Planck Time
Assuming the Big Bang Theory is correct, all four fundamental forces (gravity, strong nuclear force, weak nuclear force, and electromagnetism) were all one before the Era of 1 Planck Time, 10-43 seconds into the universe's creation. Besides the unity of the forces nothing is really known about the time before the Era of 1 Planck Time; it doesn't even have its own name. At 10-43 seconds however, all matter, energy, space, and time spilled forth from a singularity.
Why 10-43 seconds?
10-43 seconds is the measure of one planck time (named for Max Planck), and to explain where that number came from a few other things must be cleared up first. Compton scattering is when photons are dispersed by electrons smacking into them, therefore the Compton wavelength of particle is the wavelength of a photon whose energy is equal to the rest-mass of the original particle. The Compton wavelength gives the smallest scale to locate an event horizon, also known as a Schwarzschild Radius. This radius represents the belt past which no particles, light, or information can be obtained. If any mass degenerates past the event horizon it becomes a black hole. The event horizon can be thought of as a limit with an equation of L=Gm/c2, G is the gravitational constant, m is the mass, and c is the speed of light. Knowing this limit, we can get back to the Compton wavelength to find the smallest scale in which we could locate it, this is done with λ= h/mc. The Planck constant, a ratio between the energy of a photon and its frequency, is h.
With this information, we can finally return to the Planck time. First however, the Planck length should be found:
The amount of time it takes light to travel across this length gives us the (drum roll) planck time:
http://ircamera.as.arizona.edu/NatSci102/NatSci102/images/cosmictm1.jpg
Diagram of Planck Era in relation to the rest of the big bang.
--Alice R.
Bibliography
Nave, R. "Big Bang models back to Planck time." HyperPhysics Concepts. 2009. Hyperphysics. 17 March 2009. <http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/HBASE/astro/planck.html>
"Compton Wavelength." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2009. Wikipedia. 17 March 2009. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compton_wavelength>
The Facts on File Dictionary of Physics. New York: Market House Books Ltd, 1999.
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