the last isotope whose synthesis during core silicon burning releases energy by nuclear fusion, exothermically. The binding energy per nucleon declines for atomic weights heavier than ending fusion's history of supplying thermal energy to the star. The thermal energy released when the infalling supernova mantle hits the semi-solid core is very large, about 10 ergs, about a hundred times the energy released by the supernova as the kinetic energy of its ejected mass. Dozens of research papers have been published in the attempt to describe the hydrodynamics of how that small one percent of the infalling energy is transmitted to the overlying mantle in the face of continuous infall onto the core. That uncertainty remains in the full description of core-collapse supernovae. Nuclear fusion reactions that produce elements heavier than iron absorb nuclear energy and are said to be endothermic reactions. When such reactions dominate, the internal temperature that supports the star's outer layers drops. Because the outer envelope is no longer sufficiently supported by the radiation pressure, the star's gravity pulls its mantle rapidly inward. As the star collapses, this mantle collides violently with the growing incompressible stellar core, which has a density almost as great as an atomic nucleus, producing a shockwave that rebounds outward through the unfused material of the outer shell. The increase of temperature by the passage of that shockwave is sufficient to induce fusion in that material, often called explosive nucleosynthesis. The energy deposited by the shockwave somehow leads to the star's explosion, dispersing fusing matter in the mantle above the core into interstellar space. Silicon burning After a star completes the oxygen burning process, its core is composed primarily of silicon and sulfur. If it has sufficiently high mass, it further contracts until its core reaches temperatures in the range of 2.7–3.5 billion K (). At these temperatures, silicon and other isotopes suffer photoejection of nucleons by energetic thermal photons () ejecting especially alpha particles (He). The nuclear process of silicon burning differs from earlier fusion stages of nucleosynthesis in that it entails a balance between alpha-particle captures and their inverse photo ejection which establishes abundances of all alpha-particle elements in the following sequence in which each alpha particle capture shown is opposed by its inverse reaction, namely, photo ejection of an alpha particle by the abundant thermal photons: {| |- | Si || + || || He || || || S ||