Physical Science
Nucleosynthesis.
Module 1: Formation of Heavy Elements
□ Big Bang – The explosion of a primordial atom
which happened 13 billion years ago.
□ Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
o Hydrogen and Helium – it was formed
when protons and neutrons combined
together
o Lithium and Beryllium
□ Stellar Nucleosynthesis – the formation of
elements in the center of the star
o Stellar – Star
o Carl Sagan – “We are made of star stuff”
□ Proton-Proton Chain reaction - This is
the process by which average star gets
their energy and convert Hydrogen into
Helium.
o It starts with proton and neutron
fused together to form deuterium
o When one proton collides with
deuterium, Helium-3 is formed.
o Two Helium-3 collided will form
Helium-4.
□ CNO (Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen) Cycle –
It is the process to convert Hydrogen into
Helium.
□ Tri alpha process - happens in red giant
star once they leave the stage of main
sequence star.
o This is how three Helium 4 are
converted into Carbon.
□ Alpha ladder process - Alpha particle
fusion happens at its core and creates
more heavy elements until Iron.
□ Neutron capture - a neutron is added to
a seed nucleus.
o S-process or slow process
happens when there is a slow rate
of capturing neutron while there is
a faster rate of radioactive decay
hence increasing the proton by 1.
o R-process or rapid process means
that there is faster rate of capturing
neutron before it undergoes
radioactive decay thus, more
neutrons can be combined at the
nucleus.
 This is what happens in a
supernova forming heavier
elements than Iron with the
process known as
Supernova
Module 2: Concept of Atomic Number Led
to the Synthesis of New Elements in the
Laboratory
□ There is what we call Big Bang Theory that
has some key stages: Singularity, Inflation,
Nucleosynthesis and Recombination
o Singularity is a one-dimensional point
which contains a huge mass in an
infinitely small space, where density
and gravity become infinite and space-
time curves infinitely, and where the
laws of physics as we know them cease
to operate.
o The basic homogeneity in distribution
of matter in the universe was
established because of the first phase
of inflation.
o Nucleosynthesis was the nuclear
fusion and the formation of new nuclei
actions in the early stages of
development of the universe.
o Recombination - the formation of the
capture of free electrons by the cations
in a plasma
The atomic number is the number of protons
(positively charged particles) in an atom.
□ Henry Gwyn-Jeffreys Moseley was an
English physicist who demonstrated that the
atomic number, the number of protons in an
atom, determines most of the properties of an
element.
□ In 1919, Ernest Rutherford successfully
carried out a nuclear transmutation reaction a
process of transforming one element or isotope
into another element.
□ In 1925, there were four vacancies in the
periodic table corresponding to the atomic
numbers 43, 61, 85, and 87. Elements with
atomic numbers 43 and 85 were synthesized
using particle accelerators.
□ A particle accelerator is a device that is used
to speed up the protons to overcome the
repulsion between the protons and the target
atomic nuclei by using magnetic and electrical
fields. It is used to synthesize new elements.