Stars
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Crash Course Series on Stars
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In a Nutshell
Star Life Cycles Interactive Practice
Flash app to practice star life cycles
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/add_aqa/stars/planetsstarsandgalaxiesact.shtml
http://www.purposegames.com/game/star-life-cycle-quiz-quiz
Which stars burn though their fuel fastest? Enter stars of different masses into the Pan-Galactic Star Race and find out!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/add_aqa/stars/planetsstarsandgalaxiesact.shtml
http://www.purposegames.com/game/star-life-cycle-quiz-quiz
Which stars burn though their fuel fastest? Enter stars of different masses into the Pan-Galactic Star Race and find out!
Star Building Tutorial |
In maybe my favorite minutephysics video, Henry explains why we draw stars with points http://youtu.be/VVAKFJ8VVp4 It's literally in your eyes!
Click here to watch a simulation of a molecular cloud collapsing and forming stars. |
Star Life Cycle Poster on the class wall
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Since its birth 4.5 billion years ago, the Sun has grown slowly larger and brighter with each four Hydrogen nuclei that it fuses into Helium. Billions of years from now, it will swell into a red giant and engulf the inner planets. Using up the last of its nuclear fuel, the Sun will finally collapse into an Earth-sized white dwarf. Animate the Sun!
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Insane Interactive Showing All Known Supernovae
http://astro.berkeley.edu/~ishivvers/sne.html This map shows the position of almost every confirmed supernova known to modern researchers. The map is an equirectangular projection of the night sky in galactic coordinates, showing the entire sky as visible from Earth with our Milky Way galaxy running through the middle. The size of each circle illustrates the relative brightness (as seen from Earth) for each supernovae. The slider on top of the page lets you move through history, exploring when different supernovae were first discovered. Look to the counter in the top right to see what date range is currently shown, and click on any supernova to learn more about it. What Betelgeuse might look like when it goes supernova.
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Supernova Physics
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Fusion in stars
Fusion
The Sun and other stars use nuclear fusion to release energy. The sequence of nuclear fusion reactions in a star is complex - but, in general, hydrogen nuclei join to form helium nuclei.
The temperatures and pressures inside a star are so great that nuclear fusion can happen. Stars have enough hydrogen to maintain their energy output for millions of years.
During most of a star's lifetime, hydrogen nuclei fuse together to form helium nuclei. As the star runs out of hydrogen, other fusion reactions take place forming the nuclei of other elements. Heavier elements than hydrogen and helium (up to iron) are formed. Elements heavier than iron are formed in supernovas.
Heavy elements are found in the Sun and planets of the solar system. This suggests that the solar system was formed from the remains of earlier stars that exploded as supernovas.
When taking a closer look at fusion, the process involves light nuclei, two isotopes of hydrogen, deuterium and tritium.
If two helium nuclei are forced together, they join together or fuse to form a helium nucleus, giving off lots of energy
The process is easier to illustrate than to achieve. Tritium and deuterium nuclei, which are forms of hydrogen atoms, have to be slammed together by heating them to temperatures of millions of degrees Celsius before they fuse.
The reason that the temperature is so high is that nuclei, being positively charged, will tend to repel each other. The nuclei must be slammed into each other with enough energy to overcome the repulsive force and fuse.
Some new words:
Deuterium is an isotope of hydrogen with a proton and a neutron, also called hydrogen-2
Fusion is the joining of light nuclei to form a larger nucleus.
- is the joining of light nuclei to form a larger nucleus.
- releases more energy than fission.
- powers stars.
The Sun and other stars use nuclear fusion to release energy. The sequence of nuclear fusion reactions in a star is complex - but, in general, hydrogen nuclei join to form helium nuclei.
The temperatures and pressures inside a star are so great that nuclear fusion can happen. Stars have enough hydrogen to maintain their energy output for millions of years.
