<p>In the book The Synthesis of Elements by Giora Shaviv (Springer, 2012) on page 383 is the following set of reactions and statement about alpha-process:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/7BwkO.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/7BwkO.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>&quot;The process cannot go beyond iron because, as can be seen from the energies of the reactions, the energies beyond iron are significantly smaller than those before, so if the reactions before iron can go, then those after iron will disintegrate the products much faster and prevent any increase in atomic weight.&quot;</p>
<p>I have tried but still don't understand the reasoning.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-03-21T11:44:55.700Z
See https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/q/36719/16685 (possible duplicate)
PM 2Ring
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2023-03-21T12:00:11.850Z
Also see https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/q/11880/16685
PM 2Ring
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-03-21T13:14:51.980Z
Well, technically an iron isotope fuses to a nickel isotope. But that nickel isotope happens to be stable for seconds, so most people dismiss it as practically and effectively pointless. No one can go into a star, period, much less one going into the supernova process (literally, seconds before), so the explicit verification and any exploitation is left to future supernova miners.
caInstrument
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2023-03-21T14:57:28.103Z
Please don't post images of text or mathematics.  Your posted material could have been rendered with [Mathjax](https://math.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/5020/mathjax-basic-tutorial-and-quick-reference).
StephenG - Help Ukraine
<nucleosynthesis>
Why alpha-process cannot work beyond iron?
Leos Ondra
# Why alpha-process cannot work beyond iron?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-03-21)

In the book The Synthesis of Elements by Giora Shaviv (Springer, 2012) on page 383 is the following set of reactions and statement about alpha-process:

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/7BwkO.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/7BwkO.jpg)

"The process cannot go beyond iron because, as can be seen from the energies of the reactions, the energies beyond iron are significantly smaller than those before, so if the reactions before iron can go, then those after iron will disintegrate the products much faster and prevent any increase in atomic weight."

I have tried but still don't understand the reasoning.

**Tags:** nucleosynthesis

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: See https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/q/36719/16685 (possible duplicate)  
> **username_1**: Also see https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/q/11880/16685  
> **username_2**: Well, technically an iron isotope fuses to a nickel isotope. But that nickel isotope happens to be stable for seconds, so most people dismiss it as practically and effectively pointless. No one can go into a star, period, much less one going into the supernova process (literally, seconds before), so the explicit verification and any exploitation is left to future supernova miners.  
> **username_3**: Please don't post images of text or mathematics.  Your posted material could have been rendered with [Mathjax](https://math.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/5020/mathjax-basic-tutorial-and-quick-reference).  

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