Submitted by VillagerNo4 t3_11zbuiw in askscience
notimeforniceties t1_jdfzfu5 wrote
Reply to comment by sciguy52 in Does the metal in the solid core of a rocky planet have any special properties? by VillagerNo4
Someone else can probably explain this properly, but I believe the fusion reaction inside the Sun ends up leaving it as all Iron. Something about the fusion reaction past a certain point can't produce elements higher than Iron on the period table.
> When very massive stars leave the main sequence, they first become red supergiants and then end their life cycles in with a bang. Unlike a red giant, when all the helium in a red supergiant is gone, fusion continues. Lighter atoms fuse into heavier atoms up to iron atoms. Creating elements heavier than iron through fusion uses more energy than it produces so stars do not ordinarily form any heavier elements.
DaddyCatALSO t1_jdg3k8i wrote
Eventually; iron is the sink for fusion of lighter and decay of heavier. But "dead" stars are often not mostly iron.
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