After the Sun exhausts its nuclear fuel, its ultimate fate may be to collapse to a white dwarf state. In this state, it would have approximately the same mass as it has now, but its radius would be equal to the radius of the Earth. (a) Calculate the average density of the white dwarf. (kg/m3) (b) Calculate the surface free-fall acceleration.( m/s2) (c) Calculate the gravitational potential energy associated with a 1.36-kg object at the surface of the white dwarf.( J)
Stellar evolution
We may see thousands of stars in the dark sky. Our universe consists of billions of stars. Stars may appear tiny to us but they are huge balls of gasses. Sun is a star of average size. Some stars are even a thousand times larger than the sun. The stars do not exist forever they have a certain lifetime. The life span of the sun is about 10 billion years. The star undergoes various changes during its lifetime, this process is called stellar evolution. The structure of the sun-like star is shown below.
Red Shift
It is an astronomical phenomenon. In this phenomenon, increase in wavelength with corresponding decrease in photon energy and frequency of radiation of light. It is the displacement of spectrum of any kind of astronomical object to the longer wavelengths (red) side.
(b) Calculate the surface free-fall acceleration.( m/s2)
(c) Calculate the gravitational potential energy associated with a 1.36-kg object at the surface of the white dwarf.( J)
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