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The "Big Bang"
Time: 10-43 seconds
This period is known as the Planck length, after the famous physicist, is furthest back we can look and still have some guesses to what was going on.
Now at this point, there is actually nothing. Imagine it, no up, down, left or right - nothing. This is before the Universe even began to expand and fill with everything. No one is even sure if it is possible to apply physics to this state of being.
We can only represent this with a Universe filled with questions.
Time: Between 10-12 and 10-10 seconds
It is during this very short period of time that the "Big Bang" officially begins. It is here that the Universe enters its Expansion era, and dimensions take form.
Now, somehow during this time all of the radiation needed to create the Universe we see today was created and the Universe was left in a hot, dense, "Quantum" state.
This then cooled very slightly and we were left with a seething pool of photons, gluons and other elementary particles.
Time: 10-11 seconds
At this stage the tiny expanding Universe is filled with radiation which creates pairs of particles and anti-particles, these are known as quarks and anti-quarks and these are building blocks of matter.
Almost as soon as these particles are created, they annihilate each other back into the radiation and this process repeats.
However, as the Universe cooled, less pairs were created, and less annihilated, and more by chance than anything else we
were left with more quarks than anti-quarks.
Time: 10-4 seconds
OK, now at this point, after the Universe has cooled and expanded further, something very important happens. All the quarks and anti-quarks that are whizzing around at incredible speeds, freely and on their own start to become confined inside things called mesons such as the pi meson and baryons such as the proton and neutron.
The theory of this confinement and de-confinement is called "Quantum Chromodynamics" for all you egg heads :) and even in theory
the details of this confinement and de-confinement are not well understood. It is simply taken that once the particles cool down
enough the confinement takes place.
Time: 1 second
For a long time, scientists have known that if you leave a neutron on its own, it will decay into a proton, an electron and
an electron antineutrino. However, a proton left on its own, will not decay into anything.
To change a proton back into a neutron you need to shoot an electron or an antineutrino back into it with vast amounts of energy. Now just prior to this era, there was this amount of energy and neutrons and protons were rapidly changing into each other through the emission and absorption of these particles. However as the Universe expanded and cooled, there was less of this energy and the process slowed, and we have been left with about 7 protons to every neutron.
Time: 100 seconds
At this point in the expansion the average temperature is low enough to allow protons and neutrons to clump together and make nuclei of the lighter elements such as Hydrogen, Helium and Lithium.
Neutrons and protons attract each other at very short distances, so in order to form nuclei protons and neutrons have to be very close together for some time. This could only happen when the Universe was cool enough. During this stage of the Universe we have Hydrogen, Helium some Lithium and a small amount of Deuterium.
Time: 10,000 Years
As usual, the Universe is still cooling and expanding. But as this happens, more and more matter is being created by the high energy radiation. And as the Universe expands, that matter loses less energy than the radiation does.
Eventually the energy in matter becomes larger than the energy in the radiation. The matter then dominates over the radiation in determining how the Universe expands from here on in.
At the end of this process, photons scatter much more with each other than they do with matter. As a result, the energy exchange between matter and radiation becomes less efficient. The photons thermalize and start behaving as thermal black body radiation. We can measure this cosmic background radiation today.
Time: 500,000 Years
The Universe continues to cool, and at this stage it cools down enough to allow the electrons in the universe to be captured by a nucleus without being smacked off by other particles.
As the speed of the electrons slows as the Universe cools, they are caught by the protons and atoms begin to form. Since the only nuclei that exist are Hydrogen, Helium and Lithium, they are the first atoms to exist.
Heavier elements are made in a very different way…
Time: 1,000,000,000 Years
Now that the radiation has cooled and decoupled from matter, and almost all the electrons are bound up to nuclei in the basic atoms, gravitational forces become important. Hydrogen gas is pulled together by gravity until the force causes the gas to collapse and ignite through hydrogen fusion to form the first stars.
Time: 2-13 Billion Years
At this stage, hydrogen, helium and lithium were basically the only three elements in the Universe. The heavier elements actually come from inside the stars.
The gravity around a star is huge, so other elements get pulled into the stars and then smashed together through nuclear fusion.
How did these elements get out of the stars? The answer is simple, once the stars died, they exploded into supernovas and all the elements inside are thrown out into space before the star becomes a white dwarf or a black hole. This process takes very long, a time scale of around 11 billion years.
