On Wed, Apr 24, 2013 at 10:07 PM, Jones Beene <jone...@pacbell.net> wrote: > Harry > >> In stars deuterons formation begins with the fusion of two protons > into a diproton. > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proton%E2%80%93proton_chain_reaction > >> Since the diproton is very unstable it usually fissions soon after by > emitting a positron and a neutrino. > > > This is not accurate. The diproton fissions back into two protons the vast > majority of the time. The Wiki article is not well-worded on this point but > later on it corrects the misunderstanding. It is only the rare occasion > where the positron is emitted - otherwise the Sun would burn up its fuel too > quickly. >
Yes. I caught my mistake and made another post correcting it. > In RPF, Reversible Proton Fusion - the two protons which are immediately > split from nascent He-2 are technically not the original two protons which > fused, since there has been color charge alteration in the quarks during the > brief instant when they were fused. > >> However, occasionally one of the protons transforms into a neutron by > emitting a beta and a neutrino before fission occurs. This results in a > stable deuteron. If this is correct, then a deuteron is stable because it is > in a lower energy state than the diproton. > > Actually The neutron has mass slightly larger than that of a proton: > 939.565378 MeV compared to 938.272046 MeV. Consequently, a deuteron has > slightly more mass than a diproton. > > That is one of the many reasons why the reaction on the Sun, the one that > results in a deuteron is extraordinarily rare. It is basically endothermic. > > There something weird here. Usually a system is considered stable when it is in lower energy state. Mass can't be equivalent energy when used as measure of stability. Harry
