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If I were* the median atom in the universe, how many times would I have been through a full star cycle? 0? 1? 3000? * I’m not, but I’m just saying, “If I were”
by LeonB 3y ago
If I were* the median atom in the universe, how many times would I have been through a full star cycle? 0? 1? 3000?
* I’m not, but I’m just saying, “If I were” (but I’m not)
- anon25783 3y agoZero. Of all the atoms in the Universe, about 98% are primordial hydrogen and helium[1], "primordial" meaning they formed very shortly after the Big Bang. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abundance_of_the_chemical_elements https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abundance_of_the_chemical_elem...
- simonh 3y agoThat’s not quite the same question. Most of the primordial hydrogen that goes through stars isn’t fused into anything else and therefore is still primordial hydrogen, but it has been in one or more stars.
- LeonB 3y agoWho’s to say it hasn’t been through a dozen stars? Or a thousand? It could’ve blinked into existence five minutes ago. (I could be wrong)
- anon25783 3y agoHmm... I wonder what portion of all matter in the Universe is the intergalactic medium? I would conjecture that most matter in the intergalactic medium has never been inside a star.
- throwup238 3y agoMost of the universe is primordial atoms that haven’t fused yet but if you were to take an iron atom, it probably would have been through only one star cycle. A main sequence star at least ten times the size of the sun goes through several stages as it ages: hydrogen, helium, carbon, neon, oxygen, and finally silicon burning. The silicon burning stage produces abundant iron and the type II supernova that follows spreads it around.