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This is an excellent question!
All the heavier elements past hydrogen and helium (and traces of lithium, beryllium, and boron) are NOT as old as the universe. Instead they have been synthesized inside stars; it is energy from nuclear fusion of light elements into heavier ones that powers stars. Stars on the main sequence, like the Sun, take hydrogen and fuze it into helium; once the Sun has sun out of hydrogen in its core it will begin turning helium into carbon, nitrogen,and oxygen, and become a red giant.
Our sun will not evolve past burning helium into carbon, but higher-mass stars will continue to synthesize heavier and heavier elements, and explode as supernovae once they have converted a mass of more than 1.4 times the mass of the Sun into iron. Pull out a Periodic Table; the elements up to iron are made in stars, and release energy when they are made. Everything past iron costs energy to make, and so is only produced in supernovae, and in the neutron-capture reactions in a special type of red giant star called an asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star.
When a high-mass star explodes as a supernova, it throws most of its mass back in to interstellar space. The same is true of AGB stars, which puff off their outer layers, forming so-called planetary nebulae. In either case, there are heavy elements (metals) being put in the interstellar medium. New stars are formed out of the gravitational collapse of cold gas and dust clouds which are just regions of denser interstellar medium. So, the heavy elements made in old stars get recycled into new stars! We know that the material that makes up the Earth was once inside a massive star; our solar system is 'recycled' from several previous generations of massive stars. Old stars formed much earlier in our galaxy's history are made of material that hasn't been recycled through as many generations of stars, so these stars contain less metals. We call these old stars 'Population II" stars, while metal-rich stars like our Sun are "Population I". There is active research trying to find primordial "Population III" stars, which are first-generation stars that contain no material that has been through a supernova.
By they way, note that this means YOU are made out of stars! They hydrogen in you is from the beginning of the universe ~13 billion years ago, while the carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, calcium, phosphorous, potassium, etc. are all from the interior of long-dead stars.
What else can I help you with?
Why might stars of one color be much more abundant than stars of another color?
Red Dwarf stars are the commonest in the Galaxy. Red Dwarf stars last much longer than blue stars for example. So you would expect to find more of these red stars. You need a telescope to see them, but they are very common.
Which are two abundant element in the stars?
Hydrogen and helium are the most abundant elements in stars.
What type stars are the most abundant in the galaxy?
The most abundant type of stars is red dwarves.
Metals are relatively more abundant in new stars or old stars or neither?
Metals are relatively more abundant in old stars compared to new stars. This is because metals are created through the fusion of lighter elements in the cores of stars, so as stars age and go through multiple cycles of nucleosynthesis, they accumulate more metals. New stars, on the other hand, form from the remnants of previous generations of stars and may have lower metal content.
What element is the most abundant in the universe and all stars are made of it?
The most abundant element in the universe is hydrogen.
What Is the second lightest and second most abundant element found in stars 25 percent of the Sun is made from this element?
The second lightest and second most abundant element found in stars, making up about 25% of the Sun, is helium. Helium is formed through nuclear fusion in stars, with hydrogen being the most abundant element in stars like the Sun.
How to use rife and stars in a sentence?
Rife = Abundant, filled with It was so dark and clear that the sky was rife with stars.
When would you expect to hear 'The Stars and Stripes Forever' to be played?
'The Stars and Stripes Forever' is likely to be played on patriotic occasions, when marching bands perform, and at formal military ceremonies.
What is the most abundant substance in the universe?
Hydrogen: stars universes every thing has it
What chemical is more abundant the older a star is?
As a star ages, it fuses hydrogen into helium in its core. Therefore, helium becomes more abundant in older stars compared to younger stars.
Would you expect stars in the halo of the galaxy to have planets?
It is less likely for stars in the halo of a galaxy to have planets compared to stars in the disk of the galaxy. This is because the halo contains older stars with fewer heavy elements necessary for planet formation. However, some planets could still exist around halo stars, but they would be rare.
What kind of fuel does a star have?
In nearly all stars, hydrogenis the most abundant element and it is consumed in a nuclear reaction that power stars.
