Was there ever nothing?

Tumble Science Podcast for Kids

Tumble Media

Kids & Family, Education For Kids

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 11 April 2025

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Was there ever nothing in the universe? What is nothing? That’s what listener Aviva wants to know. We turned to particle physicist Dr. Jessica Esquivel to find out! She takes us on a mind-bending journey to ask what existed before the universe began, and how a quantum dance party might have started the Big Bang! This story about subatomic particles, giant magnets, and quantum physics is something that will blow your mind. You can find a transcript of the episode and learn more about the particle party in nothing on the blog at sciencepodcastforkids.com Send us your science questions, ideas and songs to [email protected] Support the show by becoming a Patreon member, or making a tax-deductible donation to Tumble Education, a 501c3 organization. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number # 2415575 - Culturally Situated STEM Podcasts for Kids.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Lindsay.
0:05.0	And I'm Marshall, welcome to Tumble, the show where we explore stories of science discovery.
0:09.0	Today we're asking, was there ever nothing in the universe?
0:14.0	How could there be nothing in the universe? Like, before the universe we created, how would that even work?
0:21.1	We'll find out more than something about the science of nothing,
0:26.0	and nothing might end up blowing your mind.
0:34.7	Our question today comes from Aviva.
0:38.0	Hi, I'm Aviva. I'm Ava. I'm eight years old, and I have a question.
0:43.3	So was there ever nothing in the universe, no universe?
0:48.8	If yes, what is nothing? And thank you. I love your podcast.
0:55.0	Man, Aviva, you're really going deep there.
1:00.0	What even is not? What is a thing? What is nothing? I mean, can you study nothing? Can you go and like,
1:08.0	apply to college and be like, I want to study nothing?
1:10.5	They're like, you're going to have to put something down.
1:13.3	That is like a super deep question.
1:15.5	So what is nothing?
1:17.0	I mean, are there scientists who study nothing?
1:20.0	Or that's just what you call someone who's not a scientist?
1:24.2	Well, let's ask our listeners.
1:27.2	Do you think there was ever nothing in the universe?
1:31.0	And if yes, what is nothing?
1:34.0	And how do you think scientists would find out?
	...

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