Carl Sagan, a famous Astrophysicist used to say, “We are made of star-stuff!” The thing about this quote is that it is a very scientifically accurate concise statement that sounds good too. Carl Sagan was one of the brilliant minds in the field of science. He was one of the best science communicators of all time and this makes him very popular amongst people. Let me just emphasize that it is not very easy for scientists to become popular, however, it’s not an aim of a scientist to become popular. They are always dedicated to their work. But if a scientist is popular like Stephen Hawking, Richard Feynman Michio Kaku, Neil deGrasse Tyson, then there exist two conditions, he/she might be that brilliant to revolutionize the entire science or he/she is a science communicator. Carl was one of both kinds. But here we are interested in science, the valuable way of discussing ideas. To understand the quote we first have to understand what is starstuff, or what makes a star such an elegant entity in the universe. Stars are made up of primary elements such as Hydrogen and Helium. This signifies the point that in the formation of planets and solar systems they played an important role. This depicts that we all are in some sense made up of star stuff. The formation of stars is a very important notion where it comprises a process known as Hydrostatic equilibrium. It follows with the equilibrium in gravitation which applies in an attractive manner in between the masses, with the pressure which is pushing stuff outward. The elements which are abundant in a star play the role of fuel for the star. As Hydrogen and Helium are abundant in a star, they work as a fuel for the star. When the fuel gets consumed in the generation of energy, the star reaches a point of supernova (it can also end up in a Black hole if the conditions are favorable). That supernova acts as a nurturey for the growth of other stars. This plays a huge role in the distribution of essential elements.
We are a carbon-based organism which means that our life is possible because of the availability of carbon. Carbon plays a huge role in all biological and chemical sciences, there is a whole branch dedicated to the compounds that we develop or that we get from the environment made up of carbon and hydrogen. It is popularly known as organic chemistry, it is because the essential compounds in an organism or required in the formation of an organism are carbon compounds. So that Black element really matters! At least to our world. We see in science fiction that there is silicon-based life which is an element having similar properties. Astronomers and Cosmologists are very attached to carbon since it is a key element to define the existence of life. But they are just afraid to admit that carbon is boon to us. They know the importance of it but they know very well that compounds make of carbon are dangerous for our earth too. We use AC, we use Cars, we run factories which lead to some compounds that are made up of carbon and hazardous for our environment. We breathe oxygen O2 and release carbon dioxide CO2, a carbon compound that is killing our planet as a process of pollution. We are 100% responsible for this and it okay to admit that we just cannot live without it. The chlorofluorocarbons have better known as CFCs is a reason to deplete our ozone layer. It is funny to believe that the stuff which makes us, ‘Us’ is a threat to the environment in which we all are living. We cannot remove it but we can help it out by planting more and more trees which really helps in the balance of CO2 in the environment.
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