So if you understood my lackluster title, this post is about stars.
What are they? Where do the come from? How big are they?
....
I was asking you... you.. you don't know?
Well, I have bad news for you........... GOTYA!
Why else do you come to this corner of the observable web?
That joke probably went right over your head because it was completely unrelated to anything I may or may not mention later in this post which of course you haven't read yet. Okay, that's enough of that intro...
Stars are, well, pretty simple actually. If you look at a periodic table, you know the one that's kind of a weird shape and has a bunch of letters and numbers on it and you probably have no idea what they are? Yeah, that table.
Well, we're in luck. We really only need to look at the first two elements on it. Hydrogen and Helium. Now a star usually contains other stuff too, but for simplicity, we'll stick with the basics.
Hydrogen is the 1st element on the periodic table, making it the smallest of all elements. It's a gas, it's invisible, and it has 1 proton. That single proton is what makes it number 1 on the periodic table. Helium, which is on the other side of the table, has 2 protons! Hence why it's element number 2!
Woo, pretty easy so far.
So, as you may know, stars are big. Well, big is an understatement. They are absolutely humongous. Giant balls of hot, hot plasma. Plasma is really hot gas.
In order to get that hot, stars need to generate energy. That energy is generated by fusion. Nuclear fusion.
*Audience* Ouuuuuuu. Awhhhhhhhhh.
Nuclear fusion is the opposite of nuclear fission. Both of which I've discussed before. But as a recap, nuclear fission generates energy by uncontrolled chain reactions of splitting atoms apart. While nuclear fusion generates energy by fusing atoms together.
So in the case of stars which contain plentiful amounts of hydrogen, under their own immense gravity, are able to fuse the Hydrogen atoms together. Remember, each Hydrogen atom has 1 proton. So this fusion results in an atom with two protons, or as we now know, Helium!
The fusion generates massive amounts of energy and accomplished on the massive scale of a star allows for the sustained temperatures for which stars exist.
Now not all stars are equal as the life of the star is not infinite. Over the course of a star's life, it's temperature and size change and the star eventually turns into a supernova.. or in laymen's terms, explodes.
Our sun is about halfway through its life and is a relatively small star. Its surface temperature is estimated to be about 5600 degrees Celsius.
Because nuclear fusion is such a fantastic method for generating energy, humans have been researching ways to develop nuclear fusion reactors. These reactors have none of the negative effects that fission reactors (our current nuclear energy generation method) do, however, prove very difficult as containing the excessively hot plasma they require can be challenging.
So next time you see a star in the night sky, take a moment and think... "hmm, that's a simple fusion reaction of Hydrogen atoms happening light years away from me and I can see it from our tiny planet."
Or don't and just continue reading facebook. Or possibly another blog of mine!
Thanks for reading, and until next time.
J
What are they? Where do the come from? How big are they?
....
I was asking you... you.. you don't know?
Well, I have bad news for you........... GOTYA!
Why else do you come to this corner of the observable web?
That joke probably went right over your head because it was completely unrelated to anything I may or may not mention later in this post which of course you haven't read yet. Okay, that's enough of that intro...
Stars are, well, pretty simple actually. If you look at a periodic table, you know the one that's kind of a weird shape and has a bunch of letters and numbers on it and you probably have no idea what they are? Yeah, that table.
Well, we're in luck. We really only need to look at the first two elements on it. Hydrogen and Helium. Now a star usually contains other stuff too, but for simplicity, we'll stick with the basics.
Hydrogen is the 1st element on the periodic table, making it the smallest of all elements. It's a gas, it's invisible, and it has 1 proton. That single proton is what makes it number 1 on the periodic table. Helium, which is on the other side of the table, has 2 protons! Hence why it's element number 2!
Woo, pretty easy so far.
So, as you may know, stars are big. Well, big is an understatement. They are absolutely humongous. Giant balls of hot, hot plasma. Plasma is really hot gas.
In order to get that hot, stars need to generate energy. That energy is generated by fusion. Nuclear fusion.
*Audience* Ouuuuuuu. Awhhhhhhhhh.
Nuclear fusion is the opposite of nuclear fission. Both of which I've discussed before. But as a recap, nuclear fission generates energy by uncontrolled chain reactions of splitting atoms apart. While nuclear fusion generates energy by fusing atoms together.
So in the case of stars which contain plentiful amounts of hydrogen, under their own immense gravity, are able to fuse the Hydrogen atoms together. Remember, each Hydrogen atom has 1 proton. So this fusion results in an atom with two protons, or as we now know, Helium!
The fusion generates massive amounts of energy and accomplished on the massive scale of a star allows for the sustained temperatures for which stars exist.
Now not all stars are equal as the life of the star is not infinite. Over the course of a star's life, it's temperature and size change and the star eventually turns into a supernova.. or in laymen's terms, explodes.
Our sun is about halfway through its life and is a relatively small star. Its surface temperature is estimated to be about 5600 degrees Celsius.
Because nuclear fusion is such a fantastic method for generating energy, humans have been researching ways to develop nuclear fusion reactors. These reactors have none of the negative effects that fission reactors (our current nuclear energy generation method) do, however, prove very difficult as containing the excessively hot plasma they require can be challenging.
So next time you see a star in the night sky, take a moment and think... "hmm, that's a simple fusion reaction of Hydrogen atoms happening light years away from me and I can see it from our tiny planet."
Or don't and just continue reading facebook. Or possibly another blog of mine!
Thanks for reading, and until next time.
J
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