FORMATION OF

HEAVY
ELEMENTS
 STELLAR NUCLEOSYNTHESIS:
RISE OF THE STARS
+ The world where we live today is just a small
part of our universe. Different theories about the
origin of the universe that led to the formation of
galaxies, solar system and other heavenly
bodies. Although stars are millions of light years
away from us, we can still see them twinkling in
the night sky.
Different Theories about the origin
of the universe
+ Divine Creation Theory
+ Steady-State Theory
+ Oscillating Theory
+ Big Bang Theory
DIVINE CREATION
THEORY
+ Creationism is the religious
belief that nature, and aspects
such as the universe, Earth, life,
and humans, originated with
supernatural acts of divine
creation.
 STEADY – STATE
THEORY
+ steady-state theory, in cosmology,
a view that the universe is always
expanding but maintaining a
constant average density, with
matter being continuously created
to form new stars and galaxies at
the same rate that old ones
become unobservable as a
consequence of their increasing
distance and velocity of
recession. 
OSCILLATING THEORY
+ The Oscillating Universe Theory is a cosmological model that
combines both the Big Bang and the Big Crunch as part of a
cyclical event.
 BIG BANG THEORY
+ The Big Bang event is a physical theory that
describes how the universe expanded from an initial
state of high density and temperature. Various
cosmological models of the Big Bang explain the
evolution of the observable universe from the
earliest known periods through its subsequent large-
scale form.
+ Scientists believe that the formation of the universe
began through the explosion of a primordial atom
which happened approximately 13.7 billion years ago.
The origin of the universe is described by the Big Bang
theory which was introduced by Edwin Hubble. In
1929, Hubble demonstrated that all celestial objects in
the universe move away from each other. 
 STELLAR NUCLEOSYNTHESIS
+ The word “stellar” means star and the formation of
elements in the center of the star is called stellar
nucleosynthesis. 
+ Carl Sagan said that “We are made of star stuff.” 
STAR LIFE
CYCLE
NEBULA
+ Giant cloud of gas and dust
PROTOSTAR
+ It is formed from nebula due to the gravity that pulled Hydrogen
gas together until it spins faster and faster and becomes ignited.
MAIN SEQUENCE STAR
+ MAIN SEQUENCE STAR starts to form when nuclear
fusion occurs at the core of the star, it begins to contract,
glow and become stable. Hydrogen is converted into
Helium. 
MAIN SEQUENCE STAR
+ The first fusion process occurs in the hydrogen core
of stars such as sun with a temperature of less than
15 million K.
+ These kind of stars are called main-sequence stars.
RED GIANT STAR
+ The star is unable to generate heat when it runs out of hydrogen in its core
leading to its contraction and expansion. It cools down and glows red. The
Helium fused into Carbon. The star is now RED GIANT.

WHITE DWARF
+ Red giant star becomes exhausted of nuclear fuel, the outer material is
blown off into space leaving the inert Carbon. The remnant is known as
WHITE DWARF.
BLACK DWARF
+ This is said to be the remain of the white dwarf that cooled down and no
longer emits light and heat. The hypothetical BLACK DWARF.
RED SUPER GIANT STAR
+ A more massive main sequence star evolves, cools and expands faster than
low mass star and will turn into RED SUPER GIANT star, the largest
known star. Carbon fusion still occurs and Oxygen formed. 

SUPERNOVA
+ Explosion of star or SUPERNOVA releases large amount of energy.
Because of that, elements are dispersed into the space.
NEUTRON STAR
+ It is believed that a NEUTRON STAR is formed from supernova
explosion. This is also the smallest star

BLACKHOLE
+ BLACK HOLE is a region in space where gravity is too strong that no
matter can escape from it.
+ Right after Big Bang, protons and neutrons combined
and formed light elements Hydrogen and Helium
through the process of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis.
Other light elements such as Lithium and Beryllium
were also formed during this process.
+ Listen carefully in order to understand
how stars are formed into different stages
because of nuclear fusion (combination of
nuclei to form heavier one) among heavy
elements.
PROTON – PROTON CHAIN
REACTION
+ The diagram shows the proton-proton chain reaction in
a main sequence star. In this process, the average star
gets its energy and convert Hydrogen into Helium. It
starts with a proton and a neutron which fuse together
to form deuterium. When another proton collides with
deuterium, Helium-3 is formed. Collision between the
Helium-3 atom with another helium-3 forms Helium-
4.
CNO CYCLE
+ The case is different for massive stars (eight times the mass
of our sun). These stars undergo CNO (Carbon, Nitrogen,
Oxygen) cycle to convert Hydrogen into Helium. You can
see how Carbon-12 fused with proton (H) and form
Nitrogen-13. Nitrogen-13 undergoes beta decay to form
Carbon-13. Carbon-13 captures proton (H) and Nitrogen-14
is formed. Nitrogen-14 captures proton to produce Oxygen-
15, and Oxygen-15 undergoes beta decay that forms
Nitrogen-15. The Nitrogen-15 fused with proton gives off
Helium to generate the stable atom of Carbon-12. Then the
process repeats again.
TRI – ALPHA PROCESS
+ Tri alpha process happens in red giant star
once they leave the stage of main
sequence star. This is how three Helium-4
are converted into Carbon.
ALPHA LADDER
+ A star accumulates more mass and continues to
grow into red super giant. Alpha particle fusion
happens at its core and creates more heavy elements
until Iron. This is known as the Alpha ladder
process.
How do elements heavier than Iron form?

+ As the energy at the core of the star decreases,

nuclear fusion cannot produce elements higher than
Iron. A different pathway is needed for heavier
elements to be formed.
NEUTRON CAPTURE
+ a neutron is added to a seed nucleus. Below is the
representation of how neutron is captured, and a
heavier nucleus is formed.
S-process or slow process
+ happens when there is a slow rate of capturing
neutron while there is a faster rate of radioactive
decay hence increasing the proton by 1.
R-process or rapid process
+ means that there is faster rate of capturing neutron before it
undergoes radioactive decay thus, more neutrons can be
combined in the nucleus. This is what happens in a
supernova forming heavier elements than Iron with the
process known as supernova nucleosynthesis.
+ The explosion of star or supernova is believed to be the
source of other elements heavier than Iron. During the
explosion, these heavy elements are dispersed into the
space. Aside from Hydrogen and Helium in space, other
evidence of star formation is the energy emitted during
nuclear reaction which includes ultraviolet, infrared, X-ray,
radio wave and microwave.
ACTIVITY 1: STORY OF YOUR LIFE
+ Now you have learned how stars are formed, go through their
lifespan and how each stage of the life of a star leads to
formation of elements. There are many processes that stars
have to undergo before they evolve from one stage to another.
+ For your next task, you will write a story which relates the
events of your life from past, present and future to the life cycle
of a star. Use also those elements which could symbolize
something or anything in your story. (Use another sheet of
paper for this task).