This resonated:
for effectively everyone who has ever lived, and even most living adults, your body contains at least one atom that has been part of them, such as air they breathed or water they drank.
Where do our atoms come from?
61–70 of 77 posts
Re: Where do our atoms come from?
#62Re: Where do our atoms come from?
#63I'm pretty sure the future me is partly in this here ham sandwich.
It's not rocket science.
Re: Where do our atoms come from?
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
Obviously, the patterns weren’t formed in stars. My point is, if you are admiring the body being a pattern formed of particles coming from the stars, realize that the admiration is itself also just such a pattern (as is that realization).
From a certain point of veiw we are nothing but a 3d cellular automata made of subatomic particles in a most extensive run of conways game of life.
not, if the Copenhagen interpretation is right
Re: Where do our atoms come from?
#65The elemental atoms ultimately came from the inside of the stars. Hydrogen was created shortly after the Big Bang when the universe had expanded far enough to cool down that protons and electrons could come together to form hydrogens. Hydrogens come together later to form the stars. Nuclear fusion inside the stars starts due to the pressure from gravity. Nuclear fusion of hydrogens turns them into heliums. When the h…
Nitpicking: Most of the Helium was formed a few minutes after the Big Bang, not inside stars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang_nucleosynthesis
Re: Where do our atoms come from?
#66The elemental atoms ultimately came from the inside of the stars. Hydrogen was created shortly after the Big Bang when the universe had expanded far enough to cool down that protons and electrons could come together to form hydrogens. Hydrogens come together later to form the stars. Nuclear fusion inside the stars starts due to the pressure from gravity. Nuclear fusion of hydrogens turns them into heliums. When the h…
Nitpicking: Most of the Helium was formed a few minutes after the Big Bang, not inside stars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang_nucleosynthesis
Good catch. I basically wrote from memory, on the phone with little verification.
Re: Where do our atoms come from?
#67What a fantastically written article! I was familiar with all of this (or almost all; I was not aware that fossil fuel burningakes up a measly 3% of yearly atmospheric carbon emissions) but there's a difference between knowing the information and seeing it explained so prosaically.
> In any case: to me, the picture this paints is one in which we are not so much solid, isolated objects; and more like patterns surviving through time.
Re: Where do our atoms come from?
#68The elemental atoms ultimately came from the inside of the stars. Hydrogen was created shortly after the Big Bang when the universe had expanded far enough to cool down that protons and electrons could come together to form hydrogens. Hydrogens come together later to form the stars. Nuclear fusion inside the stars starts due to the pressure from gravity. Nuclear fusion of hydrogens turns them into heliums. When the h…
> Iron is super stable to resist nuclear fusion.
Why? What property of 26 protons makes it super stable?
Re: Where do our atoms come from?
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is a tendency to draw the silhouette of a tree with roots the same size as the canopy but this image is wrong. The root system of most plants run much shallower than people assume because there is no oxygen in deep soil to sustain the roots. A 300 feet giant Sequoia would only reach 12 to 15 feet into the ground.
(You have the perfect username to be talking about trees) I was shocked by the shallowness of a sequoia root system (though have never thought of any roots being as deep as their tree is tall!). It feels like the centre of mass would be too high for stability. The trick is the width of the root system, especially plate roots, which can be over 40X the width of the trunk, and can interlock with neighbouring trees form…
Yes, sequoia are lucky to be able to rely on each other for support. There are many species of trees are technically capable of growing to hundreds of feet tall but they are invariably lost to strong wind and lightning strikes long before that point.
Re: Where do our atoms come from?
#70The elemental atoms ultimately came from the inside of the stars. Hydrogen was created shortly after the Big Bang when the universe had expanded far enough to cool down that protons and electrons could come together to form hydrogens. Hydrogens come together later to form the stars. Nuclear fusion inside the stars starts due to the pressure from gravity. Nuclear fusion of hydrogens turns them into heliums. When the h…
> Iron is super stable to resist nuclear fusion. Why? What property of 26 protons makes it super stable?
It's the electromagnetic force of their 26 electrons that pushes two iron atoms apart such that the gravitational force of the star cannot overcome.
Nuclear fusion happens when two atoms come close enough that their strong nuclear force binds them together. Strong nuclear force only has effect in very short distance at the nuclear. Smaller atoms with their smaller size allow gravity of the star to push them together for fusion to happen. Bigger atoms with their more numerous electrons make it more difficult.
Bigger stars with stronger gravity can force fusions all the way to iron. Although iron resists fusion, a worse fate awaits it. With no more fusion, the star collapses further and becomes much hotter. The iron nuclei are broken down into alpha particles. The electrons and protons combine to form neutrons, releasing a flood of neutrinos, which cause supernova. Supernova has enough strength to cause fusions of all the heavier elements.