Can all the other elements found in nature be created by one massive supernova? Or does it take several supernovas to create all the heavier elements?

 

Is it possible that the first stars that formed after the big bang could have been so massive that they created all the elements found in nature when they exploded?

 

Is is possible that there are even heavier elements we are not aware of that could be created by a supernova massive enough? Maybe in some regions of the universe there are found elements heavier than uranium or plutonium.

Edited March 28, 201213 yr by Airbrush

Most of the elements up to and including iron are created by normal fusion in massive stars. When these stars go nova the other elements are created. Each supernova does this from the early universe to the present. Super heavy elements have a very short half-life and are difficult to observe in the spectra of supernovae, so its anyone’s guess.

 

So that would be yes, no, yes and maybe.

 

P.S. 26 elements are considered "man-made" because they have only been observed in accelerators. As I mentioned above, this is because of the difficulty in observing their presence during a supernova.

Edited March 28, 201213 yr by Arch2008

Thanks for the info Arch.

 

Would you say that plutonium is the heaviest element created in a supernova that has a long enough life for us to discover it on Earth?

Well no one has discovered it yet. The energy of a supernova by far outstrips that of any man-made device, so most certainly natural plutonium is possible. As our ability to image individual photons from ever smaller parts of the supernova ejecta increases, it may eventually be possible to find evidence of this.

Pu239 (the most common isotope) has a half life of 24110 years, so it would not be found on earth, unless recently created. The longest lasting is Pu244 with a half life of 82,000,000 years, making it hard to find since the earth is around 4.5 billion years old.

You can get elements as heavy as Bismuth in stars via neutron capture, but need a supernova to get heavier ones. The relatively short half-lives of heavier elements mean that you need a supernova to form them.

 

At the bottom of

http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/ast122/lectures/lec18.html

From your link:

"Fusion of elements with mass numbers (the number of protons and neutrons) greater than 26 uses up more energy than is produced by the reaction. Thus, elements heavier than iron cannot be fuel sources in stars. And, likewise, elements heavier than iron are not produced in stars, so what is their origin?" (my italics)

 

Then it explains the method by which neutron capture works to make elements like bismuth by the s process. IIRC fusion in the star creates nickel and cobalt isotopes that are unstable and decay into iron. However, that is as high on the periodic table that star fusion goes.

 

However, this states that low mass stars (red dwarf?) use the s-process as you say. However, they would not go supernova ever and the elements in them would stay in them forever.

http://www.optcorp.com/edu/articleDetailEDU.aspx?aid=1671

Edited March 30, 201213 yr by Arch2008