If a star converted every bit of its mass into energy the conversion efficiency would be 100%. However, no star is this efficient in its energy production. Stars with less than 1.3 solar masses (most stars are less than 1.3 solar masses) convert hydrogen into helium with an efficiency of only 0.7%. Bearing in mind that Arcturus has a mass of 2.16 × 1030 kg, how long will it live if it converts all of its hydrogen into helium with an efficiency 0.7%? Please note that it won't actually convert all of its hydrogen into helium so this is a rather optimistic upper limit for the lifetime of Arcturus. Also, 1 year = 365.25 days. Lifetime =
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.
If a star converted every bit of its mass into energy the conversion efficiency would be 100%. However, no star is this efficient in its energy production. Stars with less than 1.3 solar masses (most stars are less than 1.3 solar masses) convert hydrogen into helium with an efficiency of only 0.7%. Bearing in mind that Arcturus has a mass of 2.16 × 1030 kg, how long will it live if it converts all of its hydrogen into helium with an efficiency 0.7%? Please note that it won't actually convert all of its hydrogen into helium so this is a rather optimistic upper limit for the lifetime of Arcturus. Also, 1 year = 365.25 days.
Lifetime =
Trending now
This is a popular solution!
Step by step
Solved in 2 steps with 2 images
