Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Are fusion operations “commutative”?

Question

Can I fuse a Carbon atom into an atom of Hydrogen just as easily as it is done the other way around, or must the smaller-mass atom be the source and the heavier one always be the target?

Answer

You can fuse atoms in any order, but it's usual to fuse lighter atoms into the target as you'll have a stream of, e.g., Hydrogen with which you are trying to make, e.g., Oxygen.

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