What are stars made of other than hydrogen and helium?

Most stars have small amounts of heavier elements like carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and iron, which were created by stars that existed before them.

What elements can be made in a star?

After the hydrogen in the star’s core is exhausted, the star can fuse helium to form progressively heavier elements, carbon and oxygen and so on, until iron and nickel are formed. Up to this point, the fusion process releases energy. The formation of elements heavier than iron and nickel requires an input of energy.

Do all stars consist of hydrogen?

Did you ever wonder what stars are made of? You might not be surprised to know that stars are made of the same stuff as the rest of the Universe: 73\% hydrogen, 25\% helium, and the last 2\% is all the other elements. That’s it. Except for a few differences here and there, stars are made of pretty much the same stuff.

How do stars create new elements?

When the new star reaches a certain size, a process called nuclear fusion ignites, generating the star’s vast energy. The fusion process forces hydrogen atoms together, transforming them into heavier elements such as helium, carbon and oxygen.

Do stars have different chemical composition?

Because each element emits or absorbs light only at specific wavelengths, the chemical composition of stars can be determined. It was found that the average star’s atmosphere consists mostly of hydrogen (87\%) and helium (10\%), with all other elements making up about 3\%.

What elements are not made in stars?

You can’t make them from stellar reactions involving elements like carbon or above, since those only create heavier elements, not lighter ones. In fact, you can’t make the first of the heavier-than-helium elements in stars at all.

Do older or younger stars have heavier elements?

As the dark matter and gases clumped together under their own gravity, they formed the first stars. As a result, new generations of stars have a larger ratio of heavy elements than the previous generation.