a stimulus to the development of the theory of nucleosynthesis was the discovery of variations in the abundances of elements found in the universe. the need for a physical description was already inspired by the relative abundances of isotopes of the chemical elements in the solar system. those abundances, when plotted on a graph as a function of atomic number of the element, have a jagged sawtooth shape that varies by factors of tens of millions (see history of nucleosynthesis theory). this suggested a natural process that is not random. a second stimulus to understanding the processes of stellar nucleosynthesis occurred during the 20th century, when it was realized that the energy released from nuclear fusion reactions accounted for the longevity of the sun as a source of heat and light.