Where Did the Elements in the Periodic Table Come From? The Amazing Story of the Universe

We all have to learn about the Periodic Table of the Elements at school, but have you ever wondered where they actually came from?  I have to say, I wish that there had been videos like this when I was younger, because although it may have been explained, it certainly didn’t stay in my head between then and now. So, courtesy of the Royal Observatory Greenwich we have a short, but perfectly formed.

To cut a long story short, 13.9 billion years ago the whole universe was squashed into a space the size of your head – and it was unimaginably  hotter.  Then, the universe began to rapidly expand in what we know as The Big Bang. But we didn’t have elements, just yet.  Particles came along – electrons being among the first. Quarks also appeared, and soon they started binding together to form protons and neutrons. Protons of course (!) are the basis of the smallest element in the universe – hydrogen.  I’m going to leave the rest up to you to discover!