Star generatations making elements

[Pjpic]

How many generations of stars were required to make the elements found on Earth. In other words, does a star have to be born with heavier elements for some even heavier elements to form?

 

[Matterwave]

No, the first generation of stars could have produced all of the elements, as long as they were massive enough.

 

[Chronos]

Some of the heavier elements may have required second generation stars, albeit that is a speculative assertion.

 

[hairnet]

Its believed that our sun is of the third generation of stars...

There is only observational evidence for the youngest two as the original population would have been very massive and therefore had a very short lifetime ~10^6 years. This short lifetime would mean we can't see far enough to pick them up...