I love great questions! This is one of the great ones. Where do atoms come from? Did they just appear? Don't you need matter to make matter? So what's the story? Here's the theory, and a theory is like a very good story to explain a phenomenon and I think atoms fit "phenomenon"...Just after the Big Bang, our universe started out as a tiny seething environment filled with unimaginable energy. In just a millisecond, tiny particles called quarks formed. The temperature was several trillion degrees Celsius. These quarks, attracted to each other by a fundamental force in the universe, called the strong force, quickly formed little groups of three quarks each, called neutrons and protons. About seven times more protons were created than neutrons. Neutrons contain two down quarks and one up quark. Protons contain one down quark and two up quarks. "The Strong Force?" That sounds like another episode of Star Wars!! Free protons are very stable. Each one, made right after the Big Bang, will outlast our universe. But free neutrons are unstable. They have a half-life of just over 10 minutes. This means that of all free neutrons today, only half will remain 10 minutes from now. What happens to them? They decay into stable protons.
Stay with me.... Few free neutrons had a chance to decay, however. A few seconds after the Big Bang, almost every free neutron was paired up with another neutron and two protons to make a helium-4 nucleus. Helium-4 nuclei are very strongly bound. The strong force again attracted them to each other just as it attracted quarks together. By the time the universe was about three minutes old, the process of making atomic nuclei had stopped altogether, and once bound inside nuclei, neutrons became stable. Now that's a great story!! Is there a simple answer to this question? Probably not! But this is the start of "quantum physics". I'm proud of my student who thinks like a physicist and he/she doesn't even know it!
9 Comments
MaryGrace/Fred
1/4/2018 01:46:22 pm
THE POOR CAT!!!! THAT EVIL GIRL!!! Luv the blog Mrs.Taylor!!!
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bobert
1/4/2018 01:47:49 pm
Poor cat. I never told you how much I love to read your blog. Thanks.
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roman
1/4/2018 01:49:16 pm
Hi i am roman. That was my sentance.
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Errol
1/4/2018 01:51:28 pm
Love the funny pics!!!
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gandalf
1/4/2018 01:54:29 pm
i love the second to last pic
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Sadie
1/4/2018 06:30:56 pm
I feel so bad for the cat!!!!!!!!
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gandalf
1/4/2018 08:17:12 pm
ha! I find the girl shocking the cat funny. i surprisingly did pretty well on the test seeing that I wasn't here the week before Christmas break. I am wondering what we will be learning next, what ever it is I am going to be excited! is anyone happy about chairs in Mr. Williamson's room? Mrs. Taylor I am so sorry but I think that the second to last picture is so funny.
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syd
1/4/2018 08:22:19 pm
thats a lot of electricity from the tramp
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Jude
1/4/2018 10:52:16 pm
I loved the funny pictures.
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Mrs. TaylorI love science! Everything about the world is interesting and never boring. I love to study plants, animals, insects, and people. My favorite subjects are my students who are the most unique organisms on the planet! Categories |