Why is there an abundance of even atomic number elements vs odd ones?

The answer is (drum roll please):

Helium Burning


Basically, once particles cooled to actually form nuclei, a quick chain of nuclear (fusion) reactions occured:

21H-->4He

The following reactions the occured:

34He-->12C
12C+4He-->16O
16O+4He-->20Ne
etc etc...

Thus, as helium reacted with other, primarily even numbered nucleii, the even numbered elements showed an increase in abundance compared to the odd elements.

Note: Iron (26Fe) is the most stable of elements, hence it's greater abundance compared to surrounding elements.

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