The Sun and all Main Sequence stars derive their luminosity by fusing hydrogen to helium; in particular 4 1H ® 1 4He + Energy (photons) The mass of a proton is 1.0078 AMU, while the mass of a helium nucleus is 4.0026 AMU. a) How much mass is ``lost'' (in AMU and kg) in fusing four H atoms to one helium? This is called
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.
The Sun and all Main Sequence stars derive their luminosity by fusing hydrogen to helium; in particular
4 1H ® 1 4He + Energy (photons)
The mass of a proton is 1.0078 AMU, while the mass of a helium nucleus is 4.0026 AMU.
a) How much mass is ``lost'' (in AMU and kg) in fusing four H atoms to one helium? This is called the mass defect.
b) Mass isn't really lost, of course. It is converted to energy via E=mc2. How much energy in joules (J) is liberated in a single reaction?
c) How many reactions per second are required to account for the entire luminosity of the Sun?
Trending now
This is a popular solution!
Step by step
Solved in 2 steps with 1 images
