Kort Explores conundrums of the human condition

The Big Bang initially generated a billion times more matter than exists in our current universe. However, it also generated almost the same amount of antimatter, with the result that nearly all of the matter created by the Big Bang was immediately annihilated by contact with antimatter, releasing a flash of energy as particles removed each other from the universe after a spectacular but exceedingly brief existence.

Our universe continues to exist because there was a very slight excess of matter left over - the initial Big Bang created one part in a billion more matter than antimatter. Our universe is composed of that tiny bit of left over matter that survived the antimatter annihilation - the ash and residue from the greatest "flash in the pan" ever.

The matter/anti-matter annihilation converted both into a massive release of gamma radiation. The 2.73 K cosmic background radiation that today fills every corner of the universe is the legacy of the annihilated matter and antimatter.

The Universe is certainly profligate with its resources...

On a human scale, we would have difficulty even detecting a one part in a billion residue from an explosive reaction. Our senses would tell us nothing was left. It would require advanced technology to detect such infinitesimal traces of what had been destroyed. Certainly nothing human technology can accomplish comes anywhere close to being so "clean" - as in leaving so little wastage/unused/unconsumed components.

The trace excess of matter left over was due to the slight asymmetry in the way that the weak nuclear force treats matter and antimatter. Without this slight asymmetry, all of the matter would have been consumed in the initial annihilation, and there wouldn't have been anything left over to condense into stars and planets.

This is probably a "good thing" from a human-centric perspective since all that extra matter would certainly have affected the gravitational dynamics of the Universe's expansion. The extra mass would have at least slowed the expansion down a bit. It might have been enough to overcome the expansion...maybe even before there had been enough star cycles to create the heavier elements required for organic chemistry/life.

At best it would have taken billions of years longer before density dispersed and gravity was reduced to the point were is was possible for our familiar galactic structures to form. There would probably be a lot more black holes by now...

Sometimes being left on the sidelines while everyone else gets caught up in the excitement of the moment has its benefits...