Question

Question #a7e21

Answer 1

Carbon-12 is formed in dying stars via the Triple-alpha Process ; it is actually a two step process that must occur in less time than it takes for the intermediate product, Berillium-8 (`""_4^8Be`), to decay (`t<6.7xx10^-7" s"`).

Here are the equations for this two step process:

`""_2^4He+""_2^4Herarr""_4^8Be`
`""_4^8Be+""_2^4Herarr""_6^12C+ 2gamma`

At the same time, some of the carbon-12 is fused into oxygen-16 using an additional alpha particle:

`""_6^12C+""_2^4Herarr""_8^16O + gamma`

Please read the above reference for more details.