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Chemistry in stars. The chemical composition of most stars is dominated by hydrogen, with helium in second place and the remaining elements a long way behind. The relative proportions (or abundances) of the elements are quantified either by the number of atoms or the mass involved. In terms of mass, average material from outer layers of the Sun and the rest of the Solar System contain 70.7% hydrogen, 27.4% helium and 1.6% of all the other elements. These three quantities are called mass fractions and are conventionally labelled X, Y and Z. In terms of the number of atoms, hydrogen dominates even more, with 92.0% hydrogen, 7.8% helium, and all the rest just 0.12%. Elements other than hydrogen and helium are often termed the HEAVY ELEMENTS. These figures, which are representative compositions throughout the Universe, are changed by NUCLEOSYNTHESIS reactions inside stars. Thus at the centre of the Sun, the abundance of hydrogen has currently fallen to 38% by mass, and that of helium...

  Branch of astronomy that uses the laws of physics to understand astronomical objects and the processes occurring within them. The terms ‘astronomy’ and ‘astrophysics’ are however often used as synonyms. Astrophysics effectively dates from the first applications of the SPECTROSCOPE to study astronomical objects. Sir William HUGGINS’ identification of some of the chemical elements present in the Sun and stars in the 1860s was the first major result of astrophysics. Today, the use of computers for data processing, analysis and for modelling objects and processes is an integral part of almost all aspects of astrophysics.  SPECTROSCOPY is the most powerful technique available in astrophysics. Individual atoms, ions or molecules emit or absorb light at characteristic frequencies (or ‘lines’, from their appearance in a spectroscope) and can thus be identified and their quantity assessed. Information on the physical and chemical state of an object can be obtained from an analys...

Traditionally physical systems have been designed by engineers using complex collections of rules and principles. The design process is top-down in nature and begins with a precise specification. This contrasts very strongly with the mechanisms which have produced the extraordinary diversity and sophistication of living creatures. In this case the ‘‘designs’’ are evolved by a process of natural selection. The design starts as a set of instructions encoded in the DNA whose coding regions are first transcribed into RNA in the cell nucleus and then later translated into proteins in the cell cytoplasm. The DNA carries the instructions for building molecules using sequences of amino acids. Eventually after a number of extraordinarily complex and subtle biochemical reactions an entire living organism is created. The survivability of the organism can be seen as a process of assembling a larger system from a number of component parts and then testing the organism in the environment in whi...