10 pts to the first person who answers this question right!!?

Question

Once a massive star runs out of hydrogen, it fuses into helium (it uses helium as energy), helium fuses into carbon . . . etc. What is the last element that a star can fuse into and why?

Answer 1

iron.

It doesn't have the energy or power prepared to make any elements heavier than iron, until it is about to die. At that point it collapses in on itself and then creates an enormous explostion called a supernova. All elements heavier than iron are created in this blast of energy, except for the synthetic elements, which can be found in the 2 periods located under the body of the periodic table. However, be careful, because 4 or 5 of these elements are not synthetic.

-Celeste

btw, people above me, hydrogen cannot create itself and methane isn't even an element. It is a compound.


and "JacobV" several answers after me, hydrogen is the one element that cannot be SPLIT, not FUSED. Hydrogen is the basis for everything in our cosmos. Hydrogen fuses into everything. I mean, can silocon "fuse" to create hydrogen? Um, no, because there is a difference between fusion and fission: they are opposites. Silicon can only BREAK DOWN to form hydrogen. Oh my, please stay out of this if you don't even know that.

Answer 2

Iron,

Stars that achieve fusion beyond carbon are much more massive than the sun and run at much higher temperatures. The list below summarizes some known fusion cascades:

Hydrogen - Helium - 1 Million K

Helium - Carbon (Oxygen) - 100 Million K

Carbon - Neon - 600 Million K

Neon - Oxygen - 1 Billion K

Oxygen - Silicon- 1.5 Billion K

Silicon - Iron - 3 Billion K

Larger nuclei require yet more temperature/pressures to be produced. That is achieved in super-nova explosions. In fact super-nova explosions recycle stars. That is the supernova clouds form stellar nurseries, which in turn condense the elements, including heavy elements, back into new stars. Much stronger, hyper-nova explosions, obliterate entire portions of galaxies, thereby creating all of the heavy elements and recycling them back into the newly modified galaxy.

Answer 3

For stars lighter than the Sun, the last element to be burned will be helium. For stars somewhat more massive than the Sun, carbon will be the last element, and for stars 10 times the mass of the Sun, the last element is iron.


Hope this helps...

Answer 4

At 3 billion degrees, silicon and sulfur fuse to form a compressed ball of iron . This is the last reaction that can take place.

Answer 5

Iron is the highest normally produced according to Hoyle but in supernova explosions the heavier elements are produced. As far as I know uranium is the heaviest that is naturally produced.

But since heavier elements have been artificially made only to decay rapidly (except mostly for plutonium) I hypothesise that some heaver ones might appear, only to decay rapidly to lighter. l might be wrong about that though.

Answer 6

carbon into oxygen, followed by the fusion of carbon and oxygen into neon, sodium, magnesium, sulfur and silicon. Later reactions transform these elements into calcium, iron, nickel, chromium, copper and others. When these old, large stars with depleted cores supernova, they create heavy elements (all the natural elements heavier than iron) and spew them into space, forming the basis for life.

answer: all the natural elements heavier than iron

Answer 7

I actually think that the hydrogen is the last available element during the fusing process. This is because hydrogen has the lowest atomic number. The lowest atomic number is one, and hydrogen can not fuse into anything higher that its atomic number...

Answer 8

Depends on the size of the star.

Answer 9

i believe iron

Answer 10

iron i think