FORMATION

OF THE FIRST
ELEMENTS
Prepared by:
Engr. Mark Daries Q. 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
other than those of the lightest
isotope of hydrogen during the
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
- Resulted from the 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

- the process by which a star changes over

the course of time.
- Depending on the mass of the star, its
lifetime can range from a few million
years for the most massive to trillions of
years for the least massive.
 TWO TYPES OF STELLAR EVOLUTION

1. Star nucleosynthesis

2. Supernova Nucleosynthesis
 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) – 74%

- Helium (He) – 24%

- Remaining 2% – 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
is still unstable as the Helium
star tries 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 fusion,
helium burning began.
Helium fused with another Carbon
Helium produced Be. And
fused again with another
He, it produced carbon.
This also replaced Helium
Core with a Carbon Core.
 STELLAR EVOLUTION
The nuclear fusion that
occurred at this stage is:

Carbon
 STELLAR EVOLUTION
Next, the carbon fused
to produce Neon within
the carbon Fusion Shell.
This process continues until
the star became an adult
star called “RED GIANT”. At
this time, Iron was formed
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. Other elements
heavier than Iron was
formed when a star dies
and explode. This event is
called supernova or
hypernova if the
explosion is very massive.
 STELLAR EVOLUTION
At an event of a supernova, Neutron
Capture Reactions take place. This is the
process that leads to the formation of other
elements heavier than Iron (From Co – U).
Neutron Capture Reactions can be
categorized into two:
1. r – process
2. s – process
 R – PROCESS
r – 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
s – 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