Astrophysics (Index)About

oxygen burning

(fusion reaction starting with oxygen)

Oxygen burning is fusion of two oxygen nuclei, along with some subsequent reactions, which takes place in early stars, and produces silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, and magnesium. An oxygen-burning shell appears in a sufficiently-massive star during a phase while in the asymptotic giant branch (AGB). According to one common model, it forms after the neon-burning shell and before the silicon-burning shell (if the latter forms). Oxygen burns after neon because it requires a higher temperature (on the order of 109 K): an oxygen nucleus is more stable and more kinetic energy is required to bring the nuclei together.


(fusion,nuclear,reaction,nucleosynthesis,atoms,oxygen)
Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen-burning_process
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_evolution#Massive_stars
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/oxygen_burning
https://dictionary.obspm.fr/index.php?formSearchTextfield=oxygen+burning&showAll=1
http://physics.gmu.edu/~rms/astro113/images/L14/l14X20.GIF
https://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/thompson.1847/1101/lecture_evolution_high_mass_stars.html
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1974ApJ...194..373A/abstract

Referenced by pages:
asymptotic giant branch (AGB)
magnesium (Mg)
neon burning
nucleosynthesis
phosphorus (P)
post-main-sequence star
silicon (Si)
silicon burning
sulfur (S)

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