I've worked out the binding energy of a helium-4 nucleus, but to find out the number of proton-proton chains occuring every second from the total output of the sun every second, would i have to work out the binding energies of a helium-2 nucleus and helium-3 nucleus?
Basically: is the total energy output of a proton-proton chain equal to the binding energy of a Helium-4 nucleus, or do i have to include all the steps in the chain's binding energies as well?