Star Formation (Oxford AQA IGCSE Physics)
Revision Note
Written by: Caroline Carroll
Reviewed by: Lucy Kirkham
Star Formation
A star goes through a sequence of evolutionary stages, known as the life cycle of a star
All stars follow the same initial stages:
Nebula → protostar → main sequence star
Nebula
Dust and gas (mainly hydrogen and helium) found in space experience gravitational attraction which pulls them together
Smaller masses of dust are attracted by larger masses of dust to form a giant interstellar cloud of gas and dust, called a nebular
All stars, including the Sun, began as a nebular
Nebula
Protostar
The gravitational attraction within a nebula pulls the particles closer together until a hot ball of gas forms, known as a protostar
As the particles are pulled closer together the density of the protostar will increase
This results in more frequent collisions between the particles which causes the temperature to increase
A protostar continues to get bigger as it attracts more particles
This also causes its temperature to increase as kinetic energy is transferred from the impacting particles to the protostar.
Protostar
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