The Physics Behind Supernova Explosions By Lavanya Singh

The Physics behind Supernova Explosions

By Lavanya Singh 9E

Have you ever wondered how a star dies? It is a question as old as humanity and the answer lies in supernova explosions. They are not just lights in the sky- they affect everything around us and even create elements.

The (long) life of a star

Stars are born in big clouds of gas called nebulae- which are made up mostly of hydrogen. Gravity pulls the gas together until it forms a hot, glowing ball- our star.

Inside the star, hydrogen atoms fuse into helium (fusion), which cause release of a lot of energy and makes our star shine.

For millions of years, fusion puts an outward force on the star and gravity puts an inward force. These two forces completely balance out each other (like a tug of war with no winner), until one day, fusion runs out of fuel.

The balance breaks

When the star runs out of hydrogen, it starts fusion with helium, carbon, iron and other heavier elements. However, fusing iron does not release energy- it absorbs it.

Suddenly, fusion stops. Gravity wins. The star’s core collapses within seconds.

The supernova boom

The collapsing core rebounds like a spring, sending shockwaves at millions of kilometers every hour.

This is the supernova (specifically type II supernova)

It is so bright that it lights up everything around it for a few days or weeks. If it was near the earth, it would be visible even during the day.

After the blast

Depending on size, one of two things can happen after the supernova occurs:-

Neutron star – An extremely dense ball where a teaspoon weights more than a mountain

Black hole- So strong gravity that even light can’t escape

Why do supernovae matter?

Without supernovae life would not exist. Elements like iron in your blood, the calcium in your bones, gold are all created and scattered by supernovae.

We live because a star died.

CERN and the Golden Myth: Can Lead Really Become Gold?

We’ve all heard the old idea of turning lead into gold. For centuries, people actually believed it was possible. While those attempts didn’t work out, today’s scientists have been able to pull it off. CERN, one of the biggest science labs in the world, is located on the border of Switzerland and France. It’s famous for the LHC (Large Hadron Collider), which is a 27 km long underground tunnel where particles are sped up to near light speed and then smashed together. If you’ve seen Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, there’s a collider in that movie that opens portals to other dimensions. CERN’s collider doesn’t do that, but it’s still one of the most powerful machines on Earth. Lead has 82 protons, and gold has 79. That means to turn lead into gold, you’d have to somehow remove 3 protons from each lead atom. This needs a nuclear reaction, which only happens under extreme conditions and high energy. CERN isn’t trying to make gold, but their experiments show how changing o...

The Study of Nuclear Fusion: From Stars and Hydrogen Bombs to Tokamaks and Inertial Confinement

By Hiranya Bose 10 O (AIS NOIDA) To understand fusion, we need to understand nuclear energy, which can simply be defined as the energy released by the nucleus of an atom. As of now, the only two processes known to man through which nuclear energy is produced are fission, and of course, fusion. Splitting the atomic nucleus in 1938 was big news, now we’ll see why joining atomic nuclei is even bigger news. Current Energy Production Currently, humans have only been able to produce nuclear energy for commercial use through nuclear fission – which is the splitting of a heavier atomic nuclei into lighter nuclei. A neutron is forced to collide with a heavy atom, like that of Uranium-235. Collision takes place and the nucleus is split into lighter nuclei – it’s exothermic – and this releases nuclear energy. More neutrons boil off from the split nucleus and collide with more heavy nuclei, leading to a chain reaction. The minimum amount of fissile material required for such a self-sustained chain...

Time Dilation: How time slows down near black holes or at high speeds

By Ananya Choudhary 11A Time dilation is a concept from einstein’s theory of relativity, describing how time does not pass the same way for everyone, everywhere. Depending on two main factors- speed and gravity, time can move slower or faster for different observers. This means that time is not absolute, but rather flexible, depending on conditions in space and motion. According to einstein’s special theory of relativity, when an object moves at extremely high speeds, close to the speed of light, time appears to slow down for that object relative to someone who is not moving. For example, if a person were to travel in a spaceship at very high speeds, time would move slower for them than for people left behind on earth. To the traveler, everything would feel normal, but when they return, they would find that much more time had passed for those who stayed behind. This effect has been observed in real world experiments, including with highly accurate clocks flown on airplanes or orbiting ...

The Physics Club, AISN

Search This Blog