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It explains the fact that, in the first few minutes after the Big Bang, as the "soup" of free protons and neutrons which had initially been created in about a 6:1 ratio cooled to the point where nuclear binding was possible, almost all atomic nuclei to form were helium-4 nuclei. The binding of the nucleons in helium-4 is so tight that its ...
Almost all neutrons that fused instead of decaying ended up combined into helium-4, due to the fact that helium-4 has the highest binding energy per nucleon among light elements. This predicts that about 8% of all atoms should be helium-4, leading to a mass fraction of helium-4 of about 25%, which is in line with observations.
An exception to this general trend is the helium-4 nucleus, whose binding energy is higher than that of lithium, the next heavier element. This is because protons and neutrons are fermions, which according to the Pauli exclusion principle cannot exist in the same nucleus in exactly the same state. Each proton or neutron's energy state in a ...
Hydrogen fusion (nuclear fusion of four protons to form a helium-4 nucleus [20]) is the dominant process that generates energy in the cores of main-sequence stars. It is also called "hydrogen burning", which should not be confused with the chemical combustion of hydrogen in an oxidizing atmosphere.
The DTF reaction. Deuterium–tritium fusion (DTF) is a type of nuclear fusion in which one deuterium (2 H) nucleus (deuteron) fuses with one tritium (3 H) nucleus (triton), giving one helium-4 nucleus, one free neutron, and 17.6 MeV of total energy coming from both the neutron and helium.
Once the helium-3 has been produced, there are four possible paths to generate 4 He. In p–p I, helium-4 is produced by fusing two helium-3 nuclei; the p–p II and p–p III branches fuse 3 He with pre-existing 4 He to form beryllium-7, which undergoes further reactions to produce two helium-4 nuclei. About 99% of the energy output of the sun ...
the total rest mass on the two helium-nuclei = 2 × 4.0026 = 8.0052 u; missing rest mass = 8.029 – 8.0052 = 0.0238 atomic mass units. In a nuclear reaction, the total (relativistic) energy is conserved. The "missing" rest mass must therefore reappear as kinetic energy released in the reaction; its source is the nuclear binding energy.
This simple model reproduces the main features of the binding energy of nuclei. The assumption of nucleus as a drop of Fermi liquid is still widely used in the form of Finite Range Droplet Model (FRDM), due to the possible good reproduction of nuclear binding energy on the whole chart, with the necessary accuracy for predictions of unknown ...