asked 77.1k views
3 votes
White dwarfs are dense, hot, inert cores of low-mass stars made primarily of the element carbon, which requires a temperature of _____ to begin fusion. low-mass stars like the sun do not have enough mass to reach such a high temperature.

1 Answer

6 votes

It needs a temperature of a 600 Million K to start a fusion. First generation stars were very massive (>30 M) because they were born in warmish clouds (100k) that required higher density for gravity to overcome thermal pressure. If the white dwarf the radius gets smaller.

answered
User Paul Thorpe
by
7.8k points
Welcome to Qamnty — a place to ask, share, and grow together. Join our community and get real answers from real people.