Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to [email protected]. How do atoms form? – Joshua, age 7, Shoreview, ...

Escaping elements are bombarded with neutrons, which split inside the nucleus into protons and electrons, generating new unique elements. Iron turns into gold, gold turns into lead, and so on ...

So, how are elements heavier than iron formed? Most of these “heavy elements” are created by atomic nuclei capturing neutrons. There are two forms of this neutron capture process: the rapid ...

Iron represents the most stable configuration of protons and neutrons, combined, of any atomic nucleus yet discovered. At only element 26, however, it represents the end-of-the-line for most ...

In an environment packed with excess energy (like a supernova), a small fraction of this energy may be used to bind free neutrons to iron atoms ... to produce a heavier element.

Nuclei with varying numbers of neutrons are called isotopes of an element. So, isotopes of iron include iron-54 with 26 protons and 28 neutrons, iron-56 with 26 protons and 30 neutrons ...

Even neutrons, which have no charge ... In fact, most of the elements heavier than iron found in the universe were created in supernovas. The team's findings could be put to practical use when ...

Even neutrons, which have no charge ... In fact, most of the elements heavier than iron found in the universe were created in supernovas. The team's findings could be put to practical use when ...

In this case, the two missing protons have turned into two neutrons ... The atomic structure of iron is very stable, more so than most other elements. I'm not saying all other elements are ...

The team suggests that energetic photons generated by newly forming black holes or neutron stars transmute protons within ejected stellar material into neutrons, thereby providing ideal conditions for ...