how are Helium, Iron, and Uranium formed?
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how are Helium, Iron, and Uranium formed?
how are Helium, Iron, and Uranium formed?
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Answer:
During the formation of the universe some 14 billion years ago in the so-called ‘Big Bang’, only the lightest elements were formed – hydrogen and helium along with trace amounts of lithium and beryllium. As the cloud of cosmic dust and gases from the Big Bang cooled, stars formed, and these then grouped together to form galaxies.
The other 86 elements found in nature were created in nuclear reactions in these stars and in huge stellar explosions known as supernovae.
For most of their lives, stars fuse elemental hydrogen into helium in their cores. Two atoms of hydrogen are combined in a series of steps to create helium-4. These reactions account for 85% of the Sun’s energy. The remaining 15% comes from reactions that produce the elements beryllium and lithium.
When a star’s core runs out of hydrogen, the star begins to die out. The dying star expands into a red giant, and this now begins to manufacture carbon atoms by fusing helium atoms.
More massive stars begin a further series of nuclear burning or reaction stages. The elements formed in these stages range from oxygen through to iron.