nucleosynthesis or nucleogenesis, in astronomy, production of all the chemical elements element, in chemistry, a substance that cannot be decomposed into simpler substances by chemical means. A substance such as a compound can be decomposed into its constituent elements by means of a chemical reaction, but no further simplification can be achieved.
..... Click the link for more information. from the simplest element, hydrogen, by thermonuclear reactions within stars, supernovas, and in the big bang at the beginning of the universe (see nucleus nucleus, in physics, the extremely dense central core of an atom .

The Nature of the Nucleus

Composition

Atomic nuclei are composed of two types of particles, protons and neutrons, which are collectively known as nucleons.
..... Click the link for more information. ; nuclear energy nuclear energy, the energy stored in the nucleus of an atom and released through fission, fusion, or radioactivity . In these processes a small amount of mass is converted to energy according to the relationship E = mc², where E
..... Click the link for more information. ). A star obtains its energy by fusing together light nuclei to form heavier nuclei; in this process, mass (m) is converted into energy (E) in accordance with Einstein's formula, E=mc², in which c is the speed of light. The reactions are initiated by the high temperatures (about 14 million degrees Celsius) at the center of the star. In the course of producing nuclear energy, the star synthesizes all the elements of the periodic table periodic table, chart of the elements arranged according to the periodic law discovered by Dmitri I. Mendeleev and revised by Henry G. J. Moseley . In the periodic table the elements are arranged in columns and rows according to increasing atomic number (see the
..... Click the link for more information. from its initial composition of mostly hydrogen and a small amount of helium.

Transformation of Hydrogen to Helium

The first step is the fusion of four hydrogen nuclei to make one helium nucleus. This "hydrogen-burning" phase supplies energy to stars on the main sequence of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram Hertzsprung-Russell diagram [for Ejnar Hertzsprung and H. N. Russell ], graph showing the luminosity of a star as a function of its surface temperature. The luminosity, or absolute magnitude , increases upwards on the vertical axis; the temperature (or some
..... Click the link for more information. . There are two chains of reactions by which the conversion of hydrogen to helium is effected: the proton-proton cycle and the carbon-nitrogen-oxygen cycle (sometimes referred to simply as the carbon cycle). They were both first studied and proposed as sources of stellar energy by H. Bethe and independently by C. von Weiszäcker. The proton-proton cycle operates in less massive and luminous stars like the sun, while the carbon-nitrogen-oxygen cycle (which speeds up dramatically at higher temperatures) dominates in more massive and luminous stars.

The Proton-Proton Cycle

In the proton-proton cycle, two hydrogen nuclei (protons) are fused and one of these protons is converted to a neutron by beta decay (see radioactivity radioactivity, spontaneous disintegration or decay of the nucleus of an atom by emission of particles, usually accompanied by electromagnetic radiation . The energy produced by radioactivity has important military and industrial applications.
..... Click the link for more information. ) to make a deuterium nucleus (one proton and one neutron). Then a third proton is added to deuterium to form the light isotope isotope (ī`sətōp)
..... Click the link for more information. of helium, helium-3. When two helium-3 nuclei collide, they form a nucleus of ordinary helium, helium-4 (two protons and two neutrons), and release two protons. In each of these steps considerable energy is also released.

The Carbon-Nitrogen-Oxygen Cycle

The carbon-nitrogen-oxygen cycle requires minute traces of carbon as a catalyst. Four protons are added, one by one, to a carbon nucleus to form a succession of excited (unstable) nuclei of carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. The intermediate nuclei shed their excess electric charge via beta decay and the final oxygen nucleus spontaneously splits into the original carbon nucleus and a helium-4 nucleus, releasing energy. The net effect is again the combination of four hydrogen nuclei to form one helium-4 nucleus; the carbon is free to begin the cycle over again.

Creation of the Heavier Elements

After the bulk of a star's hydrogen has been converted to helium by either the proton-proton or carbon-nitrogen-oxygen process, the stellar core contracts (while the outer layers expand) until sufficiently high temperatures are reached to initiate "helium-burning" by the triple-alpha process; in this process, three helium nuclei (alpha particles) are fused to make a carbon nucleus. By successive additions of helium nuclei, the heavier elements through iron-56 are built up. The elements whose atomic weights are not multiples of four are created by side reactions that involve neutrons. Because iron-56 is the most stable of the elements, it is very difficult to add an extra helium nucleus to it. However, iron-56 will readily capture a neutron to form the less stable isotope, iron-57. From iron-57, the elements through bismuth-209 can be synthesized. The elements more massive than bismuth-209 are radioactive; that is, they spontaneously break apart. However, during a supernova supernova, a massive star in the latter stages of stellar evolution that suddenly contracts and then explodes, increasing its energy output as much as a billionfold.
..... Click the link for more information. , an extremely intense flux of neutrons is generated and nuclear reactions proceed so rapidly that the radioactive elements do not have enough time to decay, resulting in the rapid creation of the radioactive elements up to and beyond uranium.

Bibliography

See D. L. Clayton, Principles of Stellar Evolution and Nucleosynthesis (1968, repr. 1983).

nucleosynthesis

Production on a cosmic scale of all the chemical elements from one or perhaps two simple types of atomic nuclei (see nucleus), those of hydrogen and helium. Elements differ in the number of protons and isotopes of each element by the number of neutrons in their nuclei. One type of nucleus can be transformed into another by adding or removing protons, neutrons, or both, processes that go on in stars. Many of the first 26 elements (up to iron) and their present cosmic abundances can be accounted for by successive nuclear fusion reactions, beginning with hydrogen, in stellar cores. Heavier elements are believed to be created in the death of stars during supernova explosions, by capture of successive neutrons by lighter nuclei and decay of some of these neutrons into protons (with ejection of an electron and a neutrino each time).