Quote:
Originally Posted by rcglinsk
What does the BBT theory predict as to ratios of hydrogen, helium and deuterium in relation to each other element of the periodic table? Is there a similar level of agreement?
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You clearly know very little about the Big Bang Theory, and there is nothing wrong with that. And you are generally skeptical - nothing wrong with that, either. But you are questioning the theory as if those who have developed it are idiots, as in questions like the following:
Does it even make predictions that are checkable?
I have a suggestion for you: You should assume that scientists - astrophysicists, cosmologists, astronomers, et al. - are clever. From the content of your questions, I can tell you that these scientists are more clever than your wildest imagination.
You wonder about the other elements of the periodic table and why their ratios aren't predicted in the BBT like hydrogen and helium. Well, as
RobA mentioned twice, no element heavier than lithium could have been fused during the first 3 minutes. There was not enough time because the universe was rapidly expanding, and therefore cooling very quickly. Fusion requires very high temperatures - particles moving very rapidly - to slam positively charged protons together and make them stick. (This is all worked out very rigorously using quantum theory and observations from high-energy particle accelerators.) So there was a very small window of time when the temperature was right for hydrogen to fuse, resulting in a certain amount of helium and very small quantities of deuterium and lithium. Then the window closed. The temperature cooled beyond a certain level, and no more fusion could occur. End of story.
Well, fortunately, that wasn't the end of the story. When things cooled down enough so that everything wasn't in thermal equilibrium, about 400,000 years later, gravity started pulling these gasses together, creating stars and galaxies, etc. THE STARS are what created the other elements. Large stars go through a whole cycle of element creation. As the lighter elements are fused and used up, gravity contracts the star, making it hot enough so that heavier and heavier elements are fused. Stars heavier than a certain mass will then explode at the end of their life, and all those elements (plus heavier ones fused in the explosion) will be sent out into the galaxy.
It is very well supported that this is the only way that the elements that make up this planet and almost everything on it, including the carbon, etc. in your body, could have been formed. (I blew me out when I heard Carl Sagan say this in his TV series
Cosmos over 30 years ago. This explanation is very solid, and after 30-40 years, there is simply no viable alternative explanation. Until you hear otherwise, this is it. Get used to it.)
I suggest learning about the Big Bang Theory
first, and then if you still have any skeptical questions, I'm sure someone on this board will answer them with glee and fervor.
