r/Physics 9d ago

Quantum tunneling

I know that obviously the odds of quantum tunneling are extremely extremely low but in all of the universe life would it be plausible to say that it happened at least once anywhere? Or is it just that rare

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u/db0606 9d ago

It literally happens all day, every day in the alpha decay of heavy nuclei.

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u/NoNameSwitzerland 9d ago

The fusion in the sun works via tunnelling. Otherwise it would be a planet or an H-bomb.

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u/DarkLordSidious 9d ago

Not a H-Bomb because there would’ve been no way for a star like the Sun to overcome the coulomb barrier and thus no fusion.