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oxygen burning

(fusion reaction starting with oxygen)

Oxygen burning is fusion of two oxygen nuclei, 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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