6. What elements were formed during the big bang?

The existence of all matter is believed to

have started with the birth of the universe. The most widely accepted explanation of the universe
is the Big Bang Theory. The evidence of the Big Bang theory was first expressed in the early 1900s,
when Edwin Hubble offered an explanation that the universe is expanding. He observed that many
stars and galaxies shine with light shifted toward the red end of the visible spectrum (redshift). This
developed into Hubble’s Law, which suggest that the size of the redshift is proportional to the
distance and speed of the star moving away from the Earth. With Hubble’s data, cosmologists have
traced the expansion back to a time when the entire universe was smaller than an atom. The Big
Bang theory postulates that approximately 14 billion years ago, sphere about one-cm diameter
experienced a huge explosion, spreading its products as a fast-moving cloud of gas. The event was
accompanied by an emission of a huge amount of light. Within the first second after the explosion,
subatomic particles such as protons, neutrons, and electrons were formed. As the expanding
universe cooled, the protons and neutrons started to fuse to form heavier nuclei of deuterium and
some into helium. Spreading nuclear fusion reactions, in which two atomic nuclei join to form a new
type of nuclei, resulted in the production of other light elements and their isotopes. Astronomers
believe that a few minutes after the Big Bang, the universe was composed of approximately 75 %
(by mass) hydrogen,25 % helium and trace amounts of lithium. The process through which these
light elements are formed are called the big bang nucleosynthesis as shown in the image. Observe
that two isotopes of helium (He-3 and He-4) have been formed from these reactions.
What happened during the stellar evolution? What elements were formed during the
stellar evolution? The universe continuously expanded for several years and the cloud of hydrogen
and helium gases condensed to form stars, including the sun. Over millions of years, the stars made
up of hydrogen became hotter and denser. During this stellar evolution, nuclear reactions continued,
which produced elements heavier than lithium. The light elements combined to formed to form atoms
of carbon, neon, oxygen, silicon, and iron. The stars are described to have an “onion skin structure” as
it evolves and produce new elements.
A younger yellow star made up of hydrogen is fueled by energy released from the fusion of
hydrogen nuclei to form helium. The outer layer of the star is composed of burning hydrogen from
nuclear fusions which produce the helium. Once enough helium-4 is produced, these nuclei become
concentrated at the core of the star, thus making the temperature hotter at the core. Hydrogen
fusion continues, but in a “shell” surrounding the helium core. When the core reached the
temperature enough for helium fusion to occur, helium burning begins. The outer temperature then
becomes colder than the core, which causes the star to become red. From this fusion, beryllium-8
is formed. Another helium-4 nucleus fuses with beryllium-8 to form carbon-12. The carbon nuclei
produced become more concentrated at the center. This produces a carbon core, that when it
reaches a certain temperature to allow carbon fusion, it produces neon within the carbon fusion
shell. Neon then becomes concentrated at the core, then undergoes fusion to produce oxygen.
When oxygen becomes concentrated at the core, fusion continues, producing silicon. Lastly, the
fusion of silicon-28 produces radioactive nickel-56, which will then decay to iron. More nuclear
fusions happen between different nuclei to form the other elements. However, the production of
element stops when iron is formed. Since iron is the most stable nuclei, it is unable to undergo
fusion. In all of the previous reactions, a great amount of energy is produced, enough to fuel more
nuclear reactions: however, in order to produce elements heavier than iron, energy input is
necessary. At this point, the star has already exhausted its nuclear fuel.

What happened during the stellar/supernova explosion? What elements were formed
during the stellar explosion? As the red giant star exhausted the nuclear fuel of light elements,
its core started to collapse and eventually led to the explosion of the star. This violent explosion
called supernova released a huge amount of nuclear energy and produced, through neutron capture
and radioactive decay, other elements heavier than iron. Neutron capture can be as fast as a fraction
of a second or as slow as a few million years. This process occurs as a seed nucleus captures
neutrons, forming a heavier isotope of the element that can either be stable or radioactive. Stable
isotopes can continue to capture neutrons and form other heavier isotopes of the seed nuclei.
Unstable or radioactive isotopes, however, will undergo beta decay, producing an isotope of a new
element. For seed nuclei with relatively few neutrons (from iron to bismuth), neutron capture occurs
so slowly that beta decay of the product isotope happens before it can capture another neutron. This
is referred to as the s-process or slow process. An example of this of this process is the formation of
copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) nuclei form nickel (Ni) nucleus. However, a series of neutron capture may
occur very fast that the seed nucleus turns into a relatively heavier nucleus before beta decay takes
place. Such process is referred to as rapid process or r-process. Different isotopes and much heavier
elements are formed during the neutron capture-and decay process. All these elements, along with
the fragments of the star during the supernova, are released into the vast space and gradually
condensed to form the different planets like Earth, new stars, and other heavenly bodies.