Building Blocks of the Universe

Consider the very stuff you're made from, for example. The average human has 7 octillion atoms in their body. That's 7 times 10 to the 27th power. Put another way, it's 7 billion billion billion atoms. Suffice to say , it's a lot. These very same atoms were created in the early stages of the universe or in the bellies of exploding stars long ago. The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. Right now, you have at least traces of 60 chemical elements within you. By mass, oxygen is the most abundant; carbon follows second, and then hydrogen and nitrogen. But you also have heavier elements such as calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine, and magnesium. And yes, you even have naturally occurring radioactive elements within you -- again all natural. These elements, of course are the basic atomic building blocks of the cosmos, from which normal matter is composed. So the question of "Why am I here?" actually has an answer. You're here because atoms created in the Big Bang and in the bellies of stars have recombined in a way to make you, billions of years after their creation. Chemistry is everywhere in the cosmos. All matter that exists in the universe is made of chemicals. The only thing we experience every day that's not made of chemicals is thought -- but our thoughts are themselves byproducts of chemical interactions within the brain.