Posted on 09/07/2011 1:17:20 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
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What is the heaviest element a star can produce?
“A widely accepted theory predicts that stars like this, with low mass and extremely low quantities of metals, shouldnt exist because the clouds of material from which they formed could never have condensed,[2]”
http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1132/
The gas and dust clouds from which stars form typically require some sort of external trigger such as a nearby supernova explosion or spiral arm gravitational wave in order to condense into stars. Perhaps this sort received an especially large external force. Perhaps it was very close to the exploded super nova or in a ‘special’ location within a spiral arm?
Got my answer. It is iron.
Anything above iron is the result of a super nova.
>>> What is the heaviest element a star can produce?
I believe the theories so far say that the day to day fusion in a star will produce elements only up to Iron. The heavier elements are then the result of the forces as the star ultimately collapses and goes nova.
Then again, nevermind :)
And I thank you. :)
Wikipedia is a good source for hard science facts.
Iron. However, heavier elements are created in supernova explosions and scattered back into the interstellar medium, to be parts of new stars and planetary systems.
He is still getting a kick out of our evolution fantasy.
It is cool how elements are made.
My chemistry prof told the class that it is thought that there are more natural elements than is currently known, we just don’t have yet the technological means of detecting those elements.
Scientists even think they’ve figured out the shape of the electron pathways of the next shell.
"These are the only ones of which the news has come to Harvard,
And there may be many others, but they haven't been discovered."
Tom Lehr - The Elements
I was reading that the first molecule of an element denser than iron at a star’s core means almost immediate destruction of the star.
As I understood it, it creates some sort of back pressure and shock wave that helps create more heavy elements. (as well as the destruction of the star)
Look at the lower right of the Periodic Table.
Except for perhaps a few man-made elements, with short lives, the answer is “all of them, including the heaviest.”
Where else would any of the natural elements come from?
Your momma’s cooking?
“Shouldn’t exist?” Well, it does exist, so it’s time for some new theories.
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It would depend too on where this star is in the galaxy. If it´s in the outer reaches/limbs one would expect it to be less enriched in heavier elements.
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