How does the life cycle of a star relate to the mass of the elements that it produces?

How does the life cycle of a star relate to the mass of the elements that it produces?

A star’s life cycle is determined by its mass. The larger its mass, the shorter its life cycle. When the hydrogen supply in the core begins to run out, and the star is no longer generating heat by nuclear fusion, the core becomes unstable and contracts.

What is the life cycle of a star and how is it affected by mass?

Explanation: If the star has smaller mass than the Sun, it can fuse hydrogen into helium for atleast a trillion years. The larger a star, the shorter its life because it fuses hydrogen into helium much more quickly. A star whose mass is more than 20 Suns will run out of hydrogen in only a few hundred million years.

How does the mass of a star relate to how long it lives?

A star’s life expectancy depends on its mass. Generally, the more massive the star, the faster it burns up its fuel supply, and the shorter its life. The most massive stars can burn out and explode in a supernova after only a few million years of fusion.

How does the life cycle of a low mass star differ from a high mass star?

Both, a low mass Star and a High mass Star will Start off with fusing hydrogen into Helium, though a high mass Star will burn it faster because of increased pressure and temperature in the core. A second difference is the ability to create heavier elements.

What is the life cycle for a very large mass star?

Any star which is larger than eight solar masses during its regular main sequence lifetime is considered a massive star. They typically have a quick main sequence phase, a short red supergiant phase, and a spectacular death via a supernova explosion.

What is the life cycle of a high mass star in order?

The exact stages of evolutions are: Subgiant Branch (SGB) – hydrogen shell burning – outer layers swell. Red Giant Branch – helium ash core compresses – increased hydrogen shell burning. First Dredge Up – expanding atmosphere cools star – stirs carbon, nitrogen and oxygen upward – star heats up.

What are the life cycle of a star?

Massive stars transform into supernovae, neutron stars and black holes while average stars like the sun, end life as a white dwarf surrounded by a disappearing planetary nebula. All stars, irrespective of their size, follow the same 7 stage cycle, they start as a gas cloud and end as a star remnant.

What are the stages in the life cycle of a star?

All stars begin life in the same way. A cloud of dust and gas, also known as a nebula , becomes a protostar, which goes on to become a main sequence star.

What is the mass of a low mass star?

Today we will look at the life of low-mass stars, which are those with mass less than about 2 times the mass of the Sun (less than 2 solar masses). So the Sun is a low-mass star. All such stars follow the same basic pattern. The next higher category, intermediate-mass stars, have masses from 2 to 8 solar masses.

How does the life cycle of a massive star differ from a low mass star?

On the right of the illustration is the life cycle of a massive star (10 times or more the size of our Sun). Like low-mass stars, high-mass stars are born in nebulae and evolve and live in the Main Sequence. However, their life cycles start to differ after the red giant phase. A massive star will undergo a supernova explosion.

What is the relationship between luminosity and mass?

O stars are the most massive, then B stars, then A, F, G, K, and M stars are the least massive. Since the Main Sequence is also a sequence in luminosity—that is, O stars are the most luminous, then B, then A, F, G, K, and M stars are the least luminous—there must be a relationship between mass and luminosity.

What happens in the main sequence of a star?

The main sequence phase is the stage in development where the core temperature reaches the point for the fusion to commence. In this process, the protons of hydrogen are converted into atoms of helium. This reaction is exothermic; it gives off more heat than it requires and so the core of a main-sequence star releases a tremendous amount of energy.

Is the mass of a star a linear relationship?

As we continue our study of star clusters, keep this in mind—the more massive a star, the faster it lives its lifetime, and, given the exponent of this relationship, it isn’t a linear relationship.