Dinner Questions

Question:
When the universe was created in the big bang there were only two types of atoms created, Hydrogen (74%) and Helium (26%). Where does all the other types of atoms come from?

Hints:

• The center of our sun creates a lot of energy from nuclear fusion.
• Nuclear fusion happens when two or more nuclei combine to become a larger one..
• Simple Hydrogen fusion makes Helium.
  

Solution:
The heavier elements are fused through nuclear fusion.

• Small stars (smaller than ours) can only produce Helium from Hydrogen.
• Medium sized stars (like our son) eventually 'burn' away their Hydrogen and can produce heavier elements like Carbon and Oxygen.
• Large stars (greater than 5 times our sun) can produce nearly? all the elements up until iron. It can't produce anything heavier than Iron because it takes more energy to make a heavier element than it gets out in energy from the fusion. The other reactions are all exothermic, producing more energy than was required to fuse the elements together.
  
• These large stars explode in a supernova explosion and during the explosion heavier elements than iron are also created. This is where we come from, from older supernova explosions! We are literally made of star dust.
  

Sources:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/stars/fusion.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fusion
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/astro/hydhel.html