had a conversation with an inquisitive, curious child, you might have experienced that they all end the same way. They’ll begin by asking where something comes from or how something works, a behavior you very much want to encourage. But then, when you answer that, there’s the inevitable follow-up. Your answer now becomes the topic of a new question, which unfolds into a conversation that eventually runs into the limits of your (or even humanity’s) knowledge. At some point, you may even run into questions about the very beginning of it all: the Big Bang. That’s where this week’s question comes from, courtesy of Tyler Legare, who asks:

How would you explain the big bang to a 10-year-old?

Even though the Big Bang is something that most adults don’t fully understand, it’s a story that science knows the answer to. Here’s how I’d tell it to a 10-year-old.

The human body, as we conventionally think of it, is composed of organs that are made of cells. But at an even smaller level, everything within us is composed of atoms: an enormous number of them due to their overwhelmingly tiny size. (PIXABAY USER PUBLICDOMAINPICTURES)

So, you want to know where it all comes from? Everything, from you and me here on Earth to all the…