course hero 7. when a star runs out of nuclear fuel, its outer layers expand. it is now called a __

by Anabelle Abbott 3 min read

What is it called when a star ejects its outer layers?

The fuel starts to run out. Hydrogen is consumed, causing the core to contrast and then collapse. As the main sequence star glows, nuclear fusion converts hydrogen in its core to helium. When the star's hydrogen supply runs out and it can no longer generate heat through nuclear fusion, the core becomes unstable and contracts.

What happens to the core of a star during an explosion?

Of its fuel in its core and collapses on itself. Speeding up the spin is a result of matter falling onto the neutron star slowly spinning it up just like a carousel. The textbook refers to the black widow pulsar as “ The intense radiation from the pulsar heats one side of the relatively cool dwarf star to the temperature of our sun's surface, about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit or some 6,000 degrees …

How does the core of a star burn helium?

how far away the star is from Earth Giant - a highly luminous, exceptionally massive star-Forms when a main sequence star runs out of hydrogen in its core, causing the core to shrink. The core begins to burn helium, which is hotter than burning hydrogen Added heat causes the outside of the star to expand-After a giant forms, its outer layers may expand and cool, causing the star …

What happens when a star runs out of fuel?

Mar 26, 2022 · At its center, a star transforms hydrogen atoms into helium over the course of its existence. When the hydrogen fuel runs gone, the internal reaction comes to a halt. A star compresses inward due to gravity if the reactions do not occur at the core, causing it to expand. The star evolves from a subgiant star to a red giant as it expands.

What happens when a star's core is heated?

The repulsive force between the nuclei overcomes the force of gravity, and the core recoils out from the heart of the star in an explosive shock wave. As the shock encounters material in the star's outer layers, the material is heated, fusing to form new elements and radioactive isotopes.

What happens to the stars when they reach the red giant phase?

Once a medium size star (such as our Sun) has reached the red giant phase, its outer layers continue to expand, the core contracts inward, and helium atoms in the core fuse together to form carbon. This fusion releases energy and the star gets a temporary reprieve.

Why are neutron stars so interesting?

Neutron stars are fascinating because they are the densest objects known. Due to its small size and high density, a neutron star possesses a surface gravitational field about 300,000 times that of Earth. Neutron stars also have very intense magnetic fields - about 1,000,000,000,000 times stronger than Earth's.

What kind of energy does the electrons release?

At this radius, the electrons must stop, and they release some of their kinetic energy in the form of X-rays and gamma-rays. External viewers see these pulses of radiation whenever the magnetic pole is visible. The pulses come at the same rate as the rotation of the neutron star, and thus, appear periodic.

Why is the White Dwarf stable?

It has become a white dwarf. White dwarfs are stable because the inward pull of gravity is balanced by the electrons in the core of the star repulsing each other. With no fuel left to burn, the hot star radiates its remaining heat into the coldness of space for many billions of years.

What happens when a ball of gas and dust moves off into space?

When the released energy reaches the outer layers of the ball of gas and dust, it moves off into space in the form of electromagnetic radiation. The ball, now a star, begins to shine. New stars come in a variety of sizes and colors.

What happens to the core of a supergiant?

Unlike in smaller stars, where the core becomes essentially all carbon and stable, the intense pressure inside the supergiant causes the electrons to be forced inside of (or combined with) the protons, forming neutrons. In fact, the whole core of the star becomes nothing but a dense ball of neutrons.

What happens to the core of a star when the hydrogen fusion rate drops?

When the hydrogen fusion rate drops, the core's temperature drops and so the thermal pressure drops. As a result, the core becomes less able to hold up the rest of the star's weight. As the core gets squeezed; it (and the gas around it) shrinks in size. As this happens, the gas in the core and shell around it heats up.

What happens to the star after a flash?

After the flash, the core is able to fluff up, which levels off the burning rate. With less energy flowing from the core to the surface, the star's radius decreases somewhat (but is still larger than when the star was on the main sequence). When the core runs out of helium to burn, it and the gas around it contracts.

What happens when a helium core is heated to 100 million K?

If the core's temperature reaches 100 million K, then the helium in the core will start to burn by nuclear fusion. (If the temperature isn't large enough, then the core compresses until electron degeneracy pressure prevents further compression). Let's follow the case of helium burning.

What happens when a high mass star contracts?

Like the low mass stars (discussed above), a high mass star contracts, heating up the core and gas around the core, then starts to burn hydrogen in the shell around the core. The net burning rate is higher than in a main sequence star.

What is the name of the star that blows winds?

The bright, fluffed up star is now called a red giant. During their giant phases, stars blow winds. As the shell burns hydrogen into helium, the helium falls down into the core. The core, thus, gains mass and so exerts a stronger gravitational pull.

Do low mass stars burn?

Late in their lives, low mass stars are able to burn (here, meaning to get energy from nuclear reactions) heavier elements than high mass stars are able to burn. Answer: False ! b.) Each stage of burning (e.g., burning of H in core, then H in shell, etc.) goes on for a longer period of time than the previous stage.

Does a star have a carbon burning core?

This enables helium in the shell around the core to burn. Unlike in the low mass stars, the core can get hot enough to burn carbon. At that time, the star would have a carbon-burning core, surrounded by a helium-burning shell, surrounded by a hydrogen-burning shell, surrounded by a lot of non-burning hydrogen.