The Origin of the Universe

The Standard Model - The "Big Bang"

1. Perhaps 16 billion years ago, the universe was nothing and nowhere.
   There was no space, time, matter or energy.
2. The nothing started to become something and expand.
3. A teeny bit later (10E-34 to 10E-30 seconds), the universe inflates at an exponential rate.
4. At the end of this inflation, the first atomic particles start to form.
5. A teeny bit later (10E-11 second) the laws of physics stabilize.
6. The universe is expanding and is starting to cool.
7. About four minutes later, simple atomic nuclei form.
8. About a year later, the universe is as hot as the center of a star.
   (still expanding and cooling)
9. About a million years later normal atoms form and start to condense into stars.
   (still expanding and cooling)
10. About a billion years later galaxies form out of stars and dust.
    (still expanding and cooling)
11. About ten billion years later, our sun and planets congeal from gas and dust from supernovae in the milky way galaxy,
    (still expanding and cooling)
12. About five billion years later (right now) you are studying astronomy on the internet.
    (still expanding and cooling)
13. Ten billion years in the future... Nobody knows. What do you think?