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alancj
- 58
- 0
I do know that stars explode on occasion... but I don't understand how gravity could possibly have enough force (attraction or whatever you want to call it) to hold trillions and trillions and trillions of tons of hydrogen undergoing nuclear fusion. It seems to me that there would be vastly more pressure to expand outward than to hold it together.
Can anybody point me towards some math that would show that a Sun's estimated mass would have enough gravity to keep things together?
Also according to my high school science book's explanation, stars form from vast clouds of gas that eventually compress enough (do to mutual attraction between particles) to initiate nuclear fusion. It would seem that clouds of gas would form (brought together by gravity) but the gas would resist further compression, and remain as simple clouds (or one big giant cloud).
Can anyone help my confusion here?
Thanks,
Alan
Can anybody point me towards some math that would show that a Sun's estimated mass would have enough gravity to keep things together?
Also according to my high school science book's explanation, stars form from vast clouds of gas that eventually compress enough (do to mutual attraction between particles) to initiate nuclear fusion. It would seem that clouds of gas would form (brought together by gravity) but the gas would resist further compression, and remain as simple clouds (or one big giant cloud).
Can anyone help my confusion here?
Thanks,
Alan