Researchers Describe Oxygen’s Different Shapes

Oxygen-16, one of the key elements of life on earth, is produced by a series of reactions inside of red giant stars. 

Now a team of physicists, including one from North Carolina State University, has revealed how the element’s nuclear shape changes depending on its state, even though other attributes such as spin and parity don’t appear to differ. 

Their findings may shed light on how oxygen is produced.

Carbon and oxygen are formed when helium burns inside of red giant stars. 

Carbon-12 forms when three helium-4 nuclei combine in a very specific way (called the triple alpha process), and oxygen-16 is the combination of a carbon-12 and another helium-4 nucleus.

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The shape of oxygen-16 in its ground and first excited state. Credit: Dean Lee et al.