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Week 12 Lecture & Reading Discussion_Introduction to General Astronomy

Week 12 Lecture & Reading Discussion_Introduction to General Astronomy

Q Part 1: State what force drives the majority of the collapse from a cloud of gas into a star, and why it grows in strength up until the point of "a star being born". Part 2: Explain why the fusion occurring inside of giant stars overwhelms the force of gravity (unlike main sequence stars, where hydrostatic equilibrium exists).

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The gas comprising of hydrogen and helium, and the dust comprising of carbon, silicon, and iron, surround a star and move about it as clouds, which explode when it becomes unstable due to the supernova (explosive death of a star) and the resultant shock. This makes the cloud hot and dense, making the cloud eligible for the birth of a new star, which occurs through nuclear fusion at the core.