• Question: How did natures heaviest elements form?

    Asked by 3 muskersteers to Kylie, Matt, Bex, RobB, Sam on 16 Jun 2016.
    • Photo: Kylie Belchamber

      Kylie Belchamber answered on 16 Jun 2016:

      Hey, good question! Not my area of expertise, but i’ll give it a shot.
      The light elements were formed in the big bang (like hydrogen and helium). In stars, nuclear fussion takes place, which is where bigger elements are made. To get the heaviest elements, you need more energy to convert one element to another. You need a supernova! Supernova explosions happen when the cores of massive stars have exhausted their fuel supplies and burned everything into iron and nickel. They will explode, and this forms the heavier elements.

      Not sure if the others can give a better explanation? Hope that helps!

    • Photo: Matt Dunn

      Matt Dunn answered on 16 Jun 2016:

      Essentially most of the elements we know of were formed inside the extreme environments found in stars. Lighter elements formed first, and then due the the incredible high temperatures and pressures, they can fuse into larger and heavier elements (called nuclear fusion). In this manner, larger and larger atoms form, resulting in heavier and heavier elements. All the iron, carbon, etc was formed in stars, and we wouldn’t be carbon-based life forms without them 🙂

Comments