你身体里的元素从何而来

2023年1月8日

Where Your Elements Came From
Image Credit & License: Wikipedia: Cmglee; Data: Jennifer Johnson (OSU)

Explanation: The hydrogen in your body, present in every molecule of water, came from the Big Bang. There are no other appreciable sources of hydrogen in the universe. The carbon in your body was made by nuclear fusion in the interior of stars, as was the oxygen. Much of the iron in your body was made during supernovas of stars that occurred long ago and far away. The gold in your jewelry was likely made from neutron stars during collisions that may have been visible as short-duration gamma-ray bursts or gravitational wave events. Elements like phosphorus and copper are present in our bodies in only small amounts but are essential to the functioning of all known life. The featured periodic table is color coded to indicate humanity’s best guess as to the nuclear origin of all known elements. The sites of nuclear creation of some elements, such as copper, are not really well known and are continuing topics of observational and computational research.

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Tomorrow’s picture: tails of a new comet

你身体里的元素从何而来
图像提供与授权: Wikipedia: Cmglee; 数据提供: Jennifer Johnson（OSU）

说明: 你身体内每颗水分子里的氢，都来自大爆炸。在宇宙中，除此之外没有其他值得重视的氢产生源。你身体里的碳，是由恒星内部的核融合所产生，氧的来源亦同。你身体大部分的铁，是很久前、遥远恒星发生超新星爆炸时形成的。你珠宝里的金，则可能是形成于中子星互撞的过程，这种过程可能也产生了短伽玛射线爆发或重力波事件。而你身体里含量不多的磷及铜，却是让所有已知的生命体得以运作之必要元素。上面的这张周期表，以颜色呈现人类对所有已知原子核来源的最佳猜测。不过，包括铜在内的某些元素，到底是由何种核反应形成于何处，目前仍然是观测和计算研究持续探索的题材。

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明日的图片: tails of a new comet