In less than a trillionth of a second, the universe doubled in size over and over, growing from microscopic to roughly the size of a soccer ball.
As it expanded, it cooled slightly, allowing the first "ingredients" to form—a super-hot plasma of quarks and electrons. big_bang_explosion
The Big Bang wasn't a firework going off in an empty room; it was the room itself suddenly appearing and growing at an impossible speed. In less than a trillionth of a second,
For 380,000 years, the universe was a thick, glowing fog. When it finally cooled enough for atoms to form, light could finally travel freely. This "first light" still echoes across space today as the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) . Fun Fact: A Sarcastic Name it cooled slightly