So now you know that we are all made from stardust :)
Time: Present Day
Eventually the galaxies formed, and with that, our solar system; life miraculously evolved on Earth, and here we are, looking back onto the birth of our Universe :)
Thanks for reading, Chaos.
Time: 10-43 seconds
This period is known as the Planck length, after the famous physicist, is furthest back we can look and still have some guesses to what was going on.
Now at this point, there is actually nothing. Imagine it, no up, down, left or right - nothing. This is before the Universe even began to expand and fill with everything. No one is even sure if it is possible to apply physics to this state of being.
We can only represent this with a Universe filled with questions.
Time: Between 10-12 and 10-10 seconds
It is during this very short period of time that the "Big Bang" officially begins. It is here that the Universe enters its Expansion era, and dimensions take form.
Now, somehow during this time all of the radiation needed to create the Universe we see today was created and the Universe was left in a hot, dense, "Quantum" state.
This then cooled very slightly and we were left with a seething pool of photons, gluons and other elementary particles.
Time: 10-11 seconds
At this stage the tiny expanding Universe is filled with radiation which creates pairs of particles and anti-particles, these are known as quarks and anti-quarks and these are building blocks of matter.
Almost as soon as these particles are created, they annihilate each other back into the radiation and this process repeats.
However, as the Universe cooled, less pairs were created, and less annihilated, and more by chance than anything else we
were left with more quarks than anti-quarks.
Time: 10-4 seconds
OK, now at this point, after the Universe has cooled and expanded further, something very important happens. All the quarks and anti-quarks that are whizzing around at incredible speeds, freely and on their own start to become confined inside things called mesons such as the pi meson and baryons such as the proton and neutron.
The theory of this confinement and de-confinement is called "Quantum Chromodynamics" for all you egg heads :) and even in theory
the details of this confinement and de-confinement are not well understood. It is simply taken that once the particles cool down
enough the confinement takes place.
Time: 1 second
For a long time, scientists have known that if you leave a neutron on its own, it will decay into a proton, an electron and
an electron antineutrino. However, a proton left on its own, will not decay into anything.
To change a proton back into a neutron you need to shoot an electron or an antineutrino back into it with vast amounts of energy. Now just prior to this era, there was this amount of energy and neutrons and protons were rapidly changing into each other through the emission and absorption of these particles. However as the Universe expanded and cooled, there was less of this energy and the process slowed, and we have been left with about 7 protons to every neutron.
Time: 100 seconds
At this point in the expansion the average temperature is low enough to allow protons and neutrons to clump together and make nuclei of the lighter elements such as Hydrogen, Helium and Lithium.
Neutrons and protons attract each other at very short distances, so in order to form nuclei protons and neutrons have to be very close together for some time. This could only happen when the Universe was cool enough. During this stage of the Universe we have Hydrogen, Helium some Lithium and a small amount of Deuterium.
Time: 10,000 Years
As usual, the Universe is still cooling and expanding. But as this happens, more and more matter is being created by the high energy radiation. And as the Universe expands, that matter loses less energy than the radiation does.
Eventually the energy in matter becomes larger than the energy in the radiation. The matter then dominates over the radiation in determining how the Universe expands from here on in.
At the end of this process, photons scatter much more with each other than they do with matter. As a result, the energy exchange between matter and radiation becomes less efficient. The photons thermalize and start behaving as thermal black body radiation. We can measure this cosmic background radiation today.
Time: 500,000 Years
The Universe continues to cool, and at this stage it cools down enough to allow the electrons in the universe to be captured by a nucleus without being smacked off by other particles.
As the speed of the electrons slows as the Universe cools, they are caught by the protons and atoms begin to form. Since the only nuclei that exist are Hydrogen, Helium and Lithium, they are the first atoms to exist.
Heavier elements are made in a very different way…
Time: 1,000,000,000 Years
Now that the radiation has cooled and decoupled from matter, and almost all the electrons are bound up to nuclei in the basic atoms, gravitational forces become important. Hydrogen gas is pulled together by gravity until the force causes the gas to collapse and ignite through hydrogen fusion to form the first stars.
Time: 2-13 Billion Years
At this stage, hydrogen, helium and lithium were basically the only three elements in the Universe. The heavier elements actually come from inside the stars.
The gravity around a star is huge, so other elements get pulled into the stars and then smashed together through nuclear fusion.
