Thread: Binding Energies of Proton-Proton Chain

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?

I think, this should help you.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proton-...chain_reaction

i'd appreciate real help as opposed to people posting for the sake of post count.
wikipedia is about the most obvious and, frankly, silly thing to suggest.

In what way did you find the wiki article unhelpful?

1. i already looked at it
2.it doesnt answer my question
3. :'(

I've also gone through the relevant calculations to find the mass lost from the sun each second.
I used the solar constant as a basis for the calculation and assumed only the binding energy of helium is released as energy.
(Solar constant to get total energy output of the sun > energy per proton-proton chain > number of proton proton chain reactions a second > mass lost per proton-proton chain > mass lost in total per second.)

It comes up short by a factor of 50.

This suggests another form of energy transduction is prominent in the Sun, is the CNO cycle really that energetic? and that prominent in the sun?