The Astrophysical Processes of Cosmological Hydrogen that Generate the Chemical Elements that Make up the Universe

Abstract

The objective of the present article is to explain how all the chemical elements were formed from the big bang generated element: hydrogen. The methodology used was to analyze the main cosmological and astrophysical processes in order to explain the origin of all the known chemical elements. The main results are: Hydrogen cannot be formed in any part of the actual universe; it must come from the Big Bang. Helium and a little bit of lithium can have a cosmological origin associated to the Big Bang nucleosynthesis and the recombination process. The elements with an atomic number between 3 and 26 were, and continue to be, synthetized by nuclear fusion reactions inside the core of massive stars and liberated by explosion when the stars go supernovae, at the end of their lives. In the process of going supernova, elements with a medium atomic number, between 27 and 40, are created. All the elements with an atomic number larger than 40 were generated by neutron star collisions. When Mendeleev and Lothar Meyer designed an ordered arrangement of chemical elements, their tables included the 63 chemical elements known in 1869. A century and a half later, the known elements are 118. By studying different topics related to the elements, it was possible to uncover fundamental particles, such as quarks and leptons, and the strong and weak nuclear forces that form the baryonic part of the universe. The Sun was formed 6000 million years ago and its planets, including earth, were formed 4600 million years ago when and where there were debris of different stars that went supernova, in particular 1A type, and also debris, of at least one of a binary neutron star collision, so to attain, all the elements that have been identified in the solar system, and especially in earth. In addition, the current “periodic table” includes 26 synthetic elements that were produced in neutron star collisions but, because of their short lifetimes, they are not found, on earth. The vast quantities of the elements, produced during the aforementioned astrophysical processes, clustered into planets, stars and galaxies; and at least in one planet, our earth, some chemical elements organized themselves into living creatures.