GEOL 11042 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Radiometric Dating, Manganese, Stony-Iron Meteorite
8 Nov 2020
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
The sun, earth and solar system are related. They are related in their timing of origin and in their composition. To see that relatedness, we use three sources of information: light, elements, and isotopes. Light can help us understand the composition of stars, and especially our own star, the sun. From interstellar dust and gas and nebula they form, and spend most of their lives burning hydrogen to produce helium in a nuclear reaction. This time spent burning hydrogen is called the main sequence. Once the hydrogen is used up, helium will be burned, and in a series of steps, heavier elements are produced, just as helium was produced from burning hydrogen. If large enough they will enter the red giant phase, where they will continue to produce elements through to iron. Once iron is exhausted, a supernova explosion may occur, in which elements heavier than iron are produced.
