• Question: where did all th eelement come from if we think only two or three came from the big bang, that started everything?

    Asked by samantha123 to Hywel, Joseph, Patience, Poonam, Rachael on 18 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Joseph Cook

      Joseph Cook answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      All elements are made up of protons, neutrons and electrons. Each element has different amounts, and this is what makes them each behave in the way they do.

      The big bang resulted in lots of hydrogen and helium, the simplest elements. But combining some atoms of hydrogen and/or helium in the right proportions can result in heavier elements. These can then combine to give other elements. So all the elements we have now can be formed from just the simple ones.

    • Photo: Dr Hywel Jones

      Dr Hywel Jones answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      All the elements, everywhere in the universe, were all created from stars. That includes all the elements in you and I. Inside the star nuclear reactions take place slowly turning hydrogen and helium into heavier and heavier elements via nuclear fusion. Eventually the stars become old and unstable and some explode, sending those elements out in to the universe. These form clouds of dust which then coalesce in to new solar systems, stars and planets and the whole cycle starts again, a kind of cosmic recycling if you like.

    • Photo: Poonam Kaushik

      Poonam Kaushik answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      nuclear fusion is the process by which multiple atomic nuclei join together to form a single heavier nucleus. It is accompanied by the release or absorption of energy. Large scale fusion processes, involving many atoms fusing at once, must occur in matter which is at very high densities.
      The fusion of two nuclei with lower mass than iron (which, along with nickel, has the largest binding energy per nucleon) generally releases energy while the fusion of nuclei heavier than iron absorbs energy; vice-versa for the reverse process, nuclear fission. In the simplest case of hydrogen fusion, two protons have to be brought close enough for the weak force to convert either of the identical protons into a neutron forming deuterium. In more complex cases of heavy ion fusion involving many nucleons, the reaction mechanism is different, but we achieve the same result of assembling larger nuclei from smaller nuclei. Nuclear fusion occurs naturally in stars.

      When big bang happened there was very big explosion and too much energy was available for various hydrogens to fuse together and make heavier elements. So this is how bigger elements were formed.

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