How stars make the elements
Grade 9 Science Worksheet
Circle the best answer.
Origin chain card with four blank boxes. Trace an oxygen atom in a glass of water back to its origin, by Bo's reading.
- Made by splitting iron
- Made in a star's core, spread into space, then gathered into Earth
- Made in the Big Bang, then stored on Earth ever since it formed
- Made in Earth's oceans
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 Where did the iron in an iron nail come from, by Esme's reading?
- The Big Bang
- Earth's core, which makes iron
- Fusion in massive stars, spread by supernovas
- The Sun's core today
Platinum, like gold, is among the heaviest elements. Where did it probably form, by Jun's reading (NASA)?
- In Earth's mantle
- In the Big Bang
- In the core of Sun-like stars
- In neutron-star collisions
Fusion ladder with a stop sign at iron and two arrows leading off it. Where, then, do most elements heavier than iron form, by Luz's reading?
- In supernovas and neutron-star collisions
- By fusing iron in quiet cores
- In the Big Bang
- In the cores of Sun-like stars as they age
Fusion ladder with the Sun's last rung blank. About which element will the Sun's core fuse up to by the end of its life, by Milo's reading (NASA)?
- Carbon, made from helium
- Gold
- Iron
- Uranium, formed in the Sun's core
Carbon has 6 protons and helium has 2. How many helium nuclei fuse to make one carbon nucleus, by Noah's math?
- 3
- 2
- 4
- 12
Carbon (6) fuses with helium (2). Which element forms, by Pia's reading?
- Nitrogen, 7
- Oxygen, 8
- Neon, 10
- Carbon, 6
Oxygen (8) fuses with helium (2). Which element forms, by Ren's reading?
- Oxygen, 8
- Fluorine, 9
- Magnesium, 12
- Neon, 10
Drawing of two small, dense stars merging, with glowing debris. In 2017, NASA telescopes caught light from two merging neutron stars about 130 million light-years away. What did that light reveal, by Tala's reading?
- Hydrogen splitting into lighter atoms
- Elements made on Earth
- Elements left from the Big Bang
- Heavy elements forged in the debris
A supernova remnant shows oxygen, silicon and iron in its spectrum. What does this show, by Ari's reading?
- These elements are left over from the Big Bang long ago
- These elements came from Earth
- Elements made in the star are spreading into space
- These elements were made by splitting