You're a star, inside and out!

The late, great Carl Sagan said it best:
“The nitrogen in our DNA,
the calcium in our teeth,
the iron in our blood,
the carbon in our apple pies,
were made in the interiors of collapsing stars.
We are made of starstuff.”

image: seti.org

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In the beginning...
... the only atom that existed was hydrogen. Over time, that hydrogen clumped together due to gravity. The more of it that clumped, the faster it would attract more matter. Eventually, the build up of pressure and heat at the core of the now spherical ball of hydrogen, that atoms would begin to fuse together to become helium.

The now heavier helium atoms fall to the core, and the process continues. Helium fuses into carbon, and on and on... until you reach iron.

image: psu.edu

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Iron is poison to a star, because iron is so tightly bound that no energy can be extracted by fusing it into nickle, and a star needs energy to keep gravity from collapsing under it's own weight. What comes next is catastrophic for the star, and utterly essential for all elements heavier than iron to be created. When a star can no longer hold it's outer bounds... out, a massive explosion called a supernova.

image: nasa.gov
The energy created in that explosion fuses produces almost all the elements we see on the periodic table.

image: wikimedia commons

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There are other ways elements are created, like neutron star collisions. These cosmic events are the reason we can have things like bones and skin, no less much fancier things like watches and cars. This is my absolute favorite thing about the universe, and is a constant reminder of the time and stress it requires to make something great. Always remember:

You're a star! Keep growing until you create something beautiful.

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I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. I love all things space, and will probably write more articles like this one. If you want to hear more from me, give me an upvote, follow, and resteem. I'm still getting started on Steemit, so every little bit of support goes a long way!