carbon cycle Comparison Table

Astronomy View all facts Glossary Help

physical phenomena > energy source > exothermic fusion process > hydrogen burning > carbon cycle

Next hydrogen burning: proton-proton chain Up: hydrogen burning

carbon cycle comparison table

Subject has probability has definition

CNO bi-cycle 2% of the energy of our Sun Similar to the CNO cycle, except that it also includes a cycle in which the next-to-last step becomes ¹⁵N(p, γ) ¹⁶O(p, γ) ¹⁷F(β⁺ν) ¹⁷O(p, α) ¹⁴N. This reaction occurs once in about 2000 CN cycles. For main-sequence stars greater than a few solar masses, hydrogen burning by the CNO bi-cycle is the main source of energy.

CNO tri-cycle Similar to the CNO bi-cycle, with the addition of the cycle ¹⁷O(p, γ) ¹⁸F(β⁺ν) ¹⁸O(p, α) ¹⁵N.

Subject	has probability	has definition
CNO bi-cycle	2% of the energy of our Sun	Similar to the CNO cycle, except that it also includes a cycle in which the next-to-last step becomes ¹⁵N(p, γ) ¹⁶O(p, γ) ¹⁷F(β⁺ν) ¹⁷O(p, α) ¹⁴N. This reaction occurs once in about 2000 CN cycles. For main-sequence stars greater than a few solar masses, hydrogen burning by the CNO bi-cycle is the main source of energy.
CNO tri-cycle		Similar to the CNO bi-cycle, with the addition of the cycle ¹⁷O(p, γ) ¹⁸F(β⁺ν) ¹⁸O(p, α) ¹⁵N.

Next hydrogen burning: proton-proton chain Up: hydrogen burning