Special Guest Lecture
Dr. Carl Sagan presents: Where do the elements come from?
“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.”
1. Making the pie from scratch was an analogy - for what? (we will revisit this later)
2. What is an atom?
3. What are the major components of an atom?
4. How much smaller is the nucleus of the atom than its electron cloud?
5. Atoms are composed of mostly…
6. Infinity is NOT a number… what is it?
7. Everything is made up of combinations of elements. How many are naturally occurring?
8. Where do the others come from?
9. The thing that makes different from one another is:
10. Electrons have what charge?
11. Protons have what charge?
12. What do like charges do to each other?
13. What prevents neutrons from repelling each other?
14. What analogy does Sagan use to illustrate this?
15. What elements are fused first?
16. What elements come next?
17. What is the “limiting element” (what is the most massive element that can be fused in stars?)
18. What is the name of the process that allows the fusion of all heavier elements?
19. What happens next?
You are made of “star stuff”!! Your mind should be blown by now – if not, you are doing it wrong…