Do stars have any elements apart from hydrogen and helium?

The universe consisted of hydrogen, helium and nothing else, after the Big Bang. Despite being formed from an incredibly hot, dense state, arbitrarily heavy elements weren’t created early on the same way they’re made today in stars.

The early universe, despite being hot enough to make pretty much anything, makes almost nothing for one reason. If it was hot and dense enough to fuse elements together in the very early stages, it was also hot enough to blast those composite elements apart again.

When the universe has cooled enough, elements aren’t immediately split apart. However, even after just a few minutes, conditions are so low in energy that almost all of the elements cap out at helium. Nothing is created beyond that until stars are formed.

Although the first stage of stellar burning always involves fusing hydrogen into helium in a star’s core, the stars that are massive enough will eventually build their way up the periodic table. When hydrogen and helium eventually run out of fuel in a star, it becomes a red giant and, in that process, hydrogen and helium form carbon and oxygen.

You can find almost every element in the solar system. Are you aware that stars are made up of a lot of hydrogen? But it is not the only hydrogen that you can find in a star. You can also find helium. This usually happens when the star becomes too hot and it reaches 100 million K in temperature.

When helium starts to burn, its atoms will start to form carbon which is another element that the star will use in order to continue shining bright for some time. Other elements that can be found are neon, magnesium, sulfur, and so much more. Once the star has used up all of its elements, it will undergo fusion and die.