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author | toma <toma@283d02a7-25f6-0310-bc7c-ecb5cbfe19da> | 2009-11-25 17:56:58 +0000 |
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committer | toma <toma@283d02a7-25f6-0310-bc7c-ecb5cbfe19da> | 2009-11-25 17:56:58 +0000 |
commit | ce599e4f9f94b4eb00c1b5edb85bce5431ab3df2 (patch) | |
tree | d3bb9f5d25a2dc09ca81adecf39621d871534297 /doc/kstars/stars.docbook | |
download | tdeedu-ce599e4f9f94b4eb00c1b5edb85bce5431ab3df2.tar.gz tdeedu-ce599e4f9f94b4eb00c1b5edb85bce5431ab3df2.zip |
Copy the KDE 3.5 branch to branches/trinity for new KDE 3.5 features.
BUG:215923
git-svn-id: svn://anonsvn.kde.org/home/kde/branches/trinity/kdeedu@1054174 283d02a7-25f6-0310-bc7c-ecb5cbfe19da
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/kstars/stars.docbook')
-rw-r--r-- | doc/kstars/stars.docbook | 134 |
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diff --git a/doc/kstars/stars.docbook b/doc/kstars/stars.docbook new file mode 100644 index 00000000..777a636c --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/kstars/stars.docbook @@ -0,0 +1,134 @@ +<sect1 id="ai-stars"> +<sect1info> +<author> +<firstname>Jason</firstname> <surname>Harris</surname> +</author> +</sect1info> +<title>Stars: An Introductory <acronym>FAQ</acronym></title> +<indexterm><primary>Stars</primary></indexterm> + +<qandaset id="stars-faq"> + +<qandaentry> +<question> +<para>What are the stars?</para> +</question> +<answer> +<para> +<firstterm>Stars</firstterm> are gigantic, self-gravitating spheres +of (mostly) Hydrogen gas. Stars are also thermonuclear engines; +nuclear fusion takes place deep in the cores of stars, where the +density is extreme and the temperature reaches tens of millions +of degrees Celsius. +</para> +</answer> +</qandaentry> + +<qandaentry> +<question> +<para>Is the Sun a star?</para> +</question> +<answer> +<para> +Yes, the Sun is a star. It is the dominant centerpiece of our +solar system. Compared to other stars, our Sun is rather ordinary; +it appears to be so much bigger and brighter to us +because it is millions of times closer than any other star. +</para> +</answer> +</qandaentry> + +<qandaentry> +<question> +<para>Why do stars shine?</para> +</question> +<answer> +<para> +The short answer is: star shine because they are very hot. It is +really no more complicated than that. Any object heated to +thousands of degrees will radiate light, just like stars do. +</para> +</answer> +</qandaentry> + +<qandaentry> +<question> +<para>The obvious next question is: why are stars so hot?</para> +</question> +<answer> +<para> +This is a tougher question. The usual answer is that stars get +their heat from the thermonuclear fusion reactions in their cores. +However, this cannot be the ultimate cause for the stars' heat, +because a star must be hot in the first place for nuclear fusion to be +triggered. Fusion can only sustain the hot temperature; it cannot +make a star hot. A more correct answer is that stars are hot because +they have collapsed. Stars form from diffuse gaseous nebulae; as the +nebulous gas condenses to form a star, the gravitational potential +energy of the material is released, first as kinetic energy, and +ultimately as heat as the density increases. +</para> +</answer> +</qandaentry> + +<qandaentry> +<question> +<para>Are stars all the same?</para> +</question> +<answer> +<para> +Stars have many things in common: they are all collapsed spheres of +hot, dense gas (mostly Hydrogen), and nuclear fusion reactions are +occurring at or near the centers of every star in the sky. +</para><para> +However, stars also show a great diversity in some properties. +The brightest stars shine almost 100 million times as brightly as the +faintest stars. Stars range in surface temperature from only a few +thousand degrees to almost 50,000 degrees Celsius. These differences +are largely due to differences in mass: massive stars are both hotter +and brighter than lower-mass stars. The temperature and Luminosity +also +depend on the <emphasis>evolutionary state</emphasis> +of the star. +</para> +</answer> +</qandaentry> + +<qandaentry> +<question> +<para>What is the Main Sequence?</para> +</question> +<answer> +<para><indexterm><primary>Main sequence</primary></indexterm> +The main sequence is the evolutionary state of a star when it is +fusing Hydrogen in its core. This is the first (and longest) stage +of a star's life (not including protostar phases). What happens to a +star after it runs out of core Hydrogen is addressed in the stellar +evolution article (coming soon). +</para> +</answer> +</qandaentry> + +<qandaentry> +<question> +<para>How long do stars last?</para> +</question> +<answer> +<para> +The lifetime of a star depends very much on its mass. More massive +stars are hotter and shine much more brightly, causing them to +consume their nuclear fuel much more rapidly. The largest +stars (roughly 100 times as massive as the Sun), will run out of +fuel in only a few million years; while the smallest stars (roughly +ten percent the mass of the Sun), with their much more frugal +consumption rate, will shine on (albeit dimly) for +<emphasis>trillions</emphasis> of years. Note that this is much +longer than the Universe has yet been in existence. +</para> +</answer> +</qandaentry> + +</qandaset> +</sect1> + + |