We don’t know. We have a lot of evidence to tell us that the energy that exists came into existence from an event that we call the Big Bang, but how that actually happened is something we likely may never truly understand.
The idea “energy cannot be created or destroyed” is like many things in physics an abbreviated version of a longer, more complex statement. In this case though is isn’t that much more complex. The statement is: “The total energy of an isolated system remains constant.”
“An isolated system” is the important factor here. This is also sometimes called a “closed system” and is one where no matter or energy comes in or out of the system. Whatever you have inside the system needs to be accounted for, it cannot just vanish or appear out of nothing.
The universe as a whole doesn’t seem to actually be a closed system though! Conservation of energy still applies locally but in an expanding universe it just doesn’t really work. So if you are trying to apply the law of conservation of energy to the origin of the universe you cannot.
Also though this comes with the assumption that energy would need to have “come about”, based on the implicit assumption that it needs an origin. What if energy simply always existed? Even if time has a definite start it might be that there was no time when there was no energy, making the question of how it “came about in the first place” nonsensical.
Can’t have a ELI5 version on something we don’t really know yet.
We are pretty damn sure about the big bang, essentially being this crazy compressed ball of energy that then released and is currently still building the universe.
Where did the energy, particles etc come from? *shrug*
Questions like this is why scientists can be religious and not feel like they’re holding two beliefs that violate each other. No one has the answer to this yet.
Physics is what we see and observe RIGHT NOW. It’s theoretically possible that one day it may flip and throw everything we know out the window. (We’d be out the window too, but I digress).
Point is that physics itself was quite likely different before the big bang. (Was time even a thing?) Regardless, we can’t really verify much of anything on this side of the event.
The short of it is that we don’t have a satisfactory answer. All there is, is speculation and conjecture.
You are associating it with one specific form of energy (likely electricity, which is what most people associate it with)
The way we have essentially “mastered” creating electricity, is by harnessing the thermal energy (heat) from steam via a turbine.
Other forms of energy include kinetic (energy from moving objects) potential (essentially the energy from gravity) and chemical (energy stored in the bonds of an atom)
All of these are used to generate electricity. Batteries create electricity via chemical energy and hydroelectric dams use a combination of potential and kinetic energy to generate electricity.
Comments
We don’t know. We have a lot of evidence to tell us that the energy that exists came into existence from an event that we call the Big Bang, but how that actually happened is something we likely may never truly understand.
The conservation of energy on a long enough timeline is actually not true.
Energy is lost because of the expansion of the universe.
Here is a good Veritasium video on it.
https://youtu.be/lcjdwSY2AzM?si=gfgzqRLJha_6YAc6
1st law edited “Energy can not be created or destroyed, except that one time…”
The idea “energy cannot be created or destroyed” is like many things in physics an abbreviated version of a longer, more complex statement. In this case though is isn’t that much more complex. The statement is: “The total energy of an isolated system remains constant.”
“An isolated system” is the important factor here. This is also sometimes called a “closed system” and is one where no matter or energy comes in or out of the system. Whatever you have inside the system needs to be accounted for, it cannot just vanish or appear out of nothing.
The universe as a whole doesn’t seem to actually be a closed system though! Conservation of energy still applies locally but in an expanding universe it just doesn’t really work. So if you are trying to apply the law of conservation of energy to the origin of the universe you cannot.
Also though this comes with the assumption that energy would need to have “come about”, based on the implicit assumption that it needs an origin. What if energy simply always existed? Even if time has a definite start it might be that there was no time when there was no energy, making the question of how it “came about in the first place” nonsensical.
Can’t have a ELI5 version on something we don’t really know yet.
We are pretty damn sure about the big bang, essentially being this crazy compressed ball of energy that then released and is currently still building the universe.
Where did the energy, particles etc come from? *shrug*
Questions like this is why scientists can be religious and not feel like they’re holding two beliefs that violate each other. No one has the answer to this yet.
Bro it’s “God”. Why is it so hard to accept that at a certain point you can’t ask how or why anymore its just cuz
This is a good podcast episode explaining this.
https://pca.st/episode/7a1ee17e-1301-4015-82c9-1dd412964b74
If you haven’t listened to this show I recommend it.
Physics is what we see and observe RIGHT NOW. It’s theoretically possible that one day it may flip and throw everything we know out the window. (We’d be out the window too, but I digress).
Point is that physics itself was quite likely different before the big bang. (Was time even a thing?) Regardless, we can’t really verify much of anything on this side of the event.
The short of it is that we don’t have a satisfactory answer. All there is, is speculation and conjecture.
Energy is a concept.
You are associating it with one specific form of energy (likely electricity, which is what most people associate it with)
The way we have essentially “mastered” creating electricity, is by harnessing the thermal energy (heat) from steam via a turbine.
Other forms of energy include kinetic (energy from moving objects) potential (essentially the energy from gravity) and chemical (energy stored in the bonds of an atom)
All of these are used to generate electricity. Batteries create electricity via chemical energy and hydroelectric dams use a combination of potential and kinetic energy to generate electricity.
There isn’t an answer to this question. Anyone who claims to know is lying, uneducated, or both.