How did these elements get out of the stars? The answer is simple, once the stars died, they exploded into supernovas and all the elements inside are thrown out into space before the star becomes a white dwarf or a black hole. This process takes very long, a time scale of around 11 billion years.
So now you know that we are all made from stardust :)
Time: Present Day
Eventually the galaxies formed, and with that, our solar system; life miraculously evolved on Earth, and here we are, looking back onto the birth of our Universe :)
Thanks for reading, Chaos.
Page:
Smedlos wrote:
> To me it's all a bit weird when I try and make sense of this. Say
> there's a point in time when the universe was created, what was
> there before that? And before that, and that etc?
There are several scientific explanations for this, but I choose to follow the philosophical explantion of that time and space exist because they must and always have.
> Using the rules we go by today in that time and space are
> infinite to me seems impossible but on the other hand what would
> happen if you got to the very edge of space? What's beyond the
> edge of space?
"The Void" theories I've heard go that if such a region of 'space-time' (this term used very loosely here) existed, it would be of constant purity. You could not travel, as there is nothing to travel, you couldn't age as there is no time. It's quite a shady area.
A different theory I've been reading about, goes that our Universe is a brane. As an anaology, imagine that our Uinverse was a single molecule in a glass of water amonst millions of other Universe's all 'floating' around each other. This theory doesn't explain the creation problem, but it does offer a solution as to why Gravity is weakest of the four fundamental forces.
The theory claims, that gravity 'leaked' into our Universe, and that is what caused life, planets and Universes to emerge.
> And what about time as well? Say there's a specific time when
> time ends. What happens then? Does everything freeeze as it is
> and that's it?
It's quite possible this has happened before, who's to say we arn't on a giant loop of time, that begins and ends at any given point. Who's to say that tomorrow time will loop around and start a fresh, no one would ever be aware of it.
There also runs a theory that the "Arrow of Time" may shift in different places. This gets very complex and does explain that if this does happen, you could never be aware of it as it would look perfectly normal. Source: The Universe Next Door
> Sorry this probably sounds a bit muddled but to me these
> questions are so confusing to try and answer!
Questions are good! It's what progresses us all further!
> To me it's all a bit weird when I try and make sense of this. Say
> there's a point in time when the universe was created, what was
> there before that? And before that, and that etc?
There are several scientific explanations for this, but I choose to follow the philosophical explantion of that time and space exist because they must and always have.
> Using the rules we go by today in that time and space are
> infinite to me seems impossible but on the other hand what would
> happen if you got to the very edge of space? What's beyond the
> edge of space?
"The Void" theories I've heard go that if such a region of 'space-time' (this term used very loosely here) existed, it would be of constant purity. You could not travel, as there is nothing to travel, you couldn't age as there is no time. It's quite a shady area.
A different theory I've been reading about, goes that our Universe is a brane. As an anaology, imagine that our Uinverse was a single molecule in a glass of water amonst millions of other Universe's all 'floating' around each other. This theory doesn't explain the creation problem, but it does offer a solution as to why Gravity is weakest of the four fundamental forces.
The theory claims, that gravity 'leaked' into our Universe, and that is what caused life, planets and Universes to emerge.
> And what about time as well? Say there's a specific time when
> time ends. What happens then? Does everything freeeze as it is
> and that's it?
It's quite possible this has happened before, who's to say we arn't on a giant loop of time, that begins and ends at any given point. Who's to say that tomorrow time will loop around and start a fresh, no one would ever be aware of it.
There also runs a theory that the "Arrow of Time" may shift in different places. This gets very complex and does explain that if this does happen, you could never be aware of it as it would look perfectly normal. Source: The Universe Next Door
> Sorry this probably sounds a bit muddled but to me these
> questions are so confusing to try and answer!
Questions are good! It's what progresses us all further!
To me it's all a bit weird when I try and make sense of this. Say there's a point in time when the universe was created, what was there before that? And before that, and that etc?
Using the rules we go by today in that time and space are infinite to me seems impossible but on the other hand what would happen if you got to the very edge of space? What's beyond the edge of space?
And what about time as well? Say there's a specific time when time ends. What happens then? Does everything freeeze as it is and that's it?
Sorry this probably sounds a bit muddled but to me these questions are so confusing to try and answer!
Using the rules we go by today in that time and space are infinite to me seems impossible but on the other hand what would happen if you got to the very edge of space? What's beyond the edge of space?
