Which element existed first

If that number sounds familiar, it should — , years after the Big Bang is also the time when the cosmic microwave background was generated, because the atoms that formed entered their lowest energy state quickly after, releasing excess energy in the form of photons that could finally travel freely through the universe without knocking into anything along the way.

This is the light that makes up the cosmic microwave background. Alison Klesman Associate Editor. Receive news, sky-event information, observing tips, and more from Astronomy's weekly email newsletter. View our Privacy Policy. By signing up you may also receive reader surveys and occasional special offers.

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Queen guitarist Brian May and David Eicher launch new astronomy book. The mids was an exciting time to peer at the heavens. A new instrument called a spectroscope was upending the field of astronomy.

Similar in design to a telescope, the spectroscope worked like a super-powered prism, dispersing light into measurable wavelengths. An early model had allowed physicist Joseph Fraunhofer to observe the sun in the early s, but he was puzzled by black lines interrupting the normal colors.

That knowledge would come several decades later, with German researchers Gustav Kirchhoff and Robert Bunsen. In , Bunsen and Kirchoff discovered that heating different elements produced bright lines of light in the spectroscope—and those lines of light sometimes corresponded to the dark Fraunhofer lines. The scientists determined that the bright lines appeared when a hot gas was burned.

For example, hydrogen burns orange, but when observed through a spectroscope, it becomes clear that the orange is made up of multiple individual narrow wavelengths of light. Similarly, the dark lines that Fraunhofer had discovered represented light being absorbed by a cooler element at the surface of the sun. By analyzing the emission spectra of specific elements in the lab, then turning their spectroscopes on the stars, researchers could make out the chemical composition of everything from our sun to the stars across the galaxy.

New elements are showing up right and left because you have this new tool. Janssen dove eagerly into this new form of light analysis. Though he lived in Paris, he traveled across Europe and Asia in search of optimal vantage points for observing the night sky.

He also chased after eclipses, visiting Italy in February and then going all the way to Guntur, India, for the total solar eclipse of August 18, The French government and its national Academy of Sciences both funded this expedition, along with that of another Frenchman, spending more than 75, francs for the two journeys. But the high cost would prove a worthy investment. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile.

Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Share Flipboard Email. Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph. Chemistry Expert.

Helmenstine holds a Ph. She has taught science courses at the high school, college, and graduate levels. Facebook Facebook Twitter Twitter. Updated January 06, Key Takeaways: First Known Chemical Element The ancients used nine elements that exist is relatively pure form in nature: copper, lead, gold, silver, iron, carbon, tin, sulfur, and mercury. At the time, the nature of elements was unknown.

Most civilizations actually viewed elements to be earth, air, fire, water and possibly aether, wood, or metal.

Recorded history only verifies the use of these nine elements, but many other elements exist in native form that may have had use to early humans. Featured Video. Cite this Article Format. Helmenstine, Anne Marie, Ph. What Was the First Known Element?