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WE ARE STARS by Dynamic Earth Edinburgh Scotland | Caledonian Rock Shop | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: WE ARE STARS by Dynamic Earth Edinburgh Scotland
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Summary
Core Theme
This content traces the cosmic journey of atoms from the Big Bang to the formation of life and consciousness, illustrating how everything in the universe, including ourselves, is interconnected through the evolution of matter.
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[Music]
we've gone back
in time 13.8 billion years
to the beginning of our universe in the
very first moment of time
the universe is almost impossibly hot
and crammed full of energy
in one super hot single point suddenly
the universe expanded we call this moment
moment
within a millionth of a second the
universe is transformed into a dense
soup of subatomic [Music]
the particles universe is now three
minutes old
and energy is condensing forming the
building blocks of our modern universe
the universe is now 380 000
years old the particles called electrons
have slowed down and are beginning to be
attracted to the protons
each electron carries a negative charge
and each proton has a similar but
positive charge
their opposite charges balance each
other perfectly and they become
the most important couple in the history
of the universe
the first atom hydrogen
hydrogen [Music]
[Music]
electrons are also caught by pairs of
protons and neutrons
completing the second most simple atom helium
helium [Music]
the universe is now 500 million years old
old
and the hot energy soup has calmed down
to a cold
dark cloud a fine haze of atoms
mostly hydrogen fills the universe
no galaxies no stars and no planets
just atoms floating in space and our
story would end there
but for the invisible inescapable
effects of gravity oh
and what's a gravity gravity is an
invisible force
that pulls in every direction from
anything that has
mass atoms are really really small but
each one has a tiny amount of mass
so every atom's gravity is gently almost imperceptibly
imperceptibly
pulling on every other atom in the universe
universe
slowly but surely throughout the
universe gravity begins to shape
as more and more atoms are gathered together
together
they form into gigantic spinning clouds
[Music]
as the galaxy station bright spots appear
appear
deep inside these new lights
signal the birth of the first super
massive stars [Music]
each star starts its life as a giant
ball of cold spinning hydrogen
as the spinning clouds gravity pulls in
the surrounding gas
the ball begins to grow and grow
the more it grows the more gravity it has
has
and the more it pulls in on itself
the atoms in the core are squeezed in
tighter and tighter
raising the temperature to 10 million
degrees celsius
the heat and pressure force the nuclei
and they release energy [Music]
[Music]
as the energy escapes from its surface
the star
these first stars were huge
much bigger than modern stars like the
sun this one is so big
it could swallow our entire solar system
if you could cut the star in half you'd see
see
outer layers of hot hydrogen plasma
churning around
a glowing core the core is where almost
all the heat is generated by a reaction called
called
nuclear fusion nuclear fusion doesn't
just make the star
sharpen something new is being created
ladies and gentlemen for your entertainment
entertainment
may i present a dramatic demonstration
representing the wonders and secrets
imagine we're in the core of the star
these balls represent the low protons
from hydrogen nuclei
and we are going to show you how they
fuse together to form a new element
called helium the process starts
with the protons they're all trying to
get away from each other because their
positive charge
forces them apart however
sometimes a proton will lose its charge
and transform
into a neutron neutrons have no charge
so the heat and pressure forces them to
join the closest proton
together they become a new nucleus
called a deuteron
the deuteron wanders around the core but
it is not long before it is hit
by one of the free protons the nucleus
grows again
then the nucleus tumbles around in the
core until it meets another nucleus
and they are crushed together two
protons fall off back into the core
but the nucleus that remains now has two protons
protons
and two neutrons the element helium
this process of fusing hydrogen protons
is happening over a trillion trillion
[Music]
gradually the helium fills the core [Music]
[Music]
you might expect that once the core has
turned all its hydrogen into helium
then it would stop working
but the element building has only just begun
as the hydrogen is used up the core gets denser
denser
and hotter allowing the helium nuclei to
fuse into another
heavier element again the temperature of
the core rises and the beryllium begins
to fuse with the helium
into carbon fusing carbon raises the
temperature of the core
again under the pressure the new
elements start to fuse with each other
and with the hydrogen
many of the elements we know today are
built in a star's core
an element we call iron is made but the
nucleus of iron is so
stable that it can't fuse and so
temperature is no longer increased
into the core suddenly there is not
enough pressure from inside the star to
balance out the gravity putting it in
collapses
the crushing gravity slams the atoms
against each other with such
in a supernova [Music]
supernovas complete the last stage in
the element building process
within these giant explosions
rarer elements are formed
over billions of years the debris of
exploding stars slowly collects together
into giant clouds still mostly hydrogen
but now peppered with a mix of heavier atoms
atoms
this one is so big that it could contain
our solar system hundreds of billions of
times over
deep inside these pillars something
is happening to the atoms they are
starting to reach out to each other
and form molecules
excuse me excuse me yes young lady
isn't molecules ah good question let's
