Gas clouds collapse to form stars, with the size of the star determining its fate. The process involves the cloud collapsing under its own weight, attracting more material to form a protostar, which grows until nuclear fusion begins. The star produces heat, light, and energy until it can no longer maintain balance, expanding to form a red giant before shrinking into a white dwarf or forming a black hole.
Star formation is the process where large clouds of gas in space collapse and form a new star. The size of the star that forms determines what will happen to the star after it dies. During their lifetimes, stars constantly emit heat, light, and energy from the nuclear fusion process that occurs within them. The sun is a perfect example of a star clearly visible from Earth. It’s close enough to look big even if it’s only a medium-sized star, and its heat and light allow the planet’s plants and animals to thrive.
For star formation to occur, the pressure within a gas cloud must be too weak to support the cloud. Jeans mass is a term for the mass a specific cloud must attain before collapsing on itself. When this mass is reached, the cloud will collapse of its own weight and small clumps of gas will break off. These clusters have a gravitational pull and begin to attract more gas and dust particles floating around them. This process continues until enough material is taken up, creating a protostar.
The protostar continues to grow and the star formation process continues until it reaches the point where nuclear fusion begins. The nuclei of the atoms in the protostar are forced together and fuse, releasing energy. The star formation process is then complete and the star has reached the bulk of its life. The new star will continue to produce heat, light and energy until it is no longer able to maintain the balance between its inward gravitational pull and the outward expansion of gas. The size of the star, controlled primarily by the strength of its gravitational pull and its overall mass during star formation, determines what happens to it upon its death.
Once the star reaches old age, it expands to form a red giant. This expansion occurs when a star is losing the battle to keep its balance and equilibrium, and will eventually shrink into a white dwarf star or form a black hole. White dwarfs are slowly cooling down, but still emitting light. The formation of a black hole, formed by the death of extremely large stars, is thought to be caused by the collapse of the star upon itself. Black holes are still largely a mystery, however, and scientists have a lot to learn about them and how they work.
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