What is the single most important quantity in determining the evolution of a star?
Mass: the most important factor in determining the life of a star. Gravity & Internal heat: balance that determines evolutionary stage of a star's life.
What is the main characteristic determining the evolution of a star?
The primary factor determining how a star evolves is its mass as it reaches the main sequence.
What is the most important characteristic of a star which determines its place on the main sequence?
What factor is most important in determining a star's position on the main sequence? Mass is the key factor in determining the lifespan of a main sequence star its size and its luminosity.
What is the single most important property of a star that will determine its evolution quizlet?
degenerate-matter object gets smaller as it gets more massive. at the top left of the main sequence. What is the single most important property of a star that will determine its evolution? As a star leaves the main sequence, it moves up and to the right on the H-R diagram.
Which of the following is most important in determining a star’s life cycle?
A star's mass is the most important factor in determining its life cycle.
What is the major factor predicting the fate of a star?
Key Concepts. The ultimate fate of a star depends on its initial mass. A massive star ends with a violent explosion called a supernova. The matter ejected in a supernova explosion becomes a glowing supernova remnant.
What main factor determines the stages a star will follow after the main sequence?
mass The amount of mass a star has determines which of the following life cycle paths it will take from there. The life cycle of a low mass star (left oval) and a high mass star (right oval).
What is the evolutionary stage of a star?
The star thus evolves rapidly to a stable state, beginning the main-sequence phase of its evolution. A new star will sit at a specific point on the main sequence of the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram, with the main-sequence spectral type depending upon the mass of the star.
What is the most important factor of a star that determines its final fate?
The fundamental property of stars, which determines where a star will fall along the main sequence, its lifetime, rate of evolution, and ultimate fate — whether explosive or quiet, is a star's mass.
What are the main characteristics used to classify stars?
Characteristics used to classify stars include color, temperature, size, composition, and brightness. Stars vary in their chemical composition. Astronomers use spectrographs to determine the elements found in stars.
What is the most important concept about stars on the main sequence quizlet?
While on the main sequence, a star is stable because there is a balance between its self-gravity trying to make the star collapse in on itself and the outward pressure of the gas heated by nuclear fusion trying to make it expand.
How does mass determine the main sequence lifetime of a star quizlet?
How does mass determine the main-sequence lifetime of a star? More massive stars burn fuel faster than low-mass stars and thus have shorter lives.
What are the characteristics used to classify a star?
Characteristics used to classify stars include color, temperature, size, composition, and brightness. Stars vary in their chemical composition. Astronomers use spectrographs to determine the elements found in stars.
What is the main factor driving the evolution of a star and why?
The primary factor driving stellar evolution is the star's mass. Stars form from the gravitational collapse of cool, dense molecular clouds. As the cloud collapses, smaller regions form, which combine to form stellar cores. The star forms, and then will change based on its mass.
Which of the following is a major factor in determining the life span of a star?
A star's life cycle is determined by its mass. The larger its mass, the shorter its life cycle. A star's mass is determined by the amount of matter that is available in its nebula, the giant cloud of gas and dust from which it was born.
What important role does gravity play in star formation?
As gravity compresses the core of a protostar, the temperature goes higher and higher. Eventually the temperature is high enough that the star starts fusing hydrogen into helium. When the outward pressure produced by the heating of the gas by fusion energy balances gravity, a stable star is formed.
Which one property of a star will determine the rest of the characteristics of that star’s life?
A star's life cycle is determined by its mass. The larger its mass, the shorter its life cycle. A star's mass is determined by the amount of matter that is available in its nebula, the giant cloud of gas and dust from which it was born.
What must occur for an object to be considered a main sequence star?
What must occur for an object to be considered a main sequence star? Hydrostatic equilibrium, and Nuclear fusion reaction in the core.
What is the most important property of the star which determines whether or not it will become a black hole?
If the neutron star is more than about three solar masses then the pressure exceeds the neutron degeneracy pressure. This causes the neutron star to collapse into a black hole.
Which is the most useful in classifying stars?
Color Color is the most common way to classify stars.
What characteristic of stars is used to determine the elemental composition of stars?
Each element absorbs light at specific wavelengths unique to that atom. When astronomers look at an object's spectrum, they can determine its composition based on these wavelengths. The most common method astronomers use to determine the composition of stars, planets, and other objects is spectroscopy.
What are the two most important intrinsic properties used to classify stars?
The two most important intrinsic properties which are used to classify stars are luminosity and surface temperature.
How does mass determine the main sequence lifetime of a star?
The overall lifespan of a star is determined by its mass. Since stars spend roughly 90% of their lives burning hydrogen into helium on the main sequence (MS), their 'main sequence lifetime' is also determined by their mass.
Which of the following has contributed most to our understanding of the process of star formation?
Which of the following has contributed most to our understanding of the process of star formation? Astronomers have observed many different stars at each step of the formation process.
What is the most useful in classifying stars?
Classifying Stars by Color Color is the most common way to classify stars.
Which of the following is the major factor predicting the fate of a star?
Key Concepts. The ultimate fate of a star depends on its initial mass. A massive star ends with a violent explosion called a supernova. The matter ejected in a supernova explosion becomes a glowing supernova remnant.
Which of the following is most important in determining a stars life cycle?
A star's mass is the most important factor in determining its life cycle.
What force is critical in the formation of stars and why?
A star is born when atoms of light elements are squeezed under enough pressure for their nuclei to undergo fusion. All stars are the result of a balance of forces: the force of gravity compresses atoms in interstellar gas until the fusion reactions begin.
What characteristics are used to classify stars?
Characteristics used to classify stars include color, temperature, size, composition, and brightness. Stars vary in their chemical composition. Astronomers use spectrographs to determine the elements found in stars.
Which of the following are characteristics of a single star?
A star can be defined by five basic characteristics: brightness, color, surface temperature, size and mass.