Home > Astronomy > Life and Death of Stars

How does a larger star differ to a small one in the life cycle?

Answer 1

The massive the Star is, the faster it will consume it's hydrogen.

Our Sun, being a normal-sized star, will consume its hydrogen slowly over a period of 10 billion years, and after that it will burn Helium for a few hundred million years below collapsing as it won't be dense enough to produce other heavier elements. The more massive the star, the faster it will consume its hydrogen and convert it into Helium. But it also becomes dense enough to burn the product of hydrogen and also helium into other heavier elements like Iron.

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Answer 2

Levi Alexander

Smaller stars have longer lifecycles, fuse hydrogen into helium, and end as white dwarfs, whereas larger stars have shorter lifecycles, go through more fusion stages, and end as supernovae or black holes.

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.