: From what I understand the universe as we know it was : created when a Black hole of Universal mass exploded. : My first question is what caused this black hole to : explode? : 1) when a black hole reaches a critical mass it : explodes. : 2) an external force acted on it. : Since I can't see how a black hole can have a critical : mass. I'm assuming some external force caused the Big : Bang. Does this sound right? : The only external force that I can imagine that would : affect a black hole is another black hole. So lets : say that just before the beginning of the Universe we : have 2 Black holes of mass X and Y, where X + Y equals : the total mass of the universe. Now imagine these 2 : black holes getting caught in each others gravity well, : in such a way that they smash into each other. Could : such a collision cause what we call the Big Bang? : End of the universe: : If the above can be discount, don't bother reading : further. : If the Big bang was caused by the collision of 2 black : holes, you can argue that where there are 2 there are : probably more. So if there are other universal black : holes, could i