Encyclopedia > Silicon burning process

Article Content

Silicon burning process

In astrophysics, silicon burning is a nuclear fusion reaction which occurs in stars. It only occurs at ?×10⁸K.

²⁸Si + ²⁸Si	→	⁵⁶Ni + γ
⁵⁶Ni	→	⁵⁶Fe + 2 e⁺ + 2 ν_e

at temperature above 10⁹K -> photons become too energetic -> photodissociation or photonuclear reactions.
production of element heavier than iron are endothermic and
are exclusively produced by neutron capture in the violent final stage of stellar evolution (see: Supernova nucleosynthesis[?], r-process[?], s-process[?] and p-process[?]).

All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!

Featured Article

Photosynthesis

... either of two different pathways, cyclic or non-cyclic. Cyclic photophosphorylation In cyclic electron flow, the electron originates in a pigment complex called ...