When Hydrogen Wonders

One of my favourite threads of thought this week has been the idea that if Hydrogen is left for long enough, it will begin to wonder why it's there.

As in, if you left an amusing amount of Hydrogen for a comically large amount of time, it would combine with helium under the influence of gravity to form dust clouds called nebulae. Eventually these nebulae would collapse, heating up as they do so to form protostars. When the centre of these protostars reached a temperature of around 15 million Kelvin, hydrogen would then undergo fusion to become helium, releasing energy in the process and marking the genesis of a star. For the majority of the star's life it would remain stable, ie in its main sequence, maintained by the outward pressure from the hydrogen fusion balancing out the inward pull of its own gravity. In the heart of the star a process called stellar nucleosynthesis would be occurring where heavier elements, such as carbon and oxygen, would be synthesised from lighter ones. Eventually the main sequence star would run out of hydrogen to fuse, and the balance between fusion and gravity would tilt. In time, this tilt would cause the star to explode as a supernova. This supernova would scatter the newly formed elements across space, enriching the vacuous interstellar landscape of our universe with the building blocks for future stars and planets. The leftover gas and dust from the star's initial formation would swirl in a protoplanetary disk. Within this disk, some particles would collide and stick together to form planets, moons and celestial bodies. The stellar radiation and energy from the stars would play a crucial role in shaping the planetary environment and catalysing the chemical reactions that could lead to the emergence of life. If this is coupled with the planet being in the right location relative to the universe and other stars, then life would eventually evolve. That life would in time develop intelligence and that intelligence would lead to the eventual philosophical inclination to wonder why it's there.

I find it very charming that we are all star stuff at play.

I find it very charming that what I have just written and what you have just read is exactly what happens, when hydrogen wonders.

LM