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llanitedave
Humble Megalomaniac
Reged: 09/26/05
Posts: 10908
Loc: Amargosa Valley, NV, USA
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Re: Astronomer's Periodic Table
04/17/08 01:24 AM
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I assume that means just running out of useable hydrogen. I believe there will always be far more hydrogen than any other element -- it's consumption in stars is very inefficient.
When a nebular cloud collapses to form a star, most of the mass of the cloud is blown away by the winds of the proto-star. When a solar-mass star becomes a white dwarf, only the core remains, most of the atmosphere, which is largely hydrogen, dissipates in the planetary nebula. When a star explodes as a Type II supernovae, unless it is a Wolf-Rayet star which has already lost its hydrogen envelope, the outer atmosphere of the exploding star remains mostly hydrogen.
I don't know how to get the numbers, but I'd bet dollars to donuts that for every hydrogen atom that is fused to make another element, many other hydrogen atoms dissipate into space, never to be incorporated into any body.
If I'm wrong, I hope someone will correct me. I haven't had a good donut in a while!
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"S.O.E." (Sauron's Other Eye) 16" Royce conical mirror: A permanent work in progress.
10" Homebuilt dob, old Coulter mirror
Next Project: The "Eye of Sauron" Observatory!
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