Starin' Alive
Why do low mass stars live much longer than high mass stars?
They fuse their fuel at a much slower rate
What zones does the energy produced in a star's core move through before it reaches the photosphere?
Radiative Zone and Convective Zone
Why do stars stop fusing elements when they reach iron?
Fusing iron requires more energy than it releases
What is the main difference in the timeline between a planetary nebula and a supernova explosion?
Planetary nebulae form gradually while supernovas are sudden, violent explosions
Stars form in ______________, vast clouds of dust and gas in space.
nebulae
Do heavier elements fuse faster or slower than hydrogen?
Faster
What part of the sun can we only see during a solar eclipse?
The corona
During star formation, what causes the spinning disk of gas to eventually become hot enough for nuclear fusion?
Gravity compresses the material, increasing temperature and density
An average mass star like the sun becomes a ___________ when it dies.
White dwarf
Where was everything around us heavier than iron made?
In a supernova of a dying star
Average mass stars like our Sun go through multiple cycles of expansion and contraction because they are restarting fusion with ____________ _____________ each time.
Different elements
_________________ are temporary dark patches on the photosphere caused by intense magnetic activity.
Sunspots
What makes plasma unique as a state of matter?
It is ionized and highly electrically conductive
When stars ~30 times more massive than the sun die, they become ________________.
Black Holes
A neutron star packs more mass than our entire ___________________ into a 20 km sphere.
Sun
When a star like the sun starts to burn helium it becomes a __________ __________.
red giant
In the convective zone, _______________ transfer thermal energy outward from the core.
currents
In planetary nebulae, _________ glows red and _____________ glows green.
hydrogen; oxygen
Stars ~10-29 times the mass of the sun become a _____________ when they die.
Neutron Star
What would happen if you fell head-first into a black hole?
Gravity on your head would be millions of times stronger than gravity on your feet, you would undergo spaghettification.
Why do planetary nebulae glow?
The hot central white dwarf excites the gas that has escaped the star and makes it glow colorfully. (Similar to how fluorescent lights work.)
Large loops of plasma that extend outward from a star along magnetic field lines are called
solar prominences.
Extremely massive stars spend their hydrogen fusing days as _______ _______ _______ _______.
blue main sequence stars
The closest star system to us is
Alpha Centauri
The sun will lose power once is core is almost pure _______________.
carbon