how do they know what happened in the first second

[bobsmith76]

I've always wondered how they know all that stuff, you know, what happened in the first second of the universe. I've read quite a few books on the subject and I've never seen any demonstration of how they know it.

[Vanadium 50]

Which books?

[Chalnoth]

I've always wondered how they know all that stuff, you know, what happened in the first second of the universe. I've read quite a few books on the subject and I've never seen any demonstration of how they know it.
If you really want some detail, see here:
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/astronomy/bigbang.html

[Chronos]

The picture is reasonably clear after the first second under the standard model of particle physics. It gets increasingly unclear under around e-18 seconds when everything was still fantastically hot and dense.

[bobsmith76]

If you really want some detail, see here:
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/astronomy/bigbang.html

I see evidence for the BB, which I already accept, I don't see evidence for how they know what happened in the first second.

[Vanadium 50]

So, I ask again "which books"?

[Chalnoth]

I see evidence for the BB, which I already accept, I don't see evidence for how they know what happened in the first second.
Well, there are constraints from Big Bang Nucleosynthesis as well as signatures of inflation we see imprinted on the CMB.

[bobsmith76]

Vanadium,

Paul Davies, the Goldilocks Enigma
Cosmology lectures by the Teaching Company, I forget the lecturer, not to mention high school documentaries, probably wikipedia, probably Hawking's Brief History of Time.

[Vanadium 50]

First, you will not learn about science by reading books on philosophy.

Second, read Weinberg's "The First Three Minutes".

Third, try and pay more attention to this book than the others you "probably" read. After I am done reading a book, I usually remember if I read it or not.