How do stars continue to burn?

Question

Where do they get the gas? I mean if its already there wouldnt it burn up imediatley? and is there a solid mass inside of stars?

Answer 1

The fusion reaction in stars only happens in the core of the star, where the pressure is high enough to sustain fusion. If the fusion reaction starts to weaken, the star contracts a little. This increases the pressure and enables more material to react. If the fusion reaction gets too hot, the star expands, the pressure goes down, and the fusion reaction slows. In this way, stars are self-regulating.

The more massive the star, the more quickly it uses up all its fuel. A Sun-sized star will last for about ten billion years. Very massive stars will explode as supernovae within a few million years. Hypothetically, there is a point at which a star could be so massive as to blow itself apart as soon as it starts a fusion reaction.

After a time, all the hydrogen in the core of the star has been turned into helium. The fusion reaction in the core goes out, the core contracts, and hydrogen fuses into helium in a shell around the core. This is the beginning of the red giant phase. If the star is massive enough, it will fuse the helium in the core into heavier elements. When the sun finally burns out, it will have a very dense core of carbon and oxygen, with varying amounts of other elements.

In very massive stars, fusion continues in the core until only iron is left. Iron is at the midpoint of the elements in terms of nuclear activity. Elements lighter than iron release energy when they absorb neutrons in a fusion reaction to form heavier elements. Heavier elements release energy when their nuclei emit neutrons. But there is no way to get any energy out of iron. And so, there is no more fusion reaction to stop the star from collapsing under its own gravity. The result is a supernova.

Answer 2

Well everyone else coverd nuclear fusion. The hydrogen for the process comes from the gas cloud from which the star originally forms.
As for solid mass, the inside of a star is too hot for matter to stay solid. The solar core is made of plasma (ionized gas), but it is very dense - about 15 times the density of lead.

Answer 3

All stars are suns. Suns burn with nuclear fusion. They mostly take 2 hydrogen atoms and make helium. Less often they take a helium and hydrogen, or 2 heliums etc. Once the energy from these reactions can no longer counteract the forces trying to make the star collapse in itself it will die. It can then supernova, turn into a dwarf or even a black hole depending on the original mass of the star

Answer 4

Stars have huge amounts of of hydrogen gas. They don't burn in the since you think. They undergo Nuclear fusion and the Hydrogen is stripped of it elections and the nucleuses combine to form helium and heavier elements. Depending on the size of the star this process can take millions of years , for the biggest stars, or Billions for smaller ones like our own. Also they do build up a core of iron, which is the heaviest element a star can make through nuclear fusion.

Answer 5

Stars burn by means of the hydrogen contained within them. The hydrogen burns and is converted into helium. This is an exothermic reaction which gives off heat. Once the star has burned up all of its hydrogen, a star like our star will expand in a red giant star, encompassing earth and then it will shrink into a small Neutron star. Our sun will continue to burn its hydrogen for 5 billion years in its main stage before this happens.

Answer 6

The burning of stars is a nuclear reaction. Mose scientists say it is a fusion reaction as opposed to fisson like a bomb.

The rate of the reaction is contained by the gravity produced by the mass of the star. This keeps it going slow so it doesn't burn up in a great explosion.

Answer 7

Stars produce energy due to the nuclear fusion of Hydrogen atoms to form Helium. This reaction releases a lot of energy, since some mass is converted in the process into energy as given by E=mc^2

Stars are entirely made up of gas, chiefly hydrogen.

Answer 8

They have huge amounts of gas. The Sun turns approximately 600million tons of hydrogen into helium every second. It will continue to do so for another few billion years. And it isn't burning like burning a log in a fireplace. It is a nuclear fusion reaction, not a chemical burning reaction.

Answer 9

Basically, stars keep burning and shining because of nuclear fusion. This is what occurs in our sun. In physics, nuclear fusion is the process by which multiple nuclei join together to form a heavier nucleus. It is accompanied by the release or absorption of energy depending on the masses of the nuclei involved. Stars basically use nuclear fusion as a self-replenishing energy source. The nuclear "explosions" provide more energy to continue the fusion.

This site explains in deep detail how the stars use nuclear fusion:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fusion#Astrophysical_reaction_chains

Answer 10

God has created so that it has lots of gas to burn.The gas in stars is a special hot state called plasma,which is made up of atoms of stripped electrons.In core of a star ,hydrogen fuses to form helium.This nuclear reaction is called proton-proton chain.
Stars do extinct a day.The gases in them gets over a day and then they become a dwarf star,and then disappears.Stars have solid nuclei of hydrogen.Naturally it takes lots of years to burn up.
Hope you wont be upset with the answer.