what is the third step of the hydrogen fusion process?
All stars live by fusing hydrogen into helium. In the first step of the process, two hydrogen atoms fuse to form deuterium. In the next step, another hydrogen atom fuses with the deuterium, creating a rare isotope of helium that has two protons and one neutron in its nucleus. In the third step, two of the rare helium atoms fuse to create a single normal helium atom and two hydrogen atoms. The fusion pathway described above requires six hydrogen atoms to create one helium atomâhowever, there are two hydrogen atoms left over at the end of the process. The net result is that it takes four hydrogen atoms to make one helium atom.