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    Element Formation Essay: by Anne Mcilvaine

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    A McIlvaine
    The document summarizes how elements are formed. It explains that elements are created through nuclear fusion in the cores of stars like our Sun, which fuses hydrogen into helium. During the later stages and explosions of stars (supernovas), even heavier elements are produced. These elements were released into clouds of dust and gas from which our solar system later reformed, with the elements accumulating on Earth and other planets.

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    Element Formation Essay: by Anne Mcilvaine

    Uploaded by

    A McIlvaine
    156 views2 pages
    The document summarizes how elements are formed. It explains that elements are created through nuclear fusion in the cores of stars like our Sun, which fuses hydrogen into helium. During the later stages and explosions of stars (supernovas), even heavier elements are produced. These elements were released into clouds of dust and gas from which our solar system later reformed, with the elements accumulating on Earth and other planets.

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    Element Essay

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    The document summarizes how elements are formed. It explains that elements are created through nuclear fusion in the cores of stars like our Sun, which fuses hydrogen into helium. During the later stages and explosions of stars (supernovas), even heavier elements are produced. These elements were released into clouds of dust and gas from which our solar system later reformed, with the elements accumulating on Earth and other planets.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    156 views2 pages

    Element Formation Essay: by Anne Mcilvaine

    Uploaded by

    A McIlvaine
    The document summarizes how elements are formed. It explains that elements are created through nuclear fusion in the cores of stars like our Sun, which fuses hydrogen into helium. During the later stages and explosions of stars (supernovas), even heavier elements are produced. These elements were released into clouds of dust and gas from which our solar system later reformed, with the elements accumulating on Earth and other planets.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    Element Formation Essay

    By Anne McIlvaine

    Have you ever wondered where the elements in our world came from? Well, by the core

    of the sun, explosions of stars and the reformation of our solar system, our elements make up

    everything in the world around us.

    The core of the sun is a great example for how elements are made. Inside the core, mass

    is squeezing hydrogen gas from all sides. The hydrogen gets squeezed so tightly that it makes a

    proton-proton chain reaction which creates a deuteron. It causes 4 hydrogen nuclei to combine to

    get 1 helium atom. Hydrogen fusing into helium happens by the process of nuclear fusion.

    Because of this nuclear fusion, the sun produces heat and light energy as well as making atoms.

    Stars like the sun can make many elements, but heavier elements are made by different

    processes.

    Near the end of a star's lifetime, a supernova or explosion of the star occurs. These

    explosions also create the heavier elements on the periodic table. When a star has run out of fuel

    in its core, gravity will force it to compress and become even hotter. The helium gas and its great

    heat then forces the star to expand into a red giant, and then into a white dwarf. White dwarfs are

    so dense that they contain billions and billions of tons of matter! Supernovas release a lot of

    energy and neutrons into a surrounding cloud, which can allow heavier elements to be made.

    These neutrons get expelled into space during the explosion, and can fuse together to make the

    heavier elements of our world. These elements will soon reform to make our earth and our solar

    system.

    After the star became a white dwarf, all of it’s released neutrons and energy were sitting

    in the milky way. The cloud of neutrons was loaded with nuclear fusion happening because of
    it’s still high temperatures from the supernova. The sun then formed and took most of the matter

    with it, but the leftover neutrons clumped together and began to orbit earth. They were called

    protoplanets in their early stages. Over time, accreation occurred and the protoplanets gathered

    more neutrons, getting bigger. Our earth protoplanet was very hot at the time, and it essentially

    started melting. The energy and nuclear fusion left the heavier elements in the core, and the

    lighter elements in the mantle and crust. Some of the elements in the form of gases created the

    earth's atmosphere by evaporating. The hot temperatures in stars were responsible for the

    elements on our planet and in this world. Elements got to earth in these ways and can still be

    found today.

    All the elements on the periodic table came to be on in our world in these ways. First, the

    core of the sun contains nuclear fusion to create elements. Next, supernovas release neutrons and

    energy which creates heavier elements. Lastly, the planets formed by the elements sitting in the

    cloud that melted together protoplanets to form our earth. According to science, stars make up

    everything in our universe, including you and me.

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