If the final element to be fused in a star is iron, where does everything after that come from?
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The star may eventually go super-nova, exploding in a massive burst of energy. Iron is as far as fusion goes while producing energy, but an energy source (eg: supernova explosion) can push fusion further along the periodic table.
The star may eventually go super-nova, exploding in a massive burst of energy. Iron is as far as fusion goes while producing energy, but an energy source (eg: supernova explosion) can push fusion further along the periodic table.
Iron is the end state for nuclear fusion in the core of a star. Every element beyond iron is formed in the supernova that happens as the core of the star collapses, or in the other kinds of supernova. Some heavy elements are also formed when 2 neutron stars enter into a death spiral and collide making yet another massive explosion.
To put it simply everything beyond iron is made in massive explosions as stars die.
anything heavier than Iron will be the result of a supernova
when the core collapses from the attempt to fuse into Iron it momentarily becomes able to to restart fusion, however by then its too late and the reaction is extremely violent resulting in the supernova.
Iron is the end state for nuclear fusion in the core of a star. Every element beyond iron is formed in the supernova that happens as the core of the star collapses, or in the other kinds of supernova. Some heavy elements are also formed when 2 neutron stars enter into a death spiral and collide making yet another massive explosion.
To put it simply everything beyond iron is made in massive explosions as stars die.
The star may eventually go super-nova, exploding in a massive burst of energy. Iron is as far as fusion goes while producing energy, but an energy source (eg: supernova explosion) can push fusion further along the periodic table.
anything heavier than Iron will be the result of a supernova
when the core collapses from the attempt to fuse into Iron it momentarily becomes able to to restart fusion, however by then its too late and the reaction is extremely violent resulting in the supernova.
anything heavier than Iron will be the result of a supernova
when the core collapses from the attempt to fuse into Iron it momentarily becomes able to to restart fusion, however by then its too late and the reaction is extremely violent resulting in the supernova.
Iron is the end state for nuclear fusion in the core of a star. Every element beyond iron is formed in the supernova that happens as the core of the star collapses, or in the other kinds of supernova. Some heavy elements are also formed when 2 neutron stars enter into a death spiral and collide making yet another massive explosion.
To put it simply everything beyond iron is made in massive explosions as stars die.
So, the idea here is that iron (specifically iron-56) has the lowest energy of any atomic nucleus. In other words, trying to fuse iron will be endothermic (absorbing energy) rather than exothermic (releasing energy) as is the case for lighter elements. So, by the time a star reaches iron, its core is no longer able to produce energy and so it collapses.
It’s long been thought that supernovas produced elements heavier than iron. So, while producing these heavier elements does absorb energy, the supernova provides enough energy to do this. More recent discoveries have suggested that collisions between neutron stars, The remnants of stellar cores following a supernova, are responsible for many of the heavier elements in the universe. These collisions take place in binary system consisting of two neutron stars orbiting each other other. They slowly spiraling towards each other and eventually meet.
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