Fabio Pacucci: Gravity vs. Pressure: The battle that formed the universe

Gravity vs. Pressure: The battle that formed the universe

It's time for the biggest battle in the Universe: the Big Bang. In one corner is gravity— the force that brings all matter together. In the other is pressure— the force that can push matter away. Over the next several hundred thousand years, these two contenders will be wrestling for the fate of the Universe. But what are these powers fighting over? Fabio Pacucci digs into this historic matchup. [Directed by Joseph Clark, narrated by Jack Cutmore-Scott, music by Salil Bhayani, cAMP Studio].

The universe’s earliest moments were defined by a fierce tug-of-war between gravity, which draws matter together, and pressure, which drives it apart. For nearly 370,000 years after the Big Bang, their clash created immense waves—baryonic acoustic oscillations—that still shape where galaxies and empty space lie today. When the universe cooled and atoms formed, gravity finally gained the upper hand, allowing light to travel freely and galaxies to coalesce. Yet this fundamental struggle continues inside every star and even helps hold Earth’s atmosphere in place.