# What quantites of heavier elements do supernovae produce? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 16, 2003, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-quantites-of-heavier-elements-do-supernovae-produce/188848 "2003-07-16T10:49:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-quantites-of-heavier-elements-do-supernovae-produce/188848/1 "2003-07-16T10:49:47Z")
I realise that not all stars are the same, but I’m just wondering about the sort of quantities of heavier elements produced when a ‘typical’ star goes supernova. As a rough guide, perhaps it would be useful to express it in terms of the amount of matter in our solar system - did it take many supernovae to fuse the amount of heavier elements that make up our solar system? if so, roughly how many? ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-quantites-of-heavier-elements-do-supernovae-produce/188848/2 "2003-07-16T17:35:05Z")
I am not an astrophysicist. However: [http://cepheid.cfm.udec.cl/~bdirsch/master/node7.html](http://cepheid.cfm.udec.cl/~bdirsch/master/node7.html) > [@](#): > > SNe Ia are the major source of iron, since one explosion is believed to eject about 0.5\_M of iron. I’m in way over my head, but I believe that _M_ here refers to solar masses (the mass of our own sun). That’s a lot of iron from one star, since: > [@](#): > > The Sun is by far the largest object in the solar system. It contains more than 99.8% of the total mass of the Solar System (Jupiter contains most of the rest). > **[The Sun Facts | Information, History, Size, Formation & Definition](https://nineplanets.org/the-sun/)** > > The Sun is by far the largest object in the solar system. It contains more than 99.8% of the total mass of the Solar System. Click for more facts. So all of the heavy elements is our solar system are just an eyelash worth of the heavy elements that a supenova can produce. Note, however, that the type of supernova referenced is the most powerful and bright. Others may be weaker, and produce different mixes of elements. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-quantites-of-heavier-elements-do-supernovae-produce/188848/3 "2003-07-16T20:26:14Z")
I’m not sure this is quantifiable. It’s a little like asking how many dunes the sands that covered the pyramids came from. At the time of the earth’s formation, the galaxy was awash in the products of many supernovas, each flung out in all directions. Whatever was in our vicinity coalesced to form the solar system. The trigger for that may have been a supernova, though. From _The Big Splat_, by Dana Mackenzie: > [@](#): > > Many cosmologists believe that the shock wave from such an explosion initiated the Sun’s condensation from a gas nebula into a star. And the accumulated residue from many aeons of supernova explosions seeded the solar nebula with the heavy elements needs to make the planets. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-quantites-of-heavier-elements-do-supernovae-produce/188848/4 "2003-07-16T20:44:47Z")
There’s actually a fairly good answer easily available. Find a table of _cosmic abundances_ of the elements (which differs from what the earth’s crust consists of – a point leading to the “K-T iridium spike” data in support of the Chicxulub impact theory). Realize that 75-90% of the product of the Big Bang was hydrogen and 10-25% helium, with virtually no heavier elements. Make an assumption of how much of the H and He is “primordial” and how much “recycled” through supernovae. Deduct the “primordial” quantity. You now have a list of what the _average_ supernova formed and in what quantities. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-quantites-of-heavier-elements-do-supernovae-produce/188848/5 "2003-07-20T19:03:02Z")
Sorry to ressurect this thread, but I have only just found it again- things get buried so quickly here. Thank you for the link [http://cepheid.cfm.udec.cl/~bdirsch/master/node7.html](http://cepheid.cfm.udec.cl/~bdirsch/master/node7.html) **Toadspittle** , that is one of the most fascinating I have seen- if only mre research could be presented in that format. One thing, though- I think there is a kind of supernova bigger than a SNe Ia - the typeIII or Hypernova [http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypernova](http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypernova) which are very infrequent, but devastating- perhaps more active in forming stars by light pressure than other kinds? * * * SF worldbuilding at [http://www.orionsarm.com/main.html](http://www.orionsarm.com/main.html)