How old are the elements?
CrowdScience
BBC
4.8 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 21 May 2021
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
You are a star. Literally. You are a carbon-based life form and those atoms of carbon in the molecules that make up your cells were formed by a nuclear fusion reaction at the heart of long dead stars. That goes for the oxygen in your lungs too. And the red blood cells that carry that oxygen to your tissues? They contain haemoglobin, and nestled at the heart of each molecule is an element (iron) formed by a supernova - the fiery explosion at the death of a star. Your body is a walking, thinking museum of some of the most violent events in the universe. This, as CrowdScience host Marnie Chesterton discovers, isn’t as special as it sounds. All of the stuff on the earth - the elements that make clouds and mountains and mobile phones – they all have an origin story. CrowdScience tells that story, starting with the big bang and ending with physicists, creating new elements in the lab. Find out the age of the elements and the distance they have travelled to make their current home on earth. Interviewees: Dr Dorota Grabowska, Professor Andrea Sella, Dr Chris Pearson, Dr Jacklyn Gates
(Photo: Neutron star. Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Take some time for yourself with soothing classical music from the mindful mix, the Science of |
| 0:07.0 | Happiness Podcast. |
| 0:08.0 | For the last 20 years I've dedicated my career to exploring the science of living a happier more meaningful life and I want |
| 0:14.4 | to share that science with you. |
| 0:16.1 | And just one thing, deep calm with Michael Mosley. |
| 0:19.4 | I want to help you tap in to your hidden relaxation response system and open the door to that |
| 0:25.4 | calmer place within. Listen on BBC Sounds. Welcome to Crowd Science from the BBC World Service. I'm Marnie Chesterton and currently I'm marvelling at my mobile phone. |
| 0:42.0 | Or rather the bits of my broken old phone which |
| 0:46.2 | I've unscrewed and dissected. Now at first glance this is just a piece of e-waste that I'm assuming other people also hoard in drawers but it's also so much more than that. |
| 0:58.0 | Holding it in the palm of my hand I know that I'm looking at the history of the universe. |
| 1:04.0 | You see, it contains copper, gold, and silver in its wires. |
| 1:09.0 | There's lithium and cobalt in its battery, |
| 1:12.0 | aluminium and silicon in its screen. |
| 1:14.0 | And all of the other stuff in this room, in myself, on this planet, |
| 1:19.0 | it all came from somewhere. |
| 1:22.0 | This is the show that runs with listeners science questions. |
| 1:25.8 | So let's meet our listener who from the Sound of Things has also been considering |
| 1:30.3 | the wonders of the universe. |
| 1:32.0 | Hello, I'm Beth I'm from England. |
| 1:35.0 | Is it possible to tell where in the universe a specific atom was formed and how long ago? |
| 1:40.0 | You started thinking about this because you heard a crowd science episode, right? |
| 1:46.0 | Yes, there was an amazing episode about how atoms are recycled. |
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