Labels:bulletin board | reckoner | sky OCR: elementary particles known as quarks roamed freely in a sea of energy When the universe had expanded an additional 1,000 times all the matter we can measure filled region the size of the solar system At that time the free quarks became confined in neutrons and protons After the universe had grown by another factor of 1,000 protons and neutrons combined to form atomic nuclei, including most of the helium and deuterium present today. All of this occurred within the first minute of the expansion. Conditions were still too hot, however for atomic nuclei to capture electrons Neutral atoms appeared in abundance only after the expansion had continued for 300 000 years and the universe was 1,000 times smaller than is now. The neutral atoms then began to coalesce into gas clouds which later evolved ...
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