Flashcards in Oceanography before the earth chapter 1 Deck (15)
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1
Big Bang
about 13.7 billion years ago, a plethora of stars and galaxies emerged that hosted planets and possibly the ingredients necessary for life itself.
2
Nebula
gas or dust that may either be dark or may glow. Most of the gas we see in the universe is hydrogen gas. When illuminated by nearby stars a nebula will glow.
3
Galaxy
a collection of stars and nebula that clustered around a center of mass of very dense material. Many believe that the center of most galaxies might consist of a supermassive black hole (the collapsed remnant of a massive star from which no light can escape due to the strength of its gravitational field).
4
Stars
massive bodies of incandescent gases like hydrogen and helium that form from the condensation of a nebula
5
Thermonuclear Fusion
a nuclear reaction that produces so much energy that it pushes stellar material outward
6
Gravity
a force due to the presence of a mass that pulls the mass of the star inward
7
Plasma
is the fourth state of matter and can be described as a hot gas-like mass of ions that can be influenced by electromagnetic fields. It is the most common state of matter in the universe.
8
Proto- Star
This phase of star formation lasts about 1 million years for a star the size of our Sun.
9
Main-sequence star
Once gravity and fusion are balanced and the core temperature reaches 10 million degrees, the star is considered a stable main-sequence star
10
Annealing
As the density of the larger masses increased, they melted and fused in a process called annealing.
11
Red giant
the size of the star expands into the red giant
12
White dwarf
The star will collapse into a very massive object (a white dwarf (defined below), in the case of our Sun)
13
Planetary nebula
The collapse by gravity results in a blast shedding outer gases called a planetary nebula
14
Supernova
The collapse by gravity results in a supernova blast
15
