unclebobmartin on Nostr: The collapsing iron core of a massive star that has exhausted its fuel will quickly ...
The collapsing iron core of a massive star that has exhausted its fuel will quickly reach densities at which electrons and protons can no longer remain separate. They combine to form neutrons in an extremely violent reaction that tears the rest of the star apart and blasts it's contents all over the sky as a type 2 Supernova.
At the time of the explosion the structure of the star looks like an onion. There is an outer shell of Hydrogen gas, then a shell of Hydrogen fusing into Helium. Below that is a shell of Helium fusing into Carbon and Oxygen. Deeper still is a shell fusing Carbon into Neon, Magnesium, Sodium, and Aluminum. Deeper still is a shell fusing Neon into Oxygen and Magnesium. Still deeper the Oxygen fuses into Silicon, Argon, Sulfur, and Calcium. And finally a shell that fuses Silicon into an isotope of Nickel that decays into Iron.
All this material is blown to smithereens when the barrage of outrushing neutrinos produced by the core's transmutation into neutrons collides with those shells. The over-pressures cerated in that collision stimulate even more fusion. The environment of the explosion is rich with free high energy neutrons, and alpha-particles (Helium nuclei). These particles are absorbed by the elements within the explosion, transmuting them further into the vast majority of the elements on the periodic table up to element 36.
All these nuclei are scattered amidst the rapidly expanding cloud of debris and eventually mix with the interstellar medium, polluting the existing clouds of neutral hydrogen and, if close enough, stimulating them to collapse into planetary systems.
The Oxygen and Nitrogen in our atmosphere. The Carbon and Calcium in our bodies and bones. The Sodium in our seas, and the Iron and Aluminum in our buildings, originated from this process. Those elements all came from stars that blew their guts up all over the sky, and seeded future stars with the elements of life and civilization.
At the time of the explosion the structure of the star looks like an onion. There is an outer shell of Hydrogen gas, then a shell of Hydrogen fusing into Helium. Below that is a shell of Helium fusing into Carbon and Oxygen. Deeper still is a shell fusing Carbon into Neon, Magnesium, Sodium, and Aluminum. Deeper still is a shell fusing Neon into Oxygen and Magnesium. Still deeper the Oxygen fuses into Silicon, Argon, Sulfur, and Calcium. And finally a shell that fuses Silicon into an isotope of Nickel that decays into Iron.
All this material is blown to smithereens when the barrage of outrushing neutrinos produced by the core's transmutation into neutrons collides with those shells. The over-pressures cerated in that collision stimulate even more fusion. The environment of the explosion is rich with free high energy neutrons, and alpha-particles (Helium nuclei). These particles are absorbed by the elements within the explosion, transmuting them further into the vast majority of the elements on the periodic table up to element 36.
All these nuclei are scattered amidst the rapidly expanding cloud of debris and eventually mix with the interstellar medium, polluting the existing clouds of neutral hydrogen and, if close enough, stimulating them to collapse into planetary systems.
The Oxygen and Nitrogen in our atmosphere. The Carbon and Calcium in our bodies and bones. The Sodium in our seas, and the Iron and Aluminum in our buildings, originated from this process. Those elements all came from stars that blew their guts up all over the sky, and seeded future stars with the elements of life and civilization.