POWERING A STAR 3
If you are not familiar with atoms, protons, electrons etc you may wish to read our tutorial “A little about atoms”.
3. Red Giants
RED GIANTS
When a star has consumed the Hydrogen in the core it is no longer able to continue to turn Hydrogen into Helium. As the reaction dies out, the core of the star begins to collapse and as a result the core temperature rises. Once the temperature exceeds 100 million degrees a new reaction known as the Triple Alpha reaction commences.
The Triple Alpha reaction proceeds in two stages. First two
Helium atoms fuse producing a Beryllium atom. However, the Beryllium
atom is unstable and flies apart after
second
returning to two Helium atoms, although due to the high temperature
and the speed of the reaction there is always a small amount of
Beryllium at any given time.
The remaining Beryllium will react with another Helium atom to produce an atom of Carbon which emits a gamma ray. The Carbon is stable and so three Helium atoms are converted into a Carbon atom with the release of energy in the form of a gamma ray.
This reaction can proceed to another stage where a Helium atom fuses with a Carbon atom to produce an Oxygen atom.
