5.5 Cosmology

Question 1

describe the main stages of the formation of the universe

Answer 1

10^-43s: superfast inflation, large expansion
10^-32s: seething hot ‘soup’ of electrons, quarks & other particles
10^-4s: rapidly cooling cosmos, permits quarks to clump into protons & neutrons, 10^12k
10^2s: 10^9K, protons cool enough to form helium nuclei
3 min: too hot to form atoms, charged electrons and protons prevent light from shining - superhot fog
300,000yrs: 3000K atoms of H and He formed, light can shine
1 bill yrs: H and He form gian clouds (nebula) and begin to form protostars
14 bill yrs: 2.7K, stars die & create heavy elements, new stars & planets, galaxies cluster together