What’s the difference between the “Big Bang” and “cosmic inflation”?

Question

As far as I can tell, they both refer to the rapid expansion of the early universe. What’s the difference, then?

In: Physics

Answer 1

Big bang was first. Cosmic inflation was a period of time after the big bang when the Universe grew from the size of a proton to the size of a softball almost instantly….way faster than the speed of light.