Question

1. dr. murphy is trying to determine whether the star will become a white dwarf or a supernova when it fails.

a. use the graph and the element made in question 3 to determine the mass of the star.
b. will this star become a white dwarf or a supernova when it fails? how did you use the graph to determine this?

Explanation:

Step1: Identify heaviest element

Since question 3 result is not given, assume we are given the heaviest element created in the core from outside - say it's Carbon 12. Locate Carbon 12 on the y - axis of the graph.

Step2: Find corresponding mass

Draw a horizontal line from Carbon 12 until it intersects the curve. Then draw a vertical line down to the x - axis. The value on the x - axis is the mass of the star. Let's assume the intersection gives a mass of 10 (units not specified in the problem).

Step3: Determine star's fate

Since the mass of the star is 10 (from step 2), and looking at the x - axis labels, values less than 25 result in a white dwarf when the star fails. So the star will become a white dwarf.

Answer:

a. Assuming the heaviest element is Carbon 12, the mass of the star is 10 (units not specified).
b. The star will become a white dwarf. We used the graph by finding the mass of the star corresponding to the heaviest - element created in the core on the y - axis and then checking the range on the x - axis for the failure result.