FORMATION
OF THE FIRST
ELEMENTS
Prepared by:
Engr. Mark Daries
Daries Q. Sardea
Sardea
 

STAGES OF THE UNIVERSE

 

THE BIG BANG

The Big Bang Theory is the
leading explanation about how the
universe began. At its simplest, it
says the universe as we know it
started with a small singularity, then
inflated over the next 13.8 billion
years to the cosmos that we know
today.
 

THE BIG BANG NUCLEOSYNTHESIS

- refers to the production of nuclei

o
istohte
orpethaonf hthyo
dsre on
oge f th
deurinlightte
hset
early phases of the Universe.
- the temperatures in the early
universe were so high that fusion
reactions could take place
 

THE FIRST ELEMENTS

Light Elements - created shortly after the

1. Hydrogen Big Bang.

2. Helium - Re
Resul
sulted
ted from
from the
the fusion
fusion
that occurs because of
the high temperature
 

Only this 2 Light

elements exist after

BUT
the Big Bang
So where did the other
elements come from?
 

STELLAR EVOLUTION
OR THE EVOLUTIONS
OF THE STARS
 

STELLAR EVOLUTION
- th
the
e pro
proce
cess
ss by wh
whic
ich
h a st
star
ar ch
chan
ange
gess ove
overr
the course of time.
- Depending on the mass of the star, its
lifetime
years forcan
therange from a few
most massive million of
to trillions
years for the least massive.
 

TWO TYPES OF STELLAR EVOLUTION

1. Star nucleosynth
nucleosynthesis
esis

2. Supernova Nucleosynthe
Nucleosynthesis
sis
 

STAR NUCLEOSYNTHESIS
- Stars exist approximately 400 million
years after the Big Bang.
- The first stars are called Hydrogen Giants.
100 times larger than the sun.
- Stars converts (H) into (He). (90% of the
life of the stars)
- From (He) to (C) and (O). Then so on until
all the that is left is (Fe).
 

But when a
Star

Runs out of fuel.

 

IT EXPLODES!!!!!
 

Resulting into a:
Supernova
 

SUPERNOVA NUCLEOSYNTHESIS
- Supernova supplies enough energy to
(Fe) atoms.

- Elements heavier than Iron (Fe) were then

formed in this process.
- From Copper, Gallium, Arsenic, then so
on until the element Uranium.
 

DISTRIBUTION OF ELEMENTS IN THE UNIVERSE

- Hydrogen (H) – 
(H) – 74%
74%

- Helium (He)  – 

 – 24%
24%

- Remaining 2% – 
2% – Heavy
Heavy Elements
 

MOST ABUNDANT ELEMENTS IN MILKY WAY

1. Hydrogen 6. Neon
2. Helium 7. Magnesium
3. Carbon 8. Silicon

4. Nitrogen 9. Sulfur
5. Oxygen 10. Iron
 

NUCLEAR FUSION IN
STARS AND
SUPERNOVA
 

NUCLEAR FUSION IN STARS

As the stars evolved over the

next million of years, the elements
also changed and evolved
through the process of the
combination of atoms.
This process is called “Nuclear
Fusion”
 

NUCLEAR FUSION IN STARS

To understand more about the

process of producing elements
heavier than Hydrogen and
Helium, the process of stellar
evolution itself must be discussed
and understood.
 

STELLAR EVOLUTION

The first stars were

only consist of
Hydrogen and Helium,
hence the name
“Hydrogen Giants”. As
the star evolves it goes
hotter and hotter and

become bigger.
 

STELLAR EVOLUTION

Starting from a
small, young,
yellow star,
successive nuclear
reactions occurred
until it became a
giant red star.
 

STELLAR EVOLUTION

The reactions
involved in the
formation of each
new element
happened in
regions or layers so
called “fusion
shells”.
 

STELLAR EVOLUTION

At the first stage of

stars’ life, it is only a
huge ball of hydrogen
and helium. This stage Hydrogen and
Helium
is stilltries
star unstable as the
to be more
compact and to be
more compressed.
 

STELLAR EVOLUTION

As the star
stabilized, the heavier
element, Helium,
settled than at the Helium

center. This creates a

Helium core.
 

STELLAR EVOLUTION

At this stage, the

star began to become
hotter and hotter. This
increase in temperature
in the star leads to Helium

Hydrogen fusion, thus

creating a new region
in the star.
 

STELLAR EVOLUTION

The reactions in the

Hydrogen Fusion shell
as shown as follows:
Helium
 

STELLAR EVOLUTION

When the core

reached temperature
enough for helium
helium burning fusion,
began.
Helium fused with another Carbon

Helium produced
fused again Be. And
with another
He, it produced carbon.
This
Corealso
withreplaced
a CarbonHelium
Core.
 

STELLAR EVOLUTION

The nuclear fusion that

occurred at this stage is:

Carbon
 

STELLAR EVOLUTION

Next, the carbon fused

to produce Neon within
the
This carbon
processFusion Shell.until
continues
the star became an adult
star called
this time, “RED
Iron wasGIANT”.
formedAt
and this is also the time
where the fusion stopped.
 

STELLAR EVOLUTION

These are the process involved in producing

elements until the Iron was formed.
 

STELLAR EVOLUTION

The last stage of the stellar evolution can be

describe using the “Onion Skin Structure”. This model
shows different layers of a star where fusion occurred.
 

STELLAR EVOLUTION

Iron was the last

element to be formed in
stars.
heavierOther
thanelements
Iron was
formed when a star dies
and explode.
called This or
supernova event is
hypernova if the
explosion is very massive.
 

STELLAR EVOLUTION

At an event of a supernova, Neutron

Capture
Capture Reacti
Reactions
ons take place.
place. This is the
the
process that leads to the formation of other
elements heavier than Iron (From Co – 
Co – U).
U).
Neutron Capture Reactions can be
categorized into two:
1. r – 
 – process
process

2. s – 
 – process
process
 

R – 
 – PROCESS
PROCESS

r – 
 – process
process or rapid
process is a type of
Neutron Capture
Reaction which
occurred very fast that
seed nucleus turned into
a relatively heavier
nucleus before beta
decay took place.
 

S – 
 – PROCESS
PROCESS

s – 
 – process
process or slow
process is a type of
Neutron Capture
Reaction which occurred
very slow that beta
decay of the product
isotope happened
before it captured
another neutron