The Growth of the Early Universe

Scientists claim that the Universe started 13.8 billion years ago, with the Big Bang. But how did this happen? And what will happen in the future?

The Beginning

The universe began from an individual point of high density and temperature. The forceful explosion of this small point was named the Big Bang. Scientists believe that the explosion sent energy out at the speed of light (300,000,000 ms-1) and at 1000 trillion degrees Celsius. However, this explosion did not occur within something, like space, but rather, it was so powerful that scientists believe it created space itself. After this initial explosion, scientists split time into 5 stages. These are as follows: • The very early universe • The early universe • The Dark Ages • The universe as it appears today • The far future and ultimate fate But what exactly happened in the very early universe? And what awaits us in the future?

The very early universe

Physicists consider this stage to have lasted from 10-43 to 10-22 seconds after the Big Bang - a very small amount of time. The main problems that physicists face, is explaining how the universe came from nothing, because this goes against one of the fundamental laws of physics: conservation of energy. This law states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred from one state to another. However, we know we have a lot of energy in the Universe now. The question is, how did it get there? The answer – we don’t know yet. The universe was at such a high temperature and density, that the modern laws of physics don’t seem to apply at all. This means that we can’t replicate or study the conditions at the time, making it impossible to carry out accurate experiments. The best we can do with the current technology is make theoretical assumptions. The first epoch, or period of time, was the Planck epoch. This epoch occurred less than 10−43 seconds after the Big Bang. Very little is known about this epoch, mainly because modern day physics falls apart; the 3 subatomic particles (protons, neutrons and electrons) and even the 4 fundamental forces (strong, weak, electromagnetic, gravitational) couldn’t form because of the conditions. Most of the assumptions we have about this epoch rely on the theory of general relativity by Einstein, but even this theory falls short at this level, due to the quantum effects. To sum up, the beginning of the universe was very hot and very dense, and this topic continues to confuse scientists today, due to the lack of knowledge we have about how physics works in these conditions. As the universe begins to cool, the fundamental forces, as well as many particles we are now familiar with could also form. This means that we know quite well what happened during the

‘inflation’ or the period where the universe started expanding very rapidly. The beginning, however, continues to elude us.

The Future

But first, let us briefly look at a theory which tries to explain the Big Bang. As we discussed before, one of the biggest questions we have is how something could come from nothing, and yet the universe continues to expand into supposed nothingness. One of the theories, which attempts to link Einstein’s theory of general relativity and quantum mechanics, relies on the notion of quantum fluctuations. The breakthrough occurred in 1960, when the physicists John Wheeler and Bryce DeWitt managed to combine the two ideas into what we now call, the Wheeler-DeWitt equation. Scientists and mathematicians are getting closer and closer to finding an answer as our technology and ideas progress. In 2014, mathematicians from the Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics in China managed to come up with a rigorous proof, helping to bring scientists closer to finding out what exactly happened all those years ago. Now, let us go back to the future, and see what will happen to the universe as it continues to grow. There are 3 main theories. The first is the Big Freeze, or the Big Chill. This theory states that eventually, as all things do, stars and galaxies will exhaust their energy. Eventually, the Universe will reach a point, at which everything has stopped completely. Since nothing has energy, no changes will occur, and our Universe will remain cold and desolate forever. This is quite a bleak outlook, but it is also the most peaceful out of the three options that you will see here. The second is the Big Rip. This theory states that the universe will begin to increase at a faster rate, and eventually the galaxies, stars and even atoms themselves are ripped apart. The third one is the Big Crunch. This theory claims that gravity will eventually increase in strength and begin to pull the universe back into its initial condensed point, until everything is crunched back into a point. Both the second and third theory rely on dark matter creating instability within the universe. However, as we know, all good things must come to an end. We do know that our universe will have an ending; scientists aren’t quite sure exactly what it will look like yet, though. And, if what Wheeler and DeWitt believed is true, there might be other universes out there, which have long expired or which are yet to be born. After reading this, you may have ended up with more questions than answers, but that is the beauty of science. No matter how much we learn and understand, there is still more to find out. And who knows what we will discover next? Eventually we might understand exactly the Universe began its story, or how it will end.

-Anonymous

PUZZLES AND GAMES

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ASTROPHYSICS WORDSEARCH CROSSWORD CROSSOVER

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Carbon nanotubes & how they grow

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Bionic photosynthesis

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Growing Diamonds

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