Sunny Side Up
This is the current life stage of our Sun.
What is main sequence?
The energy released from fusion comes from this.
What is a loss of mass?
Pressure from fusion creates this state of balance in a star.
What is hydrostatic equilibrium?
The most massive stars cannot stop the force of gravity and become these deep space objects.
What are black holes?
In a universe where hydrogen fusion resulted in more mass, this is the end state of all stars.
What is a brown dwarf?
After the main sequence, in about 4 billion years, the Sun will become this.
What is a red giant?
This is the most massive element produced in stars much bigger than our sun.
What is iron?
Without gravity, stars could not form from this deep sky object.
What is a nebula?
(What is a molecular cloud?)
This determines what a star's final form will be.
What is mass?
Imagine stars fused hydrogen into helium and then could not fuse helium. We would likely not observe these stars.
What are giants?
98% of the Sun is composed of these two elements.
What is hydrogen and helium?
Bonus question (300 points).
The percentage of the sun that is currently helium.
Fusion takes place in this part of the star.
What is the core?
Daily Double opportunity!
This is the fate of a small star that cannot support fusion.
What is a brown dwarf?
If gravity were weaker, this would happen to the number of stars formed, due to insufficient compression and core heating during star formation.
What are fewer stars?
When the Sun dies, it will primarily be composed of these elements.
What is carbon and oxygen.
For this reason, stars cannot fuse elements that are more massive than iron.
What is fusion becomes endothermic?
(or what is nucleons gain mass)
In neutron stars, this kind of pressure resists further collapse.
What is neutron degeneracy pressure?
Bonus question! (400 points)
In white dwarfs, this kind of pressure resists further collapse.
Daily Double opportunity!
Draw an HR Diagram on your whiteboards. Circle the region that is an "endgame."
Imagine our universe was made primarily of oxygen and carbon instead of hydrogen and helium. All currently fusing stars would be a part of this stage.
What is a giant?
When the Sun dies, it will create these two objects.
What is a white dwarf and a planetary nebula.
For hydrogen fusion to occur, hydrogen must overcome this force with immense temperatures and pressures.
What is the electromagnetic force?
Bonus question (500 points).
This force is responsible for fusion.
While a nebula is contracting, energy is transferred between these two types of energy.
What is gravitational potential energy and heat (kinetic)?
A star more massive than our Sun (but not TOO massive) will form these two objects in its violent death.
What are supernova remnant and neutron star.
If we could see the cores of stars instead of their outer layers, stars across the sky would appear more like this color, due to the extreme temperatures at their centers.
What is blue?