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Home Q & A Board Science-Related Homework Help Physics
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12 years ago
What are the mechanisms that restrict the mass range of stars to about 0.1 to 100 solar masses?
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12 years ago
The low end is set by the resistance to gravitational contraction provided by degeneracy pressure. Stars less than about 0.1 (actually 0.08) solar masses do not have enough gravity to compress their cores to high enough temperatures to begin nuclear fusion. The high end is set by radiation pressure: stars more massive than 1-200 solar masses produce so much light that they blow off their outer atmospheres. More mass cannot, therefore, be sustained.
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