this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2023
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Splitting Helium doesn't release energy.
....I need to know more. We can just break open helium all Willy nilly? What's the biggest atom we can safely split?
Atoms lighter than iron take energy to split, and release energy when fusing. For atoms heavier than iron, it's the opposite.
And what happens with iron ?
You lose energy if you split or fuse it
It extinguishes the stars it forms in. Once you have enough Iron, and the amount is actually quite small compared to the rest of the mass of the star, that triggers a nova. This is due to Iron needing extra energy to either fuse or fission.