Transcript Stars

Stars
By: Mary Aragon
Theory of Relativity
What are stars?
 Enormous balls of gas
 Made mostly of hydrogen and helium
 Constant nuclear process (fusion)
How do they die?
 Nuclear fuel runs out
 Star expands and core contracts
 Various things can happen depending on the stars initial
mass
Sun-like Stars
Up to 1.5 times that of the sun
 Expands as it grow old, core runs out of H and He atoms
 Core contracts, layers expand, cool, and become less
bright (Red Giant)
 Continue to expand, He fuses forming C and releases
energy, then stabilizes due to Carbons inability to further
compress
 Outer layers drift off (Planetary Nebula), loses most of
its mass
 Cools and shrinks, becomes stable with no nuclear fuel,
radiates leftover heat (White Dwarf)
 Dead star, cool and dark (Black Dwarf)
Huge Stars
1.5 to 3 times that of the sun
 Core fuses all H into He and shrinks, hotter and denser
(Red Supergiant)
 Produces heavier elements (i.e. Iron)
 Core collapses Fe atoms crushed, core temp. around 100
billion degrees
 Repulsive electrical forces between atoms nuclei
outweigh gravity, causes massive explosion, blows away
stars outer layers (Supernova)
 Collapse into a small dense Star with an extremely
strong gravitational field and rapid spin (Neutron Star)
Massive Stars
More than 3 times that of the sun
 Red Supergiant
 Supernova
 Contracts immensely and becomes incredibly dense with
a gravitational field so strong that not even light can
escape (Black Hole)
THE END
Questions?