Well stars and galaxies did develop after the Big Bang, nothing new with that. Matter as hard objects and matter as gases, it looks like there is a theory that particles exploded and turned to energy and gas as matter and anti-matter came into contact with each other. So depending on what matter you are talking about it could be less hard matter. Right now the most abundant substance in space is hydrogen making up 92% of all atoms. Matter did not disappear it was converted. You have matter, anti-matter, dark matter, and gases....subatomic particles. Now the volume of all categories of matter, hard to know.
Why There Was Less Matter After the Big Bang
After the Big Bang, the universe was initially an extremely hot, dense state where matter and energy were in perfect balance. However, most of the matter and antimatter annihilated each other, leaving behind only a tiny excess of matter — about one part in a billion — to form everything we see todayCompleteEra.
1. Matter–Antimatter Symmetry and Annihilation
In the first fractions of a second, particle–antiparticle pairs (quarks–antiquarks, electrons–positrons) were constantly created from energy and then annihilated back into energy. This process kept matter and antimatter in equilibrium. For the universe to have any matter left, a baryogenesis event must have produced a small asymmetry: slightly more matter than antimatter. This asymmetry is still not fully explained by current physicssentinelmission.org.
2. Cooling and Particle Formation
As the universe expanded and cooled, the energy density dropped. Around 1 second old, quarks and gluons combined into protons and neutrons. By about 1 minute old, protons and neutrons had fused into light atomic nuclei during Big Bang Nucleosynthesis, producing roughly 75% hydrogen and 25% helium by mass, with trace amounts of lithiumCompleteEra. At this stage, matter made up only about 0.000001% of the total energy density — the rest was radiation
CompleteEra.
3. Inflation’s Role
Before the hot Big Bang phase, a period of cosmic inflation stretched the universe so rapidly that any initial matter was diluted to near-imperceptible levels. Inflation also smoothed out density fluctuations, setting the stage for later structure formationWikipedia+1.
4. Recombination and the Cosmic Microwave Background
About 380,000 years after the Big Bang, the universe cooled enough for electrons to combine with protons, forming neutral hydrogen. This “recombination” released the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, which still fills the universe today. At this point, most of the remaining matter was in the form of neutral atoms, not free particlesCompleteEra.
5. Today’s Matter Budget
By now, ordinary (baryonic) matter makes up only about 4.9% of the universe’s total energy content, with the rest being dark matter (~26.8%) and dark energy (~68.3%)CompleteEra. The small fraction of matter left after the Big Bang is all that has ever existed in the form of stars, planets, gas, and life.
In summary: After the Big Bang, there was far less matter because most of it annihilated with antimatter, and the tiny excess that survived was diluted by cosmic expansion and inflation. The matter we see today is a remnant of that minuscule surplus, forged in the first minutes and preserved through cosmic history.
When I say "matter" I'm talking about the solids, planets, moons, stars. Not the gases.
That explanation is more in line with the explanation I knew before the JWST.
But as you know, there are different theories to exactly how it all happened. They don't know much about dark energy and dark matter so it's all very speculative to say the least. It's more of a theoretical science than actual real practical science such as engineering or chemistry.
I don't like the fact that they teach this and theory of evolution in schools as if it were a fact, without even mentioning the theories of creation or intelligent design.
