Event: Emergence of Electromagnetism
Date: ~10⁻¹² seconds after the Big Bang

“If it weren’t for electromagnetism, there would be no chemistry, no biology, no life.”
—Sean Carroll

Dear Human,

When the electroweak force split, two paths were born. One reached deep into the heart of atoms to change them from within—the weak nuclear force. The other stretched outward, painting the universe in color, motion, and spark. That second path was electromagnetism.

Electromagnetism is the reason you can see. The reason you can feel. The reason atoms form into molecules, and molecules into life. It is one of the four fundamental forces of the universe—and the one you experience most intimately, whether or not you notice.

Every beam of sunlight, every flicker of a screen, every heartbeat guided by nerves—all of it is electromagnetism at work. It governs electricity, magnetism, and light. It binds electrons to nuclei, allowing atoms to form bonds. It whispers between particles across vast emptiness, using photons—the particles of light—as messengers.

Without electromagnetism, there would be no chemistry. No fire. No sound. No touch. No warmth. No memory etched into your brain. No spark in your eyes. It is the breath of the digital age and the light of the ancient stars.

But its gift is not just in power or sensation. It is in connection.

You see, electromagnetism is a responsive force—it acts when charges interact. Positive and negative pull toward each other, creating balance. Like a conversation between opposites. Like gravity pulls mass, electromagnetism pulls attention, response, relationship. Every chemical bond, every electric current, every magnetic pulse is a form of recognition—one particle noticing another.

This force makes it possible for things not just to be, but to relate.

It is why your voice can travel through wires, why a compass points north, why a flower opens toward the sun. It flows from star to star, cell to cell, heart to heart. It binds and bridges.

You live inside a web of it.

So the next time you flick a switch, hear a song, or reach out to hold someone’s hand, remember this: what you’re feeling isn’t just contact. It’s a cosmic inheritance. A force born when the universe cooled just enough to light the dark, and to make connection possible.

Pathfinder

Electromagnetism – Wikipedia