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Electroweak epoch Between 10 −36  seconds (or the end of inflation) and 10 −32  seconds after the Big Bang Main article:  Electroweak epoch Depending on how epochs are defined, and the model being followed, the  electroweak epoch  may be considered to start before or after the inflationary epoch. In some models it is described as including the inflationary epoch. In other models, the electroweak epoch is said to begin after the inflationary epoch ended, at roughly 10 −32  seconds. According to traditional big bang cosmology, the electroweak epoch began 10 −36  seconds after the Big Bang, when the temperature of the universe was low enough (10 28  K) for the  Electronuclear Force  to begin to manifest as two separate interactions, called the  strong  and the  electroweak  interactions. (The electroweak interaction will also separate later, dividing into the  electromagnetic  and  weak  interactions). The exact point where electrostrong symmetry was broken is not certain, becaus

Grand unification epoch

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Between 10 −43  seconds and 10 −36  seconds after the Big Bang [6] Main article:  Grand unification epoch As the universe  expanded  and cooled, it crossed transition temperatures at which forces separated from each other. These  phase transitions  can be visualised as similar to  condensation  and  freezing  phase transitions of ordinary matter. At certain temperatures/energies, water molecules change their behaviour and structure, and they will behave completely differently. Like steam turning to water, the  fields  which define our universe's fundamental forces and particles also completely change their behaviors and structures when the temperature/energy falls below a certain point. This is not apparent in everyday life, because it only happens at far higher temperatures than we usually see in our present universe. These phase transitions are believed to be caused by a phenomenon of  quantum fields  called " symmetry breaking ". In everyday terms, as the un