ELEMENTS OF THE BEGINNING

• The Big Bang Theory is the widely accepted explanation of how the universe began from a very small, hot, and dense singularity to how it is today

  
• Big Bang Theory


  1. Radiation Era

  2. Matter Era

  3. Planck epoch

  4. Grand Unification epoch

  5. Inflationary epoch

  6. Electroweak epoch

  7. Quark epoch

  8. Hadron epoch

  9. Lepton epoch

  10. Nuclear epoch

  11. Atomic epoch

  12. Galactic epoch

  13. Stellar epoch

  
• Radiation Era


  Only energy exists, the forces of nature exist which are called the superforce
• Radiation Era


  • Matter and energy are inseparable
• Planck Epoch


  Gravity separated itself from the superforce
• Grand Unification Epoch


  Gravity split off from the unified forces of nature and ended when strong nuclear force broke away
• Inflationary Epoch


  The universe expanded rapidly from the size of an atom to a grapefruit
• Electroweak Epoch


  The last of the two forces finally split off
• Quark Epoch


  The particles that could make up matter was already present, but the temperature of the universe was too hot for these particles to combine

  
• Hadron Epoch


  The universe cooled down for the quarks to form protons and neutrons
• Lepton Epoch


  Leptons dominate the mass of the universe, leptons combine to form electrons and neutrinos
• Nuclear Epoch


  The protons and electrons fused together forming the nuclei and the first chemical element in the universe - helium
• Atomic Epoch


  The electrons attached to the nuclei (called recombination) forming the second chemical element in the universe - hydrogen
• Galactic Epoch


  Formation of clouds of gases of hydrogen and helium, there was enough gravity that caused the atoms to gather forming the "seedlings of the galaxies" called protogalaxies

  
• Stellar Epoch


  Within these clouds of gases of hydrogen and helium, stars began to form even until now, the formation of stars gave way to the conversion of helium and hydrogen into other elements known to us at present
• Nucleosynthesis


  The process of creating new atomic nuclei from pre-existing sub-atomic particles such as proton and neutron
• Formation of Light Elements


  The clusters of gases continue to compress due to the gravitational forces, the core of these clusters to increase the internal temperature starting nuclear fusion in hydrogen producing helium and huge amount of energy, gave way to the formation of nuclei which are heavier than hydrogen called stellar nucleosynthesis
• Hydrogen and Helium


  The primitive elements formed as the big bang started to cools down due to its continuous expansion, these two elements are the fundamental particles for the formation of star
• Formation of Protostar


  Within a dust and cloud formation called nebulae, hydrogen are squeezed together because of a strong gravitational force, when enough hydrogen atoms are fused together, protostar is then born
• Protostar


  • Derives its supply of hydrogen from its parental nebula, is the first stage of the very long life cycle and evolution of a star, nucleosynthesis of hydrogen is the reason why stars are born from the universe
• Formation of Heavier Elements


  The continuous nucleosynthesis to produce heavier nuclei eventually produces a nonburning core of iron, the end of the cycle stops at the formation of iron, with the energy at the core running out, the core will collapse rapidly and explode catastrophically also known as a supernova
• Supernova


  Where the elements heavier than iron are created, the pressure and heat in a supernova are the best conditions for elements like gold, silver, lead, and mercury to be formed, the debris from a supernova may be the start of another star or new planets much like how the solar system began
• Chemical Element


  A substance that cannot be broken down further into simpler substances
• Robert Boyle established the concept of chemical elements the way we know them at present, provided the definition of an element and a basis on how to determine if a substance is an element or not
• Antoine Lavoisier supported Boyle's concept of an element, claimed that elements are "the last point which analysis is capable of reaching" and "into which we are able to reduce bodies by decomposition", published the first chemistry book containing a list of elements
• John Dalton's atomic theory in 1808 provided many ways to prove the presence of other elements, during the 19th century there were only 31 elements known but in the 1860s there were already 80 elements discovered

  
• Discoveries of new elements


  • Improvement of scientific techniques that allowed the separation and identification of elements with the properties, methods of decomposing compounds into elements were developed, the spectroscope was invented to study the light emitted by the atoms
• Henry Moseley identified the atomic number and the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom which are unique to each atom, this discovery paved the way to the synthesis of new elements through processes that changed the number of protons in the atomic nuclei
• Elements whose atomic number is higher than uranium (Z = 92) were synthesized in laboratories, Neptunium, plutonium, americium, curium, berkelium, and californium were discovered from the radioactive decay of uranium