AST101H1 Lecture : Chapter 14

• School: UTSG
• Department: Astronomy & Astrophysics
• Course: AST101H1
• Professor: Clifford Orwin

Document Summary

using einstein"s famous formula e = mc2 it was able to show that the suns mass itself contains an enormous amount of potential energy through the process of nuclear fusion. nuclear fusion requires high temperatures and high densities, which is found in the core. Core must always be kept hot and dense for steady shine. maintains these conditions through a balance of two forces, gravity pulling inward and pressure pushing outward, aka gravitational equilibrium. sun was formed from a collapsing cloud if interstellar gas. most of the energy was radiated away from the surface as thermal radiation, the rest remained inside causing the temp and pressure inside to spike. when the core was hot, and dense enough to sustain nuclear fusion, the energy in the suns interior was balanced with the energy lost in the form of radiation. This balance in turn stabilized the size of the sun achieving gravitational equilibrium.