An interesting fact about lead

[Thalassamania]

You've got it backwards, life fits the environment, that's all. Change the environment, change the life. Develop half sentient life with some serious conceit and they start to thing that it was made that way for them.

 

[iztok]

It's as if the universe were "designed for life"

This specific life as we know it evolved to fit the environment. If environment were different different life might have evolved (and if sentient they would probably think the same)

 

[Tanked]

 

[DandyDon]

And the water you dive was delivered by comets after the earth cooled sufficiently: Comets May Be the Source of Earth's Water | Universe Today

Or maybe not: Earth's Water Probably Didn't Come From Comets, Caltech Researchers Say

 

[Bryan]

Lead: a heavy topic indeed.

 

[Diver0001]

I would highly appreciate it if this thread didn't dissolve into discussion about contentious science (by which I mean global warming). I'm after a much more positive tone in this thread and I'm afraid I'll have to ask moderators to intervene if it goes that way.

R..

 

[D_B]

I understand you
... I still think that the article I saw was more fundamental than just affecting life as we know it ... it was that the whole order of the universe would change in such fundamental ways as to be unrecognizable, or to not exist ... stars could not form, and other such massive changes

Edit: I'm sorry ... I just thought it was a neat article

I'll delete my posts if you like

 

[iztok]

I would highly appreciate it if this thread didn't dissolve into discussion about contentious science (by which I mean global warming). I'm after a much more positive tone in this thread and I'm afraid I'll have to ask moderators to intervene if it goes that way.

R..

Good thing about science is that it has built in self correcting mechanism and there is a big fame to be had to improve or replace existing scientific theory.

If new-found facts are found that disprove existing theory new one has to be made.

That is why we sometimes (but not to often) see these changes.

 

[SkimFisher]

Well, from my experience some people are carrying a lot more than a sliver...

 

[mikemill]

Something the average diver probably doesn't know is that when you submerge you actually strap a piece of a supernova to your waist.

The lead weights.

During the main burning phase of a star it spends most of its life fusing hydrogen into helium. However, when it starts to age the hydrogen starts to run out and the force of gravity starts causing it to fuse heavier elements. Helium, then lithium and all the way through the periodic table up to iron. Some (for humans) pretty important stuff gets created like this, like oxygen and carbon.

However, iron doesn't release additional energy when it fuses so the process stops there and the star collapses and creates a supernova (at least if it's big enough it will).

In those few seconds during the collapse, atoms are crushed together with such astounding force that all of the other elements heavier than iron are created.

Including lead.

So the next time you go diving, take some time to think about that. We're all literally made of star dust and on your weight belt you carry with you on every dive a sliver of a supernova.

R..

Unless you are diving trimix then everything we are made up of and carry with us were made in stars. The lead isn't from the supernova it is just the last element to be created prior to the star's collapse. And even that phase lasts for a long time (in our perspective, not so long in the universe's perspective).