Table of Contents
What characteristics of stars make them good nuclear fusion reactors?
Nuclear Fusion Stars are made mostly of hydrogen and helium. Both are very light gases, but a star contains so much hydrogen and helium that its total mass is enormous. The pressure at the center of a star is great enough to heat the gases. This causes nuclear fusion reactions.
What are 2 properties that are used to characterize a star?
Characteristics used to classify stars include color, temperature, size, composition, and brightness. Stars vary in their chemical composition. Astronomers use spectrographs to determine the elements found in stars.
What must occur for an object to be considered a main sequence star?
What must occur for an object to be considered a main sequence star? Hydrostatic equilibrium, and Nuclear fusion reaction in the core. Higher mass stars burn through their nuclear fuel faster.
How do stars fuse hydrogen into helium?
In a nuclear fusion reaction, the nuclei of two atoms combine to create a new atom. Most commonly, in the core of a star, two hydrogen atoms fuse to become a helium atom. Although nuclear fusion reactions require a lot of energy to get started, once they are going they produce enormous amounts of energy (Figure below).
What are the conditions required for nuclear fusion?
A way that particles can travel that quickly is by being in a hot gas or in plasma , like in the Sun. In fact, for fusion to occur, the temperature of the hot gas or plasma needs to be at least 150,000,000 degrees Celsius (°C).
What does nuclear fusion in the sun create?
In the core of the Sun hydrogen is being converted into helium. This is called nuclear fusion. It takes four hydrogen atoms to fuse into each helium atom. During the process some of the mass is converted into energy.
What are the characteristics of stars based on the characteristics of the sun?
A star can be defined by five basic characteristics: brightness, color, surface temperature, size and mass.
What are characteristics of the sun?
Characteristics of the Sun
- Mass: 1.98892 x 1030 kg.
- Diameter: 1,391,000 kilometers.
- Radius: 695,500 km.
- Surface gravity of the Sun: 27.94 g.
- Volume of the Sun: 1.412 x 1018 km3
- Density of the Sun: 1.622 x 105 kg/m3
What process powers most stars including our Sun?
Fusion is the process that powers the sun and the stars. It is the reaction in which two atoms of hydrogen combine together, or fuse, to form an atom of helium. In the process some of the mass of the hydrogen is converted into energy.
What factor is most important in determining a star’s position on the main sequence?
Mass is the key factor in determining the lifespan of a main sequence star, its size and its luminosity. Stars on the main sequence also appear to be unchanging for long periods of time.
What order do stars fuse elements?
The combinations go in this order:
- Carbon plus helium produces oxygen.
- Oxygen plus helium produces neon.
- Neon plus helium produces magnesium.
- Magnesium plus helium produces silicon.
- Silicon plus helium produces sulfur.
- Sulfur plus helium produces argon.
- Argon plus helium produces calcium.
How does the Sun turn hydrogen into helium?