# Hawking radiation is new space time ?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hawking-radiation-is-new-space-time/752164>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 14, 2016, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hawking-radiation-is-new-space-time/752164 "2016-04-14T03:55:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hawking-radiation-is-new-space-time/752164/41 "2016-04-15T13:44:07Z")

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The OP seems to think the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) was generated by the Big Bang singularity. This is incorrect. The CMBR was emitted by ordinary matter (plasma) that filled the universe (normal space as we know it) when the universe was young. Eventually the universe expanded and cooled to a point where the opaque soup of plasma turned into a clear space filled with hydrogen atoms. The radiation from the plasma has been flying around ever since, getting diluted by the expansion of space.

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**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hawking-radiation-is-new-space-time/752164/42 "2016-04-15T18:16:04Z")

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> [@Trinopus](#):
>
> Cool! (Jape intended…) I had thought the CMB was a property of space-time, and would be continued to be generated by empty space. I thought that it was due to the “temperature” of empty space. Empty space is about 3 degrees Kelvin, and thus radiates blackbody mw.
> 
> I’m being told no…but this is hard to swallow, as it contradicts what I’ve read so many places…

You had that backwards. The temperature of empty space is described as being 3 K because that’s the black body temperature the heavily red-shifted CMBR corresponds to. (And it’s an apt description, since that’s then the equilibrium temperature of an object in empty space.)

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