“The commonsense view that dominated science for centuries was that they don’t come from anywhere. They’re neither created nor destroyed: elements just are. Since the pinprick that existed back then, fourteen billion years ago, contained all the matter in the universe, everything around us must have been ejected from that speck. Not shaped like diamond tiaras and tin cans and aluminium foil quite yet, but the same basic stuff. (One scientist calculated that it took the big bang ten minutes to create all known matter, then quipped, “The elements were cooked in less time than it takes to cook a dish of duck and roast potatoes”
Elements and Atoms
Where do elements come from? Who discovered them? People have always been curious about the origins of elements, pure substances made of atoms found in the periodic table. All matter is made up of substances called elements, which have specific chemical and physical properties. There are 118 known elements, but 94 of them actually exists naturally on Earth. Twenty-four of them are actually man-made. These man-made elements are chemical elements that does not occur naturally on Earth, and can only be created artificially. Elements are important because everything around us is made out of elements. If there is no element, there is no matter. Each element is classified with a chemical symbol, which is a single capital letter or a combination of two letters.
An atom is the smallest unit of matter. It contains all of the chemical properties of an element. Furthermore, atoms consist of three particles called subatomic particles: protons, neutrons, and electrons. They are fundamental for the makeup of all matter. An atom is divided into two regions. The first region contains a tiny atomic nucleus, which is in the center of an atom and contains positively charged particles called protons and neutral particles called neutrons. The second region of the atom is a “cloud” of electrons, negatively charged particles that orbit around the nucleus. The attraction between the protons and electrons hold the atom together. The four elements common to all living organisms are oxygen (O), carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and nitrogen (N), which all together make up about 96% of the human body.
The Big Bang Theory
Many people argue over who actually created the elements. It is believed that elements were neither created nor destroyed. However, there were theories that were proposed to explain how they were created. A Belgian priest named Georges Lemaître first suggested the Big Bang theory in the late 1920s. He theorized that the universe began to form from a single primordial or original atom. The idea eventually received major support by Edwin Hubble's observations that galaxies are speeding away from us in all directions, and from the discovery of cosmic microwave radiation by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson.
This theory is an explanation on how all the matter and energy in the universe was created. In addition, the Big Bang theory was born based off of the observations that other galaxies were moving away from our own at great speed, in all directions, as if they had all been propelled by an ancient explosive force.The Big Bang suggests that some 10 billion to 20 billion years ago, a massive blast allowed all the universe's known matter and energy, even space and time itself, to form from some unknown energy.
The lightest and simplest elements, hydrogen, helium, beryllium, and lithium were believed to be produced first in the hot, dense conditions of the birth of the universe itself. According to the Big Bang, the temperatures were really high that fusion reactions were able to take place. Nuclear fusion is the process during which atomic nuclei are forced together under tremendous heat and pressure to create heavier nuclei. When the new star reaches a certain size, a process called nuclear fusion ignites, generating the star's vast energy. In addition, the stars would create new elements in their cores by squeezing elements together. The fusion process forces hydrogen atoms together, transforming them into heavier elements such as helium. First, stars fuse hydrogen atoms into helium. Helium atoms then fuse to create beryllium. It will go on until fusion in the star's core has created every element up to iron. These elements were thrown out into the universe during stellar explosion called novae. It is believed that when the star dies after millions or billions of years, it may release heavier elements.
It is not clear on how the universe changed and evolved, but many scientists believed that as time passed and matter cooled, more diverse kinds of atoms began to form, which eventually condensed into the stars and galaxies. The Big Bang theory leaves several major questions unanswered. One main one is the original cause of the Big Bang itself. Several answers have been proposed to address this fundamental question, but none has been proven and even testing them has been a challenge.
Man-made Elements
Twenty-four of known elements were man-made. Where did these other elements come from? These elements are not known to exist in nature, but have been made artificially in a human-designed environment and under laboratory conditions. Scientists would combine atoms together in machines known as particle accelerators. For example, it was discovered that letting fast neutrons to collide with common isotope of uranium known as U-238 in a nuclear reactor, the new element plutonium was made. These particle accelerators produce a beam of charged particles that can be used for a variety of research purposes like medicines.
Understanding the Big Bang theory is significant because it lays out a basic concept and structure that helps us explain how the universe was created. It breaks down the timeline on how matter is formed. We are able to see how this theory is constantly advancing and improving. Unfortunately, the Big Bang theory is just a theory and not a fact, but it helps us understand the universe better.
