Where Your Elements Came From

Nucleosynthesis2 WikipediaCmglee 2000

NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day posted this back in January and it’s definitely an early contender for my favorite graphic of 2023. The concept is rather simple: color-coding the periodic table to trace each element back to its cosmic event origin story or, in many cases, stories.

Image Credit & License: Wikipedia: Cmglee; Data: Jennifer Johnson (OSU)

Explanation: The hydrogen in your body, present in every molecule of water, came from the Big Bang. There are no other appreciable sources of hydrogen in the universe. The carbon in your body was made by nuclear fusion in the interior of stars, as was the oxygen…

Learn more.

(Via kottke.org)


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1 Comment

  1. If one is curious as to the origins of the elements listed in dark gray, follow the links. 🙂

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