What causes gas clouds to collapse?

Gravitational contraction is the process of a cloud’s gravity overcoming its internal pressure and causing a collapse.

Which force causes gas clouds to collapse to form stars?

Gravity
Stars are formed from massive clouds of dust and gas in space. Gravity pulls the dust and gas together to form a protostar. As the gases come together, they get hot. A star forms when it is hot enough for nuclear reactions to start.

Which of the following is most important in causing a cloud of gas to collapse to form a star and planets?

Which of the following is most important in causing a cloud of gas to collapse to form a star and planets? Gravity pulls all the gas inward.

What are two events that might trigger a molecular cloud to begin collapsing?

A shock wave will cause the molecular cloud to collapse. The shock wave could either be from a violent event, like a supernova, or the stellar winds from young stars compressing the gas around them. What is the source of energy in a protostar?

What occurs when a massive star runs out of fuel and explodes?

The core of the star that is left behind cools and becomes a white dwarf. The white dwarf eventually runs out of fuel and dies as a black dwarf. A high-mass star, on the other hand, can suddenly explode. This violent explosion is called a supernova.

Why does a shrinking gas cloud heat up?

Shrinking gas clouds heat up because the gravitational potential energy of gas particles far from the cloud center is converted into thermal energy as the gas moves inward. The rate at which fusion releases energy in the Sun’s core and the rate at which the Sun’s surface radiates this energy into space are balanced.

When parts of a gas cloud collapse Where does the material first form clumps?

The cores are denser than the outer cloud, so they collapse first. As the cores collapse they fragment into clumps around 0.1 parsecs in size and 10 to 50 solar masses in mass. These clumps then form into protostars and the whole process takes about 10 millions years.

What causes the collapsing interstellar cloud to speed up and flatten out as it rotates?

It flattened as a natural consequence of collisions between particles in the spinning nebula, changing random motions into more orderly ones.

What is the protostar stage?

A protostar is a very young star that is still gathering mass from its parent molecular cloud. The protostellar phase is the earliest one in the process of stellar evolution. For a low-mass star (i.e. that of the Sun or lower), it lasts about 500,000 years.

What event is believed to cause the gravitational collapse of a molecular cloud?

A shock wave will cause the molecular cloud to collapse. The shock wave could either be from a violent event, like a supernova, or the stellar winds from young stars compressing the gas around them.

What can trigger the collapse of a molecular cloud quizlet?

What can cause a molecular cloud to collapse? Collisions with other molecular clouds, space winds, gravitational interaction with other nearby stars, the explosion of a nearby star or the cloud can collapse under its own weight.

What happens when stars collapse?

The Fate of Medium-Sized Stars Once the helium in the core is gone, the star will shed most of its mass, forming a cloud of material called a planetary nebula. The core of the star will cool and shrink, leaving behind a small, hot ball called a white dwarf.