these are some molecules found in a nebula
nebula [Music]
[Music]
a molecule is a group of atoms linked up
together like they're holding hands
you have this molecule in your body and
it's found in this
nebula it's water
a water molecule is made by one oxygen atom
atom
linking with two hydrogen atoms you
might recognize its chemical name h2o
h2o
another common molecule in the nebula is
carbon dioxide
co2 made with one carbon atom and two
oxygen atoms your body produces carbon dioxide
dioxide
and you breathe it out you will make
this molecule too except you don't
breathe it out any ideas what it's [Music]
[Music] called
called [Music]
[Music]
ah thank you very much but all i was
after was the word
when made comes to atoms in your body
carbon atoms are the most
important you see carbon can bond with
up to four different atoms
at once making it possible to create
really interesting molecules
by linking it up with atoms like oxygen
hydrogen and nitrogen
carbon easily makes some familiar molecules
molecules
like sugar molecules it is in fat
molecules and a vital part
of protein molecules
unfortunately these molecules are quite fragile
fragile
and the radiation of space easily breaks
their bonds
so we need to build somewhere that's
protected and big enough
to collect plenty of molecules somewhere like
like
a planet [Music]
[Music]
this giant disk of gases molecules
metals and dust is our solar system
and at its center is a very young
sun within these churning clouds gravity
is pulling these molecules into great
spinning masses
that will become planets [Music]
[Music]
this young planet is our
already earth billion years old for over
a hundred million years
leftover dust and blocks of frozen gases
relentlessly bombard the young planet
each impact melting the surface and
filling the atmosphere with molecules of
carbon dioxide
but eventually impacts slow down
and the surface begins to cool the steam
in the atmosphere
it rains for thousands and thousands of years
years
eventually covering the whole earth in water
water [Music]
under this ocean a new stage in the
journey of atoms and molecules
water heated by the molten rock the
earth's mantle
bursts through vents in the earth's
crust dissolving molecules along the
way as it meets the cool water of the ocean
ocean
these minerals are deposited forming
towers as the molecular mixture passes
through the mineral-rich chambers
they start to form the molecules we call
the building blocks
of life perhaps it was inside a vent
like this following hundreds of millions
of years of chance interactions
that molecules formed the first life
in the shape of cells [Music]
under the ocean these first cells use
the molecules and atoms from their environment
environment
for energy and growth it wasn't long
before they began to make copies of themselves
themselves
suddenly there were hundreds thousands
millions trillions of cells spreading
throughout the oceans
a billion years of random mutation
resulted in a startling advance
some cells began to use the sun's energy
to turn carbon dioxide and water
into sugar this superpower
photosynthesis let cells grow much more quickly
quickly
but a nasty surprise was in store
these new supercells released oxygen
and had this built up in the atmosphere
it changed our planet
forever highly reactive the oxygen
poisoned a huge number of cells
causing a mass extinction but
some cells survived as they replicated
they filled the world with cells able to
tolerate or even
some cells began to work together and
form groups
until they become the first multi-celled organisms
organisms
over many many generations their forms
slowly changed
some of the original microscopic
molecule factories had evolved
into simple worms it wasn't long before
the worms
evolved into primitive fish using iron
in blood cells to capture oxygen
and calcium to build bones the fish
continue to evolve
and dominate the oceans
over time the molecules and atoms are
constantly being recycled and modified
as they pass from one living thing to another
another
above the water plants and giant
insects to go with the land but they
were soon followed by fish that have evolved
evolved
the ability to crawl out of the sea and
to breathe the oxygen-rich air
these oxygen breathers evolved into reptiles
reptiles
which became the dinosaurs
and for over a hundred million years
dinosaurs dominated the earth
the giant impact changed the environment
so rapidly that many forms of life
were unable to survive the age of the dinosaurs
dinosaurs
came to an end but some species did survive
survive
with the dinosaurs gone mammals evolved
to take their place
as the new top atom organizers
through the process of natural selection
they adapted to new habitats
a species died off and new once
flourished a tree of life
mapped out to the generations then
millions of years later on a distant
branch of the family tree
there drew a new branch of mammals in
eggs many many generations later on a
tweet from this branch
there stood some very strange apes
these apes were strange because their
atoms had formed brains that didn't just
think simple thoughts like
i'm hungry but complex ones like what
have been made of
and where did it all come from
they have been finding out the answers
we have discovered that we are made of
atoms and these atoms are on a journey
as old as the universe
before they became part of you they were
in animals plants
and in the air they were once in dinosaurs
dinosaurs
in primitive fish and made up the very
first cells
cells are symbols from molecules
containing atoms that first arrived
on earth as comics and asteroids
born within the clouds of giant nebulae
containing complex atoms
delivered by exploding stars atoms that
have been fueled by gravity deep in the
core of the stars
stars that were formed from giant clouds
of hydrogen
the same hydrogen that was the first
relationship between a proton
but it all started when mg came together
to form
mata after the universe expanded from a single
single
tiny point
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