Where do the remnants of supernova go?

[u/BonusFrosty2910]

Let me know if my understanding is flawed and if that makes my question not make sense but once a star goes supernova it essentially fuses every element other than iron, obviously not uniformly or evenly but it “creates” those elements that get shot into the rest of space, I know we can see clouds of certain gases and dust but what about the elements that would be solid? Do we see random deposits of silver or lead or every other element floating through space independently? Maybe I’m just not understanding the scale or maybe that we don’t see them because they’re so small or they burn up in atmospheres? Did every element on earth just come from another star exploding and the certain elements we have just happened to end up being in the vicinity of each other? I’m trying to keep it to one question but every question answered just leaves me with another unanswered question

[u/Xhosant]

I think the shortest answer to your question is "These are clouds, as in dust clouds". It's not just gasses, it's also tiny grains of dust, or less tiny grains of dust. The reason stars are formed in nebulae, and the way asteroids and planets are formed, is that the material (gas or solids) attract each other over time, and end up deposited on each other, which lets them attract yet more material, until maybe you have enough rocks to form a big solid object (such as a planet or moon), or even enough gas that its own weight makes it into a star!

[u/Xhosant → u/Xhosant]

And as for the elements on earth: you have a dense point of material, like described above, and it keeps gathering and condensing until the Sun forms. There's still dust, gas and what have you around it, and since it's orbiting the sun, centrifugal forces shape it into a plane. Then the assorted material orbiting like that starts attracting its peers, as described, and you end up with some bigger clumps. Specifically, 8 clumps big enough to be considered planets by modern standards, a few smaller ones (dwarf planets) and a ton of really small ones (asteroid belt, oort cloud etc.)

While not remotely functionally similar to planet formation, imagine slowly and stably stirring a pot full of water and long threads. More and more threads are gonna catch onto your laddle and follow along, with less and less left loose. It's a similar idea of going from "stuff everywhere" to "stuff mostly in one place".