Astrophysics (Index)About

hydrogen burning

(H burning, hydrogen fusion, 1H burning)
(any fusion reaction starting with hydrogen)

In astrophysics, hydrogen burning (or hydrogen fusion) is fusion of hydrogen nuclei. References to hydrogen burning often mean proton-proton chain (PP-chain), but it may sometimes be intended to include the CNO cycle, or potentially deuterium fusion (deuterium burning). Common use of the term is to define the lower limit of a main sequence star: that it is large enough to develop sufficient temperature at the core to trigger 1H fusion (for which PP-chain would be the first reaction to occur).


Outside of astrophysics, hydrogen burning is more likely to refers to the chemical process: in the presence of oxygen and at a sufficient temperature, they chemically combine to form water molecules.


(fusion,nuclear,reaction,nucleosynthesis,atoms,hydrogen)
Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_nucleosynthesis#Hydrogen_fusion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proton-proton_chain
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNO_cycle
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hydrogen_burning
https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095952883
https://web.phys.cmu.edu/~tiziana/stars/stars24.pdf
https://archive.jinaweb.org/docs/Nuclear%20Astrophysics-III.pdf
https://phys.au.dk/fileadmin/site_files/dars/StEv_Oct08/langanke_aarhus1.pdf
https://home.ifa.hawaii.edu/users/barnes/ast242_s14/se_mse.pdf

Referenced by pages:
asymptotic giant branch (AGB)
brown dwarf (BD)
deuterium burning
fusion
HD 114762
helium star
Henyey track
horizontal branch (HB)
lithium (Li)
lithium burning
M-type star (M)
main-sequence lifetime (MS lifetime)
post-main-sequence star
pre-main-sequence star (PMS)
proton-proton chain
red-giant branch (RGB)
substellar object
thermal pulse (TP)
zero-age main sequence (ZAMS)

Index