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Nuclear fusion reaction of two helium-4 nuclei produces beryllium-8, which is highly unstable, and decays back into smaller nuclei with a half-life of 8.19 × 10 −17 s, unless within that time a third alpha particle fuses with the beryllium-8 nucleus [3] to produce an excited resonance state of carbon-12, [4] called the Hoyle state, which ...
The Sun is a main-sequence star, and, as such, generates its energy by nuclear fusion of hydrogen nuclei into helium. In its core, the Sun fuses 620 million metric tons of hydrogen and makes 616 million metric tons of helium each second. The fusion of lighter elements in stars releases energy and the mass that always accompanies it.
In astrophysics, stellar nucleosynthesis is the creation of chemical elements by nuclear fusion reactions within stars. Stellar nucleosynthesis has occurred since the original creation of hydrogen, helium and lithium during the Big Bang. As a predictive theory, it yields accurate estimates of the observed abundances of the elements.
Nuclear fusion is the reverse of nuclear fission, which powers the nuclear plants we’re all familiar with. Fission splits atoms of very heavy, unstable isotopes like uranium 235 and captures the ...
A graphic depiction of a nuclear fusion reaction. Two nuclei fuse into one, emitting a neutron. Reactions that created new elements to this moment were similar, with the only possible difference that several singular neutrons sometimes were released, or none at all.
“Fusion, on the other hand, does not create any long-lived radioactive nuclear waste.” The waste byproduct of a fusion reaction is far less radioactive than in fission, and decays far more ...
In most nuclear reactions, a chain reaction designates a reaction that produces a product, such as neutrons given off during fission, that quickly induces another such reaction. The proton–proton chain is, like a decay chain, a series of reactions. The product of one reaction is the starting material of the next reaction.
The nuclear fission of a few light elements (such as Lithium) occurs because Helium-4 is a product and a more tightly bound element than slightly heavier elements. Both processes produce energy as the sum of the masses of the products is less than the sum of the masses of the reacting nuclei.