SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Lithium, the lightest solid element, is created during astrophysical phenomena, but its origin has been elusive. Recently, a group of researchers detected enormous quantities of beryllium-7, an unstable element that decays into lithium in 53.2 days, inside nova Sagittarii 2015 N.2, which suggests that novae are the main source of lithium in the galaxy.
Practically every chemical element has an astronomical origin. Light elements were formed between 10 seconds and 20 minutes after the Big Bang, including hydrogen (75%), helium (25%) and a very small amount of lithium and beryllium.
The remaining chemical elements were formed in stars, either through fusion of other elements inside the nucleus, which begins with the fusion of hydrogen into helium, and produces increasingly heavy elements until iron forms. Other processes such as supernovae explosions or reactions in the atmospheres of giant stars produce gold, lead and copper, among others. Those elements were in turn recycled into new stars and planets, until the present time.
Luca Izzo, researcher at the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC), says, "But lithium posed a problem: We knew that 25 percent of existing lithium comes from primordial nucleosynthesis, but we were not able to trace the origins of the remaining 75 percent."
So that's why the hoverboards and Samsung Galaxy Note 7's have been exploding...
(Score: 2) by stormwyrm on Friday November 04 2016, @03:06AM
That is not what the article says. The title is correct, I think. A core collapse supernova (type II or type 1b/c) may create a lot of heavy elements in the throes of its destruction but lighter elements like lithium cannot be made in large quantities by such a process. A massive star forced into attempting iron fusion generally winds up making elements heavier than iron when it explodes in a supernova. A Type Ia supernova results from a white dwarf that has accreted so much matter that it exceeds the Chandrasekhar limit, becoming dense enough to ignite runaway carbon fusion. The resulting explosion generally winds up producing elements heavier than carbon, and no large quantities of lithium can be made in that process. A white dwarf nova on the other hand seems like it can create a lot of lithium in the relatively milder fusion reactions involved, as its gravity draws hydrogen away from the outer envelope of its companion star.
Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.