Nuclear Fusions
The universe is made up of 93.5% of Hydrogen atoms, 6.3% of Helium and 0.2% of other elements. By looking at the spectrum of hot stars, upper solar atmosphere and solar wind, an abundance of Helium is determined. Only from the 1920s there were methods of calculating what elements were present in a gas by just observing its spectrum, due to the fact that different elements absorb and emit different wavelengths of light. (2)
Gamow thought that nuclear fusions took place in the first minutes after the Big Bang, because he assumed that the initial components of the universe would have been seperate protons, neutrons and electrons. He hoped that they could build bigger atoms by fusion in the heat of the Big Bang, because nucleosynthesis, which …show more content…
Helium could have been formed by two deuterium atoms but it is very unlikely since they barely interact with each other. (5) n + p ↔ D + γ (photon)
As proposed by Niels Bohr, there are specific, quantised energy levels in an atom where electrons can stay. An electron can drop from a higher-energy level to a lower-energy level, emitting a quantum of electromagnetic radiation, called photon, of a frequency and wavelength dependent on the jump. The wavelengths emitted by an atom are the coloured lines seen in its emission spectrum. Whereas, when electrons in an atom jump from a lower-energy level to a higher-energy level they absorb energy as light of specific wavelengths showed as the black lines in the absorption spectrum of that atom.
Indeed, by looking at the Sun's absorption spectrum in 1925 Cecilia Payne found out that the Sun's mass was made up of 74.5% of Hydrogen and 24% of Helium. The stars were thought to have the same composition of the Sun and that for every 10,000 atoms of Hydrogen in the universe, there were 975 of Helium, 6 of Oxygen and 1 of …show more content…
This Steady Syaye theory says that the universe has existed forever and it had no beginning and it was also proposed by Einsten, Bondi, Gold and Hoyle in the 20th century. However, the fact that the universe had no beginning violates the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which states that disorder (the entropy) always increases with time, thus in an infinite and everlasting universe the night sky should be as bright as the surface of the Sun. Indeed the Second Law of Thermodynamics proves that there must have been a beginning where there was no disorder.
Gamow thought that nuclear fusions took place in the first minutes after the Big Bang, because he assumed that the initial components of the universe would have been seperate protons, neutrons and electrons. He hoped that they could build bigger atoms by fusion in the heat of the Big Bang, because nucleosynthesis, which …show more content…
Helium could have been formed by two deuterium atoms but it is very unlikely since they barely interact with each other. (5) n + p ↔ D + γ (photon)
As proposed by Niels Bohr, there are specific, quantised energy levels in an atom where electrons can stay. An electron can drop from a higher-energy level to a lower-energy level, emitting a quantum of electromagnetic radiation, called photon, of a frequency and wavelength dependent on the jump. The wavelengths emitted by an atom are the coloured lines seen in its emission spectrum. Whereas, when electrons in an atom jump from a lower-energy level to a higher-energy level they absorb energy as light of specific wavelengths showed as the black lines in the absorption spectrum of that atom.
Indeed, by looking at the Sun's absorption spectrum in 1925 Cecilia Payne found out that the Sun's mass was made up of 74.5% of Hydrogen and 24% of Helium. The stars were thought to have the same composition of the Sun and that for every 10,000 atoms of Hydrogen in the universe, there were 975 of Helium, 6 of Oxygen and 1 of …show more content…
This Steady Syaye theory says that the universe has existed forever and it had no beginning and it was also proposed by Einsten, Bondi, Gold and Hoyle in the 20th century. However, the fact that the universe had no beginning violates the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which states that disorder (the entropy) always increases with time, thus in an infinite and everlasting universe the night sky should be as bright as the surface of the Sun. Indeed the Second Law of Thermodynamics proves that there must have been a beginning where there was no disorder.