The Universe itself, through a variety of nuclear processes involving stars and stellar remnants, as well as other means, can naturally copiously produce nearly 100 elements of the periodic table. There are only 8 total processes, both natural and human-made, that cause them all. (Credit: ESO/L. Calçada/M. Kornmesser)

The 8 ways that all the elements in the Universe are made

There are over 100 known elements in the periodic table. These 8 ways of making them account for every one.

The Universe’s normal matter consists, humbly, of atoms.

This artist’s illustration shows an electron orbiting an atomic nucleus, where the electron is a fundamental particle but the nucleus can be broken up into still smaller, more fundamental constituents. The simplest atom of all, hydrogen, is an electron and a proton bound together. Other atoms have more protons in their nucleus, with the number of protons defining the type of atom we’re dealing with. (Credit: Nicole Rager Fuller/NSF)

Every atom’s nucleus contains protons, whose number determines that element’s properties.

Every atom with more than one proton in its nucleus is a mix of protons and neutrons bound together. Overall, the positively charged nucleus is responsible for the negatively charged electrons orbiting around it, as well as the physical and chemical properties inherent to each element. (Credit: U.S. Department of Energy)

Over 100 elements, sortable into a periodic table, are presently known.

This periodic table of the elements is color coded by the most common way(s) the various elements in the Universe are created, and by what process. All unstable elements lighter than plutonium are naturally created through radioactive decay, not shown here. (Credit: Cmglee/Wikimedia Commons)

Only 8 processes occur to create them all.

A visual history of the expanding Universe includes the hot, dense state known as the Big Bang and the growth and formation of structure subsequently. The full suite of data, including the observations of the light elements and the cosmic microwave background, leaves only the Big Bang as a valid explanation for all we see. (Credit: NASA/CXC/M. Weiss)

1.) The Big Bang. The early, hot, dense state first created protons and neutrons.