- #1
DaleSwanson
- 352
- 2
I've heard in the past something along the lines of "every atom in your body came from an exploding supernova". Yet, I can't see how that could be true when there is still such an abundance of hydrogen. Wouldn't any hydrogen in a star prevent it from reaching supernova stage?
Assuming hydrogen can't come from supernova, my next question is how did it avoid being captured in a star for the first few billion years of the universe? If I had to guess, I'd say that it is spread so thin that it simply takes billions of years for gravity to weakly pull it into a forming star. And, despite it being so thin, the volume is so enormous that there is enough of it to form stars when it finally does coalesce.
I've been thinking about this for a while, but in the process of typing it out, I feel I may have answered my own question. I guess maybe I just misheard the original quote, or it was exaggerated. Still maybe there is something going on that I'm missing, and it really is possible for hydrogen to survive to supernova stage.
Assuming hydrogen can't come from supernova, my next question is how did it avoid being captured in a star for the first few billion years of the universe? If I had to guess, I'd say that it is spread so thin that it simply takes billions of years for gravity to weakly pull it into a forming star. And, despite it being so thin, the volume is so enormous that there is enough of it to form stars when it finally does coalesce.
I've been thinking about this for a while, but in the process of typing it out, I feel I may have answered my own question. I guess maybe I just misheard the original quote, or it was exaggerated. Still maybe there is something going on that I'm missing, and it really is possible for hydrogen to survive to supernova stage.