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Aristodes — Layers of a Star
#carbon #education #educational #helium #hydrogen #iron #layers #neon #oxygen #silicon #space #spacescape #star
Published: 2015-01-01 03:41:08 +0000 UTC; Views: 925; Favourites: 3; Downloads: 1
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Something educational, I guess. Last pic of 2014. Thank Wikipedia for the reference as to what they layers should contain.Related content
Comments: 13
Hello:
Well, it is a nice way to show the main elements that can be formed at the cores of stars, but only the bigger stars can go all the way down to Fe 
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Well, you'd know about that. I guess this is larger than the sun, in that case. Also, it can't get past iron for... why?
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Hello:
Because the conditions inside a star, while exagerated for what most of us can imagine, are not strong enough to form heavier elements. So how do we get heavier elements like the radioactive ones?. Once the star's core fills with Fe, it collapses on itself and explodes in a supernova (the death of bigger stars). The explosion gives more heat and chaotic conditions that destroys atoms, allowing the creation of all the elements we know
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I see. Well, I guess even a giant star can't make anything really heavy, apart from the supernova. Like... can't make lead?
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Here is a long-story made super-short, but I can give more details:
Stars that are still young (burning hydrogen) are called "Main-sequence stars" their colors are: brown, yellow, white and blue.
When the hydrogen is over, the stars increase their volume to become a red star:
- brown, yellow and small white stars, since they are dwarf stars, produce red giants.
- big white stars and blue giants, produce red supergiants.
Red giants and supergiants are the ones that produce the heavier elements in your pic.
This is not 100% accurate, but you can get the idea 
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I see. I guess I can look up more on Wikipedia. Thanks!
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Hello:
But you are right, nothing heavier than Fe can be made inside a still-living star
You are welcome!
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In the year of 1952, scientists have detected Technetium (a radioactive element, the 43rd in the periodic table) in the atmosphere of a red giant. There can be a very small amount of material inside the biggest stars from the heavier elements too, since the pressure and the tempreture is so high, it can form almost everything.
Not to mention neutron stars, and black holes, and theoretically possible Quark stars, which are made of pure neutron or upper and lower quarks, perhaps even more incredible material.
Astronomy and science are just great, it's quite sad, humans can experience only a very small part of these...
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Hello:
Also, don't forget that current stars are not the first stars, all (or most) stars currently in existence do have heavier elements as part of their component matter because those elements were created by the first stars
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So, this is the next generation of stars? The second? Third?
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If I remember correctly, it goes like this:
- The first generation stars were the very first stars, made only of Hydrogen as they were the ones that started making Helium.
- The second generation stars still exist and those are what made most of the heavy elements present in all newborn stars.
- The third generation stars are stars like the sun and all other stars been formed even now, they are third generation because they do have lots of heavy elements as part of their mass when they were born. That is why our system has all those elements that allowed, in long term, to creation of life.
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Cool. I never knew that. Thanks!
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Hello:
And you are welcome
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