Exam 7: The Structure and Formation of Stars

A(n) ____________________ is a subatomic particle produced in nuclear fusion that can travel through the Sun and escape to space without interacting with any particles in the Sun.

Energy flows by radiation or convection inside stars but almost never by conduction.

Why is there a main sequence mass-luminosity relation?

Why are emission nebulae associated with young stars?

Why does the CNO cycle not occur in low-mass stars?

Ninety percent of all stars fuse helium to form carbon and lie on the main sequence.

The proton-proton chain and the CNO cycle both convert hydrogen into helium.

What is the name of the process by which the Sun turns mass into energy?

Due to the dust in the interstellar medium, how will a distant star appear to an observer on Earth?

Why do higher mass stars live shorter lives on the main sequence than lower mass stars?

What would the spectrum of an emission nebula contain?

What causes the dimming of starlight in the interstellar medium?

What force is responsible for the collapse of an interstellar cloud?

When energy is carried by the bulk motion of matter, that is called ____________________.

Stars with masses below a certain threshold produce most of their energy via the proton-proton chain. What is that threshold?

What happens to cores of main-sequence stars as they age?

-Which of the following is closest to the time a 10-solar-mass star spends on the main sequence?

How is it possible to observe dark nebulae?

What does the strong force do?

What causes reflection nebulae to appear blue while emission nebulae appear pink?