how does plasma form at the core of a star

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Expert Solution

In a star, it works something like this. Large clouds of gas in space are thought to have "condensed" into more dense blobs due to gravitational attraction within the gas. As the blobs grow more dense, the gravitational pull is stronger.So, eventually the atoms of gas are forced into such tight spaces that they can't exist as atoms, and become ionized (the electrons are stripped away), forming a plasmaIt doesn't stop there in a star. All this motion causes friction and heating. The heat helps ionize more atoms, causing more plasma to form. Deep in the core of this hot blob of plasma the nuclei of the atoms are squeezed more tightly together by the gravity. Then at some point, those nuclei means protons and neutrons can join together in the process called "nuclear fusion". When fusion takes place, it releases large amounts of energy. This energy keeps heating the plasma, giving rise to more fusion, etc. So the sun(star) is a great "plasma/fusion furnace."

genius_generous answered 1 year ago

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