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All is One, One is All: Where Do All the Elements Come From?

  All of the stuff around you — your desk, computer, lukewarm coffee, your body — all of it has undergone a very long journey to get to where it is now. The different elements seem so fundamental we often fail to wonder where they came from; they just seem like they've always been there. In fact, the elements of the universe all come from very diverse sources, each with different conditions predisposing the production of, say, osmium over sodium. The figure below shows all of the different sources of the different elements. Here's what each category means. All the material objects around you are composed of submicroscopic units we call molecules. And molecules in turn are composed of individual atoms. Molecules frequently break apart and then form new molecules.  On the other hand, virtually all the atoms you come in to contact with through the course of your life, the ones in the ground beneath you, the air you breath, the food you eat, those that make up every living thing,