Fusion Essay

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Fusion

For centuries, humankind has looked at the stars, and for just as many years

humankind has tried to explain the existence of those very same stars. Were

they holes in an enormous canvas that covered the earth? Were they fire-flies

that could only be seen when the Apollo had parked his chariot for the night?

There seemed to be as many explanations for the stars as there were stars

themselves. Then one day an individual named Galileo Galilei made an astounding

discovery: the stars were replicas of our own sun, only so far away that they

seemed as large as pin pricks to the naked eye. This in turn gave rise to many

more questions. What keeps the stars burning? Have they always been glowing, or

are they born like humans, and thus will they die? The answers to all these

questions can be summed up in two words; stellar fusion. Therefore one can begin

to understand the stars by understanding what fusion is, how it affects the life

of a star, and what happens to a star when fusion can no longer occur. The first

question one must ask is, "What is fusion?" One simple way of explaining it is

taking two balls of clay and mashing them into one, creating a new, larger

particle from the two. Now replace those balls of clay with sub-atomic

particles, and when they meld, release an enormous amount of energy. This is

fusion. There is currently three known variations of fusion: the proton-proton

reaction (Figure 1.1), the carbon cycle (Figure 1.2), and the triple-alpha

process (Figure 1.3). In the proton-proton reaction, a proton (the positively

charged nucleus of a hydrogen atom) is forced so close to another proton (within

a tenth of a trillionth of an inch) that a short range nuclear force known as

the strong force takes over and forces the two protons to bond together (1). One

proton then decays into a neutron (a particle with the same mass as a proton,

but with no charge), a positron (a positively charged particle with almost no

mass), and a neutrino (a particle with almost no mass, and no charge). The

neutrino and positron then radiate off, releasing heat energy. The remaining

particle is known as a deuteron, or the nucleus of the hydrogen isotope

deuterium. This deuteron is then fused with another proton, creating a helium

isotope (2). Then two helium isotopes fuse, creating a helium nucleus and

releasing two protons, which facilitate the chain reaction (3). This final

split is so violent that one-half of the total fusion energy is carried away by

the two free protons. The second fusion variation, the carbon cycle, starts

with a carbon nucleus being fused with a lone proton (1). This creates a

nitrogen isotope. One proton then decays into it's primaries -- a neutron,

positron and neutrino. The positron and neutrino separate from the nuclei as

another proton fuses with the cluster. This creates a nitrogen nucleus which is

then fused with yet another proton, forming an oxygen isotope (2). One proton

then decays again as still another proton is forced into the nucleus (3). This

final fusion splits into a nitrogen and a carbon nucleus; the nitrogen carries

away the majority of the fusion heat, while the carbon goes back into the cycle.

The triple-alpha process, the last known variety, is perhaps one of the simplest

fusion reactions to understand. In this process, two helium nuclei fuse

together to form a beryllium nucleus (four protons and four neutrons) (1).

Almost immediately after this, another helium nucleus is forced into the cluster,

creating a carbon nucleus of six protons and six neutrons (2). In this reaction,

all of the heat given off is short-wavelength gamma rays, one of the most

penetrating forms of radiation. Each variety of fusion occurs depending on the

size and age of the star. This will affect core temperature, causing the

corresponding variety of stellar fusion. Now that fusion has been explained,

one can learn how it occurs in the different star types. All stellar bodies

start off as protostars, or concentrations of combusting gases found within

large clouds of dust and various gases. These protostars, under their own

gravity, collapse inward until it’s core has been heated and compressed enough

to begin proton-proton fusion reactions. After that starts, a star’s mass will

determine how long and through what kind of reactions it will go through.

Generally, there are three classes of stars which can form: dwarfs, sun-class

stars, and giants. Dwarfs begin as protostars of low size and mass (most

protostars fall under this category). These stars, which have on average less

than one-third the mass of our sun, go through very basic existances. One

variety is the red dwarf, which has at least one-third the mass of the sun.

Because of it’s low mass, the red dwarf is predicted to last thousands of

billions of years. The gravitational pressure of the star will cause the

proton-proton reaction to occur in it’s core, but after all the hydrogen has

been fused into helium, the star lacks the pressure to begin the triple-alpha

process. It is predicted that it will then contract into and inert, compressed

ball of gas known as a black dwarf. Another variety of dwarf is the brown dwarf,

which is so light (less than one-tenth the mass of the sun) that it lacks the

pressure to even begin the proton-proton reaction, and becomes a black dwarf

within just a few hundred million years, it’s nuclear fuels unexpended. Sun-

class stars are massive enough to move past the hurdle that the dwarves

encounter and continue on the fusion chain. With a mass of two to five...

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