The precursors of heavy elements might arise in the plasma underbellies of swollen stars or in smoldering stellar corpses.

An atom consists of a heavy center, called the nucleus, made of particles called protons and neutrons. An atom has lighter ...

Hydrogen fusion works in the opposite way by forming “paperbag” nuclei out of smaller units. Deuterium (heavy hydrogen), for instance, has one proton and one neutron in its nucleus.

On Earth, coaxing hydrogen nuclei to fuse into helium requires creating and confining a “plasma”—an electrically charged gas, where electrons are no longer bound to atomic nuclei—at ...

Even when they are in their lowest possible electronic energy level (i.e., the electron's ground state), these two nuclei can still rotate and vibrate, producing a wide range of rovibrational states.

In laboratories, coaxing hydrogen nuclei to fuse into helium requires creating and confining a “plasma”—an electrically charged gas, where electrons are no longer bound to atomic nuclei—at ...

NASA says the Sun is a huge ball of hydrogen and helium held together by its own gravity. There is no oxygen, so the sun is not really on fire! If you look at pictures of the sun, it can look like ...