I get that it creates heavier atoms by fusing lighter ones, and it happens during a supernova. But, what I don’t get is the process of it. And the teacher didn’t help either as they literally just read the module verbatim.
Thanks!
In: Chemistry
In a supernova the star has lost equilibrium so the pressure balance of fusion versus gravity is thrown out of balance. The star begins to expand, then as it exhausts its fuel it collapses down on itself hard. This sudden violent collapse forces the matter in the star’s core to be suddenly compressed so hard it forces the atoms together into a tiny space. Depending on how big the star was initially this either forms a black hole, or if it’s not as massive an explosion of the material as it rebounds releasing the pressure. If the atoms are compressed by enough pressure they can overcome the charge differences and be forced together or fused into heavier atoms which after the nova explodes are spread out into the universe.
There is also the S-process in stars, I think half of all elements heavier than iron are created by it. Basically this is there are a lot of particles flying around in a star. In the process of neutron capture which is where an atomic nucleus and one or more neutrons collide and form a new heavier element. This is a very slow process, which gives it its name the S process.
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