We Are Made of Star Stuff

We ar lead-in stuff. Discuss in detail our connections to the steers as accomplished by modern astronomy. Modern astronomy has wholeowed us to understand how the universe functions and also provides the dissolvers to some of the big questions. Questions like the logical argument of the universe and farm animal of life itself. It tells us that fighters argon the cosmic furnaces where all(prenominal) most all the construct blocks of life and planets were compoundd. Lighter, introductory and abundant elements like hydrogen and atomic number 2 were bounceed during the Big Bang.During Big Bang, space expansion cooled the early competency dominated universe and a lot of energy transformed into matter. These basic elements were then able to create the early stars and also the stars of today. Inside of these stars barge elements fused to release large quantities of energy and in the answer of doing that reborn hydrogen and helium into heavier elementary particles. Such el ements would be deposited in the bone marrow of the star and ar spewed out into surrounding interstellar space when the star dies an explosive death.These newly synthesized heavy elements be essential for life to arrest and evolve. 1 Hydrogen, helium and a little bit of lithium were reconcile in the Big Bang. Hydrogen, the most abundant element accounted for around 75% of the matter, followed by helium at 25%. 2 Large bill of these primordial gas formed clouds and such clouds were then condensed by topical anesthetic gravity to form the very first stars that lit up the baleful skies of early universe. 3 As the baby stars contracted, temperature in the burden move up to extreme level triggering nuclear coalescence/hydrogen fusion.Nuclear fusion is a process in which two or more atoms fuse to synthesize heavier atom and this process of fusing releases large quantities of energy. 4 All the ingredients/elements needed to benefit the undercoat and all life forms on earth we re created in the cores of stars. 5 These ingredients are then released out of the core of star into the surrounding when the behemoth star dies an explosive death known as the supernovae. This phenomenon occurs only to stars that are very big. Elements of up to iron can be make in a star and heavier than iron elements are build upd in the supernovae. At least(prenominal) six of these essential elements compose life on earth and they are carbon, hydrogen, group O, nitrogen, sulphur and phosphorous. 8 Almost all life forms on earth are carbon based. This applies to the smallest living organisms (with exception of the new Inner core of a star7 discovery of arsenic based bacteria) to the biggest the blue whale and all the living plants. They all have the same basic building blocks in their DNA. 9 Those building blocks are the essential elements.All of the rocky and metallic somatics that make up our planet, the iron that runs in our blood, the calcium in our teeth and bones10, o xygen atoms that form water after combining with hydrogen, and, nitrogen and oxygen atoms that make up most of the atmosphere of earth are all products of stars billions of old age ago. 11 As you can see in the picture in a higher place all of the heavier elements (above H and He) and including helium are do by the stars. The elements shown on the cross-section of the picture form heavier elements, they make up all the elements we spy so far the elements on the periodic table.Stars begin its life generally made out of hydrogen and helium. The breakdown of hydrogen and helium in our sunshine is seventy percentage and twenty eight when it started its life. 12 The building of heavier elements begins with hydrogen. Hydrogen is taken four at a time to form a single atom of helium. This process goes on for ninety percent of a stars life. When a star runs out of hydrogen, it starts fusing helium atoms to stay animate (producing energy to fight its own immense gravity from causing it self to collapse). triple atoms of helium are fused in the process of nuclear fusion to form an atom of carbon.As the process of fusing moves to next heavier atoms the duration of fusion process of newer atom becomes a lot shorter because for fusing atoms higher than hydrogen the number of visible(prenominal) atoms for fusing is far fewer than the number atoms available when the star was fusing hydrogen for example. conterminous in line is oxygen. Adding one more helium to the carbon makes oxygen. atomic number 7 is also made in the stars. 12 Without oxygen life as we know cannot survive. This process goes onto making silicon and iron. Nuclear fusion stops at iron because temperatures in star dont flip high enough to fuse iron.So how do the elements heavier than iron form? The answer to this question lies in the size of the star. Only big stars (much bigger that our sun) are capable of producing a supernovae. Only such a catastrophic burst can break the boundary set by iron a nd produce heavier atoms to fill the rest of the periodic table of elements. From the dusts and particles leftover of dead stars unite together to form asteroids and comets. Asteroids clumped together can form planet core. So life on earth basically began with the basic material that was available.These material/large molecules essential for the formation of living cells are proteins, carbohydrates (sugar), fats, and nucleic acids. Its been imbed that meteorites contains essential stuff like aminic acids (proteins made of amino acid), sugars, fertile acids (building block of fats), and bases for nucleic acids. For instance, the Murchison meteorite that crashed in Australia in 1969 is found to contain chains of productive acids, different types of sugars, all five nucleic acid bases, and more than 70 kinds of amino acids (life forms use only 20 amino acids). 3 We are star stuff in the unforgettable words of Dr. Carl Sagan. The atoms that made up our bodies are created in the inna rds of stars that died many aeons ago. The planet we live on is made up materials like iron, silicon and carbon, etc are all forged in the natures grandest factory we know as stars. The air we pillow to stay alive is a product of stars. Stars also nourish life. The sun ray helps plants with photosynthesis helps them break down carbon dioxide into organic compounds (sugars). Plants are a major source of food for humans and other creatures.Over the past few centuries (mainly 1900-2000) astronomy has made many eye opening discoveries about the origin of the whole universe, our fate, and that we human are not the centre of the universe. It encourages humility in us and makes us better understand our connections the cosmos. References 1. Carl Sagan (No Date). Cosmos-We are Star press Available http//www. youtube. com/ ascertain? v=0UR2L_4ic6Y&feature=related 2. Lawrence Krauss (3-27-2009). keep, the Universe and cipher lecture Available http//www. youtube. com/watch? =rdvWrI_oQjY 2 011-04-04 video start at 5111-5216minutes 3. Dr. Tony Phillips (7-18-2000). X-ray Star Stuff online Available http//science. nasa. gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2000/ast18jul_1m/ 2011-04-04 4. Wikipedia-Nuclear Fusion (no date). online Available http//en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Nuclear_fusion 2011-04-04 5. surface-to-air missile Neill (presenter) (no date). Space with Sam Neill Available http//www. youtube. com/watch? v=0zU1F6liZKo 2011-04-04 6. =3 7. microphone S (12-7-2010). Science & Religion 8 We are all made of stars online Available http//www. wheatandtares. org/2010/12/07/science-religion-8-we-are-all-made-of-stars/ 2011-04-04 8. Jason Palmer (12-2-2010). Arsenic-loving bacteria may help in operate for alien life online Available http//www. bbc. co. uk/news/science-environment-11886943 2011-04-04 9. Dan Solomon (12-2-2010). NASA Announces Arsenic Based Life Forms- But Are They Going To Kill Us? online Available http//www. asylum. com/2010/12/02/nasa-announcement-aliens-arse nic/ 2011-04-04 10. Korintherne (7-7-2006).Reasons & Facts Cosmic Connection online Available http//curezone. com/blogs/fm. asp? i=982845 2011-04-04 11. Dayanara (MA) (No Date). We are star stuff online Available http//www. free-daily-motivational-self-improvement. com/we-are-star-stuff. html 2011-04-04 12. Neil Tyson (presenter) (No Date). Elements Forged in Stars Available http//www. youtube. com/watch? v=uKqvjEE0wFg 2011-04-04 13. Leslie Mullen (9-5-2005). Building Life from Star-Stuff online Available http//www. astrobio. net/exclusive/1702/building-life-from-star-stuff 2011