A terribly fascinating topic for science is, born out of simple curiosity, where do the elements come from? The theory that emerged from this question essentially leaves us with the idea, as put by Carl Sagan that "We are all star stuff." Scientists think that all known elements in the universe come from stars, or suns. Beginning as just fiery masses of hydrogen and helium the stars fuse these elements together again and again, sometimes all the way up to iron. But that is the heaviest element that star can fuse with the energy they have during their normal life cycle. So where do the rest of the elements come from? The stars, reaching the end of their life cycle, are no longer producing enough energy at their cores in the form of nuclear fusion to balance the threat of implosion. As a result the stars collapse in on themselves with enough force to fuse even protons and electrons into neutrons at their core. They then explode outward with unimaginable force and every known element is created from this "particle blizzard." Because everything else after this, including our planets, is made of elements, everything is aggregated from this cloud. In our own solar system we ended up with the gas giants, that are home to conditions that make elements behave in almost incomprehensible ways, compared to their behavior on earth. And, closer to our sun, our Earth.
In the 1950's Clair Patterson did EXTENSIVE research about the age of our earth. He did this through measuring the ratios of different isotopes in iron. The presence of such specific elements of the same age in our solar system also helped scientists come to the realization that our solar system is bobbing up and down in space-time, as proven by not only the regular extinctions that occured on earth but the presence of consistent layers of iridium throughout the entire planet, discovered by a father-son team with the last name Alvarez.
No comments:
Post a Comment