Have you ever wondered where the elements that make up everything around us—including our own bodies—came from? From the smallest atoms to the stars in the night sky, matter consists of elements with different properties, from light hydrogen to heavy uranium. This article follows the story of element formation from the Big Bang to processes inside stars and extreme events such as neutron-star mergers.
Where does titanium come from?
Some people may have heard that titanium is material from outer space. In fact, most titanium is mined here on Earth.
Where does the titanium in an iPhone come from?
Titanium is used in many products, including recent iPhone models. That association can lead people to think the metal itself comes from space.
What makes titanium useful?
Titanium is strong, lightweight, and resistant to corrosion, which makes it useful in a range of applications.
Sources of titanium
Most titanium is mined on Earth, including in countries such as China.
How elements form in nature
Nature forms many elements through nuclear fusion, which takes place in the interiors of stars.
How nature builds heavier elements
Nuclear fusion joins the nuclei of lighter atoms to form nuclei of heavier atoms.
Element formation in stars
Stars act as large-scale element factories: they fuse hydrogen into helium and, in some stars and stages of stellar evolution, form heavier elements.
How stars produce energy
Stars generate energy through nuclear fusion in their interiors, a process also involved in forming elements.
How stars produce energy
Our Sun produces enormous amounts of energy through nuclear fusion in its core.
Energy from the Sun
The Sun releases energy as light and heat, which are essential to life on Earth.
Hydrogen fusion
Hydrogen is the Sun’s main fuel for nuclear fusion.
Hydrogen: the simplest element
Hydrogen is the simplest element and serves as a starting material for the formation of other elements.
Nuclear fusion and element formation
Nuclear fusion is an important process in the formation of elements across the universe.
The beginning of the universe
The Big Bang marks the beginning of the universe and the period when the first elements formed.
The first three elements
This article identifies hydrogen, helium, and lithium as the three elements formed first after the Big Bang.
Gas begins to gather
After the Big Bang, gases began to gather into large structures.
What happens in nuclear fusion?
In nuclear fusion, atomic nuclei combine to form a new nucleus and release energy.
Forming helium
Inside stars, hydrogen nuclei fuse to form helium.
Forming carbon and oxygen
Helium can fuse to form carbon, and carbon can then combine with helium to form oxygen.
Making heavier elements
Massive stars can form heavier elements by fusing lighter ones.
How heavier elements form
The formation of heavier elements is complex and involves high-energy processes.
Products of fusion
Nuclear fusion can form new elements and release energy.
Elements heavier than iron
Elements heavier than iron form in extreme environments, such as stellar explosions.
Neutron capture
In neutron capture, an atomic nucleus captures a neutron, producing an isotope of that element.
Limits and challenges
Forming heavier elements requires extreme conditions and involves several constraints.
Why neutron capture matters
Neutron capture is an important process in the formation of heavier elements.
Heavy-element formation
Elements heavier than iron can form in extreme environments, including stellar explosions.
The S-process: slow neutron capture
The S-process is a form of slow element formation that takes place in stars.
How the S-process works
In the S-process, which occurs in some intermediate-mass stars, atomic nuclei capture neutrons gradually.
How far the process can build
The article describes the S-process as capable of forming elements up to bismuth, atomic number 83.
Beta decay
In beta decay, a neutron in a nucleus changes into a proton, producing a different element.
A range of elements
The S-process can produce a range of elements.
Limits of the S-process
The S-process has limits in producing the heaviest elements.
The R-process: rapid neutron capture
The R-process is a rapid element-formation process that occurs in extreme environments.
How the R-process works
The R-process takes place where neutrons are extremely abundant, such as during neutron-star mergers.
Conditions for the R-process
Neutron-star mergers are one environment associated with the R-process.
Neutron-star collisions
Collisions between neutron stars are an important source of R-process nucleosynthesis.
Forming heavy elements
The R-process can form elements heavier than iron and a range of other elements.
Elements made by humans
Scientists can also create elements in laboratories.
Summary: where do the elements come from?
The elements around us have origins in processes that took place throughout the universe.
Elements from stars
Many elements form in stars and are dispersed into space when stars explode.
Elements in our bodies
Some of the elements in our bodies came from earlier generations of stars.
A line often attributed to Neil deGrasse Tyson
“We are all stardust.”
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