The First Second

More happened in the universe's first second than in all the billions of years since.

• 10^-43 seconds: the Planck epoch — known physics breaks down; the four forces may have been unified
• 10^-36 seconds: cosmic inflation — space expanded by a factor of at least 10^26 in a flash, faster than light
• 10^-12 seconds: the Higgs field switches on and particles gain mass
• 10^-6 seconds: quarks lock together into protons and neutrons
• 1 second: neutrinos break free and stream through space (they are still everywhere today)