TIL ~62% of the atoms in a human body are Hydrogen, and are as old as the universe.
TIL ~62% of the atoms in a human body are Hydrogen, and are as old as the universe.
en.wikipedia.org
Composition of the human body - Wikipedia
54 comments
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I've always suspected most of life's problems could be traced back to hydrogen.
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This is giving me Groundskeeper Willie complaining about the Scots vibes
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I want you both to help me with therapy.. I just need to point fingers!
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Damn hydrogen! It ruined the universe!
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i think if you have problems with your weight, that is mostly an oxygen problem
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If you break down that far, isn't everything as old as the universe?
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When fusion or fission occurs you get new atoms.
It's Hydrogen that's existed since the universe cooled enough for electrons and protons to make atoms. Seconds after the big bang.
That's most hydrogen.
It's never been fused into heavier elements just still sticking around and caught in the planetary part of the solar system rather than the sun itself. Or any previous suns.
There's some helium like that but most helium was formed inside suns later, and heavier elements all formed later in suns or supernovas.
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It's Hydrogen that's existed since the universe cooled enough for electrons and protons to make atoms. Seconds after the big bang.
Atoms didn't exist until 380,000 years after the big bang. Before that the universe was too dense for atoms to form and everything existed as a hot dense plasma where no electron could be captured by protons and neutrons. The protons that make up the nucleus of hydrogen did exist, it's just that everything was too energetic to become an atom yet.
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But you don't get new protons and neurons that way right? Higher nucleei are just hydrogen nucleei that got too cozy with each other.
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heavier elements all formed later in suns or supernovas
Don't forget neutron star collisions. Modern physics doesn't think there's enough energy in supernovae to create all the elements, so some must have come from neutron star collisions.
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More like 380,000 years after the big bang you still needed everything to cool down and forces to separate and lots of other really cool stuff to happen before hydrogen could form.
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I’m a biologist rather than a physicist, but I will take a swing at this.
Not really, although it depends on how you do your definitions. Most of the elements were formed by stars, which were themselves formed by the OG hydrogen, so hydrogen came first. So, first energy, then particles, then hydrogen, then stars and such, then oxygen and iron and all of those things.
I’m open to any corrections.
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"All of the protons in the universe have been around since the beginning of the universe. Most of them haven't undergone nuclear fusion"
Isn't that good of a post title
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Maybe not for you, but its much more interesting for me, as it gives more info than "if you think about it, old things are old"
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Yes, Neil deGrasse Tyson, you are very jaded and knowledgeable. Now let the rest of us have fun.
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Yeah that's what I was thinking...
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As far as I'm aware, protons don't decay. If they formed at the beginning of the universe, they stick around until they get annihilated by anti-matter. But are we getting new protons after the universe formed? No idea.
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Hydrogen is a colorless, odorless gas that, given enough time, starts to wonder where it came from.
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As Carl Sagan said, "The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff."
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Came here to make sure it was said.
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No wonder.
- Water: 2 hydrogens per 1 oxygen, 66%!
- Carbohydrates: same story
- Fats: a LOT of hydrogen
- Proteins: yep, lots of hydrogen!
- Vitamins: same
Most organic molecules feature a lot of hydrogen that essentially serves as a placeholder for all the free bonds of carbon (and there is plenty!), oxygen, and nitrogen. Hydrogen is essentially the default thing to connect to about any organic molecule. And yes, it is primarily taken from water in the grand scheme of things.
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To expand on that, hydrogen is just lone protons. Some of those protons pick up an electron, but if it's a proton, it's hydrogen. And considering that nuclear fusion is hard[citation needed], it makes sense that one of the most common things to attach to other atoms would just be the smallest, most abundant, and most simple kind of atom out there.
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Explains why I feel so tired. Ive literally been here since the beginning of time
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I'm not even supposed to be here today.
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Given enough time, Hydrogen will begin to wonder where it came from, and where it is going.
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If it hadn't been for hydrogen, oh. I'd been married long time ago. Where did you come from, where did you go? Where did you come from hydrogen, oh.
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No wonder I'm so fucking tired
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some radiation produces proton emission, so maybe not all of them are that old
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I was gonna say the same
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Explains the knee and back pain.
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Well, then why don't we float away? /s
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Unrelated to the topic:
Is the aim of CC "..." text at the botton to prevent ai from using your comments or something? (I'm trying to understand.)
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I get the sentiment but wouldn’t you WANT an AI to be trained on your own words? That would make the AI more favorable to your points of view. By self-censoring you effectively let everyone else in the world decide the direction AI goes.
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Unrelated to the topic:
Is the aim of CC “…” text at the botton to prevent ai from using your comments or something? (I’m trying to understand.)
In theory, yes. I realize it probably won't work, but it's a momentary copy and paste, so it's a low hanging fruit to give it a try, just in case it does work.
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Hydrogen is an electron and proton. I am guessing that most protons have been fully ionized many times since the beginning of the universe, thus not being complete intact atoms. Checkmate scientists!
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At the big bang only Hydrogen, some Helium and spurious amounts of Lithium have been formed. Heavier elements have been bred by stars in the meantime.
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54 comments
Not me. I make my hydrogen from scratch every morning. Takes a while, but you can really tell the difference.
Mine is mixed with methane.