Quote, paraphrase, and citation #5 (database)

Quote: "When the Big Bang occurred, matter, energy, space, and time all formed, and the universe was infinitely dense and incredibly hot. The often-asked question, "What came before the Big Bang?" is outside the realm of science, as there's no way science can answer it. In fact, science says little about how the universe behaved until a fraction of a second after the Big Bang. The universe cooled as it blew outward, however, leading to a moment of inflation, when the cosmos exploded in size in just a fraction of a second. As sensational as it sounds, inflation explains things that otherwise would be difficult to understand. After inflating for a fraction of a second, the universe slowed down its rate of expansion but continued to grow, as it does today. It also cooled significantly, causing matter to condense from all the energy."

Paraphrase: Because the Big Bang was literally the beginning of everything, even space and time, science cannot answer questions about what came "before" this event. Scientists can study how the universe expanded and cooled since the Big Bang. They believe that in the first fraction of a second, the universe expanded extremely rapidly in "inflation," which explains features of the current universe that wouldn't otherwise make sense. Eventually, matter itself formed when the energy from the Big Bang cooled and condensed.

Citation: Eicher, David J. "Astronomy's 5 Big Questions." Astronomy 38.3 (2010): 45-49. General Science Collection. EBSCO. Web. 21 Apr. 2010.