Name ______________________________
Date __________Per________
The Universe: Life and Death of a Star
Video Questions
1. Approximately how many stars are in our galaxy? ___________________________
2. What are the “Pillars of Creation”?
3. What element is the main component of stars? ________________
4. _______________ is the force that pulls things together to form stars and is also the force that causes you to fall back to the ground when you jump.
5. When the ball of gas flattens out and forms a glowing disc, it is called a ____________________.
6. When the temperature reaches about 18 million degrees, _____________________ begins, and a star is born.
7. For most of a star’s life, the force of gravity trying to crush the star and the outward force of pressure from nuclear fusion are in equilibrium. This stage is called the __________ __________________.
8. What does the color of a star tell us?
9. What is the most common star type? __________ _______________
10. Which star lives longer? More massive or less massive? Why?
11. How long will our Sun live? __________________________________
12. Eventually stars run out of fuel and fusion ends. How do massive stars end their lives? How do less massive stars die?
13. Five billion years from now, our Sun will run out of fuel, _________________ will crush it, and the core will become superheated.
14. All of the action happens in the last ____% of a star’s life.
15. Cosmic “burps” eject shells of gas outward, which are illuminated by the dying core to create a ___________________ ________________.
16. What stage is a white dwarf? Why do scientists call them “retired” stars?
17. White dwarf stars are very ________________. A teaspoon of material would weigh several tons.
18. Some white dwarf stars are part of binary or multiple star systems and steal material from another star until they get so massive that they explode in a Type 1A ________________________.
19. Massive stars (8 or 10 times the size of our Sun) look like onions and have ______________ of heavier and heavier elements.
20. Massive stars fuse heavier and heavier elements until they build up a core of _____.
21. When the core becomes unstable and collapses, the star blows apart in a Type 2 ____________________.
22. All the elements in your _____________ came from long-dead stars.
23. When a massive star goes supernova, the core is left intact as a _________________ star.
24. Neutron stars are extremely dense. A teaspoon of material weighs ______________________________________.
25. Some stars are so massive that not even a neutron star can hold up. The complete collapse of a very massive star leaves a ___________________________.
26. Why are black holes black?
27. Some stars are so massive that they leave nothing behind at all when they go supernova. Supernova 2006GY was an explosion of a star __________________ times the size of our Sun.
28. Scientists use a _________________ to model possible star collisions.
29. What was the most interesting thing you learned from this video?
30. What is one question you still have?