Re: Where do atoms come from?

Dear BeBe,

All atoms started out as clouds (in space) of the simplest gas atoms
hydrogen and helium.  Eventually these gas clouds condensed to form
stars.  Stars shine by fusing atoms together, mostly turning hydrogen into
helium. Very large stars however can get very hot near the end of their
lives and fuse Helium into other atoms like Carbon, Oxygen and Neon. 
Eventually
large stars explode, releasing all the atoms that have been formed into
space again, and even forming some of the heavier atoms like gold and
copper
as they blow up.  The earth formed from a cloud of atoms that had been
released by the explosion of such a star.  So that is a very short version
of the story of where atoms come from.

For more details I would recommend a book called "The First Three Minutes"
by Steven Weinberg, which will tell you something about where the original
hydrogen and helium atoms came from.

I hope this helps,

Larry