You've probably heard that "we are stardust," but this graphic breaks it down and tells you what kind of stars your dust came from--and which elements didn't come from stars at all. 🧪 svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13873/ - ThreadSky

coreyspowell.bsky.social • 25 days ago

You've probably heard that "we are stardust," but this graphic breaks it down and tells you what kind of stars your dust came from--and which elements didn't come from stars at all. 🧪

https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13873/

Comments

coreyspowell.bsky.social•25 days ago

New findings from JWST bolster the case that a lot of the heavy elements in the universe (including most of the gold on Earth) formed during collisions between neutron stars. 🧪

https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/jwst-colliding-neutron-star/

coreyspowell.bsky.social•25 days ago

More details about the chemical history of the universe from Jennifer Johnson, the astronomer who created the original version of the cosmic periodic table: 🧪🔭

https://www.americanscientist.org/article/a-chemical-history-of-the-universe

coreyspowell.bsky.social•25 days ago

All of the blue beakers near the bottom indicate elements that are known only from experiments on Earth. We humans are a powerful creative force; we just need to be better about using that power for constructive ends.

mackuba.eu•25 days ago

Btw, are any of the "beaker" elements used for anything practical in a mass way? (Not a loaded question :)

coreyspowell.bsky.social•25 days ago

For sure! One example: Most home smoke detectors use americium-241 as their ionizing source.

https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/smoke-detectors.html

mackuba.eu•25 days ago

Are any of them non-radioactive?

natanael.bsky.social•25 days ago

Lead!

"The three isotopes lead-206, lead-207, and lead-208 represent the ends of three decay chains: the uranium series (or radium series), the actinium series, and the thorium series, respectively"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotopes_of_lead

natanael.bsky.social•25 days ago

Helium is probable the best example, because we're actively collecting it because it's a useful byproduct which isn't easy to find elsewhere

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_gas
See the bit on production

edavis.dev•25 days ago

fascinating, thanks for the link

magpiemiller.bsky.social•25 days ago

Well-expressed!

anitramwaju.malauren.be•25 days ago

Shouldn't Plutonium be in this category?

steenyswank.bsky.social•25 days ago

📌

dougsloane.bsky.social•25 days ago

I thought there was some sort of boundary condition at Iron whereby heavier elements required a different process but looking at that graphic it doesn't seem so ?

coreyspowell.bsky.social•25 days ago

You're right, elements heavier than iron can't be built up directly by fusion. But any star massive enough to produce iron is about to explode as a supernova, at which point all kinds of heavier elements get added into the mix during the frenzy of nuclear reactions.

dougsloane.bsky.social•25 days ago

Ahh, I see. So am I correct in thinking that the elements below Iron could also have the "Dying, low mass" icon ?

muffthecat.bsky.social•25 days ago

📌

cjschmidt79.bsky.social•25 days ago

Thank you for satisfying my curiosity about our origins.

jcmaraver.bsky.social•25 days ago

📌

sebcruz.bsky.social•25 days ago

This is awesome!

frogfall.bsky.social•25 days ago

Time to think again. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68787534

llyrkellow.bsky.social•25 days ago

Thank you for this! Amazing and very cool!

escanaba.bsky.social•25 days ago

TIL about cosmic ray collisions ("spallation") and how they form Boron and Beryllium.

vakaastra.bsky.social•25 days ago

Very cool, reminds one of Dr S Curtis's videos on the elements and where they came from .

rob-rainbolt.bsky.social•25 days ago

The Big Bang is overrated... only gave us TWO elements! 😩

lynncabin.bsky.social•25 days ago

📌

wandery.bsky.social•25 days ago

Anywhere I can buy this? I love it!

coreyspowell.bsky.social•25 days ago

I don't know of a commercial version of the table, but these days you can get it custom printed on a frame or t-shirt for a fairly modest cost. It's available in hi-res for free from the NASA site.