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The cosmos goes through a super fast "inflation" expanding from the size of an atom to that of a grapefruit in a tiny fraction of a second.
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Post inflation the universe is. seething hot soup of electrons quarks and other particles.
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A rapidly cooling cosmos permits quarks to clump into protons and neutrons.
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Still too hot to form atoms, charged electrons and protons prevent light from shining: The universe is a super hot fog.
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Electrons combine with protons and neutrons to form atoms, mostly hydrogen and helium. Light can finally shine
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Gravity makes hydrogen and helium gas coalesce to form giant clouds that will become galaxies: Smaller clumps of gas collapse to form the first stars.
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As galaxies cluster together under gravity, the first stars die and spew heavy elements into space: those will eventually turn into new stars and planets