The Life Cycle of a Star

What can be learned about a star's life cycle by examining its properties?

A stars life cycle can reveal the age of the such as if the star is young, it is in the youngest stage of it's life, called the main sequence. If the star has passed the main sequence, and has to much fusion, it will begin to challenge the equilibrium and expand, making a red giant. after that the star implodes into a white dwarf, without fusion which slowly burns out.

What happen when a supernova occurs?

A supernova occurs when a red giant star runs out of fuel and implodes in its own gravity.

How does the composition of a star impact its life-stage/life cycle?

Because it causes many forces of gravity to collide, causing centers of galaxies to get stuck, and often times this results in the galaxies to connect into one larger super galaxy.

Why is the white dwarf the hottest star?

Because the white dwarf is the most concentrated due to its gravity and the protons are so much heavier and more complex due to its previous fusion.

How do stars building blocks come to them?

During the star's nebula, the stars gas and dust made up of the mix and start to cause constant explosions around a center of gravity. The building blocks (hydrogen, helium, and carbon) come together in this mass of gravity to become a star.

What are the most abundant elements in each life stage of stars?

I the beginning of a stars life cycle, a star mostly runs off of hydrogen to keep it running through the main sequence. After the main sequence, the star moves expands to a red giant. In this stage, the star relies on the second element of the periodic table, helium. after the star has finished with the helium, the star implodes into the white dwarf stage, which relies on carbon.

What causes more or less gas and dust to be in a star?

Gas and dust levels depend on what kind of element a star is burning. The possible elements are the building blocks. It depends what life stage the star is in. If the star is in the beginning of its life, or the main sequence, it has less gas and dust. If the star is older, or a red giant, the star has more gas and dust. If the star is at the end of its life stages, or a white dwarf the star has to most gas and dust.

What happens after a supernova.

Most stars go into the final stage of life, the white dwarf, but some stars go into black holes or pulsars.

What can be learned about a star through its position on the HR diagram?

One can tell a stars brightness, or magnitude, in lux by seeing how high the star is on the H-R Diagram, and the stars temperature by seeing how high the star is on the diagram.

How do stars generate energy?

Stars use nuclear fusion to continuously burn elements. They stay in equilibrium by gravity pulling inward. The more mass a star has, the shorter the star has to burn, which means it is burning energy faster. This leads to higher apparent magnitude, as well as absolute magnitude.

How long does the average star live?

The average star lives about 10 billion years, like the sun.

What life stage lasts the longest and why?

The main sequence life stage lasts the longest because it has the simplest and easiest building block, hydrogen, to burn in fusion and it has equilibrium.

What stage has the biggest Absolute magnitude?

The red giant has the biggest absolute magnitude on account of its size and place in the top right of the HR Diagram.

What are the stages of a star's life cycle?

The stages of a stars life cycle are main sequence, red giant and white dwarf. Stars start out with a nebula, which is a large cloud of gas and dust that soon collect into a star. This causes the first and longest stage of a stars life, the main sequence. After this stage, stars expand into a red giant, the shortest stage of a stars life. After the red giant, stars implode into smaller white dwarfs, which continue to burn until they run out of energy and die.

How does a star reach equilibrium?

The star cannot reach equilibrium unless both the gravity of the star, as well as the fusion the star is making even out. This depends on the life stage. The main sequence has the best shot at equilibrium, and the chances decrease as the life stages progress.

How does the sun compare to other stars?

The sun is a medium sized, main sequenced star. it is in the middle of its life and will likely live 10 billion total years. It is a dimmer, cooler star.

What happens during a nebula?

What happens is that a mass of gravity causes the natural building blocks of the universe to come together and begin to fuse together and cause explosions. The gravity keeps the star together.

How does fusion effect white dwarfs?

White dwarfs are burned out red giants, who can not use their fusion anymore because they have lost all burnable elements and gravity has taken over.