The origin of the elements

MAY 01, 1969

Why do the elements occur in the universe with their observed abundances? Observations of stellar spectra, combined with laboratory data on nuclear reactions, help to explain their synthesis.

DOI: 10.1063/1.3035572

Donald D. Clayton

THE NUCLEAR THEORY of the origin of the elements, commonly called nucleosynthesis, is the attempt to interpret the abundances of nuclear species in terms of their nuclear properties and the naturally occurring circumstances in which the nuclei would be assembled. We have a very sizable body of data to guide the construction of the theory and to test its success. There are 81 stable elements, with numbers of stable isotopes ranging from one for sodium, for example, to ten for tin; they comprise a total of 280 stable nuclear species. The abundances of these species in the solar system constitute 280 data points for the theory, to which must be added all observable abundance ratios in other stars.

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More about the authors

Donald D. Clayton, Rice University.