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?
Are fusion operations commutative
spacechem
spacechem
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?
Best 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 lighter atoms, e.g., Hydrogen with which you are trying to make an heaver atom, e.g., Oxygen.