And what about time as well? Say there's a specific time when time ends. What happens then? Does everything freeeze as it is and that's it?
Sorry this probably sounds a bit muddled but to me these questions are so confusing to try and answer!
I suppose, but you could just as easily say that to anything that doesnt have direct proof. We have to base our ideas somewhere, and this seems the most logical place with our current understandings of the Universe.
Geffdof wrote:
> The Phrase
> "If the solar system formed from a common pool of
> matter..." makes me doubt the credibility of predicting the
> earths age because you could quite easily say "If it
> didnt".
Try reading the rest of the page. Then you'll realise "If it didnt" isnt applicable.
> The Phrase
> "If the solar system formed from a common pool of
> matter..." makes me doubt the credibility of predicting the
> earths age because you could quite easily say "If it
> didnt".
Try reading the rest of the page. Then you'll realise "If it didnt" isnt applicable.
That website just makes it more confusing. It assumes that it knows how much lead there was in the begining. The Phrase "If the solar system formed from a common pool of matter..." makes me doubt the credibility of predicting the earths age because you could quite easily say "If it didnt".
Geffdof wrote:
> I dont see how its possible to prove thats its young (10,000
> years) or old (billions of years).
It is certaintly possible to prove that the Earth is into its billions of years in age. Serveral rocks can be proved to be about 3.8 to 3.9 billion years ago (by several radiometric dating methods). Some of these rocks are sedimentary, and include minerals which are themselves as old as 4.1 to 4.2 billion years. Rocks of this age are relatively rare, however rocks that are at least 3.5 billion years in age have been found on North America, Greenland, Australia, Africa, and Asia.
The most direct means for calculating the Earth's age is a Pb/Pb isochron age, derived from samples of the Earth and meteorites. This involves measurement of three isotopes of lead (Pb-206, Pb-207, and either Pb-208 or Pb-204). A plot is constructed of Pb-206/Pb-204 versus Pb-207/Pb-204.
.. Age of the Earth
> I dont see how its possible to prove thats its young (10,000
> years) or old (billions of years).
It is certaintly possible to prove that the Earth is into its billions of years in age. Serveral rocks can be proved to be about 3.8 to 3.9 billion years ago (by several radiometric dating methods). Some of these rocks are sedimentary, and include minerals which are themselves as old as 4.1 to 4.2 billion years. Rocks of this age are relatively rare, however rocks that are at least 3.5 billion years in age have been found on North America, Greenland, Australia, Africa, and Asia.
The most direct means for calculating the Earth's age is a Pb/Pb isochron age, derived from samples of the Earth and meteorites. This involves measurement of three isotopes of lead (Pb-206, Pb-207, and either Pb-208 or Pb-204). A plot is constructed of Pb-206/Pb-204 versus Pb-207/Pb-204.
.. Age of the Earth
Carbon 14 has a halflife of just over 5000 years and should have been completely decomposed by now if the earth is billions of years old. I never even realised that until a few minutes ago. You could use that as an argument for a young earth.
Its only accurate upto thousands of years, not millions and definitely not billions.
More importantly though, how do you know how much carbon was there to start with in order to determine the rate of loss. Its all just based on an assumption that cannot possibly be known for fact.
More importantly though, how do you know how much carbon was there to start with in order to determine the rate of loss. Its all just based on an assumption that cannot possibly be known for fact.
carbon dating, though i guess creationists can argue that's just something else from science
Chr1s wrote:
> Geffdof wrote:
> Oh, and to answer someones question about the age of the
> earth... Creationists tent to believe that the earth is 10,000
> years old.
> I personally dont have a clue and also dont think it matters.
> There is no way to prove or disprove the age of the earth and
> why does it matter anyway?
>
> It is impossible to prove the exact age of the earth, but it's
> certainly possible to prove that it's older than 10,000 years.
> Quite a lot older actually.
I dont see how its possible to prove thats its young (10,000 years) or old (billions of years).
> Geffdof wrote:
> Oh, and to answer someones question about the age of the
> earth... Creationists tent to believe that the earth is 10,000
> years old.
> I personally dont have a clue and also dont think it matters.
> There is no way to prove or disprove the age of the earth and
> why does it matter anyway?
>
> It is impossible to prove the exact age of the earth, but it's
> certainly possible to prove that it's older than 10,000 years.
> Quite a lot older actually.
I dont see how its possible to prove thats its young (10,000 years) or old (billions of years).
Page: