How can we possibly be made out of stardust? Romany, age 10, Class 4, Blackboys School. Answered by Ivan Teage.

8/22/2015

Ivan

8/31/2015 05:08:36 pm

Hi Romany,
Yes it’s a strange thing to say but it is true.

To understand this we have to think about how our planet Earth was made (4.6 billion years ago).

Some stars eventually (after millions of years) die and explode in a huge explosion called a supernova. This explosion spreads all the material that was in the star out into space, and it’s this left over stuff that eventually clumps together to make new stars and planets just like our own, planet Earth.

Certain important elements can only be made in stars (for example carbon, iron and oxygen) by the powerful nuclear reactions that take place when stars burn through their lifetimes. Our sun is a star
and is making new elements every day.

When our planet was first made, there was no life, but there WAS heavy elements like carbon. All life is made of carbon so life wouldn't have happened without it. Also there is no way you can make these elements on earth so they had to be there already for life to start.

So the essential parts to make life are made in stars, the stars then explode, planets are then made from the left over bits of stars, and life then forms on the planet (though we’ve only really seen this happen on our own planet), and here we are!.

So are we made of stardust? Yes, but then so is everything!

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