Big Bang confirmed again; this time by the Universe’s first atoms
If the expanding Universe and the cosmic microwave background didn’t convince you, this intricate, spectacular prediction should.
“In the current cosmological model, only the three lightest elements were created in the first few minutes after the Big Bang; all other elements were produced later in stars.” -Fumagalli, O’Meara and Prochaska, 2011
The Big Bang is the leading theory as to where our Universe came from. The Universe was hotter, denser, more uniform, and smaller in the past, and is only as vast as it is today due to the fabric of expanding space. This idea was extremely controversial for many decades, until detailed observations of the leftover glow from that hot, early fireball was discovered and measured, in extraordinary agreement with the Big Bang’s predictions. But there’s another prediction the theory made: that in the Universe’s first few minutes, precise amounts of hydrogen, deuterium, helium, and lithium would be created. Those predicted ratios are fixed by physics and non-negotiable, but difficult to measure. Thanks to new observations, both the helium and deuterium ratios are now measured, confirming the Big Bang once again.
