Planck Era: The Universe’s First Split-Second

The Planck Era lasted only 10⁻⁴³ seconds after the Big Bang—the smallest slice of time physics can describe.
During this era, the universe was unimaginably hot and dense, far beyond current experiments.
Gravity, electromagnetism, and nuclear forces may have been unified into a single superforce.
Quantum fluctuations in this period planted the seeds for galaxies.
Temperatures were around 10³² Kelvin, making today’s stars seem cold by comparison.
The laws of physics as we know them break down at the Planck scale.
Space and time themselves may have been “quantized” in this era.
The Planck length, about 10⁻³⁵ meters, defines the smallest meaningful unit of space.
Understanding the Planck Era requires a theory of quantum gravity—still out of reach.
This fleeting moment hides clues about the ultimate origin of the universe.