Is Exothermic Fusion a Myth?

It is generally believed that stars produce energy through nuclear fusion at their core. This assumption rests on spectral analysis of the light coming from stars, including our sun, that reveals large quantities of Hydrogen and Helium.

The idea is that stars are mainly made of Hydrogen which is fused into Helium at the great pressures assumed to be at the center of stars. However, plain Hydrogen does not fuse readily into Helium. Only the rare isotope called Deuterium can fuse into Helium.

Deuterium is produced by fusing a Neutron onto a Proton. This is an endothermic process, and it is only because some of this energy is released when two Deuterium atoms fuse into Helium that we get energy produced. However the total energy requirement for the production of Helium by fusing together two Protons and two Neutrons may well be larger than the energy produced. The total process may be endothermic, rather than exothermic.

The reason we see a lot of Hydrogen and Helium in the light specter of stars is not necessarily because they are made of these elements, but because these elements are produced from heavier elements that is heated to millions of degrees in the corona. The abundance of Hydrogen and Helium might very well be the bi-product of fission.

The surface of our Sun, which is clearly liquid in nature, is not necessarily some kind of exotic Hydrogen, but something as mundane as liquid rock, also known as magma. When bits of this magma is thrown up and heated to millions of degrees in the corona, Hydrogen and Helium, as well as other light elements are produced.

The Sun

By NASA/SDO (AIA) - http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/assets/img/browse/2010/08/19/20100819_003221_4096_0304.jpg, Public Domain, Link