Unlimited Stellar Fusion Thought Experiment

As far as we know stars have a limited fusion cycle. Once they fuse elements up to the element iron, there is no subsequent energy that can be released through fusion, given the inherent atomic structure of the element iron.

So premise aside, my thought experiment is: if advanced beings were able to magically 'program' or 'augment' a star through some unfathomably advanced technology to skip the element iron and continue fusion, and assuming our current understanding of chemistry/physics still holds water in this scenario, what properties would the star have?

Would the ability to fuse heavier elements imply a meaningfully longer stellar life span? Would that imply that more stars would be massive enough to create super novas? Would that increase the upper threshold for heavier elements the star could create if it goes super nova? Would there be a possibility for new elements?

That is the basic question, although we could continue down this continuum and have the super smart beings account not only for iron, but any element that would interfere with fusion.

Thanks for reading.

posted about 7 years ago

Arash Howaida‭

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