The Formation of the

Light Elements in the

Big Bang Theory
 OBJECTIVE:
• In this lesson, you should be able to
give evidence for and explain the
formation of the light elements in the
big bang theory.
What elements were produced
during the big bang expansion?
Big Bang Theory
The big bang theory is a cosmological
model stating that the universe started its
expansion about 13.8 billion years ago.
Pieces of evidence supporting this theory
are (1) occurrence of redshift, (2)
background radiation, and (3) abundance
of light elements.
Redshift

In the 1910s, Vesto Slipher and Carl Wilhelm

Wirtz measured the wavelengths of light
from spiral nebulae, which are interstellar
clouds of dust and ionized gases. They
discovered that the light from the nebulae
increased in wavelength. They explained
their discovery as a Doppler shift
The Doppler shift or Doppler effect explains that
when an object gets closer to us, its light waves
are compressed into shorter wavelengths
(blueshifted, because blue light has the shortest
wavelength in the visible region). On the other
hand, when an object moves away from us, its
light waves are stretched into longer
wavelengths (redshifted, because red light has
the longest wavelength in the visible region).
Slipher and Wirtz then explained that
the redshift or increase in wavelength
was due to the increase in the distance
between the Earth and the nebulae.
They concluded that the redshift
occurred due to the expansion of
space.
In 1929, Edwin Hubble used the redshift
of light from galaxies to calculate the
velocities and distances of these
galaxies from the Earth. He discovered
that they were moving away from the
Earth and from each other. His
calculations supported the theory that
the universe is expanding.
Cosmic Microwave
Background
Radiation
In 1965, Robert Wilson and Arno
Penzias discovered a low, steady “hum”
from their Holmdel Horn antenna (an
antenna built to support NASA’s Project
Echo). They concluded that the noise
is Cosmic Microwave Background
Radiation (CMBR), the remains of energy
created after the big bang expansion.
Abundance of Light Elements
The observed abundance of light elements
supports the big bang theory. The theory
predicts that the universe is composed
of 73% hydrogen and 25% helium by mass.
The prediction correlated to the measured
abundances of primordial material in
unprocessed gas in some parts of the
universe with no stars.
 Formation of Light Elements
• Big bang nucleosynthesis is the process of producing the light
elements during the big bang expansion. In the beginning, the
universe was very hot that matter was fully ionized and dissociated.
Few seconds after the start of the big bang, the universe was filled
with protons, neutrons, electrons, neutrinos, and positrons. After
the first three minutes, the universe cooled down to a point where
atomic nuclei can form. Protons and neutrons combined to form
atomic nuclei such as deuterium.
However, the temperature of the universe was still much
greater than the binding energy of deuterium. Binding
energy is the energy required to break down a nucleus into
its components. Therefore, deuterium easily decayed upon
formation.
When the temperature cooled down below 1010 K, deuterium
nuclei combined with other nuclei to form heavier ones.
Helium-3 was formed from the fusion of two deuterium nuclei and
a release of a neutron.
Tritium or hydrogen-3 was produced from the fusion of two
deuterium nuclei and a release of a proton.
Helium-4 was also synthesized from deuterium and helium-3.
Helium-4 was produced from the fusion of deuterium and
tritium.
For the first three minutes, a substantial
amount of neutrons was converted into
helium-4 nuclei, before their decay. Helium
then combined to other nuclei to form
heavier ones such as lithium-7 and
beryllium-7.
Lithium-7 was synthesized from helium-4 and tritium.
Beryllium-7 was produced from helium-3 and helium-4.
Among the light elements formed, deuterium, helium-3,
helium-4, and lithium-7 were stable. Beryllium-7 was
unstable and decayed spontaneously to lithium-7.