Just to pick nits, the sun is not the source of our heavy elements. Those came from other stellar phenomena, elsewhere in the galaxy. All of the iron on earth

Just to pick nits, the sun is not the source of our heavy elements. Those came from other stellar phenomena, elsewhere in the galaxy. All of the iron on earth came from supernovae of red supergiant stars. Gold requires much higher energy and some comes from neutron star collisions. Nucleosynthesis of heavy elements requires more energy, and thus more energetic or more massive stars as they get heavier. Through cosmic eons, as stars produce these elements and get exploded, smeared, or otherwise diffused into clouds of elemental ions, the heavy elements coalesce into asteroids that are then captured by the gravity of other stellar systems. Early in the solar system's formation, the heavy elements in asteroids served as seeds around which the lighter elements were attracted. When earth (and other planets) were at their present mass and orbital configuration, there was a period of heavy bombardment, in which asteroids smashed into the surface, depositing nearly all of the heavy elements which humans have access to. Our nuclear energy comes from supernovae from almost half the age of the universe ago (6 bn years.) The radioactive elements in the earth contribute about half of the heat at the surface, the remainder of which comes from the sun. Geothermal is actually partially nuclear energy. Cosmochemistry is wild! https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/uranium-resources/the-cosmic-origins-of-uranium.aspx https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-c...