big bang timeline. big bang timeline 13.7 billion years ago – before the big bang, the universe...
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Big Bang
timeline
Big Bang Timeline
13.7 billion years ago – Before the Big Bang, the universe was a hot point ( ) of pure energy :
Tremendous levels of radiation and heat prevented particles of matter from forming.
Big Bang Timeline
10 - 32 sec after the Big Bang
“Quark Soup”
The 4 forms of energy separate
leaving a superhot, charged plasma
of the tiniest particles of matter:
Quarks
Leptons – electrons & neutrinos
Big Bang Timeline
10 - 32 sec – “Quark Soup”
Big Bang Timeline
(This mess is nicknamed “Quark Soup”.)
The Universe is still only the size of a
tennis ball at this point,
but it’s growing like crazy!!)
Big Bang Timeline10 - 6 sec (1/1,000,000 sec) – 1 sec after Big Bang
As the universe expands, it cools off quickly.
The ambient temperature in the universe drops to a mere 1 trillion degrees…
…as the Universe has expands rapidly until it
reaches 80 billion miles across.
Big Bang Timeline
10 - 6 sec (1/1,000,000 sec) - 1 sec after the Big Bang
It is cool enough that
quarks collide and join
to form protons &
neutrons
Proton
Neutron
Big Bang TimelineThese protons are the first atomic
nuclei (of hydrogen atoms).
Most hydrogen atoms are as old as the universe.
Proton
Big Bang Timeline
10 - 6 sec (1/1,000,000 sec) - 1 sec ( continued)
Note: At the same time: anti-quarks joined to form anti-protons and anti-neutrons.
Big Bang Timeline
10 - 5 sec (1/100,000 sec) (cont.)
Much of the matter and all of the
anti-matter annihilated each other,
filling the universe with huge amounts of
radiation.
Big Bang Timeline
10 - 5 sec (1/100,000 sec) (cont.)
Much of the matter and all
of the anti-matter
annihilated each other,
filling the universe
with huge amounts of
radiation.
Big Bang Timeline
3 sec - 20 minutes after the Big Bang
Universe expands to form a
thermonuclear fireball
1.3 trillion miles across!
3 sec - 20 minutes after the Big Bang
Universe expands to form a
thermonuclear fireball
1.3 trillion miles across!
Big Bang Timeline
3 sec - 20 minutes after the Big Bang
Neutrons and Neutrons and protons collide and finally stick together to form Helium (He) nuclei…
(held together by the strong nuclear force)(held together by the strong nuclear force)
Big Bang Timeline3 sec - 20 minutes after the Big Bang
…(and just a handful of Lithium (Li) nuclei).
Evidence: The universe is still
99.9 % H and He today.)
(92.7 % H and 7.2 % He)
3 sec - 20 minutes after the Big Bang Primordial Nucleosynthesis
Neutrons and Neutrons and protons collide to form Helium (He) nuclei…
Big Bang Timeline
He
3 sec - 20 minutes after the Big Bang Electrons are flying around unattached to atoms, trapping photons of light, ultraviolet and x-ray radiation and keeping the universe opaque.
Big Bang Timeline
opaque.
Big Bang Timeline
3 sec - 20 minutes after the Big Bang
As the fireball expands to a couple of
1000 times bigger than our solar
system:
Temperatures drop below
1 billiono C for the first time.
Big Bang Timeline
3 sec - 20 minutes after the Big Bang
These “cooler” temperatures cause
fusion reactions to stop before larger
elements can form.
Evidence: the universe is still
99.9 % Hydrogen & Helium today!
Big Bang Timeline
380,000 years later -Temperature drops to 3000o C.
The universe had grown a lot,
but it was still 1000 X smaller
than it is today.
Big Bang Timeline
380,000 years later -Temperature drops to
3000o C.
Electrons slow
down…
380,000 years later -…and start to orbit the
atomic nuclei to make atoms of hydrogen,
helium
and
lithium.
Big Bang Timeline
Helium
Lithium
Big Bang Timeline
380,000 years later – continued
Matter and energy decouple (separate from each other) as atoms form.
Photons of light and neutrinos stopped interacting with electrons and are no longer “trapped”.
Big Bang Timeline380,000 years later – continued
This decoupling released huge amounts of gamma rays and cosmic rays.
Decoupling also cleared up the universe, which became transparent. transparent
Big Bang Timeline
380,000 years later – continued– continued
This high energy radiation has This high energy radiation has
cooled off to become thecooled off to become thecosmic background microwave radiation
still seen today.still seen today.
Big Bang Timeline380,000 years later – continued
cosmic background microwave radiation
1967 - discovered by Penzias and WilsonStudied in greater detail, first by the COBE
and more recently by the WMAP space exploration projects.
These images show the universe as it appeared 13.7 billion years ago.
(See next frame.)
Cosmic Background Microwave Radiation(WMAP Satellite Shows a More Detailed Image)
COBE
WMAP
Big Bang Timeline
1 Billion Years Later (12.7 b.y. ago)Gravity causes clouds of H and He
condense into lumpy pockets called
galaxies (about 100 billion of them!).
(The pockets of intense radiation on the WMAP are thought to be the sources of the first galaxies.)
Deep Field Telescope View of the Early Galaxies
Big Bang Timeline3 Billion Years After the Big Bang…
Within each galaxy, smaller balls of H and He gas were pulled inward by gravity.
Heat from the gravitational compression caused thermonuclear reactions and the first stars were formed. The first stars were entirely Hydrogen & Helium.
Big Bang Timeline
9.1 Billion Years After the Big Bang (4.6 billion years ago)
Earth’s Sun and Solar System formed after
750 generations of stars
had come and gone.
9.1 Billion Years After the Big Bang… (4.6 billion years ago)
(Our sun is made up
of a lot of “recycled”
parts from earlier stars,
not just H & He, but
Li, C,O, Na, Ca, Fe
and many others.
Big Bang Timeline
Big Bang Timeline
Pure Energy
“Quark Soup”
He & Li Nuclei
Atoms Form
The Skies Clear…
Today
10-6 sec
1st Protons (H Nuclei) & Neutrons
3 min
380,000 years
First Galaxies
First Stars
3 Billion Years
13.7 Billion years
Our Sun
9 Billion Years
Not Enough Matter
Just Enough Matter
Too Much Matter
Matter & the Fate of the Universe
A Stanmo ProductionThanks to NASA and JPL for the great pix.
2008