First Second: 
(Ryan) Planck Epoch: 
0 seconds - 10^-43 seconds <-- time didn’t exist  
In Big Bang cosmology, the Planck epoch or Planck era is the earliest 
stage of the Big Bang, before the time passed was equal to the Planck 
time, tP, or approximately 10−43 seconds. There is no currently 
available physical theory to describe such short times, and it is not 
clear in what sense the concept of time is meaningful for values 
smaller than the Planck time. It is generally assumed that quantum 
effects of gravity dominate physical interactions at this time scale. At 
this scale, the unified force of the Standard Model is assumed to be 
unified with gravitation. Inconceivably hot and dense, the state of the 
Planck epoch was succeeded by the Grand unification epoch, where 
gravitation is separated from the unified force of the Standard Model, 
in turn followed by the Inflationary epoch, which ended after about 
10−32 seconds (or about 1010 tP). 
 
Plank time: Shortest amount of time we can see in a laboratory. After 
this amount of time our physics start working in the universe. Before 
this physics were broken. The waves of particles overlapped breaking 
how gravity works and we have no information on time scales that 
were in a planck length divided by the speed of light. 
 
source: Staff. "Birth of the Universe". University of Oregon. Retrieved 
24 September 2016. - discusses "Planck time" and "Planck era" at the 
very beginning of the Universe 
Edward W. Kolb; Michael S. Turner (1994). The Early Universe. Basic 
Books. p. 447. ISBN 978-0-201-62674-2. Retrieved 10 April 2010. 
 
Big Bang Occurs  
All matter and energy of the entire universe is centered in a single 
hot dense point, a billionth the size of a nuclear particle  
 
(Derek) G​ rand Unification Epoch: 
10^-43 to 10^-36 seconds 
The universe cooled and heated separating forces (fundamental 
forces of our universe) 
Strong force, electromagnetism, and the weak force united into the 
electronuclear force (GUT), gravity is separate 
As the universe cooled, quantum fields that created particles and 
forces settle at lower energy levels and higher stability 
 
Normal Matter:​ Baryonic matter: physical matter formed from 
baryonic particles (5%) 
Baryons type of hadrons (composite particles of quarks, such as 
protons, neutrons) 
Elementary Particles: 
Quarks: up, charm, top, bottom, down, strange 
 Leptons: electron, muon, tau, electron neutrino, muon neutrino, tau 
neutrino 
Gauge Bosons: photon, W boson, Z boson, gluon (brings quarks 
together) 
Scalar Boson: Higgs 
Fermions: particles that are matter (have spin of ½) 
Baryons interact with the strong force, leptons don’t (leptons 
have spin of ½) 
Bosons: initiate the fundamental forces, have spin of either 0 or 1 
Scalar Boson: have no spin 
Mesons: hadrons made up of one quark and one antiquark, spin is 0 
or 1 
Quantum Chromodynamics: science behind the strong force 
 
Dark Matter: cannot be observed using normal methods; gravitational 
effects on universe; rotational velocity of galaxies same at all places 
(27%) 
Dark Energy: causes the expansion of the universe at a faster pace 
(68%) 

 
  
(Elliott) E
​ lectroweak Epoch:  
10^-36 - 10^-32 seconds  
Temp: 10^28 k 
The electro nuclear force is able to separate into strong and 
electroweak interactions (breaking of electrostrong symmetry)  
The electroweak epoch marks the beginning of the universe as we 
know it. The separation of the strong nuclear force led to particle 
reactions that created w and z higgs boson particles.   
  
 
Depending on how epochs are defined, and the model being followed, 
the electroweak epoch may be considered to start before or after the 
inflationary epoch. In some models it is described as including the 
inflationary epoch. In other models, the electroweak epoch is said to 
begin after the inflationary epoch ended, at roughly 10−32 seconds. 
 
According to traditional big bang cosmology, the electroweak epoch 
began 10−36 seconds after the Big Bang, when the temperature of the 
universe was low enough (1028 K) for the Electronuclear Force to 
begin to manifest as two separate interactions, called the strong and 
the electroweak interactions. (The electroweak interaction will also 
separate later, dividing into the electromagnetic and weak 
interactions). The exact point where electrostrong symmetry was 
broken is not certain, because of the very high energies of this event. 
Electroweak Symmetry breaking:  
Interactions of forces and masses of particles change  
 
(Evan) I​ nflationary Epoch and rapid expansion of universe:  
Time: Before 10^-32 
The volume of the universe increased by at least 10^78. This is 
equivalent to an object 1 nanometer in length expanding to 10.6 light 
years long in less than a second. The   
main theory of inflation is that the separation of forces triggered this 
event.  
While the time frame is not certain it is assumed to be between 
10^-33 and 10^-32 seconds. All known particles were distributed very 
thinly across the universe  
and rapid expansion led to large amounts of heat which sparks all 
sorts of new formations and particle development. 
 
 
The Quark Epoch: 
10^-12 to 10^-6  
Temperature of the universe was still too high to allow quarks to 
bond into hadrons  
Gravity, Electromagnetism and strong/weak interaction exist in 
present form 
Universe filled with quark-gluon plasma 
Heat made movement too quick and collisions too intense to form 
For a picture if needed draw like a bunch of plasma  
 
Hadron Epoch: 
10^-6 and 1 second  
As the temperature decreased, quarks could bond into hadrons. 
Initially the temp was high enough to allow the formation of hadron 
pairs but around one second after the big bang the temp. was too low 
for new hadrons to bond. 
 
1 second - 20 minutes:  
Neutrino decoupling and cosmic neutrino background: 1 sec 
Neutrinos go flying through space holding little energy. Rarely 
interacted with matter so still around today. 
 
Formation of primordial black holes: 1 sec 
First black holes form. So much matter next to each other creating 
dense balls. 
 
Lepton Epoch - 1 sec to 10 sec: 
Hadrons and anti-hadrons a ​ nnihilated each other, creating leptons 
and anti- leptons with thermal equilibrium. As the universe cooled, 
leptons could no longer be created and many leptons were eliminated 
through electron and positron collision, resulting in energy being 
freed up in the form of photons and electron-positron pairs, though 
small remains of leptons were left​. P
​ hotons then began to dominate 
the universe, leading into the Photon Epoch. 
 
Photon Epoch​ - 10 sec to 377,000 years 
At the end of the lepton epoch leptons and antileptons are 
annihilated. Atomic nuclei were created by the process of 
nucleosynthesis during the first few minutes of this epoch. For the 
rest of this epoch, the universe contained a hot and dense plasma of 
nuclei, electrons, and photons, with photons dominating the energy 
of the universe. However, the temperature is still too high for the 
binding of electrons to nuclei.  
 
Nucleosynthesis​ - 2 minutes and 10 sec to 20 minutes: 
Temperature of the universe falls enough (around a billion degrees) 
for atomic nuclei to form as protons and neutrons combine to form 
the nuclei of elements such as hydrogen (75%), helium (24%), and the 
rest is traces of other elements such as lithium and deuterium. After 
20 minutes, the universe becomes “cold” enough so that these cannot 
form anymore, therefore only the fastest and simplest reactions 
occurred.