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Formation of Elements in The Big Bang and Stellar Evolution: How It All Began?

1) In the early universe after the Big Bang, nuclear fusion in stars formed the light elements hydrogen and helium. Later, fusion in the cores of stars formed heavier elements up to iron. 2) Stars have layers determined by temperature, with hotter interiors able to fuse heavier elements like silicon and iron. 3) Stellar nucleosynthesis in dying stars is responsible for seeding the universe with heavy elements that comprise planets and life.

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Alexis John Hisula Villahermosa
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120 views

Formation of Elements in The Big Bang and Stellar Evolution: How It All Began?

1) In the early universe after the Big Bang, nuclear fusion in stars formed the light elements hydrogen and helium. Later, fusion in the cores of stars formed heavier elements up to iron. 2) Stars have layers determined by temperature, with hotter interiors able to fuse heavier elements like silicon and iron. 3) Stellar nucleosynthesis in dying stars is responsible for seeding the universe with heavy elements that comprise planets and life.

Uploaded by

Alexis John Hisula Villahermosa
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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FORMATION OF ELEMENTS IN THE BIG BANG AND STELLAR EVOLUTION

Have you tried staring at the moon and the stars at night? Have you asked yourself why do they exist? Do you
believe that you are made from these heavenly bodies? In this lesson, you will discover how elements are made and
how these celestial bodies exist by going back to the beginning of the universe, and how you were made out from it.

In your previous science classes, you have learned about the Big bang theory. In this theory, the universe may
have started as an infinitely hot and dense initial singularity, a point with all of space, time, matter and energy.
HOW IT ALL BEGAN?

The universe may have started as an infinitely hot and dense


initial singularity, a point with all of space, time, matter and
energy. This signifies that there was no what, where or
when. There is no area around the singularity – just void.
All of it then began to quickly expand in a process called as
inflation. Space itself expanded faster than the speed of
light. In this still hot and dense mass of the universe, pairs
of matter and antimatter (quarks and antiquarks) were
formed from energy, but these pairs cancelled each other
back into energy (annihilation).
The universe cooled down as it expanded. An excess of
matter (electrons, protons, neutrons and other particles)
somehow came to be in a highly energetic “plasma soup.”
Photons (light particles) were being scattered everywhere in
this “soup”. Protons and neutrons came together to form
different types of nuclei by nucleosynthesis or nuclear
fusion.
Much later on, electrons started to bind to ionized protons and nuclei forming neutral atoms in a process called
recombination. The bound particles no longer scattered photons so light and energy moved freely across space. The period
was hence known as the “dark ages”. Gravity caused these atoms to collapse onto one another to form stars and galaxies
and eventually, other matter. This still happens until today. Space also keeps on expanding at an accelerating rate, thus
increasing the distance between the matters inside it. This recommends that other galaxies are moving farther away from
ours.
It was later discovered that they are not moving away. Instead, space itself is expanding in all directions causing
all the galaxies to be relatively farther apart. From this “redshift” we learn how fast the universe is expanding. Redshift is
the first piece of evidence for the Big Bang model.

Activity 1: How it all began?


Direction: Illustrate the formation of the universe based on your own understanding of the selection HOW IT ALL
BEGAN.
Activity 2: Let’s go online
Watch the videos at https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/videos/139-what-is-the-big-bang-theory. Then answer the following
questions based on the video.
1. Give two pieces of evidence of the expansion of space.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
2. The very hot and dense nuclear matter that was present at the beginning of this expansion slowly cooled. What are the
two elements that first formed as a result of this cooling?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________

Formation of light elements: Nucleosynthesis


The rapid expansion caused the universe to cool down and became less dense, forming new particles-the protons,
neutrons, and electrons. The universe entered the phase called nucleosynthesis.
Nucleosynthesis is the process that creates new atomic nucleus from preexisting nucleons, primarily protons ad
neutrons. The energy and temperature of the universe are extremely high to cause the neutrons and protons to combine
and form certain species of atomic nuclei in a process called nuclear fusion.
Nuclear fusion is a process by which light nuclei fuse together to form heavier nucleus. When this happens, a
tremendous amount of energy is released. Through nuclear fusion, the light elements- hydrogen, helium, and small
amount of lithium and beryllium were formed. The isotopes produced during big bang nucleosynthesis were H-1, H-2,
He-3, He-4, and Li-7.
An isotope is a form of an element that has the same
atomic number of the original element but with a different
atomic mass or mass number.
Example of Nuclear fusion

Deuterium (with one neutron and one proton) fuses with


tritium (with one proton and two neutrons) producing a
helium nuclei and a neutron, and a releasing energy.
Formation of Heavier Elements: Stellar Nucleosynthesis

Elements formed by fusion with five to eight elements are very understandable. Heavy elements were formed only
billions of years later, after the formation of stars. The density of star is great enough to sustain fusion for the extended
time periods required to synthesize heavy elements. Stars are hot enough to burn hydrogen to helium. The formation of
heavy elements by fusion of lighter nuclei in the interior of stars is called stellar nucleosynthesis.

Stars have multiple layers that are differentiated not only based on the materials they are composed of but also on
their temperature. The varying intensities of temperature in the layers determine the element that can be nucleosynthesized
in them. There is aa direct proportionality between the temperature in a star’s interior layer and its depth. Thus, as you go
deeper from the surface, the temperature increases. Layers near the core have very high temperatures enough to
nucleosynthesize heavy elements such as silicon and iron. Much nuclear synthetic pathways are produced as the
temperature increases inside the star.

Assessment
__________________1.What do you call to the process of creating new atomic nuclei from pre-existing nucleons?
__________________2.What is the process by which light nuclei join together to form a heavier nucleus?
__________________3. It is a form of element that has the same atomic number of the original element but with a
different atomic mass or mass number.
___________________4. The formation of heavy elements by fusion of lighter nuclei in the interior of stars is called?
___________________5. According to this theory, the universe may have started as an infinitely hot and dense initial
singularity, a point with all of space, time, matter and energy.

Performance Task Activity 3: Differentiated task


You are a creative artist. For the National Science and Technology Week, the Philippine Nuclear Research
Institute (PNRI) commissioned you to present the application of nuclear fusion in various industries in your own creative
way. In could be in a form of song, drawing or illustration, drama, brochure. Your work will be evaluated based on
accuracy of details, appropriateness of materials, creativity.
If video, please send it through messenger Alexis John Hisula Villahermosa or through gmail account
[email protected]

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