During most of a star's lifetime, hydrogen nuclei fuse together to form helium nuclei. As the star runs out of hydrogen, other fusion reactions take place forming the nuclei of other elements. Heavier elements than hydrogen and helium (up to iron) are formed. Elements heavier than iron are formed in supernovas.
Heavy elements are found in the Sun and planets of the solar system. This suggests that the solar system was formed from the remains of earlier stars that exploded as supernovas.
When taking a closer look at fusion, the process involves light nuclei, two isotopes of hydrogen, deuterium and tritium.
If two helium nuclei are forced together, they join together or fuse to form a helium nucleus, giving off lots of energy
The process is easier to illustrate than to achieve. Tritium and deuterium nuclei, which are forms of hydrogen atoms, have to be slammed together by heating them to temperatures of millions of degrees Celsius before they fuse.
The reason that the temperature is so high is that nuclei, being positively charged, will tend to repel each other. The nuclei must be slammed into each other with enough energy to overcome the repulsive force and fuse.
Some new words:
Deuterium is an isotope of hydrogen with a proton and a neutron, also called hydrogen-2
Fusion is the joining of light nuclei to form a larger nucleus.
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Elements inside stars
Stars are largely made of up of hydrogen and helium. The exact numbers vary from star to star, but they are typically 73% hydrogen and 25% helium. That leaves 2% for other elements. The two most common "other" elements are carbon and oxygen. Older stars have heavier elements than younger stars.
Lighter elements in stars undergo nuclear fusion to create heavier elements, producing all the other naturally occurring elements. At high temperatures and pressures, heavier elements are able to form. For example, helium fuses with carbon to make oxygen, and helium fuses with oxygen to make neon.
Lighter elements in stars undergo nuclear fusion to create heavier elements, producing all the other naturally occurring elements. At high temperatures and pressures, heavier elements are able to form. For example, helium fuses with carbon to make oxygen, and helium fuses with oxygen to make neon.
Creation of the elements
Professor Brian Cox explains how the ingredients of life are created in the heart of a dying star.
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There is a bit more to red barns being painted red than just the red paint is cheap. A star died so that you could paint your barn red.
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What Will Happen to the Earth When the Sun Dies
Our Sun won't last forever. Dr.
Carolyn Brinkworth explains the ramifications for our home planet in
this "Ask an Astronomer" video.
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We Are Stardust
Since stardust atoms are the heavier elements, the percentage of star mass in our body is much more impressive. Most of the hydrogen in our body floats around in the form of water. The human body is about 60% water and hydrogen only accounts for 11% of that water mass. Even though water consists of two hydrogen atoms for every oxygen, hydrogen has much less mass. We can conclude that 93% of the mass in our body is stardust. Just think, long ago someone may have wished upon a star that you are made of.
Stars Can Be Violent
Magnificent CME Erupts on the Sun On August 31, 2012 a long filament of solar material that had been hovering in the sun's atmosphere, the corona, erupted out into space at 4:36 p.m. EDT. The coronal mass ejection, or CME, traveled at over 900 miles per second. The CME did not travel directly toward Earth, but did connect with Earth's magnetic environment, or magnetosphere, causing aurora to appear on the night of Monday, September 3.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/7936905134/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/7936905134/in/photostream
Google Chrome's 100000 Stars
What’s it like to fly through space, looking back at the Sun and planets as you leave them behind at multiple times the speed of light?
Probably something very much like what you can see playing with Google Chrome’s fun tool, 100,000 Stars
This browser-based app that plots the nearest 100,000 stars to the Sun in 3-D space. You can zoom in and out, fly around.
Probably something very much like what you can see playing with Google Chrome’s fun tool, 100,000 Stars
This browser-based app that plots the nearest 100,000 stars to the Sun in 3-D space. You can zoom in and out, fly around.
by nihokrauss. Explore more infographics like this one on the web's largest information design community - Visually. |
http://sciencenetlinks.com/lessons/how-old-are-the-stars/
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