Do you think it is possible (planet question)?

Question

Do you think that as our universe evolves that perhaps a planet could be made by super dense elements, even denser than Plutonium and Uranium? Could a sun gain enough energy to begin fusing iron as it's main fuel source, or will the universe grow dark once all the lighter elements have been fused above the level of iron?

Oh come on, all ya'll are only after the two points, couldn't ya think a little and give an educated guess?

Answer 1

I think there is a better chance of that happening than there is of you getting any.

Answer 2

There are quite afew metals heavier than uranium and plutonium already. They are highly unstable and do not exist for more than a few microseconds before exploding. they have also not been observed in quantities more than micrograms.

But

I remember reading in a sci fi book some years ago about "island metals"?

They were hypothetical super heavy metals that were stable, and even non radioactive.

but as far as a planet made of Uranium or plutonium, no can do.

During the processes of igniting into a supernova, a star fuses iron and other lighter elements into everything else(gold, silver, uranium, thorium, etc)

But any large amounts of uranium or other fissile elements, say more than a few kilograms worth, are already at critical mass and would explode in a series of secondary explosions.

That is why no Uranium on earth is mined in "chunks", it is dust sized and has to be refined and recombined in minute amounts. (thus the controversy regarding the centerfuges used by wannabe nuclear states)

So far, outside of a black hole, stars can not fuse anything heavier than iron into other elements, but can develop enough energy through supernova strength explosions to make relatively minute quantities of heavy metals.

Stars the sun's size do not have enough gravity to fuse iron, they can only fuse elements upto oxygen, iron is only for the largest, hottest stars

And black holes do not give up there matter once they exist.

The universe will go dark before all the elements have fused into iron, because what remains will be scattered too far apart to be swept up in new solar development.

Answer 3

OK - so the Sun gets it's energy from fusing two itty-bitty Hydrogen atoms into a Helium atom. Right? So, to move on up the Periodic Table you would need even more energy than is currently created by the sun. But, the heavier elements are only created when a sun exhausts it's fuel and blows up. And, I think that list includes iron.

Still, rules are made to be broken and we don't know as much as we think we do - so, I will say, "Yes, Suns will become bigger and better and fuse iron !!!"

Answer 4

A sun has to be 6 times more massive than the Sun to even burn iron, and it won't start until all the lighter elements are used up, due to the fact that you just can't use iron as a fuel source, the star implodes with gravity and the outer layers explode. This explosion is called a supernova. A supernova becomes extremely bright, in fact, billions of times more luminous than our Sun. After the star dies, it becomes a neutron star or a black hole and occasionally, a white dwarf.

Will the universe become dark after every star burns out. No. This is because supernovae trigger gas clouds in space to collect into a dense region and create new stars.

Answer 5

A "planet" made of uranium would quickly reach critical mass and detonate under it's own gravity I imagine. Very large, massive suns explode into super novas, leaving a neutron star or black hole behind.

The universe will most likely grow dark with fuel sources left...inhibited by the fact that they aren't amassed in large enough quantity. I expect hydrogen to be abundant even in the dead universe.

Answer 6

stars CANNOT fuse anything heavier than iron, and if it reaches the stage of fusing iron that means it is a big enough star that it will go supernova, that is what happens when stars go supernova they fuse the elements into heavier ones and once they get to iron they can't fuse it so the star almost "bounces" off the core and explodes. so no I dont think that is possible, if it were the star would have to be soooo big to create the pressure need to fuse iron that it would fuse it very quickly and die very quickly. and as for the planet question, good question, we only get those heavier elements from supernova explosions, so maybe it is possible for a planet to form out of the supernova remnants? you make my head hurt! jk, good thoughtful question.

Answer 7

Actually, Iron is the dead end of energy-producing fusion reactions. Iron has the lowest mass-per-nucleon of any element.

While supernovae explosions produce elements heavier than iron, they loose some energy to the reactions that produce the heavier elements.

If a cloud composed of iron and heavier-than-iron elements (if one actually existed) coalesced under its own gravity, it would simply form a hot, stable sphere of heavy elements - any fission would slow this process.

As long as the final mass remained below the threshold for gravitational collapse, the sphere would cool slowly over eons, leaving a ball of degenerate matter - a soup of primarily iron nuclei and electrons.

Answer 8

Absolutley; our understanding of the universe, at least on a physical level, is nowhere near truly knowledgeable level - what we do know, is not even a tip of the iceberg - more like the tip of the tip of the tip of the tip of an iceberg, even if at that.

Furthermore, we've yet to really explore our own universe, let alone any others - what we've learned is from telescopes and an occassional NASA study. Can you imaging living 10,000 years from now when science has become so evolved, typing is an archaic form of communication, and space travel is nothing new? Kind of makes me wish I was born later lol

Answer 9

No.
to densify matter in that way, we would need high levels of gravity, possible only in case of very large object - not a planet, but a very large sun.
Our sun is too small to generate any such crushing. However, larger suns can start burning other elements for fuel. I think it is possible to calculate the limit mass, but I am not an astrophysicist.

Answer 10

the stability of large elements, trans-uranium, is very small. and the planet would have very large amounts of radiation so life on the planet would probable not happen. could a star run off of iron fusion reaction, parable not that is a very large and power full reaction that may happen on a micro scale in any star but to maintain that kind of reaction would not be likely.

if there was such a star in the milky way it would be very large and most likely already detected.

Answer 11

I didn't do the math but my first reaction would be that the heavy elements are going to have to many bonds to break to release enough energy for a sustainable chain reaction. either not enough actually breaking or too many breaking at once. either way the process would deregrade to the lighter elements over time.