Almost every single religion of
humankind has something to do the celestial heavens and stars. This drawing
nearness and yearning of fascination of the look in heavens gives us the very
feelings of connection to the god(s) who made us. The very fabric of stardust
that builds the very elements inside you and outside of your life have been
made by the supergiant stars. Stars are the very factory of most of the
elements that we have been made up of in this universe. How does this process
works? The key answer in this lies in gravitational force that contra balances the
repulsive forces of electromagnetic force.
The stars and planets are celestial masses that are
suspended in space held by gravitational pulls of masses. The major difference
in stars and planets lies in the mass size. A single star with enough mass is
able to overcome the resistance of electromagnetic forces that repel the
protons together. Jupiter, our solar system planet is called a failed star
because it did not have enough mass to overcome the repulsion forces of
hydrogen atoms. This squeezing of protons together is called nuclear fusion.
The electromagnetic repulsion forces are overcome by gravitational forces.
These forces do not disappear. A star is a giant ball of two forces fighting
each other. If you take a proton and squeeze into the next proton the repulsion
forces pull the two protons apart, but if you have enough mass the gravitational
force still overcomes the repulsion force of two protons like two hydrogen
atoms. Eventually you are able to form a strong nuclear force that will hold those protons and neutrons together when distances are very short. Once you start fusing small elements you start to form bigger elements.
If the star is a supergiant star or
hypergiant star the gravitational force always wins over repulsion forces of
positive charges and heavier elements are created. This process continues until
the strong nuclear forces start winning over the gravitational force. When you
create a large element from smaller elements the strong nuclear forces increase
in its energy force. This increase in atomic size starts to produce weak forces,
which are also responsible for building elements. For example, if the element
has been fused enough too many times it can undergo beta decay if the element
has too many neutrons to protons ratio. This nuclear decay itself increases the
atomic number of element by converting a neutron into a proton. The building of
large elements puts pressure on the outer edge of the star from heat that is
generated from fusion. It becomes harder and harder for big stars to pull the elements
of large nuclei to fuse together. The star is always pulsating between these
two forces. Eventually the stretch of two forces cause the star to collapse
causing major explosion that causes supernova. This explosion causes all of the
elements that were made in the stars to be spit out. These elements all emit
different electromagnetic spectrum of colors. The core of the star might
remain, but the rest of the elements are just floating around in space ready to
make new planets just like the earth that has nickel and iron at its core.
Those two elements alone tell us that our ancestor star was some giant star
that has exploded. Those elements are essential building blocks of matter and
all you need to get started is to have hydrogen atoms with large enough mass to
start the squeezing of elements into larger elements.
