What happens just before a stars blows up?

Question

What happens just before a supernova in a star? Some details?

Answer 1

They usually get drunk, take drugs and have friends that do not support them.

Answer 2

Hi.The star's core becomes iron after all of the energy yielding fusions take place. This core is under unimaginable pressure which increases until the core just collapses. This leaves a small neutron star in the center of a vacuum surrounded by the remaining stars material. This material rushes inward until it hits the small core. The resulting shock wave blasts backward through the star and blows the rest of the star out into space and, during the process, fuses materials higher in the periodic table than iron.

Edit: Here is some info one the last close one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1987A

Answer 3

Typically the star is already very unstable and has lost a lot of its outer mass. The star is in essence "hollowed out" as it's hydrogen and helium fuel is depleted, and the intense gravitational field causes a collapse, which then leads to a supernova.

Answer 4

Cirric has it Right but the core in not necessarily iron. The outward pushing force of radiation ceases because of lack of fusion and the huge gravitational force of the massive star quickly collapses the mass of the star into a small dense core, there is a rebound effect and the outer layers are blown off into into space where they are recycled into other stars. The tremendous heat of the compressed mass fuse elements that are heavier than iron and the brightness of the explosion can outshine all of the other stars in the galaxy.

Answer 5

Typically, whatever reaction it is that fuels the star (e.g., fusion of hydrogen to create helium) runs out of fuel (e.g., no more hydrogen). As the energy from this reaction is no longer there to keep the gasses that make up the star from collapsing toward the centre of the star, this happens. At some point, the star reaches critical mass for a new thermonuclear reaction to start, resulting in a massive explosion.

Answer 6

Assuming the star does not turn into a black hole, it will expand into a red giant, then for no apparent reason, one day it will eject as much matter as is required so that it will remain stable. It'll then turn into white dwarf or Neutron star and slowly fade away.

Answer 7

right before it blows up, the star would be very very very big.

Answer 8

they go to rehab