AST201H1 Chapter Notes -Electron Degeneracy Pressure, Triple-Alpha Process, White Dwarf
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AST201H1 Full Course Notes
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High mass stars do not last for too long, only a few millions years, which is much shorter than the life span of our sun (10 billion years). A few million years is too short for any life form to evolve or even for planets to form. High mass stars are quite hot and luminous, high energy radiation is detrimental to any living organisms. Sun slowly and steadily fuses hydrogen into helium in its core via the proton-proton chain. The sun shines steady since the whole star is in the hydrostatic equilibrium. Hydrogen fusion supplies the thermal energy that maintains a star"s thermal pressure and hold gravity at bay. However, fusion in the core of a low-mass star reduces the number of hydrogen atoms in the core; each fusion reaction converts four independent protons into just one helium nucleus. Slowly reduce the number of hydrogen nuclei available to fuse up.