To my understanding, at the very beginning there was the big bang when nothing (or everything?) existed in singularity, and then at some early point hydrogen came to existence. I understand how stars churn with gravity and heat and whatnot those bigger atoms such as iron at later stages of the universe. But how and why did hydrogen happen as the first atom, and why didn’t we have, say, uranium straight from the beginning?
In: Physics
Well, before atoms formed, protons and electrons would have to form. One thing at a time – you can’t make an atom without those.
Once protons and electrons form, the protons are *not* going to want to stick together. They have no reason to. They will latch onto electrons, though, and a proton paired with an electron is just regular hydrogen.
Anything bigger requires neutrons and forcing protons together.
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