Talk:Iron in mythology
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[edit] Supernovas and mythology?
I'm not sure that this excerpt from the first section of this article really belongs in an entry on "Iron in Mythology":
- Lawlor (1999: p.103-104) charts the lifecycle, origins and transmutations of iron from supernova to helium:
- Supernova explosions are believed to be triggered by the iron of the star's core collapsing and dispersing. Looked at :symbolically, stars burst like germinating seeds, and the core iron, which completes the cycle of internal densification, converts :back to helium, the original element that was formed in the heavens.
- As iron and nickel have the highest binding energy per nucleon of all the elements,[1] iron cannot produce energy when fused, and an :iron core grows.[2] This iron core is under huge gravitational pressure. As there is no fusion to further raise the star's :temperature to support it against collapse, it is supported only by degeneracy pressure of electrons. When the core's size exceeds :the Chandrasekhar limit, degeneracy pressure can no longer support it, and catastrophic collapse ensues.[3]
This seems more like information that would belong in a more general article on iron rather than an article that is supposed to be focusing on iron in mythology. Nortonew 13:49, 21 March 2007 (UTC)