The Elements: Forged in Stars

Fusion, which occurs when atomic nuclei combine to form new elements, is extremely powerful. All the stars in the universe, including the Sun, are nuclear furnaces fueled by fusion. Through fusion, stars are responsible for forming all the naturally occurring elements heavier than hydrogen and helium -- before stellar nucleosynthesis, only the lightest elements existed in the universe. This video segment adapted from NOVA illustrates the critical role that stars play in creating the elements.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Elements
• Fusion
• Stars
• Periodic
• Table

[roblow12345]

We all came from the stars!

[SuperJasontheman]

Forget Jesus, the stars died for you.

[PyroMachinima]

Awful grafics

[jyanixbach]

@clergame good question, I doubt it, but than again we probably wouldn't have an atmosphere if one blew that close so I doubt we would care

[dayati]

@SuperJasontheman a sun died for us, Christians just confused which one.

[clergame]

I wonder that if a star went supernova 10 light years away would we all be permanently blind?

[TheEggplantNinja]

what about lithium and beryllium and boron?

[powerfulwords]

Excellent, thanks! Now what I need is this slowed down enough to explain the chemical reactions and which energy is produced (or used) where! :-)

[fiesta181]

@SuperJasontheman LOL, Lawrence Krauss.

Brilliant!

[bellehetbees]

1 doesn't like it the vid? What's wrong with atoms and stardust being the buildingblocks we're made of? Some people always have to do it the opposite way...

[SuperJasontheman]

For some reason a friend of mine thought that atoms couldn't fuse together to form heavier elements. Thanks for settling this argument for me.