Life as we know it is based upon the elements of carbon and
oxygen. Now a team of physicists, including one from North Carolina State
University, is looking at the conditions necessary to the formation of those
two elements in the universe. They’ve found that when it comes to supporting
life, the universe leaves very little margin for error.
Both carbon and oxygen are produced when helium burns inside
of giant red stars. Carbon-12, an essential element we’re all made of, can only
form when three alpha particles, or helium-4 nuclei, combine in a very specific
way. The key to formation is an excited
state of carbon-12 known as the Hoyle state, and it has a very specific energy
– measured at 379 keV (or 379,000 electron volts) above the energy of three
alpha particles. Oxygen is produced by the combination of another alpha
particle and carbon.