Stellar Nucleosynthesis - The Relationship Between Chemistry & Astronomy
The elements that make up Earth originated in the stars through a process called stellar nucleosynthesis. This paper will focus on how the elements impact the Earth, it will provide an in-depth look into how the Earth would be different without certain elements, their chemical makeup, and their location on the periodic table. This paper will focus on the two elements carbon and hydrogen specifically. Earth contains various elements that form all matter. Each element has specific properties and are formed at different times during the lifecycle of stars. Chemistry and astronomy tie into stellar nucleosynthesis because the formation of elements is studied in chemistry …show more content…
Without carbon, our universe would be made of only hydrogen and helium and the absent items would range from rocks to trees to humans. Carbon is an important building block of the elements and is essential to almost all life. Not only is the element carbon important in its solid form, but carbon dioxide is a gas that is even more essential to life. It is crucial to not only the survival of humans, but the survival of this entire planet. While carbon plays a big role on Earth, carbon is also important when it comes to all the elements, the formation of the carbon atomic nucleus occurs within a giant or supergiant star through the triple-alpha process (Chaisson, E. J., & Brecher, K., 2018, May 04). It was one of the first elements to be formed. This means that without carbon the Earth would be lacking almost every other element. Carbon is a very stable element and is the sixth element on the periodic table. It is located in period 2 and group 14. Carbon is formed during the red giant phase of the life cycle of stars when helium turns into carbon. The red giant phase is an important step in the life cycle of stars and lasts a few million …show more content…
The Earth would be very rigid, denser, and much more rugged, resembling the crust of Venus. Most importantly, hydrogen is a key component of H₂O. Without H₂O there would be no life as we know it. (Facts About Hydrogen, n.d.) The fact that hydrogen was formed just after the big bang explains how it is the starting point for almost every other element. Hydrogen is one of the lightest elements and is a key component in the formation of almost all other elements. It does not belong to any family of elements and though it is a nonmetal, it appears on the left side of the periodic table with the metals. Hydrogen is the first element on the periodic table, and despite sometimes being misidentified, it is not considered an alkali metal, like the elements below it on the periodic table (UCSB Science Line,
The elements that make up Earth originated in the stars through a process called stellar nucleosynthesis. This paper will focus on how the elements impact the Earth, it will provide an in-depth look into how the Earth would be different without certain elements, their chemical makeup, and their location on the periodic table. This paper will focus on the two elements carbon and hydrogen specifically. Earth contains various elements that form all matter. Each element has specific properties and are formed at different times during the lifecycle of stars. Chemistry and astronomy tie into stellar nucleosynthesis because the formation of elements is studied in chemistry …show more content…
Without carbon, our universe would be made of only hydrogen and helium and the absent items would range from rocks to trees to humans. Carbon is an important building block of the elements and is essential to almost all life. Not only is the element carbon important in its solid form, but carbon dioxide is a gas that is even more essential to life. It is crucial to not only the survival of humans, but the survival of this entire planet. While carbon plays a big role on Earth, carbon is also important when it comes to all the elements, the formation of the carbon atomic nucleus occurs within a giant or supergiant star through the triple-alpha process (Chaisson, E. J., & Brecher, K., 2018, May 04). It was one of the first elements to be formed. This means that without carbon the Earth would be lacking almost every other element. Carbon is a very stable element and is the sixth element on the periodic table. It is located in period 2 and group 14. Carbon is formed during the red giant phase of the life cycle of stars when helium turns into carbon. The red giant phase is an important step in the life cycle of stars and lasts a few million …show more content…
The Earth would be very rigid, denser, and much more rugged, resembling the crust of Venus. Most importantly, hydrogen is a key component of H₂O. Without H₂O there would be no life as we know it. (Facts About Hydrogen, n.d.) The fact that hydrogen was formed just after the big bang explains how it is the starting point for almost every other element. Hydrogen is one of the lightest elements and is a key component in the formation of almost all other elements. It does not belong to any family of elements and though it is a nonmetal, it appears on the left side of the periodic table with the metals. Hydrogen is the first element on the periodic table, and despite sometimes being misidentified, it is not considered an alkali metal, like the elements below it on the periodic table (UCSB Science Line,