could dark energy and dark matter be what was here before the big bang (or big burp)?

Could be ... but according to the Big Bang Theory, the initial event would have wiped out any traces of what came before. And a stricter interpretation of the model is that if the BB created spacetime, then there was no before.

One could suppose most anything about what, if anything, existed before the Big Bang.  The problem is there is no way to know what exists before the creation of space, time, and the universe we inhabit.

L

That would be implying that about 96% percent of the universe was already here in advance of what we see today? That is an interesting thought.

There was no before. The big bang created time and space.

If the Big Bang made everything, what is the Big Bang made out of?

We all know that you can't make something from nothing.....just look in my checking account!

 

 

 

Scott (always something before nothing) B

 Many things in Physics contradict our normal experience, Relativity and Quantum mechanic for example. The Big Bang theory may not be correct or only an approximation to reality, but it says space-time was CREATED in the big bang i.e. no before.

SDB777:

If the Big Bang made everything, what is the Big Bang made out of?

We all know that you can't make something from nothing.....just look in my checking account!

Scott (always something before nothing) B

http://www.nanogallery.info/news/?id=8735&slid=news&type=anews

Dave Mitsky

 Plenty of people make something from nothing. Alan Stanford, Bernie Madoff.

Brane Cosmology, Hartle-Hawkings and other theories (chaotic Inflation) attempt to get round the ridiculous concept of the singular origin of the universe. Some but not all of these have a concept of "before" the universe was created. 

The idea of "before the Big Bang" is a valid concept, especially if the universe has a finite age. But what if the universe was made in stages? Say space/time existed first, and maybe dark matter came about through some other process of creation, and all of that was expanding before baryonic energy and matter was created. What if it did not all begin at the same time? What if it is only our baryonic universe that is only 13.7 billion years old, and our universe was made in stages?

DaveMitsky : Thanks for your information, I like the answer.