1282

submitted 6 days ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

240 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] Nougat@fedia.io 37 points 6 days ago

Iron is the heaviest element capable of being created inside stars, via fusion. Once iron is fused, the star begins to rapidly collapse.

Elements heavier than iron (28) are the result of supernova explosions, which produce energies high enough to create these heavier atoms. It is further possible, as described in the image, for very heavy elements to decay into lighter more stable elements, those still being heavier than iron.

Lead is 82.

[-] alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml 28 points 6 days ago

That's what I learned in school, but there's been some research since suggesting stars produces significant quantities of elements up to lead during their lifetimes, even though it's a net energy loss.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-process

[-] Nougat@fedia.io 1 points 6 days ago

Interesting. Of note, this process would mainly be in a very specific kind of star, and still would depend on an iron "seed" leftover from a previous supernova. Technically, still requires a "regular" supernova.