Guided paths
Where does the sodium in salt come from?
From a proton meeting neon-22 to the sodium we see change from star to star.
Two ways to make sodium
Most of the sodium in your salt was made in massive stars, when two carbon nuclei fuse (12C(12C,p)23Na). A smaller share comes from hydrogen burning, when neon-22 captures a proton. We follow this second way: it is why the amount of sodium changes from star to star in old star clusters.