Glossary term: Hydrogen Fusion
Description: Nuclear fusion is the umbrella term for all reactions whereby lighter atomic nuclei collide and merge to form one or more heavier atomic nuclei. In astronomy, hydrogen fusion is the nuclear fusion reaction that transforms hydrogen nuclei (each consisting of a single proton) into helium-4 nuclei (each consisting of two protons and two neutrons bound together). The helium-4 nucleus has a mass less than the sum of the masses of the protons and neutrons it is made of. By Einstein's famous formula E=mc2, that mass difference corresponds to an energy difference. As the protons and neutrons fuse to form helium-4, the amount of energy corresponding to that difference is released. In this way, hydrogen fusion serves as the energy source for so-called main sequence stars like our Sun. At least for some time, such stars are in an equilibrium state: the amount of energy released by hydrogen fusion in their cores corresponds to the energy those brightly-shining stars emit in the form of light and other kinds of electromagnetic radiation as well as particles.
Hydrogen fusion proceeds via several intermediate steps. For stars with the mass of our Sun or less, it proceeds via the so-called proton–proton chain (pp chain). In the simplest version of that chain of reactions, two hydrogen nuclei (protons) fuse to yield deuterium nuclei (one proton, one neutron each), which then fuse with one additional hydrogen nucleus to yield helium-3 (two protons, one neutron). Two such helium-3 nuclei fuse to yield helium-4 plus two remaining hydrogen nuclei. In stars with more than about 1.3 times the mass of our Sun, an alternative process called the carbon–nitrogen–oxygen (CNO) cycle becomes the dominant way for fusing hydrogen into helium. Scientists on Earth have built machines to create fusion reactions with the hope that in future it can become a viable way of generating energy. Hydrogen fusion occurs not only in stars, but also took place during the early Big Bang phase of our Universe.
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Term and definition status: This term and its definition have been approved by a research astronomer and a teacher
The OAE Multilingual Glossary is a project of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) in collaboration with the IAU Office of Astronomy Outreach (OAO). The terms and definitions were chosen, written and reviewed by a collective effort from the OAE, the OAE Centers and Nodes, the OAE National Astronomy Education Coordinators (NAECs) and other volunteers. You can find a full list of credits here. All glossary terms and their definitions are released under a Creative Commons CC BY-4.0 license and should be credited to "IAU OAE".
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In Other Languages
- Arabic: اندماج الهيدروجين
- German: Wasserstoffbrennen
- French: Fusion de l'hydrogène
- Italian: Fusione di idrogeno
- Brazilian Portuguese: Fusão de hidrogênio
- Simplified Chinese: 氢聚变
- Traditional Chinese: 氫聚變
Related Diagrams
Stellar Evolution
Caption: This diagram shows the life cycle of stars of different masses. The mass of the different types of star increases from bottom to top with time going from left to right.
The life cycle of a star depends on its mass, with lower mass stars have longer lifetimes. All stars form from clouds of gas that collapse under their own gravity. As the star collapses, its core becomes hotter and denser. If the star has a mass greater than 0.08 solar masses (0.08 times the mass of the Sun), the pressure of the star’s mass pushing down on its core creates a high enough core temperature for hydrogen fusion to ignite. This burns hydrogen into helium in the star’s core, providing a heat source to power the star and to stop its core from collapsing further. If the collapsing object has a mass below 0.08 solar masses then it does not ignite hydrogen fusion in its core. It continues to cool and slowly contract. Such substellar objects are known as brown dwarfs, shown here in the lowest row.
After stars have formed, they burn hydrogen in their cores and begin their so-called main sequence phase. The most massive stars (>25 solar masses, shown here at the top) have very high core temperatures and thus burn through their hydrogen fuel more quickly. This means they may only spend a few million years on the main sequence burning hydrogen in their cores. Once the hydrogen in the core is exhausted the star’s core contracts, becomes hotter and helium burning starts in the core. While the core contracts, the outer layers of the star expand and it becomes a supergiant. For the most massive stars strong stellar winds strip off the cooler outer layers, leading to the star being very large and very hot, a blue supergiant. Once helium is exhausted in the core, carbon is burned, and then heavier elements. Eventually the star ends with an iron core. Fusing iron into heavier elements does not generate energy so at this point fusion stops in the core. Once this core of iron is massive enough, it and the surrounding matter suddenly collapses to form a black hole and the outer layers are flung off in a supernova explosion.
Slightly lower mass stars (between 8 and 25 solar masses, seen here second top) evolve in a similar way although they do not have strong enough winds to push their outer layers away and become blue supergiants, instead it evolves into a red supergiant. While such stars also collapse and create supernova explosions. The remnant of the star’s core is not massive enough to collapse into a black hole. Instead, its electrons and protons combine to form neutrons and it is supported by a quantum mechanical effect called neutron degeneracy pressure. This results in the remnant of the star being a tiny neutron star, several solar masses in mass but only a few kilometres across.
For stars similar in mass to the Sun (between 0.4 and 8 solar masses, seen here in the middle row), the star burns hydrogen in its core until the hydrogen in its core is exhausted. At this point a hydrogen burning shell forms around the core. Eventually the core will become hot enough to burn helium into carbon and oxygen. After this the star is left with a carbon and oxygen core surrounded by shells burning helium and hydrogen. These shells are unstable producing thermal pulsations that convulse the star. Eventually these pulsations become so extreme that the star’s outer layers are thrown off. This leaves the carbon and oxygen core as a white dwarf supported by electron degeneracy pressure. The outer layers of the star form what is known as a planetary nebula (which doesn’t actually have anything to do with planets despite the name).
The lowest mass stars (seen here in the second bottom row) are so low in mass that their evolutionary timescales are much longer than the age of the universe. This means that none have evolved beyond the main-sequence. Low mass stars are fully convective meaning material in the core is constantly being mixed with material above. This means that all the hydrogen in the star would eventually be burned in the core, but this will take trillions of years.
Credit: Danielle Futselaar/IAU OAE
License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons
