States of Matter Emergence Timeline

The emergence of states of matter corresponds directly to the cooling and evolution of the universe after the Big Bang. They emerged in a specific sequence as the universe expanded and cooled.

The Cosmic Timeline of Matter States

Planck Epoch

~10⁻⁴³ seconds after the Big Bang

All fundamental forces were unified. No matter as we know it existed in this epoch.

Quark Epoch

~10⁻¹² seconds after the Big Bang

Quarks, electrons, and other fundamental particles formed. The universe was an extremely dense, hot plasma where particles were too energetic to form stable structures.

Hadron and Lepton Epoch

~0.0001 seconds after the Big Bang

The universe cooled enough for quarks to combine into protons and neutrons. The universe remained a dense plasma, still too hot for atoms to form.

Photon Epoch

10 seconds to 370,000 years after the Big Bang

The universe consisted of a hot, opaque soup of atomic nuclei, electrons, and photons. Light could not travel freely as it was constantly scattered by free electrons.

Recombination

~380,000 years after the Big Bang

The universe cooled to about 3,000 K, allowing electrons to be captured by atomic nuclei to form the first stable neutral atoms (mostly hydrogen and helium). This marked the emergence of GAS as a distinct state of matter.

The universe became transparent for the first time, releasing what we now detect as the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation.

Dark Ages

~380,000 years to 100 million years after the Big Bang

The universe was dark, filled with neutral gas (mostly hydrogen), with no stars or galaxies yet formed.

Modern Universe

~100 million years after the Big Bang to present

The first stars formed, creating heavier elements through nuclear fusion. When these stars died in supernovae, they dispersed these elements, which later formed into planets and other solid bodies.

The first SOLIDS and LIQUIDS formed in the localized, cool environments of planetary systems.

Summary of States of Matter Emergence

Plasma

Emerged first, within the first second, and dominated the early universe. It remains the most common state of ordinary matter in the universe today.

Gas

Emerged second, around 380,000 years after the Big Bang, as the universe cooled enough to form neutral atoms during the Recombination epoch.

Solids and Liquids

Emerged last, hundreds of millions of years later, in the localized, cool, and dense environments of planetary systems formed from the debris of dead stars.

In summary, the states of matter emerged in sequence as the universe expanded and cooled: Plasma → Gas → Solids & Liquids.