Cosmological 'lost' lithium: An environmental solution
Tuesday, August 4, 2015 - 18:30
in Physics & Chemistry
In the beginning there were four "fundamental" elements besides Hydrogen- not Earth, Air, Fire, or Water, but rather Helium 3, Helium 4, Deuterium and Lithium-7, four "light" isotopes produced by primordial nucleosynthesis (during the Big Bang). The four elements remain, but the calculations simply do not add up. The "metal-poor" stars are celestial bodies composed of mainly primitive material. Based on the Standard Cosmological Model - the most accepted theory today to explain the universe - scientists have calculated how much Li7 should be in them, but the measurements show that it is a factor 3 less of what it should be. The question remains whether the theoretical predictions were wrong or if some of the Lithium was lost along the way.