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I have a really trippy question about atoms


happyskunky

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So I literally know nothing about this but I have a trippy question.

Could the atoms in our bodies have been part of something else in the past?     Like lets say one of the atoms that are part of a piece of skin on my finger.. could that atom have once been part of a piece of pottery in ancient Egypt?

This seems like a stupid question but I am genuinely curious.

Edited by happyskunky
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6 minutes ago, happyskunky said:

Could the atoms in our bodies have been part of something else in the past?     Like lets say one of the atoms that are part of a piece of skin on my finger.. could that atom have once been part of a piece of pottery in ancient Egypt?

Yes. Absolutely. That is exactly what happens, though Egyptian pottery may be too recent and still too well preserved to actually be a measurable part of me or you. Similarly, I also probably just breathed in at least one atom of air that Abraham Lincoln also breathed in then later exhaled when he was alive. 

Atoms are recycled. We’re all star stuff. We’re the universe expressing itself as a human being for a while. Cheers 
 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/12/27/dear-science-could-my-body-include-an-atom-from-shakespeare/

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Original elements created shortly after the Big Bang event, were Hydrogen and Helium nuclei in a ratio of approx. 3 to 1.
A few percent were heavier elements like Lithium and traces of Beryllium.
Heavier elements up to Iron ( AW 26 ) are the result of fusion burning in stars; and that is what INow refers to as star stuff.

Any elements heavier than Iron that you may have in your body, need energy to form, instead of releasing it.
They are formed when stars reach the end of their active life and explode ( Nova ), thereby spreading their star stuff to gas/dust clouds from which second generation Solar Systems ( such as ours ) form.
That is where the atoms in your body come from.

Kind of makes you feel humble, doesn't it ?

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4 hours ago, MigL said:

Any elements heavier than Iron that you may have in your body, need energy to form, instead of releasing it.
They are formed when stars reach the end of their active life and explode ( Nova ), thereby spreading their star stuff to gas/dust clouds from which second generation Solar Systems ( such as ours ) form.

I think a lot of people have heard this, as it was the primary hypothesis, but from this PBS space time video (see below) and some other sources, it seems that novae are less of a contributor to the overall heavy element makeup and instead neutron stars are now the main culprits. 

Would like to note that I am not very researched in this field, I have just watched some videos and read some basic stuff about it, my apologies if those sources are incorrect or are presenting the change in hypothesis as something that has found consensus in the community when this may not be the case.

-Dagl

 

Edited by Dagl1
Finished sentence so it's actual English
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I find the story of our dna just as amazing as the story of our atoms. 

To think that your dna was once chased by dinosaurs, and crawled onto land from the ocean, and before that lived as slimy goo in the depths, but always got lucky enough to reproduce before it died, just so that you could be here today. It's a stunning picture. 

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21 hours ago, iNow said:

Similarly, I also probably just breathed in at least one atom of air that Abraham Lincoln also breathed in then later exhaled when he was alive. 

My favorite is that when one drinks, one is drinking some atoms that were in T. Rex pee.

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On 11/16/2019 at 5:00 AM, happyskunky said:

So I literally know nothing about this but I have a trippy question.

Could the atoms in our bodies have been part of something else in the past?     Like lets say one of the atoms that are part of a piece of skin on my finger.. could that atom have once been part of a piece of pottery in ancient Egypt?

This seems like a stupid question but I am genuinely curious.

Ancient Romans burned bodies after death. It released carbon dioxide and water. They are literally everywhere right now.

It's the same with dinosaurs. If someone asks where the bodies of all long-dead prehistoric animals and plants are, the answer is everywhere.

Edited by Sensei
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