Lecture

Origin of the Nuclides

Graph Chat

Chat with Graph Search

Ask any question about EPFL courses, lectures, exercises, research, news, etc. or try the example questions below.

DISCLAIMER: The Graph Chatbot is not programmed to provide explicit or categorical answers to your questions. Rather, it transforms your questions into API requests that are distributed across the various IT services officially administered by EPFL. Its purpose is solely to collect and recommend relevant references to content that you can explore to help you answer your questions.

In course

PHYS-450: Radiation biology, protection and applications

This is an introductory course in radiation physics that aims at providing students with a foundation in radiation protection and with information about the main applications of radioactive sources/substances in the industry. The course includes presentati ...

Description

This lecture explores the origin of the chemical elements in the universe, focusing on nuclear astrophysics. Topics include Big Bang nucleosynthesis, stellar evolution, production of elements heavier than iron, and the stages of Earth's evolution. The lecture delves into the processes of hydrogen and helium fusion, stellar nucleosynthesis, and the fate of stars, including white dwarfs and supernovas.

Instructors (2)

Pavel Frajtag

Oskari Ville Pakari

Education PhD | Physics 2016 – 2020 EPFL MSc | Nuclear Engineering 2014 – 2016 ETHZ BSc | Physics 2011 – 2014 KIT Teaching & PhD PhD Students Michel Saliba Courses Radiation and reactor experiments PHYS-451 The reactor experiments course aims to introduce the students to radiation detection techniques and nuclear reactor experiments. The core of the course is the unique opportunity to conduct reactor experiments with the EPFL react

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Astronomy

Astrophysics: Stellar astronomy

Physics

Nuclear physics: Topics in nuclear physics

Related concepts (32)

Stellar nucleosynthesis

Stellar nucleosynthesis is the creation (nucleosynthesis) of chemical elements by nuclear fusion reactions within stars. Stellar nucleosynthesis has occurred since the original creation of hydrogen, helium and lithium during the Big Bang. As a predictive theory, it yields accurate estimates of the observed abundances of the elements. It explains why the observed abundances of elements change over time and why some elements and their isotopes are much more abundant than others.

Stable nuclide

Stable nuclides are nuclides that are not radioactive and so (unlike radionuclides) do not spontaneously undergo radioactive decay. When such nuclides are referred to in relation to specific elements, they are usually termed stable isotopes. The 80 elements with one or more stable isotopes comprise a total of 251 nuclides that have not been known to decay using current equipment (see list at the end of this article). Of these 80 elements, 26 have only one stable isotope; they are thus termed monoisotopic.

Primordial nuclide

In geochemistry, geophysics and nuclear physics, primordial nuclides, also known as primordial isotopes, are nuclides found on Earth that have existed in their current form since before Earth was formed. Primordial nuclides were present in the interstellar medium from which the solar system was formed, and were formed in, or after, the Big Bang, by nucleosynthesis in stars and supernovae followed by mass ejection, by cosmic ray spallation, and potentially from other processes.

Table of nuclides

A table or chart of nuclides is a two-dimensional graph of isotopes of the elements, in which one axis represents the number of neutrons (symbol N) and the other represents the number of protons (atomic number, symbol Z) in the atomic nucleus. Each point plotted on the graph thus represents a nuclide of a known or hypothetical chemical element. This system of ordering nuclides can offer a greater insight into the characteristics of isotopes than the better-known periodic table, which shows only elements and not their isotopes.

Isotope

Isotopes are distinct nuclear species (or nuclides, as technical term) of the same element. They have the same atomic number (number of protons in their nuclei) and position in the periodic table (and hence belong to the same chemical element), but differ in nucleon numbers (mass numbers) due to different numbers of neutrons in their nuclei. While all isotopes of a given element have almost the same chemical properties, they have different atomic masses and physical properties.

Related lectures (64)

Origin of the Nuclides

Explores the origin of radionuclides from supernova explosions and their role in nature, covering topics such as nuclear astrophysics, cosmic element formation, and stellar evolution.

Astroparticle Physics: Dark Matter and Neutron Stars

Covers dark matter detection challenges and the evolution of massive stars into neutron stars.

Stellar Evolution: Core Collapse

Explores the evolution of massive stars, core collapse, and neutrino detection.

Thermal history of the Universe

Explores the evolution of the Universe, from its early stages to the present, covering topics such as astroparticle physics and the thermal history.

Cosmology Insights: The Hot Big Bang Theory