Sun, stars and the manufacture of heavier elements

[AstroTiger]

Hi there

After some years of being an astronomer, and indeed having more time to devote to it, i have decided it is time to take the plunge and specialise.

Factors such as current location and light pollution have dictated my shift towards solar astronomy. Not that i am giving up on deep sky or planetary work, far from it. But one must i think concentrate their efforts where they are best ultilised i think.

Anyway! part of this path is to try to gain a greater understanding of stars, their structure, evolution, and death. After all the Sun is a star.

While on my quest, i stumbled upon a puzzle.

Why is iron the heaviest element that can be burn't in a star?

How do heavier elements get produced?

Does anyone know?

many thanks

Al

[beamish]

just downloading the PDF now, how abotu this,

http://library.lanl.gov/cgi-bin/getfile?30-07.pdf

Karlo

[AstroTiger]

yes this looks the business, just printing it off for some bedtime reading!

cheers, nice find

Al

[lunator]

Al in simple terms

elements lighter than iron can be fused to make heavier elements and in the process you get some energy out.

Once you reach iron you have to put energy in to fuse the elements together, not ideal if youare trying to counteract gravity

When stars go supernova the energy they released can be used to create the heavier elements. It's the reason heavy elements are rare they don't get made by many stars.

Cheers

Ian