What causes the contraction of an interstellar cloud to become a star?
As an interstellar cloud contracts, gravitational instabilities cause it to fragment into smaller pieces.
How is a cloud’s contraction produced?
Stars are formed from large clouds of gas. The gas, which might be the wisps of older stars which have exploded, or simply left from the Big Bang, is very cold and the cloud begins large but not at all dense. Gravity, which causes all the atoms of the gas to pull each other together, makes the cloud contract.
In which phase of the interstellar medium do stars form?
Star Formation. Stars form inside relatively dense concentrations of interstellar gas and dust known as molecular clouds. These regions are extremely cold (temperature about 10 to 20K, just above absolute zero). At these temperatures, gases become molecular meaning that atoms bind together.
How do stars form from the interstellar medium?
Shock waves traveling through the ISM, the interstellar medium, can cause some areas of the molecular cloud to compress into very high densities, high enough to form stars. When molecular clouds collapse as a result of shock waves, they fragment.
How was the star formed?
Star Formation Stars are born within the clouds of dust and scattered throughout most galaxies. A familiar example of such as a dust cloud is the Orion Nebula. Turbulence deep within these clouds gives rise to knots with sufficient mass that the gas and dust can begin to collapse under its own gravitational attraction.
What force pulls matter together to form regions when formation of a star starts with the dense regions of molecular clouds?
of gravity Summary: Stars form in cold, dense regions of space called molecular clouds. When the force of gravity pulling in on the cloud is greater than the strength of internal pressure pushing out, the cloud collapses into a protostar.
How is star formed?
Star Formation Stars are born within the clouds of dust and scattered throughout most galaxies. A familiar example of such as a dust cloud is the Orion Nebula. Turbulence deep within these clouds gives rise to knots with sufficient mass that the gas and dust can begin to collapse under its own gravitational attraction.
What force causes the contraction of a cloud of interstellar matter to form a star quizlet?
What force causes the contraction of a cloud of interstellar matter to form a star? The gravitational force.
What force is most responsible for the formation of a star?
Gravity is the force responsible for stellar formation and the mass of material that forms at star largely determines its life and fate.
Which of the following forces greatly affects the formation of stars?
The conditions in these cores—low temperature and high density—are just what is required to make stars. Remember that the essence of the life story of any star is the ongoing competition between two forces: gravity and pressure. The force of gravity, pulling inward, tries to make a star collapse.
What makes up the interstellar medium Select all that apply?
The interstellar medium is rich in cold, dense gas. It contains stars of high and low mass, both young and old. It is primarily made up of old, low mass main sequence stars. It only contains a disk component.
Why do stars form?
Stars form by the slow contraction under gravity of a very large cloud of gas and dust particles in space. The gas and dust clouds are very common and we know of many regions of star formation in our Milky Way Galaxy.
What must happen in a molecular cloud to trigger star formation?
Stars form from an accumulation of gas and dust, which collapses due to gravity and starts to form stars. The process of star formation takes around a million years from the time the initial gas cloud starts to collapse until the star is created and shines like the Sun.
Which trigger could start the gravitational contraction of a molecular cloud quizlet?
Which trigger could start the gravitational contraction of a molecular cloud? Low-mass stars like the Sun transport energy near their surface using convection. The ISM magnetic field is typically about 0.0001 times as strong as Earth's magnetic field at its surface.
What are the three forces involved in star formation?
But three forces counteract gravity and tend to prevent this collapse:
- Inertia: massive objects resist changes of their motion. …
- centrifugal force: The central cloud will form a star, and planets will form in the disk. …
- fission: into two clouds orbiting each other. …
- Heat pressure: …
- Magnetic pressure:
How is a star formed?
Stars form from an accumulation of gas and dust, which collapses due to gravity and starts to form stars. The process of star formation takes around a million years from the time the initial gas cloud starts to collapse until the star is created and shines like the Sun.
What happens when an interstellar cloud fragment contracts?
What happens when an interstellar cloud fragment contracts? Its pressure increases.
What makes up the interstellar medium quizlet?
the matter between stars, composed of two components, gas and dust, intermixed throughout all of space.
What are interstellar clouds made of?
The region between the stars contains interstellar clouds composed primarily of dust and gas. Over 100 molecules (neutrals, ions, and radicals), mostly carbon-containing compounds, have been identified in interstellar molecular clouds.
What force holds stars together?
gravity A star is a sphere of gas held together by its own gravity. The closest star to Earth is our very own Sun, so we have an example nearby that astronomers can study in detail.
What gives way to star formation?
Star Formation Stars are born within the clouds of dust and scattered throughout most galaxies. A familiar example of such as a dust cloud is the Orion Nebula. Turbulence deep within these clouds gives rise to knots with sufficient mass that the gas and dust can begin to collapse under its own gravitational attraction.
What does the interstellar medium consist of?
In a nutshell, the interstellar medium is the material that fills the space between stars. 99% of the interstellar medium is made up of (mostly hydrogen) gas and the rest is composed of dust. The interstellar medium is vast and expansive in size but very, very low in density.
What is the most abundant element in the interstellar medium?
The most abundant elements in the interstellar gas are hydrogen and helium. About 1% of the interstellar matter is in the form of solid interstellar dust grains.
What is the forces that work on a star?
Gravitational forces act to contract the star. Fusion reactions and heat convection act to expand the star. The two forces are balanced and the star remains stable in size and reactions. The star remains stable as long as hydrogen exists to combine in fusion reactions.
What are the two forces that act on a star?
While self-gravity pulls the star inward and tries to make it collapse, thermal pressure (heat created by fusion) pushes outward. These two forces cancel each other out in a main sequence star, thus making it stable.
Which process can initiate an interstellar cloud collapse and trigger stellar formation?
In triggered star formation, one of several events might occur to compress a molecular cloud and initiate its gravitational collapse. Molecular clouds may collide with each other, or a nearby supernova explosion can be a trigger, sending shocked matter into the cloud at very high speeds.
Why does a star contract?
During most a star's lifetime, the interior heat and radiation is provided by nuclear reactions in the star's core. This phase of the star's life is called the main sequence. Before a star reaches the main sequence, the star is contracting and its core is not yet hot or dense enough to begin nuclear reactions.
How does the interstellar medium interact with stars quizlet?
How does the interstellar medium interact with stars? The light from stars heats hydrogen in the interstellar medium, to the point where hydrogen molecules undergo fusion during collisions and begin the first stage of star formation.
What is an interstellar cloud quizlet?
interstellar cloud. a discrete, high-density region of the interstellar medium made up mostly of atomic or molecular hydrogen and dust.
What is a cloud of interstellar gas called?
The Rosette Nebula. Interstellar gas clouds that have been heated to several thousand Kelvin can be seen as emission nebulae such as this.