Holy Crap, Science!

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I have been quite lame lately and ignoring this blog. The whole goal of this was to increase my online presence and improve my writing ability. However, to get the ball rolling again, I want to talk about a subject that I absolutely love.

Every element in our universe was forged in the heart of a star. All elements from Hydrogen to Iron are forged by nuclear fusion. Now those readers who are familiar with the periodic table will be aware that Iron's atomic number is 26. Uranium, the heaviest naturally occuring element has an atomic number of 92. So where do the other 66 elements come from? Many people are familiar with the concept of a super nova. Only the largest and hottest stars will end in a super nova "explosion". Our own sun is far too cool and small to ever end in this manner. A super nova begins after a stars nuclear factory begins to create iron. The reason iron kills stars is because the fusion of iron does not generate the energy to fight against its own mass from collapsing. Most stars, the force of nuclear fusion and the force of gravity are in a delicate balance. Iron destroys this balance and gravity begins to win. Seconds after iron starts fusing the star collapses in on itself at .1 the speed of light. In that singualar instant every element above iron on the periodic table is forged and then blasted out into space also at .1 the speed of light

So why the hell am I telling you this? I have a cool observation about life in general becasue of these facts. So about 4.5 billion years ago, the remants of one of those giant stars was spread across our galactic neiborhood and created a loose disc. Over time, the center would accrue into the sun, with the planets forming around it. Eventually the Earth would cool enough for amino acids to form proteins, and later into life. Much later, macroscopic biology would form, and then us.

I just want to stop there for a second. Every atom that forms our bodies. Every atom of air we breathe, and of the food we eat was forged by a star that died and spilled its "enriched guts" as my hero Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson would say, across the galaxy to later form life as we know it. When you break it down, we are nothing more than conscious collections of stellar dirt! Some may believe that a gran anti climax, but I choose to think of it as we are no LESS than conscious collections of stellar dirt! It is such a cool idea that it keeps me up at night. One of the cooler implications of this idea is that Supernovae are common occurances throughout the history of the universe; meaning the same pattern that lead to our "creation" is happening all over the cosmos. Isn't it reasonable to conclude that many other stellar deaths have led to the occurance of life? And would it be too far to deduce that life may even be a necesary consequence of these fuctions? I think the math says, "Yes". I cannot wait until our understanding of physics allows us to go forth and test this hypothesis. 

Cosmic dirt, signing off.