<jabberwocky><div class="vbmenu_control"><a href="jabberwocky:;" onClick="newWindow=window.open('','usenetCode','toolbar=no,location=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,status=no,width=650,height=400'); newWindow.document.write('<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Usenet ASCII</TITLE></HEAD><BODY topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 BGCOLOR=#F1F1F1><table border=0 width=625><td bgcolor=midnightblue><font color=#F1F1F1>This Usenet message\'s original ASCII form: </font></td></tr><tr><td width=449><br><br><font face=courier><UL><PRE>If the universe had expanded less quickly, iron would be the dominant\nelement in it. Why is this?\n\n</UL></PRE></font></td></tr></table></BODY><HTML>');"> <IMG SRC=/images/buttons/ip.gif BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER ALT="View this Usenet post in original ASCII form"> View this Usenet post in original ASCII form </a></div><P></jabberwocky>If the universe had expanded less quickly, iron would be the dominant
element in it. Why is this?
Bastiaan Spanjaard
Jul13-04, 03:51 PM
<jabberwocky><div class="vbmenu_control"><a href="jabberwocky:;" onClick="newWindow=window.open('','usenetCode','toolbar=no,location=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,status=no,width=650,height=400'); newWindow.document.write('<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Usenet ASCII</TITLE></HEAD><BODY topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 BGCOLOR=#F1F1F1><table border=0 width=625><td bgcolor=midnightblue><font color=#F1F1F1>This Usenet message\'s original ASCII form: </font></td></tr><tr><td width=449><br><br><font face=courier><UL><PRE>\nalistair wrote:\n> If the universe had expanded less quickly, iron would be the dominant\n> element in it. Why is this?\n>\nI don\'t know if this is true but if it is it will have to do with the\nfact that iron is the natural end-product of nuclear fusion: of all\nelements, iron is the most energetically favorable. So nuclear fusion\nwill stop once all elements have turned into iron, as happens in stars.\n\nNow in the event of a slow expansion most or all particles would be\nclose enough together to fuse, and furthermore have the required energy\nto do so since early universe is pretty hot. Fusion would stop at iron\nand hence for slow expansion iron would be the dominant element in the\nuniverse.\n\nBastiaan Spanjaard\n</UL></PRE></font></td></tr></table></BODY><HTML>');"> <IMG SRC=/images/buttons/ip.gif BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER ALT="View this Usenet post in original ASCII form"> View this Usenet post in original ASCII form </a></div><P></jabberwocky>alistair wrote:
> If the universe had expanded less quickly, iron would be the dominant
> element in it. Why is this?
>
I don't know if this is true but if it is it will have to do with the
fact that iron is the natural end-product of nuclear fusion: of all
elements, iron is the most energetically favorable. So nuclear fusion
will stop once all elements have turned into iron, as happens in stars.
Now in the event of a slow expansion most or all particles would be
close enough together to fuse, and furthermore have the required energy
to do so since early universe is pretty hot. Fusion would stop at iron
and hence for slow expansion iron would be the dominant element in the
universe.