How stars make the elements
Grade 9 Science Worksheet - Challenge Me
Circle the best answer.
Origin chain card with four blank boxes. Which chain takes Big Bang hydrogen to the carbon in a tree, by Esme's reading?
- Turned straight into carbon during the first minutes of the Big Bang
- Turned into carbon in the Sun's core today
- Made into carbon inside Earth
- Fused in stars, spread at the star's end, gathered into Earth
Four timeline cards, labeled A to D. Which list puts element-making in time order, by Jun's reading?
- Hydrogen and helium; then carbon and oxygen in stars; then gold in collisions
- The whole table in the first five minutes
- Gold first, then hydrogen and helium
- Carbon in the Big Bang, then hydrogen in stars
Which origin fits uranium (92), by Kira's reading?
- Supernovas and neutron-star collisions
- Fusing iron in a quiet core
- The Big Bang
- Fusion in the Sun's core and its outer layers
Periodic-table strip with the first three boxes shaded. Luz's friend says every element was made in the Big Bang. Which response is best (NASA)?
- Disagree: Earth made the elements
- Disagree: it made hydrogen, helium and a little lithium; stars made the rest
- Agree: the Big Bang made the full table
- Agree: stars just shine and make nothing
Milo's cousin says the Sun is making gold right now. Which response is best?
- Disagree: gold is made inside Earth
- Agree: gold comes from fusing iron
- Agree: stars like the Sun make gold
- Disagree: the Sun fuses hydrogen to helium and will reach only about carbon
Read this first
Where elements were mainly made (NASA)
Element Atomic number Main origin hydrogen 1 Big Bang helium 2 Big Bang carbon 6 star cores oxygen 8 star cores iron 26 massive stars and their supernovas gold 79 neutron-star collisions Which pair of elements was made in the same kind of place, by Pia's reading?
- Iron and hydrogen, in the Sun
- Carbon and oxygen, in star cores
- Helium and gold, in the Big Bang
- Gold and carbon, in Earth's core
Why is hydrogen still the most common element today, by Ren's reading?
- Hydrogen forms on planets
- Stars have fused only a small share of it
- The Big Bang is still making it
- Stars keep making new hydrogen by splitting
Masses (NIST, rounded)
Particle Mass (u) helium-4 4.0026 carbon-12 12.0000 Three helium-4 nuclei (4.0026 u each, NIST) fuse into one carbon-12 nucleus (12.0000 u). How much mass becomes energy, by Zee's math?
- About 0.0078 u
- Zero, since mass is kept
- Mass is gained, so energy is used up
- About 0.078 u
Which fusion makes magnesium (12), by Ari's reading?
- Iron (26) splitting in half
- Carbon (6) + helium (2)
- Neon (10) + helium (2)
- Oxygen (8) + helium (2)
Gold has 79 protons and iron has 26. How many more protons does a gold nucleus have, by Bo's math?
- 52
- 105
- 53
- 79