Question: Hi I was wondering, What is the reason for a star to go Super Nova?

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  1. Love this question. Massive stars convert hydrogen into helium (and other products such as oxygen, nitrogen etc etc), in the process releasing energy. This released energy causes the star to remain inflated like a balloon, resisting the gravitational force that is constantly trying to shrink the star. So, there is a competition between the energy produced by hydrogen burning and gravity. For most of the life of the star, gravity and nuclear fusion call it a draw and the star sits quietly in an equilibrium state maintaining a constant size. However, the hydrogen fuel cannot last for ever and gravity just waits it out. Once the star runs out of fuel, there is nothing left to resist gravity and the star collapses on itself, releasing all that gravitational potential energy, causing a massive explosion called a supernova. Often what is left behind is a neutron star, left over from the explosion. The neutron star has basically the same density as an atomic nucleus, with all the particles crammed together. In this case, it is the forces between the particles that resist gravity. One teaspoon of neutron star material would weigh more than the total output of cars from the US motor industry over its entire history! If you make a neutron star more than about 3 times the mass of our Sun, gravity can than make the star collapse further, into a black hole. As Zapp Brannigan said “You win again, gravity!”.

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  2. I was going to give you my short answer of gravity and energy had a fight and gravity always wins, but Steven’s answer is much better

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  3. Davidwu98, great question! Steven, great answer! 🙂

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  4. This looks like a question for Steven and as its a the wrong end of the size scale for me I’m going to let him have it.

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Comments

  1. Thanks so much for these answers they have helped me a lot with my investigation with our universe!

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