1st evidence of nuclear fission in stars hints at elements 'never produced on Earth'

Sharmila Kuthunur ^ | December 14, 2023 | Live Science

[SunkenCiv]

Elements heavier than iron are thought to be born in some of the most violent explosions in the cosmos, like the cataclysmic mergers of neutron stars. The coalescence of these ultradense remnants -- which are forged when once-massive stars collapse -- creates superheavy atomic nuclei packed with neutrons in less than a second. In a flash, the jam-packed nucleus seems to go through internal changes and forms elements such as silver and gold.

Now, an analysis of the chemical makeup of 42 very old stars scattered in the halo of the Milky Way reveals for the first time that nuclear fission -- a process through which an atom splits apart, releasing massive amounts of energy -- plays a role in creating these heavy elements. A team of researchers discovered a consistent pattern among elements in these stars and found them to be the likely products of fission.

"This process is creating everything on the periodic table in one second," study co-author Matthew Mumpower, a theoretical physicist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, told Live Science. "That's pretty incredible."

The finding suggests that nature may forge elements with atomic masses greater than 260 -- heavier than even those at the edge of the periodic table -- before breaking them down again. While simulations of stellar evolution have suggested that this heavy-duty fission is likely to happen, the new research marks the first "direct evidence" of the process, lead study author Ian Roederer, a physicist and astronomer at North Carolina State University told Live Science.

[SunkenCiv]

The rapid neutron capture process (r-process) occurs in neutron-rich environments such as neutron star mergers or certain types of supernovae. This process is thought to produce many of the chemical elements heavier than iron, but the details are poorly understood and cannot be studied in the laboratory. Roederer et al. analyzed r-process element abundances previously observed in stars. They identified correlated excess abundances of certain elements in some stars, which is consistent with these elements being fission products of even heavier elements. These results indicate that some r-process events make elements heavier than uranium, which then decay into the elements observed in stars.

Element abundance patterns in stars indicate fission of nuclei heavier than uranium | Keith T. Smith | Science | 7 Dec 2023 [Editor's summary]

[SunkenCiv]

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[Paul R.]

ultradense remnants - hah! For a second there I thought the discussion had swerved into Biden...

[SunkenCiv]

"C'mon man! If this is about me, I gots to be paid."

[Bob434]

I wonder if,zelenski will let us mine them lol

[Carry_Okie]

Elements heavier than iron are thought to be born in some of the most violent explosions in the cosmos, like the cataclysmic mergers of neutron stars.

I get that this could happen in principle, but are these people saying that this is the ONLY way these elements are made? They're floating around in cosmic dust later to coalesce into planets?

It's hard to think of the crowns on my teeth coming from a supernova, then billions of years floating around in interstellar space, then billions more until some clown finds a nugget or dust in a creek. Besides, what makes any element lighter than iron any different?

Something doesn't pass the smell test here.

[KarlInOhio]

In a flash, the jam-packed nucleus seems to go through internal changes and forms elements such as silver and gold.

Jam-packed? Is this the atomic pączki theory?

[Strict9]

And yet LORD Jesus converted water into wine using only His voice. Converting Hydrogen and oxygen into complex carbon molecules is fascinating. And the temperature didn’t change. Freakish power. Apparently there are ways other than slamming neutron stars together to manipulate matter. His technology/science is off the charts.

[Telepathic Intruder]

All the gold on earth has been floating around in the universe for billions of years prior to coalescing into the Earth. But so have all the other elements. That's the standard model.

All elements heavier than hydrogen were created by nuclear processes, such as fusion in stars. All elements heavier than iron were created by processes other than nuclear fusion. That includes fast neutron absorption which occurs in cataclysmic events such as supernovae, neutron star collisions, quasars, and maybe one or two other rare events. Those elements make up less than 1% of the matter in the universe.

[NurdlyPeon]

Iron it the tipping point for energy. For every element below iron, you gain energy by fission. When you start creating iron, you lose energy. It cost more to fuse iron then you get out it.

[rdcbn1]

No doubt the extreme conditions inside of stars creates some amazing heavy elements

In fact, many of these super heavy elements may be critical for keeping these stars stable and intact.

Many are also probably very unstable unless they exist within a stable island and cannot exist for long outside of the extreme conditions inside the stars that create them.

[AdmSmith]

They write “Our results indicate that neutron-rich nuclei with mass numbers >260 are produced in r-process events. In our sample, then nuclei with A > 260 (110 + 150) were produced in the r-process.”
The mass number (A) = number of protons (Z) + number of neutrons (N). The heaviest stable isotope is lead Pb-208 and the assumed element referred to in the article with A = 260 is Darmstadtium https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darmstadtium

That is interesting, and if it is possible to get heavier elements then we will see “The End of Chemistry”
• Does the Periodic Table have limits? YES!!
• At some point (Z~122) all the electron energy levels of adjacent elements are similar so that there are no differences in their chemical behavior. p 21

https://pls.llnl.gov/sites/pls/files/2023-12/nnpss2015_SHE_Loveland.pdf

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Excellent synopsis.

[stremba]

“What makes any element lighter than iron different?”

That is a good question. The answer is binding energy of the nucleus. The key quantity is binding energy per nucleon (a nucleon is a general term encompassing both protons and neutrons). Hydrogen is a single proton. It can undergo fusion into helium because doing so increases the binding force per nucleon. Helium in turn can fuse to form heavier elements like beryllium, and the process continues - up until iron.

The nucleus is composed of positively charged protons and uncharged neutrons. Since the protons are positively charged they repel each other. Hence for the nucleus to remain together, there must be another force besides the electrical force that attracts the nucleons. This is called the strong force. This is overly simplified, but the strong force increases with the number of nucleons. So as heavier elements are formed by fusion you get more tightly bound nuclei.. at the same time though, the repulsion due to the charge of the protons increases as well. For elements lighter than iron, making the nucleus heavier makes it more tightly bound. At iron, the charge takes over and heavier nuclei than iron are less tightly bound. Hence fusion cannot form elements heavier than iron.

[Fresh Wind]

The scientists are fission for research grants!

[Captainpaintball]

Get every god damned Chinese m-f’er OUT OF THAT LAB if you made a discovery like this. That is, if there are any non-Chinese left in amerifat science anymore

[zeestephen]

Will it ever be practical or affordable to create commercial quantities of elements in a factory scale setting?

Or, are the energy requirements just too huge?

[PIF]

You, like your teeth, are star dust - as is everything.

[Red Badger]

[Carry_Okie]

You, like your teeth, are star dust - as is everything.

It lends one to wonder how those elements coalesced into useful minerals, gold in particular, as it is found as a useful metal in its elemental state.

That would be one hell of a phase diagram!