EBK UNDERSTANDING OUR UNIVERSE (THIRD E
3rd Edition
ISBN: 9780393631760
Author: Blumenthal
Publisher: VST
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Chapter 12, Problem 44QAP
To determine
The time taken by a white dwarf to undergo a Type Ia supernova.
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One way to calculate the radius of a star is to use its luminosity and temperature and assume that the star radiates approximately like a blackbody. Astronomers have measured the characteristics of central stars of planetary nebulae and have found that a typical central star is 16 times as luminous and 20 times as hot (about 110,000 K) as the Sun. Find the radius in terms of the Sun’s. How does this radius compare with that of a typical white dwarf?
A main sequence star of mass 25 M⊙has a luminosity of approximately 80,000 L⊙. a. At what rate DOES MASS VANISH as H is fused to He in the star’s core? Note: When we say “mass vanish '' what we really mean is “gets converted into energy and leaves the star as light”. Note: approximate answer: 3.55 E14 kg/s b. At what rate is H converted into He? To do this you need to take into account that for every kg of hydrogen burned, only 0.7% gets converted into energy while the rest turns into helium. Approximate answer = 5E16 kg/s c. Assuming that only the 10% of the star’s mass in the central regions will get hot enough for fusion, calculate the main sequence lifetime of the star. Put your answer in years, and compare it to the lifetime of the Sun. It should be much, much shorter. Approximate answer: 30 million years.
Chapter 12 Solutions
EBK UNDERSTANDING OUR UNIVERSE (THIRD E
Ch. 12.1 - Prob. 12.1CYUCh. 12.2 - Prob. 12.2CYUCh. 12.3 - Prob. 12.3CYUCh. 12.4 - Prob. 12.4CYUCh. 12.5 - Prob. 12.5CYUCh. 12.6 - Prob. 12.6CYUCh. 12 - Prob. 1QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 2QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 3QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 4QAP
Ch. 12 - Prob. 5QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 6QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 7QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 8QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 9QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 10QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 11QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 12QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 13QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 14QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 15QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 16QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 17QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 18QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 19QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 20QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 21QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 22QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 23QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 24QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 25QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 26QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 27QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 28QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 29QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 30QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 32QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 33QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 34QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 35QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 36QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 37QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 38QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 39QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 40QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 42QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 43QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 44QAPCh. 12 - Prob. 45QAP
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- For a main sequence star with luminosity L, how many kilograms of hydrogen is being converted into helium per second? Use the formula that you derive to estimate the mass of hydrogen atoms that are converted into helium in the interior of the sun (LSun = 3.9 x 1026 W). (Note: the mass of a hydrogen atom is 1 mproton and the mass of a helium atom is 3.97 mproton. You need four hydrogen nuclei to form one helium nucleus.)arrow_forwardIf an X-ray binary consists of a 16 solar mass star and a neutron Star orbiting each other every 15.4 days, what is their average separation? (Hint: Use the version of Keller's third law for binary stars, Ma + Mb = a^3 /p^2 ; make sure you express quantities in unites of AU, solar masses, and years. Assume the mass of a neutron Star is 1.6 solar masses.) ___________ AUarrow_forwardIf an X-ray binary consists of a 17-solar-mass star and a neutron star orbiting each other every 23.2 days, what is their average separation? (Hints: Use the version of Kepler's third law for binary stars, MA + MB = a^3/p^2 make sure you express quantities in units of AU, solar masses, and years. Assume the mass of the neutron star is 1.4 solar masses.)arrow_forward
- What is the free-fall time of a 10 MSun main-sequence star? O 100 hours O 10 hours O 1 hour O 0.1 hoursarrow_forwardA 1.5 M neutron star and a 0.7 M white dwarf have been found orbiting each other with a period of 10 minutes. What is their average separation? Convert your answer to units of the Sun's radius, which is 0.0047 AU.arrow_forwardThe star HD 93250 in the Carina Nebula is a bright O-type star. It has a reported apparent magnitude in the V band of mV = 7.41 and V band absolute magnitude of MV = −6.14. Using these values calculate the distance to HD 93250 in parsec. The distance to HD 93250 has been measured by other means as 2350 pc. Compare your calculated value of the distance with the measured value, and give a possible explanation for any difference. Calculate the value of the interstellar extinction in the V band AV that would account for the difference in the distances. The parameter E(B − V ) = AB − AV , where AB and AV are the extinctions in the B and V bands, is often used to characterize interstellar extinction. For the star HD 93250 the value E(B − V ) = 0.48 has been measured. Given the above value of E(B − V ) for HD 93250, calculate the extinction in the B band, and explain why the parameter E(B − V ) is often called the “reddening.” The B band apparent magnitude of HD 93250 is mB = 8.12. Calculate…arrow_forward
- A Type Ia supernova is observed and achieves an apparent magnitude of m = 19.89 at peak brightness. The absolute magnitudes of Type Ia supernovae at peak brightness are known to be M=−19. Determine the distance to the supernovae in units of Mpc.arrow_forwardThe mass-luminosity relation describes the mathematical relationship between luminosity and mass for main sequence stars. It describes how a star with a mass of 4 M⊙ would have a luminosity of ______ L⊙. If a star has a radius 1/2 that of the Sun and a temperature 4 that of the Sun, how many times higher is the star's luminosity than that of the Sun? (If it is smaller by a factor of 8, you would write 0.125 because 1/8=0.125) If a star has a radius 2 times larger than the Sun's and a luminosity 1/4th that of the Sun, how many times higher is the star's temperature than that of the Sun? (If it is smaller by a factor of 8, you would write 0.125 because 1/8=0.125) If a star has a surface temperature 2 times lower than the Sun's and a luminosity the same as the Sun, how many times larger is the star than the Sun? (If it is smaller by a factor of 8, you would write 0.125 because 1/8=0.125)arrow_forwardBetelgeuse is a nearby supergiant that will eventually explode into a supernova. Let's see how awesome it would look. At peak brightness, the supernova will have a luminosity of about 10 billion times the Sun. It is 600 light-years away. All stellar brightnesses are compared with Vega, which has an intrinsic luminosity of about 60 times the Sun, a distance of 25 light-years, an absolute magnitude of 0.6 and an apparent magnitude of 0 (by definition). a) At peak brightness, how many times brighter will Betelgeuse be than Vega? b) Approximately what apparent magnitude does this correspond to? c) The Sun is about -26.5 apparent magnitude. What fraction of the Sun's brightness will Betelgeuse be?arrow_forward
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