<p>Stars can consume everything as fuel in the periodic table up to iron, which is endothermic. </p>

<p>When they consume other elements different from Hydrogen, their radiation pressure gets higher and the star expands its volume, sometimes even it surpasses the gravitation force of the star and starts to lose material. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-22T12:06:52.597Z
Lots of places seem to equate fusion with radiation pressure, but radiation pressure only matters in the highest luminosity stars.  For normal stars, gas pressure is all that matters.
Ken G
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-22T10:12:12.533Z
2018-06-22T10:12:12.533Z
igreen21
<p>Stars use pretty much every element from Hydrogen to Iron as fuels. The three main ones are Hydrogen, Helium and Carbon. Hydrogen is a light element so it produces much energy as it fuses into deuterium or Helium. The heavier the element is the less energy it produces. Heavier element shortens the supply of fuels as the rate of reaction keeps on increasing. For example Carbon takes 600 years to fuse into neon and silicon takes one day to fuse into Iron. After iron it just becomes counter efficient for the star to fuse it into heavier elements as it would need more energy to fuse into heavier elemnets than they would produce. So after iron it comes to a slow stop.So anyting from hydrogen to iron could be use as fuel
Reference: <a href="http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/ast122/lectures/lec18.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/ast122/lectures/lec18.html</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-04T23:08:54.933Z
Not necessarily "to" iron. By atomic number, any element before iron.
BenjaminF
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-04T17:38:00.060Z
2018-07-04T17:38:00.060Z
kazi sahib
<p>I always thought the only fuel for a star was hydrogen, which is fused into helium.</p>

<p>But while reading some <a href="https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/8460/can-our-sun-become-a-black-hole?rq=1">questions and answers here in ASO,</a> I saw phrases like "This balance stays relatively stable until the star runs out of whatever its current fuel is".</p>

<p>Besides hydrogen, what are the possible fuels in a star’s core?</p>

<star><core>
What are the possible star fuels?
Max
# What are the possible star fuels?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-06-21)

I always thought the only fuel for a star was hydrogen, which is fused into helium.

But while reading some [questions and answers here in ASO,](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/8460/can-our-sun-become-a-black-hole?rq=1) I saw phrases like "This balance stays relatively stable until the star runs out of whatever its current fuel is".

Besides hydrogen, what are the possible fuels in a star’s core?

**Tags:** star, core


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2018-06-22. Score: 3

Stars can consume everything as fuel in the periodic table up to iron, which is endothermic.

When they consume other elements different from Hydrogen, their radiation pressure gets higher and the star expands its volume, sometimes even it surpasses the gravitation force of the star and starts to lose material.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: Lots of places seem to equate fusion with radiation pressure, but radiation pressure only matters in the highest luminosity stars.  For normal stars, gas pressure is all that matters.  

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### Answer by username_3 on 2018-07-04. Score: 1

Stars use pretty much every element from Hydrogen to Iron as fuels. The three main ones are Hydrogen, Helium and Carbon. Hydrogen is a light element so it produces much energy as it fuses into deuterium or Helium. The heavier the element is the less energy it produces. Heavier element shortens the supply of fuels as the rate of reaction keeps on increasing. For example Carbon takes 600 years to fuse into neon and silicon takes one day to fuse into Iron. After iron it just becomes counter efficient for the star to fuse it into heavier elements as it would need more energy to fuse into heavier elemnets than they would produce. So after iron it comes to a slow stop.So anyting from hydrogen to iron could be use as fuel
Reference: <http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/ast122/lectures/lec18.html>

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: Not necessarily "to" iron. By atomic number, any element before iron.  

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