Helium solar abundance

Extraterrestrial dust particles can be proven to be nonterrestrial by a variety of methods, depending on the particle si2e. Unmelted particles have high helium. He, contents resulting from solar wind implantation. In 10-)J.m particles the concentration approaches l/(cm g) at STP and the He He ratio is close to the solar value. Unmelted particles also often contain preserved tracks of solar cosmic rays that are seen in the electron microscope as randomly oriented linear dislocations in crystals. Eor larger particles other cosmic ray irradiation products such as Mn, Al, and Be can be detected. Most IDPs can be confidently distinguished from terrestrial materials by composition. Typical particles have elemental compositions that match solar abundances for most elements. TypicaUy these have chondritic compositions, and in descending order of abundance are composed of O, Mg, Si, Ee, C, S, Al, Ca, Ni, Na, Cr, Mn, and Ti. 

We adopted as the present chemical composition the O/H, C/O, N/O, and Fe/H abundances from the H II region Hubble V (Peimbert et al. 2005) and from A-type supergiants (Venn et al. 2001). With these abundances and assuming the solar abundances by Asplund et al. (2005), we have determined its metallicity (Z = 0.6Zq). Since Venn et al. find no metallicity gradient, we have assumed that at present the ISM is well mixed. We have obtained the amount of gaseous mass, Mgas = 2 x 108Mq, based on the H I measurement inside r < 5 kpc, the present helium abundance, and an estimation of M(H2). 

SNII events alone explain the observed solar abundance distribution between oxygen and chromium. This can be taken as a major theoretical achievement. Complementary sources of hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon and nitrogen are required, and these have been identified. They are the Big Bang, cosmic rays and intermediate-mass stars. Around iron and a little beyond, we must invoke a contribution from type la supernovas (Pig. 8.5). These must be included to reproduce the evolution of iron abundances, a fact which suggests... 

The solar abundances of all of the chemical elements are shown in Figure 12.2. These abundances are derived primarily from knowledge of the elemental abundances in Cl carbonaceous chrondritic meteorites and stellar spectra. Note that 99% of the mass is in the form of hydrogen and helium. Notice that there is a general logarithmic decline in the elemental abundance with atomic number with... 

Natural isotopes of helium and their solar abundances... 

To set an abundance scale for listing the abundances of the elements, astronomers usually set H = 1012 atoms. Other elemental abundances in stars are then given by their numbers per thousand billion H atoms. In the Sun the ratio H/He = 10. For 3He more reliable information about relative He isotopic abundances comes from the primitive classes of meteorites, which are dominated by silicon. Thus the scale frequently used for geochemistry and for stellar nucleosynthesis takes a sample containing one million Si atoms, so that abundances of the elements are then their numbers per million Si atoms. Since helium in the Sun is observed by astronomers to be 2720 times more abundant than silicon, the He total solar abundance is therefore... 

The four giant planets have hydrogen- and helium-rich compositions reminiscent of the Sun, but all of them clearly depart from strict solar composition in that their densities are too high and the few heavier elements whose tropospheric abundances can be measured all show clear evidence of enrichment. For all four giant planets we have spectroscopic compositional data on the few compounds that remain uncondensed in the visible portion of their atmospheres, above their main cloud layers. These include ammonia, methane, phosphine, and germane. For Jupiter, these volatile elements (C, N, S, P and Ge) are enriched relative to their solar abundances by about a factor of five. For Saturn, with no detection of germane, the enhancement of C, N, and P is about a factor of 10. For Uranus and Neptune the methane enrichment factor is at least 60, consonant with their much higher uncompressed densities. 

Elemental abundances. (A) Helium. Solar models are able to deduce accurate, although somewhat model-dependent, protosolar He values by fits to the observed present-day luminosity (e.g., Christensen-Dalsgaard 1998, see Helium in the sun section). The value stated in the body of Table 2 in three different notations is from the compilation by Grevesse and Sauval (1998), two other values for the initial He mass fraction are given in the Table caption (see also next section). In summary, the models provide the protosolar He abundance with an uncertainty of only a few percent. 

The atmospheres of the Jovian planets have some of the characteristics of dense Interstellar clouds in consisting almost entirely of molecular hydrogen with an envelope of atomic hydrogen produced by photodissociation. Helium is present probably at near the solar abundance ratio, but because it is more massive than H and H2 its concentration falls rapidly with increasing altitude and it plays bjit a minor role in the chemistry. The Jovian planets are distant from the Sun and ultraviolet photons are less Important and cosmic rays are more Important in driving the chemistry than for the terrestrial planets. 

As can be seen in Fig. 2-1 (abundance of elements), hydrogen and oxygen (along with carbon, magnesium, silicon, sulfur, and iron) are particularly abundant in the solar system, probably because the common isotopic forms of the latter six elements have nuclear masses that are multiples of the helium (He) nucleus. Oxygen is present in the Earth s crust in an abundance that exceeds the amount required to form oxides of silicon, sulfur, and iron in the crust the excess oxygen occurs mostly as the volatiles CO2 and H2O. The CO2 now resides primarily in carbonate rocks whereas the H2O is almost all in the oceans. 

Helium is the second most abundant element in the visible Universe and accordingly there is a mass of data from optical and radio emission lines in nebulae, optical emission lines from the solar chromosphere and prominences and absorption lines in spectra of hot stars. Further estimates are derived more indirectly by applying theories of stellar structure, evolution and pulsation. However, because of the relative insensitivity of Tp to cosmological parameters, combined with the need to allow for additional helium from stellar nucleosynthesis in most objects, the requirements for accuracy are very severe better than 5 per cent to place cosmological limits on Nv and better still to place interesting constraints on t] or One can, however, assert with confidence that there is a universal floor to the helium abundance in observed objects corresponding to 0.23 < Fp < 0.25. 

Fig. 4.1. Abundance table of elements in the Solar System. The main features of the abundance distribution are as follows (1) the hydrogen (Z = 1) peak, shouldered by helium (Z = 2) the precipitous gorge separating helium and carbon (Z = 6) ...

Hydrogen fusion via either the proton-proton chain or the CNO cycle in the centre of stars comes to an end when most of the hydrogen has been transformed into helium. Helium fusion produces two elements essential to life, namely carbon and oxygen. In fact, carbon constitutes 18% of our bodies, and oxygen 65%, whilst the fractions of these same elements in solar material are just 0.39% and 0.85%, respectively. Only hydrogen and helium are more abundant in the Sun. 

By studying radio and optical spectra from HII regions and planetary nebulas, to be discussed immediately below, we may establish the abundances of several elements, in particular, helium, absent from the solar spectrum, a point of great cosmological significance, but also nitrogen and oxygen. 

Joseph Lockyer (1836-1920) was one of the pioneers of solar spectroscopy. In examining the spectra of solar prominences in 1869, Lockyer noticed an absorption line that he could not identify. Reasoning that it represented an element not present on Earth, he proposed a new element - helium, from the Greek word helios for Sun. This idea failed to achieve acceptance from Lockyer s scientific colleagues until a gas having the same mysterious spectral line was found 25 years later in rocks. The helium in terrestrial uranium ore formed as a decay product of radioactive uranium. Thus, this abundant element was first discovered in the Sun, rather than in the laboratory. Lockyer s cosmochemical discovery was recognized by the British government, which created a solar physics laboratory for him. Lockyer also founded the scientific journal Nature, which he edited for 50 years. 

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