isotope

The First Nucleosynthesis

/ Emma / Leave a comment

One minute after the Big Bang, all the protons, neutrons, and electrons that would ever exist had been produced.

There were no atomic nuclei, though. No atoms. No materials as you and I know it–like wood, metal, or soil. Just a soup of subatomic particles and radiation.

The existing protons and neutrons could try to accrete together into an atomic nucleus, but they wouldn’t last long. High-energy photons–particles or “packets” of light–would quickly break them up.

But that was about to change…

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How Atoms Work

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atom photo.jpg

Have you ever seen something like this?

I’m going to venture a wild guess and say you haven’t, since scientists have only recently been able to take this kind of image. I learned about it in my biology class this semester, and the professor said that it was a landmark achievement.

You’re looking at an atom.

Yes, that’s right. You’re looking at a single, microscopic building block of matter.

Let me give you an idea of just how small this is. Millions of the smallest atom in the universe can fit lined across the diameter of a single pinhead.

But I’ll ask you another question. If I showed you an image like the one below, would you immediately think, “atom”?

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Types of Atoms

/ Emma / 13 Comments
PeriodicTable.png

Does this look familiar?

It might, or it might not. If it does, you might recognize it as the periodic table of the elements—more often known as simply the “periodic table.” It’s an ingenious way to organize elements that has worked for scientists for quite some time.

To fully appreciate the ingenuity of the periodic table, I’d have to take you through a few chemistry lessons. Never fear, I have every intention of doing so—later. For now, though, I just want to address enough of the world of atoms to talk about stellar spectra.

That just means the spectrums we get from stars, by the way. (Spectra is plural for spectrum.) And that means…well…we’ll talk about it later. Let’s talk about the different types of atoms first.

Atoms are the building blocks of the universe. Which means there must be different types. But what are they?

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