4 ms·

So, if you have a great bunch of nucleons, is it more energetically favourable to have them as iron or as uranium?

• Gauge_Irrahphe 6y ago
  Iron. That doesn't contradict that fusing more hydrogen with iron is energeticaly favorable, as the binding energy of hydrogen is zero. So you still get energy from fusing it into iron.
  • azernik 6y ago
    Fusing into iron is different from fusing with iron. Binding energy is a negative energy value; iron having a high binding energy means it is a low energy state, so adding zero-binding-energy hydrogen to that system and decreasing the binding energy increases the potential energy of the system from the low value of iron.