Supernovae are interesting and apparently create various elements in the r-process. I found out reading the April Sky & Telescope that every breath we take, 160 million massive stars blew up to create the oxygen
The Little Stars That Can, Sky & Telescope 145(4):36-40,2023 by Ken Croswell.
My note, how many of the elements found on Earth were created by the r-process and s-process is difficult to determine using the BB cosmology and later stellar evolution r-process and s-process. This report indicated the oxygen we breathe today evolved from 160 million different supernovae events (how many have been observed?). “In fact, with every breath you take, you inhale oxygen forged in 160 million different massive stars that went supernova, according to Matteucci and Donatella Romano (Italian National Institute for Astrophysics, Bologna).”
The report stated about lithium production. "Since these discoveries, both teams have detected beryllium-7 in many more novae. Izzo’s team even saw beryllium-7 in two novae that appeared in another galaxy, the Small Magellanic Cloud, in 2019 and 2020 as well as in RS Ophiuchi, a recurrent nova in the Milky Way that exploded in 2021. So just how much of Earth’s lithium-7 came from novae? Tajitsu estimates about 50%. Izzo says about 70%. Matteucci thinks about 75%. Aoki estimates 70% to 80%. Starrfield says about 90%. If these scientists are right, about half or more of the lithium in your cell phone was forged in nova explosions in the galaxy…Rare Isotopes Theoretical calculations indicate that novae also produce rare isotopes of three of the most common elements in the universe: carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen."
My observation. Novae creating elements like lithium or others in our galaxy is difficult to document and calculate the total mass or amount contribution. “The Nova Rate Exactly how much nova nucleosynthesis contributes to the galaxy depends on how many novae occur each year — a number no one knows. “There’s a lot of uncertainty in estimating the nova rate for our galaxy,” says Allen Shafter (San Diego State University), who has spent most of his career trying to do just that.”
Somehow, these various elements seen in the stars wound up here for folks to use, and breathe
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