Your Cosmic Connection to the Elements

1. Your Cosmic Connection to the Elements James Lochner (USRA) & Suzanne Pleau Kinnison (AESP), NASA/GSFC

2. Elementary Connections

3. Cosmic Connections To make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe. Carl Sagan

4. Your Cosmic Connection to the Elements?

5. The Big Bang

6. The Big Bang Cosmology • The expansion of the universe began at a finite time in the past, in a state of enormous density, pressure and temperature. • “Big Bang” is a highly successful family of theories with no obvious competitor. • Explains what we see, and has made several successful predictions.

7. Big Bang Nucleosynthesis • Within first three minutes, Hydrogen & Helium formed. • At t =1 s, T=10,000,000,000 K: soup of particles: photons, electrons, positrons, protons, neutrons. Particles created & destroyed. • At t =3 min, T=1,000,000,000 K: p+n => D • D + D => He

8. Big Bang Nucleosynthesis • Note that the only elements that come from the Big Bang are: • Hydrogen • Helium • Lithium (a little bit)

9. Small Stars

10. Stellar Nursery Space is filled with the stuff to make stars.

11. But not this kind of dust Stars start from clouds Clouds provide the gas and dust from which stars form. Rather: Irregular Grains Of Carbon or Silicon

12. Small Stars: Fusion of light elements Fusion: (at 15 million degrees !) 4 (1H) => 4He + 2 e+ + 2 neutrinos + energy Where does the energy come from ? Mass of four 1H > Mass of one 4He E = mc2

13. Small Stars to Red Giants After Hydrogen is exhausted in core, Energy released from nuclear fusion no longer counter-acts inward force of gravity. • Core collapses, • Kinetic energy of collapse converted into heat. • This heat expands the outer layers. • Meanwhile, as core collapses, • Increasing Temperature and Pressure ...

14. A Red Giant You Know

15. Beginning of Heavier Elements • At 100 million degrees Celsius, Helium fuses: • 3 (4He) => 12C + energy • After Helium exhausted, small star not large enough to attain temperatures necessary to fuse Carbon.

16. The end for small stars After Helium exhausted, outer layers of star expelled Planetary Nebulae

17. Large Stars

18. Heavy Elements from Large Stars • Large stars also fuse Hydrogen into Helium, and Helium into Carbon. • But their larger masses lead to higher temperatures, which allow fusion of Carbon into Magnesium, etc.

19. Light Elements Heavy Elements 4 (1H) 4He + energy 3(4He) 12C + energy 4He + 16O 20Ne + energy 16O + 16O 32S + energy 28Si + 7(4He) 56Ni + energy 56Fe 4He + 12C 16O + energy 12C + 12C 24Mg + energy Element Formation through Fusion

20. Supernova

21. Supernova !

22. Supernova • Fusion of Iron takes energy, rather than releases energy. • So fusion stops at Iron. • Energy released from nuclear fusion no longer counter-acts inward force of gravity. • But now there is nothing to stop gravity. • Massive star ends its life in supernova explosion.

23. All X-ray Energies Silicon Calcium Iron Supernova • Explosive power of a supernova: • Disperses elements created in large stars. • Creates new elements, especially those heavier than Iron.

24. From Death comes Life Supernovae compress gas and dust which lie between the stars. This gas is also enriched by the expelled material. This compression starts the collapse of gas and dust to form new stars.

25. Cosmic Rays

26. Cosmic Rays • Lithium, Beryllium, and Boron are difficult to produce in stars. • (L, Be, and B are formed in the fusion chains, but they are unstable at high temperatures, and tend to break up into residues of He, which are very stable). • So what is the origin of these rare elements? • => Collisions of Cosmic Rays with Hydrogen & Helium in interstellar space.

27. Cosmic ray Light nucleus Interstellar matter (~1 hydrogen atom per cm3) Light nucleus Cosmic Rays Collisions with ISM Lithium, beryllium, and boron and sub-iron enhancements attributed to nuclear fragmentation of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and iron with interstellar matter (primarily hydrogen and helium). (CNO or Fe) + (H & He)ISM (LiBeB or sub-Fe)

28. Cosmic Elements White - Big BangPink - Cosmic Rays Yellow - Small StarsGreen - Large Stars Blue - Supernovae

29. Your Cosmic Connection to the Elements?

30. Composition of the Universe Actually, this is just the solar system. Composition varies from place to place in universe, and between different objects.

31. “What’s Out There?” (Developed by Stacie Kreitman, Falls Church, VA) • A classroom activity that demonstrates the different elemental compositions of different objects in the universe. • Demonstrates how we estimate the abundances.

32. Top 10 Elements in the Human Body • Element by # atoms Cosmic Process • 10. Magnesium (Mg) 0.03% LS, SN • 9. Chlorine (Cl) 0.04% LS • 8. Sodium (Na) 0.06% LS • 7. Sulfur (S) 0.06% SS, LS • 6. Phosphorous (P) 0.20% LS • 5. Calcium (Ca) 0.24% LS • 4. Nitrogen (N) 1.48% SS, LS • 3. Carbon (C) 9.99% SS, LS • 2. Oxygen (O) 26.33% LS, SS • 1. Hydrogen (H) 61.56% BB

33. Life Cycle of a Star

34. Stellar Rotation Stations • How does the sun produce energy? How is fusion different from bonding? • Do small stars or large stars burn faster? • Do small stars or large stars burn hotter? • When does fusion stop in a red supergiant? Why? • What determines the life cycle of a star? • Where do stars begin to form? • Why are type IA supernovae rare? • How would you list the stars in color from hottest to coolest?

35. HR Diagram • Describe the general trend between temperature and brightness. • What is the color and brightness of the most abundant stars? The rarest stars? • What are the characteristics of the stars that do not conform to the graph’s trend? • In terms of the graph’s trend, is our sun typical or exceptional? • If you replaced the temperature scale on the graph’s x-axis with a color scale, which color would be closest to the graph’s origin and which would farthest away?

36. HR Diagram • What is luminosity? • What 2 criteria are used to classify stars on the HR diagram? • Why might stars of one color be much more abundant than stars of another color? • Which type(s) of star should we consider first when looking for stars that might have life-supporting worlds around them? Why?

37. p3 steadily making He. Future C, N What’s Your Cosmic Connection to the Elements? Betelgeuse Red Giant making Ca and beyond. Future supernova. Orion Nebula New stars getting heavy elements. Future Earths? Rigel - Blue Supergiant making, He, C, N. Future heavy elements.

38. http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/teachers/elements/

39. Spectral Analysis • We can’t always get a sample of a piece of the Universe. • So we depend on light !

40. Hydrogen Spectral Analysis • Each element has a unique spectral signature: • Determined by arrangement of electrons. • Lines of emission or absorption arise from re-arrangement of electrons into different energy levels.

41. Then, “play” an element Hydrogen Nickel-odeon Classroom Activity (Developed by Shirley Burris, Nova Scotia) Spread a rainbow of color across a piano keyboard

42. Helium And Another Carbon More Musical Elements Now play another element

43. Hydrogen Oxygen Getting a Handle on Water Water All together now ...

44. http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/teachers/elements/