en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Bethe
3 corrections found
carbon-oxygen-nitrogen (CNO) cycle
CNO stands for carbon-nitrogen-oxygen, not carbon-oxygen-nitrogen.
Full reasoning
This expansion of the acronym is in the wrong order. Authoritative sources spell CNO out as carbon-nitrogen-oxygen.
- Nobel Prize Outreach’s history of stellar fusion describes von Weizsäcker’s discovery as the “carbon-nitrogen-oxygen (CNO) cycle.”
- The Borexino collaboration’s official materials likewise refer to the “carbon-nitrogen-oxygen (CNO) cycle.”
So the article’s phrase reverses nitrogen and oxygen.
2 sources
- How the sun shines - NobelPrize.org
In 1938, C.F. von Weizsäcker came close to solving the problem of how some stars shine. He discovered a nuclear cycle, now known as the carbon-nitrogen-oxygen (CNO) cycle...
- Nature press release on Borexino CNO neutrino detection
Stars are fuelled by the nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium, which occurs via two processes: the proton-proton (pp) chain ... and the carbon-nitrogen-oxygen (CNO) cycle...
the CNO cycle accounts for approximately 7% of the Sun's energy
The Sun gets about 1% of its energy from the CNO cycle, not about 7%.
Full reasoning
This percentage is too high by about a factor of seven.
The Borexino collaboration’s official 2020 Nature paper reports that the proton-proton chain produces about 99% of the Sun’s energy and says their findings put the CNO contribution at “of the order of 1 per cent.” Borexino’s accompanying press release states the same result more plainly: the CNO cycle contributes around 1% of the Sun’s energy.
So the article’s 7% figure is inconsistent with the modern experimental result and standard solar-model expectation.
2 sources
- Experimental evidence of neutrinos produced in the CNO fusion cycle in the Sun - Borexino
A complete spectroscopic study of neutrinos from the pp chain, which produces about 99 per cent of the solar energy... Our findings quantify the relative contribution of CNO fusion in the Sun to be of the order of 1 per cent...
- Nature press release on Borexino CNO neutrino detection
These results represent the first known direct experimental evidence for the CNO cycle... and demonstrate that the CNO cycle contributes around 1% of the Sun's energy (as theory has predicted).
At age 85, Bethe wrote an important article about the solar neutrino problem
Bethe’s well-known solar-neutrino paper was published in 1986, when he was 79, not 85.
Full reasoning
Hans Bethe was born on July 2, 1906. His paper “Possible explanation of the solar-neutrino puzzle” is listed by PubMed as published on March 24, 1986. Because that publication date was before his July birthday, Bethe was 79 years old when it appeared, not 85.
So the age given in the article is incorrect by six years.
2 sources
- Hans Bethe - Facts - NobelPrize.org
Hans Albrecht Bethe ... Born: 2 July 1906, Strasbourg, Germany (now France)
- Possible explanation of the solar-neutrino puzzle - PubMed
Phys Rev Lett. 1986 Mar 24;56(12):1305-1308. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.56.1305. Possible explanation of the solar-neutrino puzzle. HA Bethe.