Talk:Oxygen-burning process

²D

Isn't the 2 superscript on D redundant? It seems like consistency would be best, ideally any (non-1) superscripts on an H base, although the links could obviously continue to point towards the specific isotope's page. --Belg4mit 05:43, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

Style

• Why are the two equasions under "Alternatively" in a seperate diagram? Why is there no information about the energy released?
• Can somebody add the required size of the star for oxygen burning to this page? (Similar to the Neon burning process page)

SkyLined (talk) 00:03, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

I think the sentiment is that the equations in the first set are just the start - there's some other decay events, so you eventually end up with Sulfur plus a good set of gamma rays that were emitted along the way. JohnAugust (talk) 09:46, 13 December 2025 (UTC)

Solar Masses

This page doesn't seem to say how many solar masses a star typically needs to be for the oxygen burning process to initiate. I'm assuming it's comparable to Carbon Burning (4 M_Sun), but could anyone verify this? --Xanthine (talk) 10:48, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

Carbon burning process says it would have to be at least 8 solar masses (stars of 4 to 8 solar masses tend to lose too much mass). But someone who knows this material should add it. RJFJR (talk) 20:49, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

We should distinguish between initial (maximum) mass of a star, and the mass of a star during a certain burn phase.Abitslow (talk) 22:28, 17 June 2016 (UTC)

Understanding ignition process

"Once oxygen is exhausted, the core ceases producing fusion energy and contracts. This contraction heats it up to the point that the silicon-burning process ignites." This makes it sound like the temperature goes from high, to low, then back to high and even higher. But if the heat produced from fusion prevented contraction before, why doesn't heat from contraction stop that contraction later, before temperatures rise past the previous high? Maybe what is actually happening is that layers around the core stop fusing, or that convection stops? If layers cooled down, the star would shrink and pressure in the core would increase, causing temperatures to increase, even if those layers are still cooler than when fusion was occurring in them. 2601:600:8500:B2D9:437:47EB:9414:3B0E (talk) 23:50, 12 October 2015 (UTC)

Refimprove Tag Discussion

I have added a lot of new content to this page and used a few (9, I think) references/sources. However, I want to make sure these sources are agreeable and reputable in the eyes of the community, and that I cited all the statements that should be cited. It would be nice to do enough work to get rid of the refimprove tag on this page. Thoughts? Ncsu physics1 (talk) 19:58, 26 April 2016 (UTC)

Only in stars?

Granted the interior of massive stars is the only location where these reactions routinely occur, but still they can occur elsewhere. For example, in a type I supernova there is runaway fusion in a white dwarf, usually starting with carbon and oxygen. Essentially the same reaction, but maybe some differences that could be mentioned? Lithopsian (talk) 15:12, 7 November 2021 (UTC)