Flexi Says: The solar system began as a rotating cloud of stardust. “Dust, rocks, and gas” may not sound inspiring, but this cloud contained the 92 elements which somehow combine to form every corner – living and nonliving – of Earth. Where did these elements come from? Initially, the Big Bang (14 billion years ago) gave rise to the building blocks of matter – the quarks and electrons of which we are all made. Quarks aggregated producing protons and neutrons which combined into nuclei, ultimately forming the first atoms which were mainly hydrogen and helium. Elements as heavy as lithium followed the Big Bang within minutes. When stars formed, they fused hydrogen and helium nuclei to form elements from carbon (the foundation of life) to calcium (now our bones and teeth). Heavier elements formed in larger stars.
