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Diagram illustrating, in a schematic way, the technical difficulties of nuclear fusion, which much bring positively charged nuclei close enough so that the nuclear force will kick in. To demonstrate this I have drawn the ranges of the various forces as colored regions. Not to scale. Date: 08/03/2007: Source: Own work: Author: Panoptik
Nuclear fusion is the process that powers active or main-sequence stars and other high-magnitude stars, where large amounts of energy are released. A nuclear fusion process that produces atomic nuclei lighter than iron-56 or nickel-62 will generally release energy.
In astrophysics, silicon burning is a very brief [1] sequence of nuclear fusion reactions that occur in massive stars with a minimum of about 8–11 solar masses. Silicon burning is the final stage of fusion for massive stars that have run out of the fuels that power them for their long lives in the main sequence on the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram.
At the Sun's core temperature of 15.5 million K the PP process is dominant. The PP process and the CNO process are equal at around 20 MK. [1] Scheme of the proton–proton branch I reaction. The proton–proton chain, also commonly referred to as the p–p chain, is one of two known sets of nuclear fusion reactions by which stars convert ...
As a side effect of the process, some carbon nuclei fuse with additional helium to produce a stable isotope of oxygen and energy: 12 6 C + 4 2 He → 16 8 O + γ (+7.162 MeV) Nuclear fusion reactions of helium with hydrogen produces lithium-5, which also is highly unstable, and decays back into smaller nuclei with a half-life of 3.7 × 10 −22 s.
The conversion is based on a Traveling-Wave Direct Energy Converter (TWDEC). A gyrotron converter first guides fusion product ions as a beam into a 10-meter long microwave cavity filled with a 10-tesla magnetic field, where 155 MHz microwaves are generated and converted to a high voltage DC output through rectennas.
Creation of elements beyond carbon through alpha process. The alpha process, also known as alpha capture or the alpha ladder, is one of two classes of nuclear fusion reactions by which stars convert helium into heavier elements. The other class is a cycle of reactions called the triple-alpha process, which consumes only helium, and produces ...
The oxygen-burning process is a set of nuclear fusion reactions that take place in massive stars that have used up the lighter elements in their cores. Oxygen-burning is preceded by the neon-burning process and succeeded by the silicon-burning process. As the neon-burning process ends, the core of the star contracts and heats until it reaches ...