Pow! Zap! (Big) Bang?! (Introduction)

by Balance_Maintained , U.S.A., Saturday, September 25, 2010, 20:21 (5172 days ago) @ David Turell

You asked about the need for nova/supernovas to account for the heavy elements in the universe. Here is the link.-
Nuclear synthesis states that elements above iron in the periodic table cannot be formed in the normal nuclear fusion processes in stars. Up to iron, fusion yields energy and thus can proceed. But since iron is at the peak of the binding energy curve, fusion of elements above iron dramatically absorbs energy. So to produce heavier elements, enormous amounts of energy are needed. Current opinion is that they must be formed in supernovae. In the supernova explosion, a large flux of energetic neutrons is produced and nuclei bombarded by these neutrons build up mass one unit at a time to produce the heavy nuclei. With large neutron excesses, these nuclei would simply disintegrate into smaller nuclei again were it not for the large flux of neutrinos which make possible the conversion of neutrons to protons via the weak interaction in the nuclei. The layers containing the heavy elements are be blown off by the supernova explosion, and provide the raw material of heavy elements in the distant hydrogen clouds which condense to form new stars.-
In order for stars to account for all the heavier elements in the universe, they would have to run through at least one life cycle.-"A star the size of our Sun requires about 50 million years to mature from the beginning of the collapse to adulthood. Our Sun will stay in this mature phase (on the main sequence as shown in the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram) for approximately 10 billion years."-The universe is 13.7 billion years old. The lifecycle of a star, before it goes nova even once, call it avg 10by. 13.7by-10by=3.7by. That would mean that the Age of any planetary body other than stars, since they are comprised of heavier elements, could not be more than 3.7b years old. Even if they were formed directly from the output of a single Supernova. The earth is estimated 4.6b years old. -Is that sufficient to back up the statement I made?