Study Questions Week 11  Astronomy 104: Stellar Astronomy Fall 2001

Study questions from Ch. 21.4

1. What is the general trend in the abundances of the difference elements?
2. Why are higher and higher temperatures needed for fusion reactions of heavier and heavier nuclei?
3. What is the role of Helium in the synthesis of heavy elements? What is "Helium capture"?
4. What is the general process for making elements lighter than iron?
5. What are the processes for making elements heavier than iron?
6. Explain  the r process and the s process. Where does each occur?
7. What is "explosive nucleosynthesis"?
8. Discuss the observational evidence for stellar nucleosynthesis.

Study questions from Chapter 22 

1. Describe the properties of a neutron star.
2. What is the maximum mass of a neutron star? What is the typical size of a neutron star? What is the typical density of a  neutron star?
3. What is a pulsar? How were pulsars discovered? How are they typically observed now?
4. Explain the "lighthouse" model.
5. What is an x-ray burster?
6. What are gamma ray bursts? What are the theories of the origin of gamma ray bursts?
7. What is a stellar black hole? What are the characteristics of stellar black holes? How is a stellar black hole formed?
8. What is the escape speed of a black hole?
9. What is the "event horizon"?  What is the "Schwarzschild radius"?
10. How do you observe a black hole? Discuss the observational evidence that supports the existence of stellar black holes.

Review and Discussion:

Chapter 22: all

Study questions from other weeks:

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